NATURE 



[May i, iyi. 



the land areas, for the former are now more readily 

 accessible than the latter. At the end of the preceding 

 fiscal year the Carnegie was at Batavia, Java. On 

 November 21, 1911, she set sail for an additional 

 circuit of the Indian Ocean, when she proceeded to 

 Manila, Philippine Islands, where she arrived February 

 3, 1912. From Manila she proceeded to Suva, thence 

 to Tahiti, and afterwards to Coronel, Chile. 

 During the fiscal year she traversed about 28,000 

 miles. Her courses are arranged to intersect as fre- 

 quently as possible her own previous tracks, those of 

 the Galilee, and those of previous expeditions on 

 which magnetic elements were observed. Valuable 

 checks on the determinations of these elements are 

 thus secured, and in case of considerable intervals 

 between the dates of different determinations, data for 

 secular variation of the magnetic elements are also 

 obtained. As related in the report of a year ago, un- 

 expectedly large errors were found in the best mag- 

 netic charts of the Indian Ocean and for some parts 

 of the Pacific Ocean. 



Observations have been continued simultaneouslv 

 on land areas, embracing portions of five continents 

 and about twenty different countries. Manv note- 

 worthy series of transcontinental stations have now 

 been completed. Of these, one extending across the 

 entire continent of South America, beginning at Para, 

 at the mouth of the Amazon, and extending to Callao 

 on the Pacific coast, by way of the Amazon and 

 Ucayali rivers and Lima, has been finished during the 

 past year. 



The past year has been one of minimum sun-spot 

 activity ; but effective progress has been made in many 

 other branches of solar and stellar research undertaken 

 by the solar observatory. The wide range of this 

 work may be indicated by the fact that the results of 

 the investigations of the year are summarised by the 

 director under thirty-five different heads. The new 

 tower telescope has been completed, and important 

 auxiliary apparatus has been added to the equipment 

 of the 60-in. reflector. A fireproof office building, 

 which will afford adequate quarters for the staff and 

 safety for the original records and photographic plates 

 of the observatory, has been constructed and made 

 ready for occupancy during the vear. 



The 150-ft. tower telescope with its spectrograph 

 and spectroheliograph has been tested and found to 

 be quite up to expectations. The 60-in. reflector has 

 proved increasingly effective in the wide variety of 

 work undertaken with it. Between fortv and 'fifty 

 new spectroscopic double stars have been found ; and 

 amongst the many stars the radial velocities of which 

 have been measured is one which surpasses all others 

 hitherto observed, its velocity being about 150 miles 

 per second. 



Two eminent research associates, namelv Prof. 

 Kapteyn, of Groningen, and Prof. Stormer, of Chris- 

 tiania, have taken part in the work of the observatorv 

 during the year. 



The laborious task of shaping and testing the glass 

 disc for the proposed 100-in. telescope has proved a 

 disappointment in showing that this disc, which was 

 accepted provisionally from the makers several vears 

 ago, will not answer the requirements. It appears 

 possible that some expedients may be adopted to over- 

 come the instability of this disc ; but the probabilitv 

 that it may be made to work satisfactorily is small. 

 In the meantime the makers of such large discs have 

 not succeeded in making one of sufficient uniformity 

 in density. In view of these difficulties the director 

 is disposed to try a thinner disc if one can be found 

 possessing: the requisite degree of homogeneitv. Thus 

 this project must suffer further delay, although it is 

 practically certain that the difficulties presented may 

 be ultimately overcome. 



NO. 2270, VOL. Ql] 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The subject selected for the Adams 

 prize in 1914 is "The Phenomena of the Disturbed 

 Motion of Fluids, including the Resistances encoun- 

 tered by Bodies moving through them." A theo- 

 retical re-discussion of the problem of fluid resistance 

 may be undertaken, either in general or in simple 

 cases, in the light of the experimental knowledge 

 regarding the resistances and the nature of the broken 

 motion of the fluid which is becoming available in 

 the publications of the aeronautical laboratories of 

 various countries. Information has been accumulat- 

 ing regarding the nature and mode of travel of 

 meteorological atmospheric disturbances, such as 

 cyclonic movements and line squalls, the propagation 

 of minute waves of barometric pressure, and the 

 nature of the lower boundary of the upper calm 

 region of the air. A dynamical discussion of these 

 topics, or of simpler problems in illustration of th m, 

 might be undertaken. The prize is open to the com- 

 petition of all persons who have at any time been 

 admitted to a degree in the University of Cambridge. 

 The value of the prize is about 220/. The essays 

 must be sent to the Vice-Chancellor on or before the 

 last day of December, 1914. 



The Linacre lecture at St. John's College will b.> 

 delivered by Dr. Norman Moore, on Tuesdav next. 

 May 6, on the physician in English history. 



The professor of botany has recently received for 

 the botanical museum a collection of 100 water-colour 

 studies of Italian and other South European flowering 

 plants from Mrs. Latimer-Jackson. The sketches, 

 which were made by Mrs. Latimer-Jackson in the 

 course of several visits to Sicily and different parts 

 of the mainland, have not only great artistic merit, 

 but will be useful to students and of considerable 

 interest to many members of the Senate other than 

 professional botanists. 



A syndicate has been nominated to consider what 

 1 hanges, if any, are desirable in the regulations relat- 

 ing to the Previous Examination, in the mutual 

 relations of the Previous Examination and the ex- 

 aminations held by the Highest Grade Schools 

 Examination Svndicate and the Local Examinations 

 and Lectures Syndicate, and in the relations of the 

 Previous Examination to examinations held by other 

 bodies. The syndicate has power to confer with the 

 Highest Grade Schools Examination Syndicate, the 

 Local Examinations and Lectures Syndicate, and 

 such other bodies and persons as it may think fit. 

 This is another attempt to bring what is practicallv 

 the entrance examination of the University into line 

 with modern thought. 



Oxford. — On April 29 Congregation approved a 

 decree authorising the expenditure of 600L in adapt- 

 ing the chemical laboratory at the museum to the 

 immediate needs of the YVavnflete professor of chem- 

 istry (Prof. W. H. Perkin). ' 



We learn from Science that Princeton University has 

 received threi gifts : 20,000/. from Mr. and 'Mrs. 

 Russell W. Moore, of New York City, to endow a 

 professorship of chemistry; 25,000/. given anony- 

 mously for a professorship not named ; and 6000!. 

 from Mr. J. I). Cadawallade.r, of New York City. 



The London County Council will be prepared to 

 award for the session 1913-14 a limited number of 

 free places at the Imperial College of Science and 

 Technology, South Kensington, S.W. The instruc- 

 tion will be of an advanced nature, and therefore onlv 



