442 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1451 



tronomer at Adelaide, had the use at Cordillo 

 Downs of a tower telescope lent by the Lick 

 Observatory for the Einstein problem; the 

 New South Wales astronomers were in 

 Queensland and did some speetroseopite work; 

 they intended also to make Einstein investiga- 

 tions, but the telegrams do not allude to these. 



It is well to point out that the test of the 

 Einstein theory does not depend wholly on the 

 results of this eclipse. The plates secured in 

 the 1919 eclipse at Principe and Sobral settled 

 definitely that at least the half-shift was pres- 

 ent, while the two cameras with the best defini- 

 tion gave values very close to the Einstein 

 value. Further, the star-field in that eclipse 

 was the best along the whole extent of the 

 ecliptic, the stars in the present eclipse being 

 much fainter. There are, however, two circum- 

 stances that should add weight to this eclipse : 

 (1) that some of the observers were pointing 

 directly on the stars, avoiding the use of a 

 coslostat or other mii-ror; (2) that the plan was 

 being tried of phot'Ographing another star-field 

 during totality, thus obtaining an independent 

 scale-value for the plates, which gives a much 

 lai-ger coefficient to the Einstein displacement 

 in the equations of condition. 



Probably weeks or months must elapse before 

 the Einstein results are to hand. The corona is 

 said to have had four long streamers, one ex- 

 tending to three solar diameters, which is more 

 than the average, though by no means a record. 

 Professor Chant reports that the shadow bands 

 were photographed. Professor Kerr Grant, of 

 Adelaide University, made measures at Cordillo 

 by the photo-electric cell of the relative bright- 

 ness of the sun and the corona. The results, 

 with this very sensitive instriunent, should be 

 more trustworthy than previous determinations. 



The next two total eclipses (1923, September, 

 and 1925, January) are visible in the United 

 States; 1926, January, in Sumatra, etc., and 

 1921 in England and Norway. 



THE FIJI-NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION OF 

 THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 



The Piji-New Zealand party from the Uni- 

 versity of Iowa arrived in San Francisco on 

 September 4 by the Pacific steamer Tahiti. This 

 expedition was organized by Professor C C. 



Nutting, head of the department of zoology of 

 the University of Iowa, and included the fol- 

 lowing additional members from the faculty of 

 that institution: Professor Robert B. Wylie, 

 botanist; Professor A. 0. Thomas, geologist; 

 Dr. Dayton Stoner, entomologist, and Mr. 

 Waldo Clock, assistant in geology. Mrs. Day- 

 ton Stoner, wife of Professor Stoner, accom- 

 panied her husband and assisted in the work 

 with insects. The party left Vancouver on the 

 Niagara on May 19, and after spending five 

 weeks in Fiji went on to New Zealand for a 

 like period, working mainly in North Island. 



The expedition was greatly aided by the offi- 

 cials of these islands, with whom Professor 

 Nutting as director had made preliminary ar- 

 rangements by correspondence. Considerable 

 collections were secured by each member of the 

 party in his own field, including both illustra- 

 tive and research material. Several hundred 

 negatives were secured which wUl be used as a 

 basis of illustration in lectures and publica- 

 tions. The Dominion Museums, both at Auck- 

 land and Wellington, New Zealand, were espe- 

 cially helpful; they extended to the party use 

 of their buildings as temporary laboratories, 

 oifered helpful cooperation at all times, and 

 contributed, many valuable specimens to the 

 University of Iowa Museum. Their gifts 

 included four living and two preserved Spheno- 

 dons. 



THE NEW ENGLAND INTERCOLLEGIATE 

 GEOLOGICAL EXCURSION 



The eighteenth annual New England Inter- 

 collegiate Greological Excursion was held in the 

 vicinity of Springfield and Northampton, 

 Massachusetts, on the sixth and seventh of 

 October. Pi-ofessor J. W. Goldthwait, of Dart- 

 mouth College, and Dr. Ernst Antevs, of the 

 University of Stockholm, were the leaders. Dr. 

 Antevs, who has continued the work of Baron 

 de Geer since the latter's return to Sweden, 

 demonstrated the field methods which have led 

 him to important conclusions concerning the 

 glacial history of New England. His chief 

 conclusions are (1) that the Wisconsin ice- 

 sheet retreated from Hartford, Connecticut, to 

 the northern border of Vermont in a period of 

 approximately 4,000 yeai-s; (2) that this tim& 



