July 12, 1906J 



NA TURE 



255 



able. Of the Uvo errors }<rp;il<'r ihan 005s., one is +0072S. 

 and the other —0060s., nnd the magnitudes of the two 

 stars are the same, and practically in the middle of the 

 series. 



But if there is no indication of a " magnitude equation " 

 there is another circumstance which is not a little suspicious, 

 and interesting as suggestive of the introduction of fresh 

 sources of error. The author has referred to the fact that 

 the mean error of observation can become comparatively 

 largo when the photographic image is poor, owing to the 

 small altitude of the star. When the residuals are collected 

 according to the zenith distance of the star, there is some 

 indication of a connection between the two. " There is," 

 savs Prof. Hirayama, " a common tendency for the resi- 

 du.il error to be least at the zenith, and to increase with 

 the zenith distance." No stars below the pole have been 

 observed, so that there is no means of comparing the 

 results given by stars at small altitudes on opposite sides 

 of the zenith. But many important questions are raised 

 in this paper, and we notice with pleasure that Prof. 

 Hirayama proposes to continue the inquiry. We can assure 

 him that his investigations will be watched with interest 

 in this country. 



THE MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION. 



^PIIK seventeenth annual meeting of the Museums Asso- 

 elation was held in Bristol on July 2-5 under the 

 presidency of Dr. W. E. Hoyle, director of the Manchester 

 IMuseum. The attendance of curators and representatives 

 from various British museums was greater than in any 

 previous year, foreign museuins and museum workers 

 being also represented by Geheimrat Dr. A. B. Meyer, of 

 Dresden, Prof. Conwentz, of the Provincial Museum, 

 Dantzig, Prof. Lehmann, of the City Museum, Altona, Mr. 

 H. L. Brakstad, Norwegian \icc-Consul, and others. 



The public conference commenced on the morning of 

 July 3 in the Council House, a warm welcome being given 

 to the association on behalf of the city by the Lord Mayor, 

 High .Sheriff, and museum committee, after which Dr. 

 Hoyle gave the presidential address, taking as his subject 

 the education of a museum curator. Briefly reviewing the 

 varied training, or lack of training, which many curators 

 have received, Dr. Hoyle divided museums into two great 

 classes: — fa) museums of art, or institutions in whit'.- 

 objects are regarded simply as material for aesthetic con- 

 templation, where they are arranged so that each may be 

 seen to the best advantage and minister to the cultivated 

 enjoyment of the onlooker; and (6) museums of science, i' 

 which the object is to exhibit the state of human know- 

 ledge on one or more subjects, and to supply means of 

 increasing that knowledge. 



('onfining his observations to the character of training 

 rccniired for curators of science museums, the president 

 urged the necessity of a fair preliminary training in manual 

 industry and the knowledge and use of tools, and after- 

 wards a technical and scientific training in those subjects 

 underlying the future work of the embryo curator. .As 

 subjects necessary to be studied because of their close 

 relation to museum collections were enumerated the natural 

 sciences, mineralogy, geology, biology, including in the 

 latter term botany, zoology, anthropology, and ethnology. 

 As sciences inore nearly concerned with the acquisition, 

 registration, preservation and exposition of museum collec- 

 tions were instanced the rudiments of mechanical engin- 

 eering, physics, and chemistry. .As a kind of post-graduale 

 course, the necessity of visiting and studying the nature 

 and methods of work of various museums was strongly 

 insisted upon. 



.Mderman W. R. Barker, chairman of the Museum and 

 -Art (iallcry committee, laid before the association a paper 

 he had prepared tracing the rise and progress of the 

 Bristol Museum from its inception in 1808 to the present 

 union of museum and City Art Gallery. 



Mr. H. Bolton, curator of the Bristol Museum, followed 

 with a paper describing the general character of the collec- 

 tions, and the steps which had been taken to bring the 

 mode of exhibition and usefulness of the museum contents 

 up to modern requirements, mentioning that it was the 

 intentiup. of the committee to introduce a type-series of 



NO. 191 5, VOL. 74] 



mounted specimens, an osleological series, and one in 

 which the main structural features of the animal kingdom 

 would be shown by prepared dissections. Work on similar 

 lines was proceeding in other departments of the museum, 

 and ultimately it was hoped to be able to place at the dis- 

 posal of any student or visitor all that is necessary in the 

 way of types for the full degree course of any university. 

