July 17, 1913] 



NATURE 



509 



sun's centre than the positive, the polarity of any 

 general field that may thus result from the solar 

 rotation should correspond with that of the earth's 

 field. 



There is reason to believe that in the solar 

 atmosphere the negative electrons lie farther from 

 the photosphere, on the average, than the positive 

 electrons. The rotation of the atmosphere with 

 the sun would thus tend to set up a magnetic field 

 of the same polarity as that of the earth. At the 

 base of the atmosphere this field would oppose 

 the field due to the rotation of the body of the 

 sun. Hence, assuming a suitable distribution of 

 the positive and negative electrons, it may be pos- 

 sible to account in this way for the observed 

 decrease in the strength of the general field at 

 increasing distances from the photosphere. Prof. 

 Hale thinks that it may even turn out that the 

 Zeeman effect observed is due to the rotation of 

 the solar atmosphere, and not to the rotation of 

 the body of the sun. 



Further work will be necessary before such 

 questions as these can be fully discussed, and an 

 extended series of observations, including lines 

 representing a wide range of level, is contem- 

 plated. 



The space at our disposal is too restricted to 

 permit full justice to be done to this fine piece of 

 work. It will be sufficiently evident, however, 

 that Prof Hale has conducted the investigation 

 with his accustomed skill and with due regard 

 to the numerous possible sources of error. 



THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



THE arrangements for the Birmingham meet- 

 ing (September 10-17) are almost completed. 

 In order to avoid the competition for places at 

 the various functions, which so often causes in- 

 convenience to visitors, the local secretaries intend 

 to obtain beforehand from members an indication 

 of their wishes with regard to the general meet- 

 ings, lectures, entertainments, and excursions ; 

 and a circular for that purpose will be issued 

 shortly. 



A new arrangement has been made for the 

 convenience of the delegates of corresponding 

 societies. Thanks to the council of the Birming- 

 ham Natural History and Philosophical Society, 

 the meeting-room and library at 55 Newhall 

 Street is to be placed at the disposal of the dele- 

 gates for the display of their publications, and also 

 to act as a meetinsr-ground for the representatives 

 of these corresponding societies during the meet- 

 ing. The addresses to the delegates will be given 

 in the Technical School, Suffolk Street. 



The lectures to citizens, which were inaugurated 

 at Dundee last year, will be given on a more ex- 

 tended scale this year at the Digbeth Institute, 

 Birmingham. Five lectures have been arranged 

 by the council of the association. The first of 

 these — "The Decorative Art of Savages " — will be 

 given by Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S., on Thursday, 

 September 11, at 8 p.m. Other lectures will be 

 NO. 228l, VOL. 91] 



"The Panama Canal," by Dr. Vaughan Cornish; 

 "Heredity in relation to Man," by Dr. Leonard 

 Doncaster ; " The Microscopic Structure of Metals," 

 by Dr. W. Rosenhain ; "Radio-activity," by Dr. F. 

 Soddy, F.R.S. These lectures are arranged for that 

 section of the public which is interested in the pro- 

 gress of science, but cannot take part in the meet- 

 ings of the association. They are not intended for 

 members or associates. The chief points in the 

 programmes of the sections are described below. 



Section A (Mathematical and Physical Science).— 

 The section meets this year under the presidency of 

 Dr. H. F. Baker. It is expected that greater interest 

 will be taken in the proceedings of the pure mathe- 

 matics subsection than in former years. There is a 

 possibility of a discussion on non-Euclidean geometry, 

 which will be of interest to many in addition to the 

 pure mathematicians. In the full section the chief 

 item after the presidential address is a discussion 

 on radiation, arranged for the Friday morning, which 

 will be opened by Mr. J. H. Jeans. Profs. H. A. 

 Lorentz and E. Pringsheim have accepted invitations 

 to be present at the meeting, and will add greatly 

 to the interest and value of this discussion. Prof. 

 Planck may also possibly be there. Of the English 

 scientific men who will be there, Profs. Love and 

 Rutherford will take part in the discussion. Two 

 other discussions have been arranged in conjunction 

 with other sections. With the Engineering Section 

 a joint meeting will be held at which reports of a 

 committee which has been investigating problems of 

 stress distribution will be discussed. The other meet- 

 ing is with the Geography Section, at which problems 

 of geodesy and mathematical geography will be con- 

 sidered. One paper of great interest to many will be 

 presented by Capt. H. Winterbotham, on the accuracy 

 of the principal triangulation of Great Britain. 



Amongst the papers to be contributed to the sec- 

 tion, one, by Prof. Barkla, on the nature of X-rays, 

 will be of considerable interest, and will probably give 

 rise to an animated discussion. This paper will prob- 

 ably be read in full section immediately after the 

 presidential address at eleven o'clock on Thursday- 

 morning. 



The meeting will be of special interest because of 

 the close association of the president of the associa- 

 tion, Sir Oliver Lodge, with the section. It is ex- 

 pected that a large number of leading English 

 scientific men will be present, and already the pub- 

 lished list of papers shows that a stimulating session 

 may be expected. 



Section B (Chemistry). — The programme of this 

 section has been framed so as to appeal as 

 widely as possible to chemists, as many as five 

 different subjects being down for discussion. Taking 

 first those which have a practical bearing, the subject 

 of the economical use of fuel is of national import- 

 ance. The chemist can emphasise the wasteful nature 

 of present practice and describe alternative and more 

 economical practices, free from the bias of the com- 

 mercial advocate. It is hoped to present at the meet- 

 ing the views of authoritative speakers on all branches 

 of the subject; the details will be announced later. 

 The subject of metallurgy is of particular interest 

 in Birmingham, and a number of papers are promised 

 by Prof. Cohen, Prof. Turner, Dr. Desch, Dr. Rosen- 

 hain, Dr. Holt, and others, which will deal from 

 the scientific side with problems of practical interest. 

 Turning to pure chemistry, the discussion on optical 

 activity should prove of particular value, as all the 

 workers in this country who are specially competent 

 to speak on the subject are expected to be present. 

 The ground has been prepared by Prof. Frankland's 



