May 13, 1880] 



NA TURE 



45 



Total number of days during which both in- ' 

 struments were working simultaneously | 

 between February nth, 1878, and March | 

 3i^t. J879' 



3S4 



.vich. Indis 



207 



143 



244 



S72 



Total number of photographs. Reducing 

 where four or more have been taken to 

 three 



Number of days on which one at least was 

 taken 



Number of days on which no photograph 

 was taken 



'"No correction has been made for the non-taking of photo- 

 graphs at Greenwich on Sundays. 



'"In the total number of photographs the maximum number 

 taken on any one day has been taken as three. 



" ' The actual returns are inclosed as an appendix E and C.^ 



" ' It so happens that for the last year or two the sun has been 

 in a condition of unusual quiescence, so that in the whole series 

 of photographs sent home by Mr. Meins there were only two or 

 three small spots. But it is well established by previous experi- 

 ence that the sun passes alternately through a condition of few 

 spots and many spots, the whole period of the change being 

 about eleven years. We are now, according to the reckoning, 

 entering on a period of solar activity, and already spots have 

 begun to appear. The present time and the immediate future 

 form therefore a period of special interest for the observation of 

 solar phenomena. And though the immediate objec': of the 

 memorialists in advocating a more active study of solar physics 

 was an increase to our scientific knowledge, it is hard to say 

 what bearings such an increase may not have upon the practical 

 concerns of life. There is some reason to think that meteoro- 

 logical conditions bear traces of a period similar to that of solar 

 activity as manifested by spots, and it has been conjectured that 

 the droughts and consequent famines which from time to time 

 have devastated portions of our Indian Empire show something 

 of a similar period. Should a further study of solar phenomena 

 lead to even an approximate forecast of the liability to such 

 terrible visitations, it is needless to say of what practical import- 

 ance it would thereby become. 



" ' As has been already explained the Committee, were appointed 

 as a temporary measure to prepare the way for something of a 

 more permanent and systematic nature, and it is to aid them in 

 this work that the Indian observations have been asked for. 

 What shape the research may permanently take it is impossible 

 at the present time to predict. 



" ' In view of these facts the Committee is of opinion that it is of 

 special importance that the series of Indian sun photographs 

 should be resumed as early as practicable, if, as is feared, they 

 have been interrupted, and should be continued without break at 

 all events for three or four years to come, the present period of 

 increasing solar activity being one of peculiar scientific interest. 



" ' The Committee fm-ther suggest that the Surveyor-General of 

 India, under whom Sergeant White, the successor of Mr. Meins, 

 will be employed, might usefully be instructed to cause one or 

 more native employes of the Survey Department to be instructed 

 in the process of solar photography, so that risk of interruption 

 of the series from sickness, &c., of the European photographer 

 may be guarded against in the future. 



" ' It is believed that skill in the necessary manipulations for 

 successful photography could .be readily acquired by intelligent 

 natives, and that when this had been done further assistance 

 from this country for the supply of photographers would not be 

 needed. 



" ' I have the honour to be. Sir, 



" ' Your obedient servant, 

 " ' (Signed) " ' G. G. Stokes ' 



" Considerations in all respects identical with those w-hich we 

 thought of weight in regard to India are in our opinion generally 

 applicable, and we have no hesitation in expressing our belief 

 that the continued careful study of the class of phenomena in 

 question will prove to be of the greatest scientific value, and 

 that there is no reason for doubting that the advance of true 

 knowledge in this direction will, in some form or other, and 

 sooner or later, prove to be of real practical value also, as all 

 experience has shown that it has been in other branches of 

 human knowledge. 



' It has not been considered necessary to reproduce these appendices in this 

 place. , w-^, ■ ■ -- 



"Whether or not we shall ever possess the power of foreseeing 

 the character of the seasons in this country, or to what extent 

 they may in truth be related to those changes in the condition of 

 the sun to which our attention is specially directed, it is of 

 course impossible for us to say. But of the extreme importance 

 of doing all that lies in our power to advance a sound know- 

 ledge of the laws of climate which so directly affect the well- 

 being of the whole human race there can be no question. 



" We append details of the work in which we have been 

 engaged. 



" G. G. Stokes 

 Balfour Stewart 

 Richard Strachey 

 J. Norman Lockyer 

 W. de W. Abney 

 J. F. D. Donnelly 

 " The Secretary, Science and Art Department " 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambridge. — It appears rather noteworthy that at^ a very 

 recent debate in the Cambridge Union (May 4), a motion pro- 

 posed by Mr. Theodore Beck, of Trinity College, affirming that 

 the Tripos system of education here adopted is unfavourable to 

 the interests of original research and individual culture, should 

 have been lost by only three votes, after speeches in opposition 

 to the motion in which more than one distinguished Tripos man 

 took part. The votes «ere : For the motion, 51 ; against, 54. 



Mr. E. Temperley, of Queen's College, and Mr. W. Burn- 

 side, of Pembroke College (on the nominati(m of Corpus 

 Christi College), have been appointed Moderators for the next 

 Mathematical Tripos. 



It appears from the discussion on the subject of the exemption 

 from Greek of honours students who desire exemption, and offer 

 French and German, that there is much diversity of opinion on 

 the subject, even among residents. How long will it be before 

 the ideas of freedom have practical effect in Camliridge ? Dr. 

 Thompson, Master of Trinity, was strongly desirous that Greek 

 should not be required of men coming to Cambridge as serious 

 students of mathematics and natural science. lie had no wish 

 to weaken the position of Greek, but to allow u.en to come to 

 the University and obtain distinction in their own line. Prof. 

 Skeat wondered why a knowledge of English language and 

 literature could not yet find a place in the course for the Little- 

 go ; the University had very few studying or capable of teaching 

 it in a scientific way. Mr. Henry Jackson said the present 

 system put many boys through the drudgery of learning the 

 rudiments to get the chance of making classical scholars of a 

 few. Mr. Vansittart gave expression to the regret of many that 

 it should be proposed to substitute two languages for Greek ; he 

 would give as alternatives natural sciences for mathematical 

 men, and additional mathematics for natural science men, or he 

 would leave the choice between English and natural sciences. 



It is to be hoped that Cambridge University «ill cease from 

 the fruitless attempt to find out one universal mode of cultmre 

 and routine for schools. The Local Examinations Syndicate 

 have already done this, not having to secure the approbation of 

 the entire Senate for all the alternative subjects it offers. But 

 the Public Schools follow too much the lead of the Pass 

 Examinations in the Universities. The Syndicate, considering 

 the question, have referred very much to the opinions of head- 

 masters of public schools, and because they feel so much that 

 their "craft" is in danger, the great need of gaining the mass 

 who do not go to public schools may be lost sight of. 



The late Mr. John Henry Challis bequeathed 100,000/. to 

 the University of Sydney. Its Parliamentary assistance is only 

 5,000/. per annum, a sura quite insufficient to secure as many 

 Chairs in the difterent faculties as the name of University 

 implies. The bequest of Mr. Challis, invested at 5 per cent., 

 will add another 5,000/. per annum to the sum voted by Par- 

 liament, and will enable the faculties to enlarge their curriculum 

 and extend their operations in a manner they have never yet had 

 the means to attempt. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



American Journal of Science, April.— Berthelot's thermo- 

 cheuiistry, by J. P. Cooke. — History of the pre-cambrian rocks 

 in America and Europe, by T. Sterry Hunt.— Synopsis of the 



