474 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 928 



Two of the commissions appointed by the 

 official standing committee of the Interna- 

 tional Meteorological Association have been 

 in joint conference this week at the Meteor- 

 ological Office, London, under the chairman- 

 ship of the president of the committee. Dr. W. 

 N. Shaw. They have discussed the questions 

 of securing uniformity of practise in storm 

 signalling, and of revision of the telegraphic 

 code for the interchange of information. 



Dr. Alfred Ackermann, of the publishing 

 house of B. G. Teubner, has presented the sum 

 of 20,000 Marks to the University of Leipzig, 

 to establish the " Alfred Ackermann-Teubner 

 memorial prize for the promotion of the 

 mathematical sciences." 



The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Associa- 

 tion offers an astronomical fellowship of one 

 thousand dollars, to a woman, for the year be- 

 ginning June 15, 1913, under the following 

 conditions: The year shall be divided into two 

 periods, approximately as follows: June 

 fifteenth to December fifteenth on Nantucket. 

 This period shall be occupied in observation, 

 research or study, and in lectures or instruc- 

 tion to classes or individuals. February first 

 to June fifteenth at one of the larger observa- 

 tories. This semester shall be occupied in 

 original research and study. During this 

 period a distinct plan for the following Nan- 

 tucket period shall be formulated. Every 

 fourth year the fellowship shall be available 

 during the entire year for study at a larger 

 observatory. The fellowship will be awarded 

 annually, but in order that the work at Nan- 

 tucket may be combined advantageously with 

 the work at the selected observatory, the pref- 

 erence will be given to the same candidate for 

 three successive years. This candidate shall 

 have first consideration among applicants for 

 the special quadrennial appointment. A 

 competitive examination will not be held. 

 The candidate must present evidence of quali- 

 fications. The Nantucket Observatory is 

 equipped with a five-inch Alvan Clark tele- 

 scope and a micrometer for measuring stellar 

 spectra. The Astronomical Fellowship Com- 

 mittee proposes to add such equipment as 

 will enable the fellow to make a special study 



of asteroids. The proposed plan has been 

 approved by Dr. Edward C. Pickering and 

 Miss Annie J. Cannon, of Harvard Observa- 

 tory, and will be carried out as soon as prac- 

 ticable. Application for the year beginning 

 June 15, 1913, should be made under the above 

 heads, and must be in the hands of the secre- 

 tary of the committee, Mrs. Charles S. Hinch- 

 man, 3635 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., 

 on or before March 1, 1913. 



A LETTER received at the Harvard College 

 Observatory from Professor E. E. Barnard, of 

 the Terkes Observatory, states that the spec- 

 trum of Gale's comet obtained by Mr. J. A. 

 Parkhurst with the objective prism on the UV 

 Zeiss camera, September 30, 1912, Y p.m., 

 shows only two bands : the fourth carbon band 

 at A 4711 and the third cyanogen band at 

 A 3883. The continuous spectrum was weak. 

 There was a slight indication of strengthening 

 at a greater wave-length than 4711, but the 

 exposure was necessarily short, and nothing 

 definite in this region could be seen. Ex- 

 posures with the Bruce photographic telescope 

 on September 29 and 30 show a faint, slender 

 tail, 4° long. Though bright in a 5-inch tele- 

 scope, the comet was not visible to the naked 

 eye. The comet was also seen by Mr. E. L. 

 Forsyth at Needles, Cal., on September 25, 

 and by Professor Anne S. Young, at South 

 Hadley, Mass., and Mr. Frederick C. Leonard, 

 at Chicago, 111., on September 30. 



A SPECIAL number of the Atti delta R. Ac- 

 cademia dei Lincei contains the report of the 

 proceedings at the anniversary meeting last 

 June. According to Nature it announces a 

 gift of £4,000 from Dr. Gino Modigliani 

 towards the publication of the works of Leon- 

 ardo da Vinci, and a legacy to the academy of 

 £2,000, as well as of many of her personal ef- 

 fects, from the estate of the late Signora Celli 

 Dutuit. Prizes given by the King of Italy 

 have been awarded to Professor Ernesto 

 Manasse for mineralogy and geology, and to 

 Professor Giuseppe Chiovenda for jurispru- 

 dence and political science. The minister of 

 public instruction also gives four prizes, each 

 of which has this year been divided, the re- 

 cipients being Professors G. Ercolini and A. 



