August 5, 1922] 



NA TURE 



*95 



taken at this observatory under his direction and that 

 of his son, are now being used to determine the dis- 

 tances of stars by a method due to Prof. W. S. Adams, 

 one of the foreign members of the observatory. The 

 measurements are being made by Mr. D. L. Edwards 

 and Mr. W. 15. Rimmer. The Department of Scientific 

 and Industrial Research has made a grant to the latter 

 for the purpose of carrying out a portion of this research 

 while attached to the observatory. The equipment 

 and opportunities here for both education and re- 

 search in the physics and chemistry of celestial bodies 

 are as full and free as could be desired by the most 

 progressive student or investigator. The endowment 

 of two or three research scholarships tenable at this 

 observatory would be the best service that could be 

 rendered to astronomy, and would certainly result in 

 notable increase of our knowledge of the heavens. 



It is remarkable that in the United States funds are 

 provided for observatories and astronomical work, by 

 both university institutions and private benefactions, 

 on a scale far beyond anything available in this 

 country. We once led in astronomy, but America 

 now surpasses us both as regards great observatories 

 and remarkable achievements. Whatever funds are 

 required for buildings, equipment, and workers are 

 readily forthcoming, whereas here benefactions for 

 astronomical work are extremely rare. The Mount 

 Wilson Observatory, where the best astronomical 

 work in the world is now being carried on under the 

 direction of Dr. G. E. Hale, one of our foreign members, 

 cost more than a quarter of a million pounds, and has 

 an annual income exceeding 40,000/. It possesses a 

 100-inch telescope, upon which more than 100,000/. 

 has been expended, and it was in connexion with this 

 instrument that nearly two years ago the remarkable 

 achievement was accomplished of measuring the 

 diameters of certain stars, among them the star 

 Antares, which proves to have a diameter of 400 

 million miles. The Yerkes Observatory, Lick Obser- 

 vatory, Harvard College Observatory, and Lowell 

 Observatory are other examples of great astronomical 

 institutions in the United States which we both 

 admire and envy. The difficulty there is not to 

 obtain funds for astronomical work, but men who will 

 devote their lives to it : here we have plenty of men 

 eager to take up astronomical research but no means 

 to provide them with the necessary instruments and 

 modest salaries to maintain them. 



The Norman Lockyer Observatory is the only 

 institution of its kind in this country, and it owes its 

 existence to the generosity of a few people who believe 

 that to place here a temple devoted to the increase of 

 knowledge of the heavens is to provide a mansion in 

 the skies. The county, the nation, and the whole 

 world of science, owe a deep debt of gratitude to the 

 founder and to his supporters, for this fine building 

 reaching out high unto the stars to question them and 

 understand the messages they send us in their beams. 



For the means to continue and extend the work so 

 nobly instituted and profitably begun, we appeal to 

 all who are interested in the pursuit of knowledge for 

 its own sake or because of its uplifting influence upon 

 the spirit of man. In faith and hope we ask that this 

 memorable occasion shall mark the beginning of a 

 new and enlarged stage in the history of this obser- 

 vatory, and that the future will see upon this site a 

 centre of modern astronomical research which will 

 maintain the prestige of British science throughout 

 the world and be a worthy memorial to the renowned 

 astronomer who built here this tower from which the 

 heavens can be scanned for intellectual expansion 

 and the enlightenment which the spirit of man is ever 

 seeking as to his destiny. 



Col. J. E. H. Balfour, High Sheriff and Lord of the 

 Manor of Sidmouth, expressed on behalf of the county- 

 appreciation of Sir Norman's association with Devon 

 and the neighbourhood of Sidmouth. While Sid- 

 mouth was famed for its natural advantages of climate 

 and scenery it was little thought that these advantages 

 would be turned to such wonderful and useful pur- 

 poses. He was glad to know that the confidence felt 

 in the suitability of the site for the observatory had 

 been amply justified, and he deemed it an honour 

 to Sidmouth to possess such an observatory. He 

 expressed the wish that the observatory would have a 

 great future in the advancement of science and know- 

 ledge that it deserved. 



The Rev. J. S. Cornish recalled that in his memory 

 the grounds of the observatory were formerly one of 

 the wildest and least useful parts of Salcombe Regis. 

 He little thought it possible that from such an expanse 

 of waste would arise an institution that had already 

 become known throughout the scientific world. He 

 referred to the stone of the old sun- worshippers, which 

 still stands near the observatory land where now the 

 modern astronomer reads the truth of the stars with 

 his magnificent telescopes. He hoped that the 

 observatory would become increasingly famous 

 throughout the world, as was the heart's desire of its 

 founder, Sir Norman Lockyer. 



Lady Lockyer heartily thanked those who had 

 assembled that day for the unveiling ceremony. Sir 

 Norman looked forward to the observatory being a 

 place where research students could carry out investi- 

 gations in any branch of spectroscopic research. The 

 provision of a library was essential to house the large 

 collection of books. This would cost about 2000/. and 

 they had not that amount of money to spend on it. She 

 hoped a much greater interest would be taken in the 

 work of the observatory, and that the expansion of 

 its activities would not suffer from lack of support. 

 Lady Lockyer expressed the gratitude of Sir Norman's 

 family that his portrait was erected in the observatory 

 which he founded and directed, and which now, by 

 the wish of all the members, bears his name. 



Pioneer Work in Submarine Cable Telegraphy. 



THE jubilee celebrations of the Eastern Associated 

 Telegraph Companies are so nearly contem- 

 poraneous as to seem to be almost part of the com- 

 memoration of the foundation of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers, which antedated that of the 

 Company by only a few months. These celebrations 

 carry with them a warning not to lose our sense of 

 historic proportion : they remind us that before a 

 Society of Telegraph Engineers could be established, 

 telegraph engineering had already been well founded, 

 and that the great submarine cable companv which 

 now for fifty years has served the Empire and the 



whole world with such conspicuous ability and com- 

 mercial success could scarcely have been the concept 

 of the earlier pioneer days. Only when the art of 

 submarine telegraphy had been amply assured of 

 success could so great a commercial undertaking as 

 that which the Eastern Telegraph Company is now 

 celebrating be initiated. 



The following notes on the pioneer work of the 

 cable engineers and others have been drawn freely 

 from the discourse which Sir Charles Bright delivered 

 at the Electrical Engineers' commemoration. 



Perhaps it is a little far-fetched to treat quite 



NO. 2753, VOL. I IO] 



