258 



NATURE 



I [July i6, it,o8 



apparatus ; an electromotor room, with eight types of 

 motors for continuous current and for single, two- and 

 three-phase alternating currents, including a 500-volt 

 25-B.H.P. trargway motor; a dynamo room with eight 

 pairs of motor-driven generators and rotaries, each having 

 its own switch-panel, and developing from 4 h.p. to 30 h.p. 

 at almost any pressure and periodicity. These sixteen 

 machines are nearly all of the latest types, and comprise 

 series, shunt and compound wound generators, single- 

 phase, two-phase, and three-phase alternators, a double 

 commutator, continuous current rotary, and a polyphase 

 rotary converter ; , and, finally, an electrical engineering 

 laboratory with all the necessary apparatus for instruction 

 in the principles and practice of the subject. 



Physics Department. — Prior to 1S84, when the present 

 lecture-room and laboratory were erected, the number of 

 students taking practical work was extremely small, and 

 the accommodation provided was regarded at that time as 

 ample. From 1884 to 1898 the number of laboratory 

 students increased eight-fold, and accommodation for them 

 could only be found by annexing and utilising various 

 cellars and underground corridors. In 189S the Depart- 

 ment had about 100 students, and comprised 220 square 

 yards on two different floors, serving for all but electrical 

 work, and 300 square yards of cellars, in which electrical 

 experiments had to be carried on. Subsequently, a dark 

 room of 150 square yards in the form of a corrugated iron 

 building was added for advanced optical work, and 

 another cellar of 200 square yards for elementary physics. 

 The new premises, which consist of a one-storey shed 

 covering the former tennis courts, will add about 1600 

 square yards, and will be divided into sections for ele- 

 mentary and advanced work. It is anticipated that the 

 space will not only accommodate the present number of 

 ■students, but will allow of an increase up to 50 per cent. 

 It is impossible, however, that the present structure should 

 have a very long life. Glass-roofed sheds and thin brick 

 walls do not furnish ideal conditions for a physical 

 laboratory, and it is anticipated that as soon as funds 

 allow, a building having some relation to the importance 

 of the subject and the large number of students in attend- 

 ance will be erected. 



Organic Chemistry Department. — The history of this 

 •department begins with the foundation of a lectureship 

 and its recognition as a separate department in 1891. 

 There was then no special provision for the studv of prac- 

 tical organic chemistry. The department was first housed 

 in a private laboratory and furnace-room on the ground 

 floor ; but as the number of students increased, additional 

 accommodation had to be found, and a portion of the 

 large lecture theatre was partitioned off, providing bench 

 room for twenty-two students. The new temporary one- 

 storey building, which adjoins the new physical laboratory, 

 will double the present bench space, as well as provide a 

 private laboratory for the professor and a temporary 

 laboratory for occasional classes. As in the case of the 

 Physics Department, it is only lack of funds which pre- 

 vents suitable provision being made for this branch of 

 practical chemistry. 



Ci'jil and Mechanical Engineering Department. — This 

 department was founded in 1876, and for eight years was 

 carried on under some difficulties as to space and equip- 

 ment. In 1884 a special fund was raised by the engineers 

 of the district for the building of a new department, with 

 laboratories, drawing-office, lecture-rooms, &c. The accom- 

 modation proved sufficient for some years, but as the 

 number of students increased, it was found necessary to 

 absorb into the department other small rooms of the 

 college, and in 1891 the authorities found themselves com- 

 pelled to limit the number of students to eighty. The new- 

 block is an extension of the 18S4 buildings on the north 

 side, and contains a laboratory specially fitted up for 

 hydraiilics and one for applied mechanics, as well as an 

 extension of the drawing-office. 



This brief history of the university and the account 

 of its new buildings is a record of small beginnings 

 and steady growth. Each department has passed "through 

 a similar series of phases, a more or less rapid rise 

 in numbers causing increasing pressure from within, 

 which has led to expansion by various temporary ex- 

 pedients until the department has had to detach ' itself 



XO. 2020, VOL. 78] 



from the parent building and set up house for itself. 

