:88 



NATURE 



[June 12, 1913 



star in the Pleiades, were obtained in December, 1912, 

 with a slit spectrograph attached to the Lowell 24-in. 

 refractor. The two plates were exposed five and 

 twenty-one hours respectively. They agree in show- 

 ing a continuous spectrum crossed by the dark lines 

 of hydrogen and helium, the spectrum of the nebula 

 being a true copy of that of the brighter stars of the 

 Pleiades. The light of the nebula is thus shown to be 

 of stellar origin. As it seems improbable that a 

 mass of stars, all of the same spectral type as the 

 Pleiades, should so group themselves behind the 

 Pleiades as to give the appearance of a nebula, the 

 author believes it more probable that the nebula con- 

 sists of diffused material surrounding the stars and 

 shining by reflected starlight. This "is the first suc- 

 cessful observation ever published upon the spectrum 

 of this faint nebula. 



A symposium on wireless telegraphy and telephony 

 was an important part of the meeting. Among the 

 papers read was one on radiated and received energy, 

 by Dr. Lewis W. Austin, head of the U.S. Naval 

 Radio-Telegraph Laboratory. Mathematical theory 

 indicates that the energy radiated from a radio-tele- 

 graphic antenna will produce an electromotive force 

 on a receiving antenna proportional to the current in 

 the sending antenna, to the height of the sending 

 antenna, to the height of the receiving antenna, in- 

 versely proportional to the wave-length, and inversely 

 proportional to the distance between the two antennas. 

 Since the loudness of signal is proportional to the 

 square of the current in the receiving antenna, the 

 signal falls off as the square of the distance 'between 

 the two. This law has been verified by the experi- 

 ments made by the United States Navy Department 

 between the new high-power station at Arlington and 

 several other stations situated in and near Washing- 

 ton. Observations at distances above 100 miles show 

 that in addition to the diminution in intensity of signal 

 with the distance, there is in an absorption either in the 

 atmosphere or ground, such that at a distance of 1000 

 miles over salt water, with a wave-length of 1000 

 meters, the received current is only approximately 

 1/25; that is, the received signals are reduced to 

 1/600 of what they would have been had there been 

 no absorption. The absorption decreases as the wave- 

 length is increased, so that for communication over 

 great distances, lone waves 4000 to 7000 metres in 

 length are used, while for short distances of a few 

 hundred miles short waves are better, since they are 

 radiated more energetically. These facts apply to 

 daylight communication only, which is in general 

 regular, night ranges, though greater than day, being 

 freakish and uncertain. The absorption over land is 

 much greater than over water, especially for the 

 shorter wave-lengths. In recent tests between the 

 Arlington station and the scout cruiser Salem, on its 

 voyage to Gibraltar and return, messages were re- 

 ceived from Arlington in the day-time on the Salem 

 up to a distance of 2100 nautical miles, and at night 

 as far as Gibraltar. A comparison was also made of 

 the action of two tvpes of sending sets, one being the 

 regular spark-sending set and the other a set in which 

 the waves are produced from an electric arc. It has 

 been claimed that the continuous waves emitted by 

 the arc are less absorbed than the broken-up trains 

 of waves produced by the spark. Up to loon miles 

 no difference in the absorption was observed, but at 

 2000 miles the observations indicated that the received 

 arc ener 1 —- was relatively four times greater than that 

 of the spark. 



During the meeting Sir A. J. Evans, Sir Joseph 

 Larmor, and Dr. Schuster were elected foreign mem- 

 bers of the society. 



NO. 2276, VOL. 91] 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Birmingham. — Prof. W. S. Boulton, professor of 

 geologv at University College, Cardiff, has been ap- 

 pointed to succeed Prof. C. Lapworth, F.R.S., who 

 is retiring at the close of the present session. Before 

 his appointment to University College, Cardiff, Prof. 

 Boulton had been assistant lecturer in geology at 

 Mason College, under Prof. Lapworth. 



Dr. O. J. Kauffmann has been appointed successor 

 to Prof. A. Carter, as joint professor of medicine, and 

 the chair of surgery, vacated by Prof. G. Barling, on 

 his election as Vice-Chancellor, has been filled by the 

 election of Mr. W. P. Haslam. 



Dr. T. Stacey Wilson has been invited to deliver the 

 Ingleby Lectures for 1914. 



Dr. P. T. Hughes is to represent the Universitv 

 at the International Congress of Neurology and 

 Psychiatry at Ghent. 



Leeds. — At the request of the Development Com- 

 missioners, the University has undertaken the pre- 

 liminary arrangements for an investigation in flax 

 growing and in the methods of retting which would 

 be suitable for a central rettery. Selby has been 

 chosen as the chief place of experiment, and 120 acres 

 of land have been sown with various selected tvpes 

 of seed. Negotiations are in progress for the estab- 

 lishment of a central rettery where the whole crop 

 may be treated. The Treasury has sanctioned a grant 

 from the Development Fund to cover the cost of the 

 preliminary steps. The question of the subsequent 

 control and direction of the experimental station is 

 still being considered by the Development Commis- 

 sioners. 



Oxford. — The annual report of the delegates of the 

 Oxford Museum, which was presented to Convocation 

 on June 10, is a lengthy document occupying thirty- 

 two pages of the University Gazette. It includes 

 separate reports of the museum departments, prepared 

 by the regius professor of medicine, the professors of 

 pathology, physiology, human anatomy, comparative 

 anatomy, zoology, experimental philosophy, physics, 

 engineering science. chemistry, geology, rural 

 economy, and mineralogy, by the curator of the Pitt- 

 Rivers Museum, and the reader in pharmacology. 

 The introductory matter records the resignation of 

 Prof. Odling, and the election of Prof. Perkin to the 

 vacant chair of chemistry, together with the appoint- 

 ment of Mr. J. A. Gunn to the newly established 

 readership in pharmacologv. The reports of the 

 several professors give evidence of much activity in 

 both teaching and research ; in most cases they in- 

 clude lists of important additions to the collections of 

 specimens and the stock of apparatus. The longest 

 and most elaborate contribution is that of the Hope 

 professor of zoology (Prof. Poulton), whose account of 

 the work of his department takes up more than half 

 of the whole publication. The events of which he 

 makes special mention are the taking over by his 

 department of the lower portion of the south room 

 of the old Radcliffe Library, and the meeting of the 

 International Congress of Entomologists at Oxford 

 last August. Attention is directed to many valuable 

 additions to the collection, and particularly to the 

 African insects presented bv Messrs. K. St. A. Rogers, 

 W. A. Lamborn, J. A. de Gaye, and Dr. G. D. Car- 

 penter. An interesting list of accessions to the Pitt- 

 Rivers collection is given by the curator (Mr. H. 

 Balfour), who makes special mention of stone imple- 

 ments collected in Ashanti by Mr. R. S. Rattray, a 

 former diploma student in the department. Space will 



