620 



NATURE 



[August 14, 1913 



the first page Mr. Hale modestly states, "among 

 the results of the year's work the following may be 

 mentioned," and then he follows this with brief para- 

 graphs, thirty-five in number, each of which is a 

 piece of valuable research work far-reaching in its 

 aim and an important thread in the web which com- 

 prises the complete knowledge of stellar distribution 

 and development. Some of the results of these re- 

 searches have been published in The Astrophysical 

 Journal, and received notice in our astronomical 

 column. 



The past year has marked the completion of the 

 150-ft. tower telescope, and great things are expected 

 of it in the future. The work so far done with it has 

 proved that it is perfectly stable and on no occasion 

 has trembling of the image been recorded. It may 

 be mentioned here, and it is not generally 

 understood, that the girder work forming the visible 

 tower is really in duplicate, each girder containing 

 another one inside completely independent of it, and 

 not touching it, and thus forming a complete second 

 but invisible tower. The outside girder work is thus 

 designed to protect the inner one from vibration 

 caused by the wind. The coelostat and secondary 

 mirror placed at the top of the tower are fixed to a 



Fig. i. — The tower telescope as seen from immediately below, showing 

 the platform and dome at the top. 



platform resting on the inner tower. The definition 

 jf the solar image is stated to be better than that of 

 the Snow telescope after the early morning hours in 

 consequence of the protection of the beam. In our 

 astronomical column for March 20 a statement was 

 quoted from The Observatory for March that the 

 100-in. mirror, when tested, was found to be probably 

 useless. Mr. Hale, in his report, states that the tests 



NO. 2285, VOL. 91] 



indicate that it may become necessary to discard the 

 disc, but in a footnote adds that "since the above was 

 written. . . . There is now every reason to believe 

 that the present mirror will prove suitable for use in 

 the telescope." It may be that the information in 

 The Observatory refers to a further examination sub- 

 sequent to the footnote. The 60-in. reflector 

 has a very large programme of work allotted 



!. — The observing house 

 e spectroscopes, which 



directly below the tower and above 

 situated in a deep vertical pit in the 



to it, and mention is made that Prof. Barnard would 

 prefer it for visual work on the planets to any of the 

 large refracting telescopes with which he is familiar. 

 This report will be a revelation to those who work 

 at astrophysics or solar physics this side of the Atlan- 

 tic, and will probably make some workers very down- 

 hearted when thev compare their own means of 

 research with those available at Mount Wilson. 



CHEMIO-THERAPY.i 



IT must be a great pleasure and a special honour 

 *■ for all of us to meet here personally on British 

 soil for a scientific purpose, in order to take part in the 

 great work which will be of benefit to the whole 

 world. Are we not here in a country that has pro- 

 duced two men who must be considered among the 

 greatest men of all times, Jenner and Lord Lister? 

 Like a star in the darkness of his age, Jenner's 

 great achievement, which broke the power of such an 

 awful public plague as smallpox, still shines with 

 peerless splendour. And on the occasion of the last 

 congress which was held here we gathered with wonder- 

 ing admiration round Lord Lister, who through his 

 introduction of antiseptics brought about a revolution 

 in surgery which stands alone in the history of medi- 

 cine. Here in England the first example of a modern 

 Institute for Tropical Diseases, which is a model for 



?ered before the seventeenth International Congress 

 Friday, August 8, by Prof. Paul Ehrlich. 



