NATURE 



[April 3, 19^ 



of the research on the absorption of radiation by 

 .vater vapour. To him is due a spectrobolometric 

 method of determining- (within i or 2 per cent.) the 

 total quantity of water vapour between the observer 

 and the sun. This method should supersede the 

 approximations based on psychrometric observations at 

 different levels. 



This observatory undertakes the fitting up, standard- 

 isation, and packing- of the copies of the silver disc 

 pyrheliometers supplied at cost price by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. During the past year ten of these 

 instruments were sent out, chiefly to Governmental 

 meteorological stations. 



The Spectroscopic Binary BD — i° 943.- — The star 

 S Orionis was found by Hartmann in 1904, to be a 

 spectroscopic binary, but the K-line did not take part 

 in the regular displacements of the other lines. The 

 hypothesis he has put forward to explain this apparent 

 anomaly is that the K-line was due to the absorption 

 of a calcium cloud which lay between stars of this 

 class and the solar system. In the Astronomische 

 Nachrichten, No. 4633, Zaccheus Daniel informs us 

 that a star the position of which is 5h. 28-9111. 

 — 1° 13', and was announced by Adams to be a spec- 

 troscopic binary, has a similar peculiarity to the one 

 mentioned above. Its Harvard magnitude is 537, and 

 its spectrum B2. Measurements of five, on the 

 thirteen spectrograms secured at the Alleghany Ob- 

 servatory, of the best hydrogen and helium lines 

 indicate a range in velocity of more than 200 km., a 

 period of 305 days satisfying these velocities. 

 Measurements of the K-line on eleven plates give 

 velocities ranging from +5 to +25 km., the mean 

 being + 17 km. This value is nearly the same as that 

 deduced by Hartmann from his measures of S Orionis, 

 which star is less than a degree from the binary 

 under the above heading. 



Variable Star Charts. —In the Annales of the 

 Astronomical Observatory of Moscow, published under 

 the direction of Prof.' W. Ceraski (supplement to 

 vol v., second series), Prof. Ceraski publishes a third 

 series of thirtv photographic charts of variable stars 

 discovered by Madame L. Ceraski on the cliches of the 

 observatory. The size of each chart represents eighty 

 minutes of arc, and the charts are oriented after" the 

 Bonner Durchmusterung. The position of the vari- 

 able is the centre of the plate, and is indicated by a 

 small cross. Twelve of the variables represented are 

 of the Algol type. The charts serve the verv useful 

 purpose of identification of the variables recorded, and 

 are well reproduced. 



EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATION IN 

 AUSTRALIA. 

 "~T* WO events which are certain to have great in- 

 fluence in the future development of education 

 in Australia have recently taken place in New South 

 Wales. One concerns trie secondary schools of New 

 South Wales, the other the University of Sydney. 

 But in both cases their effects are sure to extend 

 beyond the boundaries of the State to which they 

 apply. 



The first is that the Department of Public Instruc- 

 tion has introduced into New South Wales the system 

 of intermediate and leaving certificates, as begun and 

 carried out with success by the Scotch Education 

 Department. An examination for the intermediate 

 certificate has just taken place. Between 1500 and 

 2000 candidates presented themselves ; but on this 

 occasion the examination was onlv open to pupils of 

 the State schools. At the close of next year the first 

 complete leaving- certificate examination will be held, 

 XO. 2266, VOL. cjt] 



and probably about 1000 candidates will come for- 

 ward. That examination, and those in later years, 

 will be open not only to the pupils of the State 

 schools, ' but also to those of private secondarv 

 schools which have submitted to inspection, and have 

 been placed upon the register as providing a satis- 

 factory four-years' course of secondary education. A 

 further increase in the number of State high schools 

 is promised, both in the country towns and the city, 

 and the number of candidates for the final examina- 

 tion is expected to grow rapidly in the next few 

 years. 



Written examinations enter only as part of the 

 scheme. The candidates present themselves for the 

 intermediate examination when they have completed 

 an approved two-years' course in a secondary school ; 

 they come up for the leaving certificate examination 

 when they have reached the end of an approved four- 

 years' course. 



In several minor matters the New South Wales 

 system differs from that upon which it has been 

 modelled, but to these one need not refer. One point, 

 however, must be mentioned ; to some it may seem 

 an unnecessary alteration, to others a serious defect. 

 The certificate of the Department of Public Instruction 

 of New South Wales is to be granted on the recom- 

 mendation of a board of examiners, appointed by the 

 Governor. This board is to consist of four officers 

 of the Department, and not fewer than four professors 

 or other teachers of the University, nominated by the 

 Senate of the University. In other words, the Uni- 

 versity of Sydney is associated with the Department 

 of Public Instruction in the conduct of the examina- 

 tion. 



To explain all the reasons for this association would 

 take too long; nor is it necessary. It is chieflv due 

 to the fact that until recent years the Departments of 

 Public Instruction in the Australian States concerned 

 themselves chiefly with primary education. For the 

 most part secondary education was left to the private- 

 schools; or, as in Queensland, to grammar schools 

 receiving a Government subsidy. In these circum- 

 stances the universities had organised a system of 

 public examinations, somewhat after the pattern of 

 the Oxford and Cambridge Locals. These public 

 examinations had gained the confidence of the people 

 and set a high standard of attainment. Of course, 

 they had, and still have, some of the vices of all 

 written examinations which are completely divorced 

 from the school work and independent of inspection. 

 But by accepting the cooperation of the Universitv in 

 the examination for the leaving certificate, the "De- 

 partment hopes not only to benefit by the service of 

 skilled and independent examiners, but to graft upon 

 the new system all that is best in the old. 



The second event mentioned in the opening sentence 

 is the more important, though it is not unconnected 

 with the first. After prolonged debate, an Act 

 entitled "The Universitv (Amendment) Act, 1912," 

 has been passed. In this Act provision is made for 

 certain changes in the constitution of the governing 

 body of the University of Sydney, and its endowment 

 is materially increased. But these two objects were 

 not the main reason for the introduction of the 

 measure, nor was it either of these which principals 

 attracted public attention. The vital principle of the 

 Bill was that a large number of exhibitions were to 

 be founded, entitling the holders to exemption from 

 fees at the University, so long as they made satis- 

 factory progress with their studies. A "fixed number 

 of these public exhibitions is to be allotted each year, 

 the number having a definite ratio to the population. 

 One exhibition is to be given for every 500 persons 

 in the State between the ages of seventeen and twenty, 



