64 



NA TURE 



[May 21, 1896 



Similar results were obtained with exposures on other regions, 

 and in all cases the nebulosity shown on the plates taken with 

 the reflector was denser than that registered by the portrait 

 lenses in the approximate ratio of the relative numbers of faint 

 stars shown o\\ plates exposed simultaneously. Figures are also 

 given which demonstrate the superiority of the reflector over the 

 Willard lens, with which Prof. Barnard has obtained such 

 striking photographs. 



The experiments seem to point to a practical limit of about i 

 to 5 for the ratio of aperture to focus in the construction of 

 instruments for celestial photography. Dr. Roberts further con- 

 cludes that it is not possible, as is often stated, that a photo- 

 graphic instrument of the portrait lens form can imprint images 

 of nebul* that are fainter than the faintest star-images imprinted 

 at the same time and under exactly similar conditions. 



Solar Photography at Meudon. — In his recent presi- 

 dential address to the Astronomical Society of France, Dr. 

 Janssen gave a few particulars as to the progress of solar photo- 

 graphy at Meudon. The well-known photographs taken some 

 years ago revealed much that was new in regard to the granula- 

 tion of the photosphere, and as the work has been continued, it 

 has been found that the faculte, and even the stri;v in the 

 penumbra of a sun-spot, have a granular structure like the rest 

 of the solar surface. One can look upon the granule, or small 

 photospheric cloud, as an element of the photosphere just as the 

 cell is that of organic tissues. These granular elements are very 

 small, sometimes being only one or two-tenths of a second in 

 diameter ; and exceptionally favourable atmospheric conditions 

 appear to be necessary for their proper investigation. 



University Observatories in America. — We learn from 

 Scieiue that at the last session of the Illinois Legislature an 

 appropriation was made for the erection and equipment of an 

 observatory for the State University at Champaign. The 

 designs for the building were made, under direction of Prof. 

 Ira O. Baker, by the Architectural Department of the Uni- 

 versity. The instrumental equipment, consisting of a 12-inch 

 equatorial, a 3-inch combined transit and zenith telescope and 

 a chronograph, will be made by Warner and Swasey, the optical 

 parts being made by Brashear. This makes four universities 

 which have established observatories within the past year, all of 

 which have ordered telescopes from Warner and Swasey, with 

 optical parts by Brashear. The list is as follows : University 

 of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (18-inch aperture) ; University of 

 Ohio, Columbus (12-inch aperture); University of Minnesota, 

 Minneapolis (io|-inch aperture) ; University of Illinois, Cham- 

 paign (12-inch aperture). 



W^ 



INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENCE. 



TE have been requested to print the following circular, which 

 the Royal Society has recently issued to the foreign and 

 other delegates of various nations, now numbering about thirty, 

 whose appointment has been already notified : — 



" In anticipation of the forthcoming International Conference 

 to consider the preparation of a catalogue of scientific literature 

 by international co-operation, we are directed to address to you 

 the following : — 



" It is proposed that the Conference shall be held at the rooms 

 of the Royal Society, Burlington House, London, begintiing on 

 Tuesday, July 14, 1S96, at 11 a.m. 



"One of the earliest acts of this first meeting will be to 

 appoint an organising committee to determine the mode of pro- 

 cedure (including the language or languages to be used at the 

 Conference), the course of business, and the way in which votes 

 shall be recorded on occasions when it will be necessary to have 

 recourse to formal voting. 



" The Committee of the Royal Society hopes to be in a posi- 

 tion to bring definite proposals before the Conference with regard 

 to its main work. Meanwhile, we are directed to submit to 

 your consideration the following provisional suggestions, and to 

 invite remarks from you upon them : — 



" I. That the proposed International Authors and Subject 

 Catalogue of Scientific Literature shall be restricted, in the first 

 instance, to branches of pure science, such as mathematics, 

 astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, zoology, botany, 

 phy.siology, antl anthro]iolog)-, to the exclusion of applied 

 sciences, such as engineering, medicine, and the like : the 

 determination of the distinction between pure and applied 

 science being left to the Conference. 