 Papers were also read by Mr. R. Quick, on the hanging of 

 pictures; by Mr. V. R. Rowley, on a method of displaying 

 coins, and on models of Protozoa; and by .Mr. W. W. 

 Watts, on the City plate and insignia. 



Wednesday, July 4, was occupied with the discussion of 

 a series of papers on museum cases and fittings, the sub- 

 ject being opened by Dr. .A. B. Meyer, of Dresden, who 

 outlined the result of his experiments and researches during 

 the last thirty years upon museum cases. He strongly 

 advocated metal and preferably iron cases, which could be 

 iTiade dust-proof, elegant in appearance, and not more 

 costly than wooden cases. Dr. Meyer's remarks were 

 followed by a paper from Mr. F. A. Lucas, of Brooklyn 

 Museum, and one by Dr. Lehmann on a simple practical 

 dust-proof case in the Altona Museum. Mr. Bantry White, 

 of the Dublin Museum of .Science and .\rt, exhibited an 

 iron museum case built in that museum's own work.shops, 

 which was verv efficient, dust-proot, and not costly. 



.\ remarkable c.-ibinet case, with changing trays each 0' 

 which could be brought into view in turn by mechanical 

 means, was exhibited and explained by the Rev. S. J. 

 Ford. Mr. A. M. Rodger exhibited case fittings from the 

 Perth Museum, and Mr. Woolnough, of Ipswich, complete 

 models of cases it was proposed to introduce into the 

 inuseuin at that town. The lighting of museum cases was 

 dealt with by Mr. Thos. White, of London. Dr. F. A. 

 Bather explained the character of some cases in the 

 British Museum, and illustrated his remarks, as did other 

 speakers, by photographs and drawings. Mr. J. Osborne 

 Smith also dealt with the same subject, and exhibited the 

 original drawings and plans of many of the more recently 

 made cases. Owing to the interest and importance of the 

 subject the session was continued in the afternoon until 

 four o'clock. 



Thursday was occupied by a paper on the Ainerican 

 Museum of Natural History, by Dr. H. C. Bumpus ; 

 by a paper on wall diagrams to illustrate pre- 

 historic archaeology, from Prof. Conwentz ; a paper on 

 the Altona room in the .'\rts and Crafts Exhibition, Dres- 

 den, designed to show how the form of animals is the 

 concrete expression of adaptation to their suroundings ; 

 and one on the construction and management of museums 

 of art, by Mr. B. Ives Gilman. 



The afternoons and evenings of July 3 and 5 and the 

 whole of Friday, July 6, were occupied by visits to the 

 zoological gardens at Clifton, a conversazione at the 

 Museum and Art Gallery, visits to the stone circles at 

 Stanton Drew, the ancient British lake village near Glas- 

 tonbury, the Glastonbury Museum, and the Cheddar Gorge 

 and Caves. The meetings were well attended throughout, 

 and a highly successful conference was brought to a close 

 on Saturday last. 



THE METEOROLOGY OF THE FREE 

 ATMOSPHERE. 

 A T the request of the council of the Royal Society of 

 ■^ Edinburgh, M. L. Teissercnc de Bort gave an address 

 on the meteorology of the free atmosphere at the meeting 

 of the society on May 21. Subjoined is a summary of his 

 lecture. 



The methods for sounding the atmosphere employed at 

 the present day have been in our possession but a few 

 years. The kite, carrying self-registering apparatus, was 

 introduced by the .Ainericans about fifteen years ago ; the 

 sounding balloon dates but twelve years back. The use of 

 balloons, furnished wfth registering apparatus, was pro- 

 posed by Lemonnier, a French physicist, at the end of the 

 eighteenth century ; but they were actually employed for 

 the first time by the Brothers Renard, and especially by 

 MM. Hermite and Besan^on, whose first observations go 

 back to 1893. 



Observations of great interest had already been made on 