 There may be now an interval of apparent repose ; but 

 there is little doubt that the process will repeat itself. 

 Temporary buildings will have to give place to permanent 

 structures, properly adapted for the purpose which they 

 have to serve, and physics and chemistry, the largest of 

 the departments, will soon have to receive their share of 

 attention. It will only be by constant appeals to the 

 generosity of the public that the university will be able to 

 fulfil the requirements w'hich high teaching efficiency and 

 modern equipment demand, if it is adequately to serve the 

 interests of the city and county in which it is placed. 



We have only referred to the work and appliances for 

 ordinary teaching. The pursuit of research is eagerly en- 

 couraged, but here again the small sum at the disposal 

 of the council for post-graduate fellow^ships and mainten- 

 ance grants greatly reduces that form of assistance which 

 heads of departments naturally look to in carrying out 

 original investigations. 



This form of assistance the Treasury has, unfortunately,) 

 not yet recommended in allocating funds for researih, but 

 its recognition cannot be urged too strongly or too 

 frequently. " J. B. C. 



A C.iPE CATALOGUE OF STARS.' 



'X'HE most recent catalogue of stars emanating from the 

 Cape Observatory contains the places of 1680 stars 

 for the equinox 1900-0, deduced from observations made 

 during the years 1905-6 under the direction of Sir D. 

 Gill. The introduction, which is signed by Mr. S. S. 

 Hough, explains that the stars observed with the old non- 

 reversible transit circle in the above-mentioned years, the 

 places of which are included in this catalogue, are chiefly 

 stars south of declination —36° required by Prof. Boss in 

 connection with the formation of his fimdamental cata- 

 logue. The catalogue also includes stars the places of 

 which are required in connection with the geodetic survey 

 of South Africa, and stars of which occultations by the 

 moon have been observed. 



With regard to the right ascensions, it may be noted 

 that the places of stars employed for the determination of 

 clock-error were those of Newcomb's Fundamental Cata- 

 logue. It is also to be noted that the correction has been 

 applied for the observers' personality depending on magni- 

 tude. The existence of this kind of personality was first 

 detected by Sir D. Gill in his discussion of the places of 

 the comparison stars used in connection with his deter- 

 mination of the solar parallax by observations of Mars in 

 1S77. It is fit and proper, therefore, that the Cape 

 Observatory should be a pioneer in this direction of refine- 

 ment, and should include this correction, as a matter of 

 routine, in the ordinary reductions of meridian transits of 

 stars. 



The declinations have been reduced with refractions 

 based on the Pulkowa tables and adopted mean latitude of 

 the transit circle, —33° 56' 3"-50. The observations have 

 also been corrected for variation of latitude depending on 

 the Chandler polar motion, in accordance with data sup- 

 plied by Dr. .Albrecht. Here again we note the anxious 

 care of the authorities of the Cape Observatory to produce 

 work of the highest excellence and refinement. 



The catalogued places of the stars have been reduced 

 by the application of precession alone (based on Newcomb's 

 determination of the precessional constant) from the mean 

 epoch of observation to 19000, but the necessary correc- 

 tions for the inclusion of proper motions are given in a 

 separate column. The adopted values of the latter elements 

 have been taken from Newcomb, Boss, or .\uwers. 



In view of the uncertainty attaching to the proper 

 motions of stars south of the zenith of the Cape, it is of 

 interest to exhibit the corrections to the places of Prof. 

 Boss's catalogue of 627 standard stars (.Astronomical 

 Journal, Xos. 531-2), derived from the comparison with the 



1 "Catalogue of i63o Stars for tlie Equinox iqoo'o from Observations 

 made at the Royal Observatorj', Cape of Good Hope, durine the Y^ars 

 1905-6." Under the direction of Sir David Gill, K.C.R., F.R.S.. with 

 Introduct'on by S. S. Hough, F.R.S. Pp. xii + 44. (EdinburRh : Printed 

 for H.M. Stationery OfSce by Neill and Co., Ltd., Eellevue, I'o?.) 

 Price 3^. 



II 



