5IO 



NATURE 



[September 21, 1905 



coronagraph operated by Mr. F. McClean obtained 

 a fine photograph of the corona with excessively 

 sharp detail and good extension. The De la Rue 

 coronagraph in charge of Lieut. Trench, R.N., was 

 fortunate enough to secure three negatives, all of 

 which will be very serviceable, as the focus was so 

 well adjusted. Unfortunately the long exposures re- 

 quired for the three-colour camera operated by Lady 

 Lockyer could not be secured in consequence of clouds. 

 The 33-inch Newton, mounted equatorially and 

 worked by Staff-Surgeon Clift, obtained two successful 

 exposures. The instrument in my charge secured four 

 negatives that will prove useful, one of which dis- 

 plays the green coronal ring clearer than those which 

 were secured in the 1898 or 1900 eclipses, and several 

 other distinct coronal rings in addition. The spec- 

 trum of the lower chromosphere at the beginning or 

 end of totality was not obtained. The objective 

 grating spectroscope worked by Mr. Howard Payn 

 produced one out of two exposures made, and shows 

 the spectrum of the larger prominences and the green 

 coronal ring. 



The observers of the shadow bands gained a great 



Committee. Perhaps by the time that the next 

 eclipse occurs we may know a little more about 

 " weather " to enable observers to go to regions 

 where they will not be totally or even partially clouded 

 out! William J. S. Lockyer. 



INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL 

 CONFERENCE AT INNSBRUCK. 



"T^HIS International Meteorological Conference was 

 •'• opened at Innsbruck on September 9, when Dr. 

 Hildebrandsson, the secretary of the International 

 Meteorological Committee, read the report of the 

 operations of that body on the part of M. Mascart 

 (president) and himself, and explained that at the 

 Southport meeting in September, 19OJ, Dr. Pcrnter's 

 proposal that a conference of the directors of meteor- 

 ological services should be held at Innsbruck this 

 year, similar in character to those at Munich in 1891 

 and Paris in 1896, was favourably regarded and sub- 

 sequently adopted. 



The vacancies which have occurred on the com- 

 mittee from various causes have been filled by the 



Lieut. Home's 



up packing 6-inch 



Pillars of i(i-feet 3*-inch Newton 

 coronnyrapli. telescope base. 



Fig. 5.— The camp four hours after the eclipse, showing how quickly t 



amount of information as regards their size, rate of 

 motion, and direction. The coronal sketchers obtained 

 very concordant results, and the other parties gleaned 

 much useful information, which will be published 

 later, as the observations have not yet been brought 

 together. 



By the evening of Sunday, September 3, the whole 

 of the instruments, tents, dark room, and smaller 

 huts were comfortably on board, and we steamed 

 away to Palermo, leaving our camp as bare as we 

 found it. Two copies of each negative had been 

 made and separately packed to ensure loss against 

 accident. 



With the exception of Mr. Butler, who proceeded 

 to Malta in H.M.S. Venus, and of Mr. Payn, who 

 remained at Palma, our party bade farewell to the 

 officers and men of H.M.S. Venus who had worked 

 so hard, and whom Dame Nature had treated so 

 badly. Crossing to Naples, where we left Mr. F. 

 McClean, we took the train the same morning to 

 Rome, and after a short rest and a little sight-seeing 

 journeyed to Innsbruck, travelling through Ihe 

 "beautiful Brenner Pass, to attend the meeting of the 

 Solar Commission of the International Meteorological 

 NO. 1873, \'OL. 72] 



appointment of Dr. Palazzo and Dr. Shaw in 

 succession to Prof. Tacchini and Dr. Scott. Dr. 

 Hildebrandsson was elected secretary on the retire- 

 ment of Dr. Scott, who, since the creation of the 

 committee, had performed this function with a zeal 

 and devotion which would be most gratefully 

 remembered. The following changes have also been 

 made : — M. Chaves, director of the Meteorological 

 Service of the Azores, was appointed in place of 

 Admiral de Brito-Capello, Dr. Hellmann in succession 

 to Prof, von Bezold, and M. Lancaster in succession 

 to M. Snellen. 



Sir John Eliot, having ceased to be director of the 

 Indian Meteorological Service, tendered his resig- 

 nation as a member of the committee, but, with the 

 approval of the India Office, communicated through 

 Dr. Shaw, the committee invited him to retain his 

 scat, as representing in Europe the Meteorological 

 Service of India. Thus the committee has the great 

 advantage of counting among its members residing 

 in Europe a man of experience and possessing a 

 thorough knowledge of the meteorology of the tropics. 



.-Vccording to the report presented by M. Wild and 

 Dr. Scott to the conference at Munich, and adopted 



