194 



NA TURE 



[August 5, 1922 



continuous increase of our knowledge of the spectrum 

 of the chromosphere and corona. It has always 

 seemed to me that the most successful of all eclipse 

 expeditions was the one which he led in 1898 and in 

 which he had Prof. Fowler and Dr. Lockyer among 

 his assistants. The differences between the chromo- 

 spheric and Fraunhofer spectrum were clearly shown 

 as regards the hydrogen and helium lines and the 

 numerous enhanced lines of many metals. In addition 

 the wave length of the principal corona line was 

 determined and some hypotheses as to its origin 

 disposed of finally. 



In 1887 Sir Norman Lockyer put forward a scheme 

 of stellar classification in which the stars were ar- 

 ranged according to an ascending and descending 

 scale of temperature. He presented his views in a 

 connected form in his book on " The Meteoritic 

 Hypothesis," published in 1890. In 1902 he pub- 

 lished " A Catalogue of 470 Stars classified according 

 to their Chemistry," from material accumulated at 

 South Kensington with an objective prism and studied 

 in the light of laboratory researches. For a long 

 time he stood alone. If we refer to the book of such 

 a learned and judicious astronomer as Newcomb, we 

 find in 1901 ("The Stars," pp. 220-225) that he takes 

 a linear order of development of the stars from the 

 blue to the red, with the sun at about the maximum 

 temperature in the series. Sir Norman could not 

 get over the difficulty that a great orb like Betelgeuse 

 or Antares must be in a widely different condition 

 from a small star like Gr. 24 or Kruger 60. With 

 great freshness of mind and boldness of onlook he 

 framed the meteoritic hypothesis. A comet served 

 as his model for the nebulous beginning of a star. 

 With gradual contraction temperature increased in 

 accordance with Lane's Law till the B stage was 

 reached, after which cooling began, so that in the 

 course of its history a star went twice through the 

 yellow and red stages. 



Twenty years later Prof. H. N. Russell, bringing 

 together facts and arguments from many sides, has 

 confirmed Sir Norman's main idea. He has shown 

 that stellar evolution proceeds in the line of increasing 

 density, and that stars of the same temperature may 

 be divided into giants and dwarfs in Prof. Hertz- 

 sprung's phrase — in the giants the temperature is 

 increasing and in the dwarfs decreasing. 



Sir Norman did not succeed in finding the spectro- 

 scopic criteria for giving the sizes of stars. These 

 were found later by Adams and Kohlschulter at 

 Mount Wilson. It is very pleasant to be able to 

 direct attention to the success attending work in 

 this direction now carried on at the Norman Lockyer 

 Observatory. 



I cannot conclude without expressing in one sen- 

 tence the deep obligations which all men of science 

 owe to Sir Norman Lockyer for founding Nature. 

 One cannot speak too highly of the usefulness of this 

 journal or of the pleasure one takes in reading it 

 each week. Its long continuance is a testimony to 

 the wisdom and foresight of its founder. 



The few remarks I have made have dealt very 

 briefly with the main lines of Sir Norman Lockyer's 

 contributions to astronomy — The constitution of the 

 sun — the variety and relationship of terrestrial 

 spectra — stellar evolution. To each of these questions 

 he brought a very fresh mind, and attacked them 

 with courage and imagination. He was a great 

 pioneer of solar and stellar physics. This portrait 

 medallion with its inscription commemorates him in 

 the most suitable place in the observatory which he 

 founded, and which is faithfully carrying on the search 

 prosecuted by him so diligently and successfully into 

 the nature of sun and stars. 



NO. 2753, VOL. I IO] 



Constitution and Work of the Observatory 



Sir Richard Gregory, in expressing the grateful 

 thanks of the Corporation to the subscribers for their 

 most acceptable gift, said : 



As one who had the privilege of being associated 

 with Sir Norman in different capacities for nearly 

 thirty years, as research student, assistant editor of 

 Nature, and in connexion with the great national 

 organisation — the British Science Guild — created by 

 him in 1905, perhaps I may be permitted to add my 

 tribute to what the Astronomer Royal has said, and 

 to state briefly what this observatory stands for and 

 what we hope it will be in the near future. Sir 

 Norman Lockyer was seventy-six years of age when 

 he started to establish the observatory in 191 2, and 

 this m itself is sufficient to show his unbounded zeal 

 and energy. An appeal for funds was made, and some 

 generous supporters came forward, but the means for 

 providing the necessary buildings and equipment, the 

 site itself, and sums for maintenance for several 

 years, were supplied mainly by Sir Norman and Lady 

 Lockyer and Lt.-Col. Frank McClean. The observa- 

 tory was incorporated in 1916, and its constitution is 

 entirely democratic. Each member of the corpora- 

 tion, whatsoever his contribution, has a single vote, 

 and membership is open to any one approved by the 

 council. 



The corporation is unique in its purpose and its 

 constitution. It exists solely to maintain and develop 

 this observatory, not for financial profit but for the 

 gain of knowledge of the heavens. Its foreign 

 members include some of the leading astronomers of 

 the world, and a Research Committee, consisting of 

 Sir Frank Dyson (Astronomer Royal), Prof. Eddington 

 (Cambridge University), Prof. Fowler (Imperial 

 College, South Kensington), and Prof. Turner (Oxford 

 University), advises upon work which may be usefully 

 undertaken. The management and control of the 

 observatory are vested in the council, which is elected 

 by the members. 



In these days it may be difficult for some people 

 to realise that a corporation can be formed in which 

 all the services of the council and advisory committees 

 are performed voluntarily, yet such is the case with 

 this observatory corporation. Were it not, indeed, 

 for gifts by members of the corporation, among them 

 the Maharaj Rana of Jhalawar, Mr. Robert Mond, 

 Miss Leigh Browne, Capt. W. N. McClean, and others! 

 as well as for work willingly and freely undertaken, 

 the observatory could not exist. In order to provide, 

 however, for the salaries of the staff and general 

 maintenance of the observatory, even on the present- 

 basis, it will be necessary to raise the sum of, at least, 

 fifteen thousand pounds, as the funds hitherto sub- 

 scribed provide less than one-half the annual income 

 required to meet expenses. We are fortunate in 

 having as director of the observatory Major Lockyer, 

 and it is really wonderful what he manages to accom- 

 plish with his assistant, Mr. D. L. Edwards. There is 

 no observatory in the kingdom where more photo- 

 graphs are being taken of the spectra of the stars, 

 from which we learn something of celestial chemistry 

 and are able to classify them from their beginnings as 

 vast attenuated masses up to fervid suns which after- 

 wards cool and condense to the dull redness and dark- 

 ness of decaying worlds. A generation ago, celestial 

 evolution was believed to proceed entirely on a down 

 grade of temperature from the condition of incan- 

 descent gas in a nebula, but Sir Norman Lockyer 

 showed that there is an ascent as well as a descent in 

 stellar temperature, and this key to the classification 

 of the stars is now generally accepted by astronomers. 



The large number of photographs of stellar spectra 

 accumulated by Sir Norman Lockyer and largely 