NO. 1386, VOL. 54] 



"II. That in such .an International Catalogue of Science all 

 definite contributions to pure science shall be thoroughly indexed, 

 whether occurring in books, memoirs, &c., treating of pure 

 science, or in those devoted to applied or practical science — in 

 other words, that the catalogue shall not be confined to papers 

 published in certain periodicals, or to books of a certain 

 category. 



" III. That with regard to the form of the said Catalogue :^ 



"(a) There shall be a first issue of authors' titles, .subject- 

 matter, &c. , in the form of slips or cards, which shall be distri- 

 buted as speedily and as frequently as possible to subscribers 

 generally. 



" (/>) That a further issue in book form, in a state for use as a 

 permanent work of reference, shall take place at such intervals 

 as may be determined on, parts corresponding to the several 

 sciences being, if found desirable, published separately. 



" IV. That, in order to secure the preparation and publication 

 of such iin International Catalogue, a Central Bureau shall be 

 established under the control of an International Council. 



"V. That the whole of the Catalogue shall be prepared and 

 issued subject to the authority of the International Council, and 

 that any particular undertakings which may be allotted to par- 

 ticular countries, institutions, or persons, shall be subsidiary to 

 the work of the Central Bureau and subject to its control. 



"VI. That the cost of preparing and publishing the said Slip- 

 and Book-Catalogues at the Central Bureau during the years 

 igoo-1904, in so far as these are not met by sales, shall be pro- 

 vided for by means of a guarantee fund, and that application be 

 made to governments, learned societies, institutions, and indi- 

 viduals throughout the world, to assist in establishing such a 

 fund. 



" The Conference will also have to take into consideration 

 the following matters, among others : — 



" {a) Supposing that the plan of a Central Bureau is adopted, 

 where shall the Bureau be placed ? 



" (h) The mode of appointment and organisation of the Inter- 

 national Council in charge of the Bureau. 



" (i) The language or languages to be adopted for the Cata- 

 logue. 



" (d) The system of classification to be adopted in the subject 

 index. It is suggested that the decimal system of Dewey may 

 be so amended as to be worthy of adoption. 



" There is necessarily the greatest difficulty in estimating the 

 cost of the work in advance, or in forming an opinion as to the 

 extent to which such an enterprise will be self-supporting. It 

 will probably, therefore, be best to raise a guarantee fund cover- 

 ing a period of not less than five years, within which period it 

 will undoubtedly be possible to determine the cost of the enter- 

 )irise. The annual sum to be thus secured nia\' be approxi- 

 mately estimated at ten thousand pounds. 



" We are, your obedient servants, 



" M. Foster, .Secretary, R.S. 

 " Rayleigh, Secretary, R.S. 

 " E. Franki.and, Foreign Secretary, R.S." 



THE FRENCH UNIVERSITIES} 

 CXis March 5 the Chamber of Deputies voted unanimously for 

 ^■'^ a reconstitution of the French universities. In order to- 

 understand the object of this important law, it is necessary to 

 recall the circumstances and the legislative proceedings which 

 brought about its adoption. 



Until 1S75 the faculties of literature, science, law, and' 

 medicine existed separately in France, without being united by 

 a single tie, even when four of them (a university, in the 

 acknowledged sense of the word) existed in the same town. 

 In 1S75 the National Assembly announced the liberty of higher 

 instruction, permitted the installation of free faculties, and 

 accorded to the group of three faculties (refused to similar 

 groups of the faculties of the State) the title of University. 

 This vole increased at once, by reaction, the force of the 

 movement, which, since the fall of the Empire, claimed un- 

 successfully, by means of such men as Cuizot, Cousin, Duruy, 

 and Renan, the constitution of State universities. In 1S77 a 

 first scheme of law was handed over to M. Waddington, then 

 Minister of Public Instruction, by a Committee of eminent men 



1 Condcnseil from an article in the Revue de r u" t'"' siti de Bruxelles^ 

 February 1896. 



