NATURE 



[August 14, 19 1_ 



other observatories are also inserted in the tables. 

 Thus this and all preceding publications make avail- 

 able all the radial velocity results obtained at Mount 

 Hamilton and Santiago up to date, excepting suspected 

 variables and stars the spectra of which contain lines 

 not sufficiently serviceable for measurement. The pub- 

 lished lists include, therefore, all stars as bright as the 

 5-00 visual magnitude in the Revised Harvard Photo- 

 metry, Annals 50, and, in addition, many hundreds 

 of stars fainter than magnitude 500. 



Stellar Parallaxes. — Prof. Frederick Slocum, in 

 conjunction with Prof. S. A. Mitchell, of Columbia 

 University, publishes in the July number of The Astro- 

 physical Journal (vol. xxxviii., No. 1) the results of 

 some stellar parallax determinations from photo- 

 graphs made with the 40-in. refractor of the Yerkes 

 Observatory. The apparatus and methods used were 

 similar in general to those previously described by 

 Prof. Schlesinger, so the communication, to which 

 reference is here made, is limited to the actual results 

 of the investigation. The following table sums up 

 in brief the values determined : — 



Relative Probable 

 parallax error 



+ o'oo4 ±o'ooS 



Star 



Andromedse ... 

 48 Cassiopeia; ... 



20 Persei 



9 Camelopardalis 



tx Ononis 



Groningen VII., J 

 Anonymous 

 BD 18-3423° ... 

 BD 18-3424° ... 

 96 Herculis 

 17 Lyra; C 



PCygmi 



rCygni 



Nova Lacertse 



R.A. 



(19°°) 



'7 33 

 17 34 

 17 34 



■7 5 S 



+ 46 43 

 + 70 25 

 + 37 5° 

 +66 10 

 + 9 39 

 +48 35 

 +18 37 

 + 18 37 

 + 18 37 

 + 20 50 

 + 3= 2t 

 + 37 43 

 + 37 37 



Mag. 



and 



spectrun 



4-4 B„ 



4 6 A.. 

 57F 

 4'4 B 



+0-036 



THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



WE understand that the argument of the presi- 

 dential address to be delivered by Sir Oliver 

 Lodge at the Birmingham meeting is as follows : — 

 A marked feature of the present scientific era is the 

 discovery of, and interest in, various kinds of atomism, 

 so that continuity seems in danger of being lost sight 

 of. Another tendency is toward comprehensive nega- 

 tive generalisations from a limited point of view. 

 Another is to take refuge in rather vague forms oi 

 statement, and to shrink from closer examination of 

 the puzzling and the obscure. Another is to deny the 

 existence of anything which makes no appeal to 

 organs of sense, and no ready response to laboratory 

 experiment. 



In his address the president will contend against 

 these tendencies. He will urge a belief in ultimate 

 continuity as essential to science ; he regards scientific- 

 concentration as an inadequate basis for philosophic 

 generalisation ; he believes that obscure phenomena 

 may be expressed simply if properly faced ; and he will 

 point out that the non-appearance of anything per- 

 fectly uniform and omnipresent is only what should 

 be expected, and is no argument against its real sub- 

 stantial existence. 



Since we gave, in Nature of July 17, summaries 

 of the provisional programmes of most of the 

 sections of the British Association, for the meeting to 

 be held in Birmingham on September 10-17, notes on 

 the forthcoming proceedings of the Engineering Sec- 

 tion have reached us. A varied programme of 

 engineering activity will be presented at the meetings 

 of this section, under the presidency of Prof. Kapp, 

 who will deal with electric traction in his opening 

 address. A group of connected papers on the various 

 influences which affect the propagation of electro- 



XO. 2285, VOL. qi] 



magnetic waves will be read by Profs. Howe and 

 Marchant and Dr. Eccles. Heat tests of electrical 

 machines will be discussed by Mr. W. R. Cooper, and 

 a practical demonstration of the varied uses of electric 

 cooking appliances will no doubt prove of interest to 

 the members of all sections. 



Mechanical engineering claims a large share of the 

 attention of the members, and will include an impor- 

 tant paper by Mr. Lanchester, on the application oi 

 the internal-combustion engine to railway locomotion, 

 in which he will describe his very successful work in 

 this branch of engineering. Prof. Burstall will dis- 

 cuss the much-debated subject of solid, liquid, and 

 gaseous fuels, and the committee on gaseous explo- 

 sions will probably present a report on the tempera- 

 ture distribution in the cylinders of internal-combus- 

 tion engines. A novel hydraulic weighing machine 

 will also be described by Dr. Hele-Shaw, and a new- 

 process of bank-note engraving by Mr. Bawtree. 



Considerable interest attaches to the report of the 

 new committee for investigating the stress distribu- 

 tion in engineering materials, which will be discussed 

 with the Mathematical and Physical Sections, and con- 

 nected with this subject Prof. Coker will describe 

 some optical determinations of stress in chain links 

 and in thick cylinders under fluid pressure, Mr. Reid 

 will discuss the flow of plastic solids, Prof. Dixon 

 will deal with impact tests, and Mr. Robertson with 

 the strength of free-ended columns. 



Civil engineering is represented bv a group of 

 interesting papers, including one by Dr. Cornish on 

 land-slides, accompanied by upheaval in the Culebra 

 cutting of the Panama Canal, while Dr. J. S. Owens 

 and Mr. E. R. Matthews will discuss the movements 

 of sand and shingle in connection with marine 

 engineering work. 



A paper of great local interest, by Messrs. Gleadow 

 and Shackle, will describe the fine new station of the 

 Great Western Railway at Snow Hill, while the 

 subjed of metals for structures will be discussed by 

 Mr. Walmisley. 



The programme of the meeting of Section G is 

 therefore not only of unusual interest, but many of 

 the papers to be read are of considerable importance 

 in relation to industries for which Birmingham is 

 famous* 



BONAPARTE RESEARCH FUND GRAMS. 



npHE committee of the Paris Academy of Sciences 

 -*• appointed to consider the distribution of the 

 Bonaparte Research Fund has made the following 

 recommendations for the year 1913 : — H. Caillol, 3000 

 francs, for the completion of his work entitled "Cata- 

 logue des coleopteres de Provence " ; A. Colson, 2000 

 francs, to enable him to continue his experimental 

 work in physical chemistry; E. Coquide, 2000 francs, 

 to assist him in carrying out his study of the turf 

 lands of the north of France from the agricultural 

 point of view; C. Schlegel, 2000 francs, to enable him 

 to continue his researches on Crustacean development; 

 Jules Welsch, 2000 francs to assist him in his geo- 

 logical exploration of the coast lines of France and 

 Great Britain, and to extend them to Belgium and 

 Scandinavia; MM. Pitard and Pallary, 6000 francs, 

 eoually divided, for their scientific expedition in 

 Morocco, organised by the Soci6te de G^ographie ; 

 Louis Roule, 2000 francs, for the continuation and 

 extension of his researches on the morphology and 

 biology of the salmon in France; M. Pougnet, 2000 

 francs, to enable him to continue his researches on 

 the chemical and biological effects of the ultra-violet 

 rays, and for the construction of a quartz apparatus 

 to be used for studving the action of ultra-violet lighl 



