OCTOBEB 26, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



405 



and extending from the state of Washington 

 through parts of Oregon, Wyoming, and Idaho, 

 across Colorado and Kansas, and finally reach- 

 ing Florida about sunset. The duration of 

 totality will be two minutes and two seconds 

 at the coast of Washington, and less than half 

 that time in Florida. 



Director Edwin Brant Frost, of the Terkes 

 Observatory, and his colleague. Professor Ed- 

 ward Emerson Barnard, astronomer at the 

 observatory, recently spent a week in Denver, 

 ■where the authorities of the University of 

 Denver have placed their facilities at the dis- 

 posal of the party from the University of 

 Chicago, through the courtesy of Professor 

 Herbert A. Howe, who is himself a graduate 

 of the Old University of Chicago. Among the 

 various pieces of equipment at the Terkes Ob- 

 servatory is apparatus which could be suit- 

 ably adapted to the excellent 20-inch equa- 

 torial of the Denver University. It was neces- 

 sary to know whether this equatorial could be 

 successfully used as a photographic instru- 

 ment, and Professors Frost and Barnard were 

 finally successful in demonstrating that it 

 could be. It will accordingly probably be 

 used with a spectroscope from the Terkes Ob- 

 servatory for photographing the spectrum of 

 the corona, and, if possible, for measuring its 

 speed of rotation. 



From a considerable study of the weather 

 observations and from estimates of cloudiness 

 in June made for several years by volunteers 

 along the path of the shadow, it appeared 

 that certain regions in the mountains of Colo- 

 rado were likely to be cloudy in the after- 

 noon. This applies also to Denver. Accord- 

 ingly a side trip was made by Director Frost 

 to Green River, Wyoming, a point on the 

 Union Pacific Railway, lying between Che- 

 yenne and Ogden. This station is situated in 

 the so-called Red Desert, with a rainfall of 

 about ten inches per year and at an elevation 

 of 6,000 feet. A suitable station near the 

 town was readily selected and the transpar- 

 ency of the air was extraordinary on the day 

 spent there. This station seems one of the 

 most promising of any along the line of 

 totality. 



However, a small cloud may spoil the prep- 

 arations of many months, and therefore 

 another site was selected about sixty miles 

 southeast of Denver on the Rock Island Rail- 

 way, near Matheson, Colorado, at an elevation 

 of about 6,000 feet. The trip was made by 

 Director Frost from Colorado Springs with 

 several members of the faculty of Colorado 

 College. This site is a very favorable one and 

 quite likely to be free from clouds in the after- 

 noon. It is not the present plan to have 

 members of the party from the Terkes Ob- 

 servatory at this point, although minor in- 

 struments may be sent there for use by others. 

 The station at Green River, Wyoming, will be 

 the principal station for the party from the 

 University of Chicago, if, as is hoped, the uni- 

 versity is able to supply the funds for observ- 

 ing the eclipse in an adequate way. 



The only previous expedition from the 

 Terkes Observatory for observing a solar 

 eclipse was in 1900, to Wadesboro, North 

 Carolina, where the total eclipse on May 28 

 was observed with very satisfactory results by 

 a considerable party from the observatory. 



THE MARIA MITCHELL MEMORIAL FELLOW- 

 SHIP OF THE HARVARD OBSERVATORY 



The Maria Mitchell Memorial Fellowship 

 of the Harvard Observatory, of the value of 

 $500, is oflFered to a woman for the year be- 

 ginning September 15, 1918. A competitive 

 examination will not be held. The candidate 

 must present evidence of qualifications under 

 the following heads: 



1. A letter from the candidate addressed to 

 the secretary of the committee, giving an ac- 

 count of previous educational opportunities 

 and training, and of plans for future work. 



2. College diploma or a certificate from the 

 registrar of her college, and if she has already 

 held a position as instructor or teacher in any 

 college or other institution, a clear statement 

 of the work done, together with a certificate as 

 to the quality of work. 



3. Examples of work already accomplished. 



4. Testimonials as to ability and character. 



5. Satisfactory evidence of thoroughly good 

 health. 



