July 2, 1896] 



NA TURE 



199 



seconds." After another 5 seconds, " There are still 90 

 seconds remaining." And so on. 



A clever man can do this in a vei-y encouraging way. 

 The time counter should take care not to distract himself 

 by losing sight of the face of the- watch or chronometer ; 

 and it is to be impressed upon him that much of the 

 success of the observations will depend on his undivided 

 attention, as his statement of time in the case of parties 

 with large instruments, is an order to individual observers 

 to do certain work. Hence there should be two time 

 counters, who should change over at the middle of the 

 •eclipse, care being taken that the counting is not in- 

 terrupted. The times at which any of the phenomena 

 occur must be noted by another observer . 



Caution with regard to the use of Telescopes. 



Observers equipped with telescopes, whether they be 

 small instruments or equatorially mounted, must be very 

 careful about not observing the sun before or after totality 

 without the aid of dark glasses. For small hand-tele- 

 scopes a dark glass will be found sufficiently safe ; but 

 with instruments of greater power, the dark glass should 

 be supplemented by a solar or diagonal eye-piece. If 

 one half of the reflecting surface of the glass be silvered 

 and the glass be made to slide, it may be used during 

 totality. In any case, do not forget, immediately before 

 totality, to remove the dark glasses. 



THE KELVIN JUBILEE. 



WE are glad to be able to supplement our report of 

 the celebration of Lord Kelvin's jubilee with the 

 address presented by M. Mascart on behalf of the Insti- 

 tute of France. By such cordial e.xpressions as those in 

 which the Institute addressed our distinguished country- 

 man, men of science are made to feel that they belong to 

 a universal brotherhood, all the members of which have 

 but one aim — the accumulation of scientific knowledge. 

 The following is the address : — 



Milord et cher confrere, — L'Academie des 

 Sciences de Paris, dans laquelle vous etes aujourdhui 

 le doyen des associes etrangers, a voulu se joindre au.v 

 savants de tons les pays du monde, ^ vos admirateurs, a 

 vos amis, pour vous apporterdes felicitations chaleureuses 

 k Toccasion du cinquantenaire de votre arrivde comme 

 professeur h. I'Universite de (Glasgow que vous avez tant 

 illustrce. 



II y a quelques mois, I'lnstitut de France celdbrait le 

 centieme anniversaire de sa fondation, ou plutot de la re- 

 constitution des anciennes Academies sur des bases plus 

 larges. Nous ne pouvons oublier I'elevation de langage 

 avec laquelle le President de la Socidtt^ Royale de 

 Londres vint alors traduire les sentiments de cordialite 

 de cette grande et celibre Institution. 



Dans une autre reunion, ou vous parliez en votre nom 

 personnel, vous nous avez cause une profonde emotion en 

 declarant que vous aviez une dette de reconnaissance 

 envers notre pays, que nos grand esprits tels que Fourier, 

 Laplace et Sadi Carnot avaient ete vos inspirateurs et 

 que vous consideriez la P" ranee comme 1' " alma mater" 

 de votre jeunesse scientifique. 



.Si la dette existe, vous I'avez payee avec usure. Dans 

 la longue serie de travaux et de decouvertes qui jalon- 

 nent; votre admirable carricre, une des plus nobles que 

 Ton puisse rever, vous avez aborde toutes les questions 

 des cette science a laquelle la litterature anglaise con- 

 serve le beau nom de " philosophie naturelle," soit pour 

 contribuer aux progres des conceptions theoriques, soit 

 pour en dcduire des applications utiles au developpements 

 de I'industrie et au bien de I'humanite. 



Quoi que I'avenir reserve au genie inventif de I'esprit 

 humain, votre nom restera comme ayant ete le guide 



NO. 1392, VOL. 54] 



le plus sur dans une epoque feconde, et le veritable edu- 

 cateur de la generation actuelle dans le domaine de 

 I'electricite. 



Je suis particulieremcnt heureux que I'Academie des 

 Sciences m'ait confie le soin de vous remettre une 

 m^daille d'or k I'effigie d'Arago, medaille qu'elle reserve 

 pour rendre hommage aux services exceptionnels rendus h. 

 la science et qui porte cette devise, " Laudes damns 

 posteri gloriam." 



Vos confreres de I'lnstitut de France esperent que vous 

 voudrez bien considerer ce souvenir comme un temoignage 

 de haute estime et de leurs sentiments les plus 

 affectucux. 



It is due to the Council of the Royal College of Science 

 to state that they were not less desirous than the rest of 

 the scientific world of doing honour to Lord Kelvin. An 

 address was prepared and signed by every member of 

 the Council of the College, with the exception of one 

 who was temporarily out of reach. This address was 

 presented to Lord Kelvin at the same time as the 

 addresses from other Colleges in London, but mention of 

 it was inadvertently omitted from our report. A con- 

 gratulatory address was also sent by the Institute of 

 Chemistry. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEETING IN 

 LIVERPOOL.— LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



THE preparations for the British Association Meeting 

 in Liverpool next September are now going on 

 rapidly. A large and influential Local Committee of about 

 500 of the leading citizens, under the chairmanship of the 

 Lord Mayor (the Earl of Derby), was appointed a couple 

 of years ago. The smaller Executive Committee has 

 broken up into Sub-Committees dealing with the subjects 

 of— (i) Finance, (2) Hospitality, (3) Buildings, (4) Ex- 

 cursions, (5) Publications, and (6) Evening Entertain- 

 ments. Most of these Sub-Committees have been actively 

 at work for the last few months, and a report embodying 

 the results of their deliberations has just been submitted 

 to a meeting of the large Committee held in the Town 

 Hall. The following is an outline of the arrangements 

 completed so far : — 



The reception room and the general offices will 

 be at St. George's Hall, in the centre of the town, a 

 few yards from Lime Street Station, the London 

 and North-Western Terminus. One of the Sections 

 (Geography) will occupy the concert room of St. George's 

 Hall, and three other Sections (Geology, Anthropology, 

 and Mechanical Science) have been allotted rooms in the 

 closely adjoining Public Museum and Walker Art Gallery. 

 The Section of Economics will be located in the Town 

 Hall, opening on to the Exchange flags, and in the centre 

 of the business life of the city ; while the five remaining 

 Sections (Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, Physiology, and 

 Botany) will be placed in the laboratories and lecture 

 theatres of University College, about 1050 yards from the 

 reception room. A main artery, and tramway route, leads 

 from Lime Street to Ashton Street, from which the 

 College opens, and arrangements will be made for a con- 

 stant service of convenient omnibuses in addition to the 

 tram-cars. Permission to use these various buildings has 

 been obtained from the Lord Mayor and the Corporation, 

 and the Council of University College ; and the Phil- 

 harmonic Hall, which holds about 3000, has been 

 engaged for three evenings, on the occasions of the 

 President's address and the two evening discourses. 

 The lecture to the working classes will be given in the 

 Picton Lecture Hall. The first conversazione will be 

 given by the Lord Mayor (Lord Derby) in the Town 

 Hall, and the second by the Local Committee in the 

 range of Corporation buildings occupied by the Public 



