May 20, 1909J 



NA TURE 



547 



is on the side of under-estimating. Tlie amount must 

 be somewliat increased for students of medicine and 

 engineering, and for a non-collegiate student some- 

 what lowered, say to SoL-goi. per annum. 



Finally, although, perhaps, not carrying the weight 

 of a document which has been considered by a repre- 

 sentative committee, a circular issued by the Bursar 

 of Trinity is regarded by many of the members of the 

 Senate as one of the most important and valuable 

 contributions to reform in the University. The matter 

 with which it deals is difficult to e.xplain shortly, but 

 roughly it amounts to this : — A graduate, in taking 

 his degree, pays high fees for the degree of B.A. and 

 M.A. : after graduating, if he wishes to continue a 

 member of the University and the college in which he 

 was educated, he has to pay an annual sum to keep 

 his name on the boards of the University or the 

 college. It has always been a little difficult to explain 

 to the young B..A. to what purposes this latter sum is 

 devoted, and what, beyond a vote for the University 

 Members of Parliament, advantages accrue to the 

 graduate who remains a member of the University. 

 There is thus a slight sense of irritation amongst those 

 who keep their names on the boards, and in the case 

 of those who do not compound this irritation recurs 

 annually. On the other hand, those (and they are a 

 large majority) who do not remain officially connected 

 with Cambridge have the feeling that they have been 

 " shown the door," and that no longer are they 

 officially and technically members of the institution in 

 which many of them spent the happiest years of their 

 lives. 



Mr. Innes's proposal is to reduce the degree fees to 

 a nominal amount, and to abolish the fees for keeping 

 names on the boards. If this were done, there would 

 undoubtedly be a large increase in the numbers of 

 graduates proceeding to the M.A. degree, and every 

 graduate would remain a member of his college and 

 of the University. To compensate for the loss of the 

 fees which would thus be lowered or abolished, it is 

 proposed that an additional charge should be fmposed 

 upon the student whilst in residence. If this could be 

 effected, the whole body of graduates would become, 

 and would remain, members of the Senate, and would, 

 one cannot help believing, be more loyal and enthusi- 

 astic members of the University than is the case with 

 those who have technically ceased to belong to their 

 Alma Mater. 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY'S CONVERSAZIONE. 



AL.^RGE company assembled in the rooms of the 

 Royal Society at Burlington House on Wednes- 

 day, May 12, on the occasion of the first of the two 

 conversaziones given annually by the society. The 

 visitors were received by the president. Sir Archibald 

 Geikie, K.C.B., and great interest was shown in the 

 exhibits of apparatus and results of recent scientific 

 investigations. During the evening short demon- 

 strations were given by Dr. A. E. H. Tutton, F.R.S., 

 and Dr. Hans Gadow, F.R.S. Dr. Tutton's subject 

 was crystals and colour : the revelation of crystal 

 structure by polarised light. He gave a demonstra- 

 tion of the use of a new form of lantern polariscope 

 to illustrate recent progress in knowledge of the 

 internal structure of crystals. Magnificent colours 

 were projected upon the lantern screen, though no 

 coloured materials whatever were used to produce 

 them, all the crystals employed being colourless. A 

 new method of performing the Mitscherlich experi- 

 ment with gypsum, without any extraneous heating 

 of the crystal, was also shown. Dr. Gadow gave an 

 account of the fauna, fk)ra, and native races of 

 Mexico. 

 The subjoined notes on the exhibits have been sum- 

 NO. 2064, VOL. 80] 



marised from the oflicial catalogue, and are here 

 classified according to related subjects : — 



Dr. G. E. Hale, For.Mem.R.S. : Photographs illustra- 

 tive of work at the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory. 

 (i) Three photographs of the sun, taken at the Mount 

 Wilson Solar Observatory, April 30, 1908, showing. 

