142 



NA TURE 



[April i, 1909 



lunar surface illuminated by the light reflected from the 

 earth, are reproduced in the March number of the Bulletin 

 dc la Socicte astronomique de France. 



Whilst most people are familiar with the appearance of 

 the moon thus partially illuminated, it is not an easy 

 matter to photograph the phenomenon successfully, but 

 on these photographs many lunar details are shown quite 

 well, except in the sunlit crescent, which is, of course, 

 much over-exposed. 



The photographs were talcen by M. Qui^nisset at the 

 Juvisy Observatory, using the Viennet objective of 16 cm. 

 aperture and 290 m. focal length, with ten minutes' ex- 

 posure on a fast plate at the focus. 



CosMiCAL Matter in Space. — In his address as retiring 

 president of the Royal Astronomical Society, Prof. Newall 

 directed attention to, and briefly discussed, the possibility 

 that the chief characteristic spectroscopic phenomena of 

 ihe sun and the stars are mainly produced by matter 

 streaming into these bodies from without rather than by 

 matter brought from their interior layers to their radiating 

 surfaces. 



Appealing to ^ various solar, cometary, and physical 

 phenomena, Mr. Newall educed evidence that this view of 

 astrophysics is not an obviously impossible one, and would, 

 if found acceptable, account for several outstanding 

 anomalies (Monthly Notices, R..\.S., vol. Ixix., No. 4, 

 February). 



Observations of Variable Stars. — During igo8 Prof. 

 Nijiand observed, at the Utrecht Observatory, twenty-one 

 Algol variables, six short-period variables, three variables 

 of the U Geminorum type, SS Cygni, and forty-five long- 

 period variable stars. The results of these observations 

 now appear in No. 4309 of the Astronomiscbe Nachrichten, 

 together with a series of notes dealing with any special 

 features observed. 



THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF 

 WASHINGTON. 



"T^HE seventh year-book of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington, for igo8, has just been received, and 

 consists of reports of the president and the executive com- 

 mittee, and of directors of departments and other grantees 

 who, with the assistance of the institution, have been 

 carrying on investigations during the year. 



The president's report gives the following facts and 

 figures indicating the growth and extent of the work so 

 far undertaken and accomplished by the institution. Since 

 its organisation, in 1902, about 1000 individuals have been 

 engaged in investigations under the auspices of the institu- 

 tion, and there are at present nearly 500 so engaged. Ten 

 independent departments, each with its staff of invcsti- 

 gaTors and assistants, have been established. In addition 

 to these larger departments of work, organised by the 

 institution itself, numerous special researches carried on 

 by individuals have been subsidised. Six laboratories, for 

 as many different fields of investigation and in widely 

 separated localities, have been constructed and equipped. 

 Work in almost every field of research, from archa:ology 

 and astronomy to thermodynamics and zoology, has been 

 undertaken, and the geographical range of this work has 

 extended to more than thirty different countries. 



.\t the end of the fiscal year, October 31, 1908, 120 

 volumes of researches in nineteen different fields of re- 

 search, with a total of more than 30,000 pages, had been 

 published, and twenty-seven volumes of researches were 

 in the press. In addition to these publications issued by 

 Ihe institution, about 1000 shorter papers have been pub- 

 lished in the current journals of the world by departmental 

 investigators, by associates, and by assistants. The total 

 amount of funds allocated for expenditure to November i, 

 IQ08, was 737,000/., which included 59,000/. reverted and 

 afterwards re-appropriated. The total amount expended 

 was 672,000/. 



During the past year the Nutrition Laboratory in Boston 



NO. 2057, VOL. 80] 



has been equipped, and systematic investigations are already 

 in progress. 



The construction of a building in Washington, D.C., at 

 the south-east corner of Sixteenth and P Streets, N.W., 

 was begun a year ago. This building is for administrative 

 offices and the storage of records and publications, and 

 when completed will cost about 44,000/. 



The plans and specifications for the construction of a 

 specially designed ship for ocean magnetic work have 

 recently been completed. These plans require a non- 

 magnetic sailing vessel with auxiliary propulsion. She 

 will be classified as a yacfTt, will be called the Carnegie, 

 and will, upon completion, proceed upon a magnetic survey 

 of the Atlantic Ocean under the direction of the department 

 of terrestrial magnetism of the institution. The grant for 

 the construction of this vessel is 8000/. 



A temporary observatory for supplementary measures of 

 the positions of the fixed stars of the southern hemisphere 

 is now being built at San Luis, Argentina, under the 

 direction of Prof. Lewis Boss, head of the department of 

 meridian astronomy of the institution. Prof. R. H. Tucker 

 will be resident astronomer in charge of the work of observ- 

 ing and computing in South America, which will require 

 three to five years for completion. The meridian instru- 

 ment of the Dudley Observatory, the constants of which 

 have been thoroughly investigated, will be transferred to 

 San Luis and used in securing the desired measurements 

 of the positions of stars in both hemispheres. 



Work in the other departments of the institution has 

 progressed rapidly and successfully. The investigations of 

 Dr. G. E. Hale, director of the Solar Observatory on 

 Mount Wilson, California, are of great interest. During 

 the year, with the aid of his exceptional equipment, the 

 discoveries which have been made with regard to sun- 

 spots will probably prove of as great importance to terres- 

 trial and molecular physics as to solar physics. The 

 progress inaugurated may be confidently expected to lead 

 rapidly to definite and important results. The expenditure 

 on account of the site, buildings, instruments, and other 

 appliances of the observatory was, up to September 30, 

 1908, 71,631/. 



Under the direction of the department of historical re- 

 search, work upon manuscript materials for American 

 history has been pursued in France, Italy, and England, 

 and next year will be extended to Germany. Many remark- 

 able experiments and investigations are in progress under 

 the department of botanical research at the Desert Labora- 

 tory at Tucson, Arizona. 



In addition to the work carried on in the departments 

 of the institution during the year, thirty-one grants were 

 made to individuals and organisations in aid of researches 

 conducted by them, and many other researches begun in 

 former years have been carried forward. The publication 

 of twenty volumes was authorised, and twenty-seven 

 volumes and an atlas have been published. The latter 

 include the report upon the California earthquake of 

 .April iS, 1906, a handbook of learned societies and institu- 

 tions of North and South America, and a reproduction of 

 the " Old Yellow Rook," the source of Browning's " The 

 Ring and the Book." These volumes and others issued 

 by the institution are offered for sale at the cost of print- 

 ing and transportation to purchasers. 



At the annual meeting of the board of trustees on 

 December 8, 1008, the sum of 127,260/. was allocated to 

 carry on work of investigation, publication, and administra- 

 tion during the year igoq. 



RECENT PAPERS ON DARWINISM. 

 'T'HE Fortnightly Review for March contains an admir- 

 -*- able article, by Dr. A. Russel Wallace, on " The 

 World of Life, as Visualised and Interpreted by 

 Darwinism." The veteran author argues with all his old 

 vigour and eloquence in favour of the theory of the origin 

 of species by natural selection, bringing out the facts of 

 extensive and independent variation under natural con- 

 ditions, emphasising the reality of the struggle for life, 

 and insisting on the facts of adaptation as inexplicable 

 under any other hypothesis than that of Darwin. He 



