May 30, 1912] 
NATURE 
Ce) 
measurement of temperature up to 1750° C. were 
presented by Dr. A. L. Day, director of the Geo- 
physical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution. The 
range through which temperatures can now be deter- 
mined in terms of the fundamental definition (the 
expansion of gas under constant volume or pressure) 
has now reached nearly to the absolute zero down- 
ward, and to 1550° C. upward. The present investi- 
gation is concerned with the higher temperatures 
lying between 300° and 1550°. The accuracy 
attained in the present investigation within this 
region is about 0-2° in the vicinity of 300° and 2° at 
1550’. For the purpose of establishing temperatures 
of reference in this region for general use, the follow- 
ing constants have been determined :— 
Cadm um (melting poin ) .. 320°8°+0'1° 
Zinc (melting point) 419°3 tol" 
Sulphur (boiling point) 444°5 tor 
Antimony (melting point 629°8°+0°2° 
Silver aa re g60°0°+0°7° 
Gold “ + 1062°4 +0°S° 
Copper x 3 1082°6°+0°8° 
Li,SiO, 5 ap 1201°0°+1'0° 
Nickel “ 2 1452°3 42:0 
Palladium 3 Pa 1549 2+20° 
Platinum As 178270 +5 0° 
New magnetic charts of the Indian Ocean (illus- 
trated) were described by Dr. L. A. Bauer. The 
charts embody the results of magnetic observations 
made during the summer and fall of 1911 on board 
the non-magnetic yacht Carnegie. The necessity of 
the new charts arose from the exceptionally large 
errors found in the magnetic charts at present in use 
by mariners. Thus, for example, the errors in the 
charted compass directions for two of the most recent 
charts approximate respectively 4° and 6°, though 
one of the charts was issued as recently as Igto. 
With the exception of a few values found by the 
vessel used in the Pacific Ocean work, namely, the 
Galilee, these are the largest errors thus far revealed. 
In the portions of the Atlantic Ocean covered by the 
Carnegie, the compass chart errors have generally 
been below 2°, though running at times up to 23°. 
The chart errors in the compass directions are usually 
found to be systematic, that is, in the same direction 
for large stretches, and are to be ascribed largely to 
erroneous secular changes allowed for in attempting 
to bring previously observed values up to date. The 
errors in the other magnetic elements, while of less 
importance to the mariner, are of consequence to 
theoretical investigations regarding the  earth’s 
magnetism. In the magnetic dip the errors on the 
present cruise have amounted at times to 4°, and in 
the horizontal intensity to about one-twentieth part. 
During the afternoon of April 20 Prof. W. W. 
Campbell, of Lick Observatory, University of Cali- 
fornia, contributed a paper on radial velocity to a 
symposium on stellar spectroscopy. All observed 
stellar motions, he said, contain components due to 
the motions of the observer. The first step in studies 
of stellar motions is to determine the elements of the 
solar motion and to eliminate its effects from the 
observed motions of the stars, thus leaving the 
motions with reference to the stellar system. The 
direction of the solar motion has long been fairly 
well known: the solar system is approaching a point 
10° or 15° south-west of Vega. The speed deter- 
mined from 1200 radial velocities is 19} kilometres 
(12 miles) per second. The velocities of the stars are 
functions of their spectral classes, i.e. of their effective 
ages. The young stars are travelling slowly—rz2 kilo- 
metres per second on the average; the middle-aged 
stars more rapidly—28+ km. per second; and the old 
stars the most rapidly—34+ km. per second. Our 
sun, as a middle-aged star, is travelling with a speed 
NO. 2222, VOL. 89] 
| of 19} km. per second—far below the average of its 
class. We do not know. why stars increase their 
speeds as they grow older. Among the brighter and 
nearer stars, those resembling our sun in effective age 
predominate, and they partake somewhat of the solar 
motion. Neglecting these brighter middle-aged stars, 
the remaining stars form a fairly homogeneous 
mixture of stars of all ages. Radial velocity data 
increase our estimate of the scale of the universe 
about 50 per cent. above proper motion estimates. 
There is the utmost need for cooperation amongst 
astronomers in observing the radial velocities of stars 
between the fifth and seventh magnitudes. 
The relations between the spectra and _ other 
characteristics of the stars formed the subject of a 
paper by Prof. H. N. Russell. Among the stars the 
distances of which can be measured with some 
approach to accuracy, and the real brightness of 
which can thus be determined, there exists, with few 
exceptions, a very marked relation between the actual 
brightness and the class of spectrum. Stars re- 
sembling Sirius in their spectra are, on the aver- 
age, about fifty times as bright as the sun, those like 
Procyon about five times as bright as the sun, those 
with spectra like the sun’s are nearly equal to the 
sun in brightness; while the orange stars average 
only one-sixth as bright, and red stars are usually 
less than one-fiftieth, as bright as the sun. There 
exist, however, many stars of great brightness, of 
all spectral types, which are almost so remote that 
their distances cannot be accurately measured. 
From the best available data, these stars appear to 
be, on the average, from 100 to 250 times as bright 
as the sun, without much difference between the 
different spectral types. Among the stars redder 
than the sun, these two groups, of different bright- 
ness, are widely separated; but among the whiter 
stars they run together, and become identical for the 
whitest stars, which average more than 250 times as 
bright as the sun. From a study of double stars, it 
is found that the stars of the brighter class do not 
greatly exczed those of the fainter class in mass, 
and hence that they are either much less dense or 
much brighter per unit of surface, or both. An 
arrangement of all these groups of stars in order of 
increasing density would begin with the bright red 
stars of the type of Antares, run up the series of 
stars of great brightness to those of spectrum B, and 
then down the series of fainter stars, past those like 
the sun, to the faintest and reddest stars. It seems 
probable that this arrangement represents the evolu- 
tionary history of a star, which at first becomes 
heated more and more by its own contraction, and, 
finally, as it becomes too dense to admit of further 
shrinkage, cools off like a solid’ body. 
An important feature of the annual dinner in con- 
nection with the meeting was the presentation to. Mr. 
C. H. Burr, of Philadelphia, of the Henry M. Phillips 
prize of 4ool. to the author of the essay on “The 
Treaty-making Power of the United States and the 
Methods of its Enforcement as affecting the Police 
Powers of the States."’ 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
BirmincuHaM.—In commemoration of the opening of 
the new buildings in 1909 by his late Majesty King 
Edward VII., the pro-vice-chancellor (Alderman F. (3 
Clayton) has presented to the University a statue of 
that monarch. The statue, which is the work of Mr. 
Alfred Drury, stands in the entrance hall of the main 
block. It is of white marble, and represents his 
| Majesty in Garter dress, holding the sceptre in his 