 (a) the photosphere, with sun-spots and faculae ; (b) the 

 flocculi of calcium vapour ; (c) the flocculi of hydrogen, at 

 a higher level in the solar atmosphere. The hydrogen, 

 photographs, which are made with the spectroheliograph^ 

 reveal the existence of cyclonic storms or vortices 

 associated with sun-spots. (2) Photograph of the sun, 

 taken on Mount Wilson, October 7, 1908, with the red. 

 line of hydrogen. The vortices surrounding two large 

 spots in the northern and southern hemispheres appear to. 

 rotate in opposite directions. (3) Six photographs, show- 

 ing the mounting of the 60-inch reflector of the Mount 

 Wilson Solar Observatory and the mode of transporting 

 the tube to the summit on a motor-truck. (4) Blue print,, 

 showing design for tower telescope, of 150 feet focal 

 length, now under construction for use on Mount Wilson. 

 An image of the sun, 16 inches in diameter, will be 

 formed in a laboratory at the base of the tower. The 

 spectrograph for studying this image will have a focal. 

 length of 75 feet, and will be mounted in a well beneath 

 the laboratory. — Solar Physics Observatory , South 

 Kensington: (i) Photographs and diagrams illustrating 

 researches in solar physics and its relations with terrestrial 

 meteorology. (2J Astrophysics, (i.) Spectrum of £ Ursae 

 Majoris ; (ii.) spectra demonstrating temperature differ- 

 ences, or similarities, of typical stars ; (iii.) laboratory 

 spectra — (a) o.xygen (vacuum tube) ; (h) erbium (arc) ; and. 

 (cf tungsten (spark) ; (iv.) spectra showing identification of 

 hitherto unknown lines in the spectrum of « Orionis. — 

 Mr. A. Fowler: Spectroscopic comparison of the star Mira. 

 Ceti with titanium oxide ; to illustrate the origin of the 

 characteristic bands of the Antarian or third-type stars. — 

 Mr. C. P. Butler: Thorp-Butler concave replica-grating, 

 spectroscope. Some years ago several applications of the 

 Thorp plane replica diffraction gratings were exhibited, not- 

 ably their use with an opera-glass for eclipse work. Recent 

 experiments have shown that concave replica gratings can 

 be made to give very satisfactory results, and by slight 

 modifications of the design of mounting, this form of 

 spectroscope may be employed for any investigation for 

 which the ordinary spectroscope is fitted. — The Astronomer 

 Royal : (i) Photographs and diagrams of the observations 

 of the distant satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. (2) Photo- 

 graphs of comet c, 1908 (Morehouse), taken with the 

 30-inch reflector at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. 

 (3) Tabular diagram showing the number and distribution 

 of stars in the Greenwich section of the Astrographic 

 Chart and Catalogue. The Greenwich section covers 

 2088 square degrees from the Pole to 26° N.P.D. Two 

 series, each of 1149 photographic plates, were taken, one 

 for the chart, witii an exposure of forty minutes, and the 

 other for the catalogue, with exposure of six minutes and 

 twenty seconds, and the number of stars shown with each 

 exposure has been counted. The total numbers are : — 

 (a) with forty minutes, 719,000; (b) with six minutes, 

 178,600; (c) with twenty seconds, 38,373. The diagram 

 shows the distribution of these stars in different parts of 

 the area photographed, and the resulting star density. 



Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer : Cloud photographs taken from 

 balloon. — Dr. Chree, F.R.S, : Antarctic magnetic records 

 and results. — Prof. J. Milne, F.R.S. : Seismograms of the 

 Messina earthquake of December 28, 1908. These records 

 were obtained at Shide, in the Isle of Wight, from two 

 Milne horizontal pendulums. One of these recorded north- 

 south motion and the other east-west motion. — Prof. E. 

 Hull, F.R.S. : Admiralty charts along the coast of Europe 

 and the British Isles, showing the continuation of the 

 river-valleys under the ocean to depths of about looo 

 fathoms (6000 feet). 



Prof. J. Norman Collie, F.R.S. : A curious property of 

 neon. Perfectly pure neon, when enclosed in a glass tube 

 with mercury and shaken, glows with a bright orange- 

 red colour. As neon does this at ordinary pressures, it 

 appears to be different from other gases. — Sir William 

 Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S. : Liquid radium en.^nation. 



