134 



NA TURE 



[April i, iqco 



from scurvy, which can now be avoided, extreme cold 

 is not unfavourable to health, but the magnitude of 

 the results and the absence of serious accidents in 

 the face of such difficulties are beyond all praise. 



■ W. H. Dines. 



(4) Biological Results. 

 As regards the biological results of Lieut. Shackle- 

 ton's achievement, little can be inferred from the 

 tantalisingly brief statements made in the telegrams. 

 That there will be news of great interest is certain, 

 for Mr. James Murray, whose skill and per- 

 severance as an investigator were proved in the 

 course of the .Scottish Lake Survey, is not one to 

 have failed in making the most of his unique, oppor- 

 tunity. There is biological as well as geological 

 interest in the report — rich deposits of foraminiferal 

 mud (with abundant Biloculina) 40 feet above sea- 

 level, of radiolarian remains in the erratic chert 

 boulders at Cape Royds, and of Coal measures in 

 latitude 85°, with seams of coal 1 foot to 7 feet thick. 

 The frozen fresh-water lakes near Cape Royds con- 

 tained . large sheets of a "fungus-like plant" and 

 abundant diatoms. Many lichens were found and a 

 few mosses. Mr. Murray found abundant infusorians, 

 rotifers, and water-bears (Tardigrada) in the fresh- 

 water lakes, and demonstrated afresh the strong 

 resistance which rotifers have to extremes of tem- 

 perature. It is well known that many rotifers may 

 survive very thorough desiccation, and that some are 

 able to resist deprivation of air in an ordinary air- 

 pump vacuum. Zelinka showed that Callidina can 

 revive after exposure to — 20° C. and immersion in 

 hot water at 70° C. ; it will be interesting to hear 

 what fresh instances of plasticity are afforded by Mr. 

 Murray's researches on the microscopic fauna of these 

 polar lakes. One of the despatches says that num- 

 bers of rotifers which had been frozen into ice for three 

 years revived after a few minutes' thawing, and began 

 eagerly devouring the fungus that abounds in the 

 lakes. What is probably an unauthorised addendum 

 to the original telegraph credits Mr. Murray with 

 discovering that the southern rotifers are peculiar 

 in being viviparous, but viviparous species of rotifers 

 have been known for a long time. Another crumb of 

 biological information is the report of the ringed 

 penguin at Cape Royds, which extends the record of 

 the southerly range of this bird. The only other 

 crumb requires a grain of salt, for it tells us that the 

 marine fauna near Cape Royds resembles the Car- 

 boniferous fauna of Australia. 



THE SOLAR RESEARCH UNION.'' 



'ipHE first volume of Transactions, at the first and 

 ■•■ second conferences, of this International Union 

 has already been noticed in Nature (vol. Ixxv., p. 

 458)- 



The present publication concerns itself with the 

 proceedings of the third conference, held at Meudon 

 on May 20-23, iQo". together with reports of various 

 committees of the union, and some original papers 

 w-hich have not appeared previously in an accessible 

 form. As in the case of the first volume, the general 

 editorship has been in the capable hands of Prof. 

 Schuster, chairman of the executive committee. 



Of the six parts into which the book is divided 

 the first two consist simply of lists of the scientific 

 bodies constituting the union, delegates present, and 

 rnen of science invited to take part. The third sec- 

 tion, thanks to the excellent record kept by the three 



' "Transactions of the Internalional Union for Cooperation in Solar 

 Research." Vol. ii. (Third Conference.) Pp. viii + 244. (Manchester: 

 University Press, igoS.) Price 7J. 6^. net. 



NO. 2057, VOL. 80] 



secretaries, gives full minutes of the six meetings 

 held during the conference. 



The first action of the delegates was to elect as 

 president, by acclamation, M. Janssen, the vener- 

 able and illustrious director of the Observatory oi 

 Meudon, whose subsequent death has been universally 

 mourned. His short speech, accepting office and 

 returning thanks, was concluded by the following 

 words : — " C'est h vous. Messieurs, que je confie 

 I'avenir de cette science du soleil que j'ai cultivte 

 avec passion pendant plus de quarante annt^es, de 

 cette science des mondes dont j'entrevois I'avenir 

 fructueux. Laissez-moi vous remercier, au moment 

 oil je termine ma carriere, de la joie que vous me 

 donnez aujourd'hui." 



Mutual helpfulness and coordination, with due 

 regard to the disparity among the equipments in- 

 volved, might be regarded as the watchwords of the 

 conference. The necessity for these in the spectro- 

 scopic determination of the solar rotation periods 

 and in the observation and classification of solar 

 prominences was urged b)' various members. 



M. Perot presented a new measure of the red 

 cadmium line for use as a primary standard, made 

 by MM. Benoit, Fabry, and himself, while the com- 

 mittee on standards of wave-length was given, by 

 resolution, the further duty of preparing a list of 

 secondary standards, to be submitted to the constituent 

 societies, and, if approved by them, adopted by the 

 Union. Both the paper on the red line of cadmium 

 and a further paper by MM. Fabry and Buisson, on 

 the measurement of wave-lengths for the establishment 

 of a system of standard lines, are printed in full. 



.\ complete account of the scheme of sun-spot 

 spectrum observations, suggested by the committee 

 on sun-spot spectra and drawn up by Prof. Fowler, was 

 adopted by the Union, and is incorporated in the 

 Transactions. This scheme allots to each observer 

 a section of the spectrum of about 250 tenth-metres, 

 together with certain other observations outside the 

 special region, but is far from discouraging the 

 initiative of the individual in undertaking further work 

 when opportunity presents itself. The whole of the 

 visible spectrum, in overlapping sections, is already 

 portioned out among the observers available. Though 

 almost without doubt the future of this subject lies 

 with the photographic method, it is a wise policy to 

 make use of the equipments already existing and of 

 the observers already trained in visual observations of 

 spot spectra for a more complete and co-ordinated 

 study than has yet been undertaken. The further 

 knowledge gained will be a welcome endowment for 

 the large sun-spot spectrographs when they are more 

 plentiful than at present. 



With regard to the solar constant, resolutions were 

 adopted stating the need for central stations where 

 instruments for this work might be tested and 

 standardised, and indicating the laboratory of M. 

 Angstrom at the University of LTpsala as the principal 

 central station. A report of the work carried out in 

 the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, relative 

 to the solar constant, is also printed. 



The report of the committee on work with the 

 spectroheliograph gives the general programme of 

 observations suggested to the individuals and institu- 

 tions cooperating in this important work. The 

 need for mutual help, in the interest of progress, is 

 particularly great in work of this character. For 

 intimate study of the rapidly changing solar activitii^ 

 a series of photographs taken as closely together in 

 time as possible is desirable. With a ring of stations 

 round the globe the records at the more westerly 

 would be in sequence after the more easterly, anil 

 thus in any one day a series of photographs would 



