638 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1009 



worm, or a plodder, or a erank. But the truth 

 is that, just as individuals have duties to per- 

 form to their country, so have countries duties 

 to perform, to the civilized world. It is the 

 duty of every nation to participate in the dis- 

 covery of the laws of nature, to ascertain, the 

 cause of disease, to enhance the powers of man, 

 and to widen the range of his vision. What 

 does Britain do to fulfil this duty? She still 

 has great workers, it is true; but their work 

 springs from themselves, and not from the 

 nation. The country does not perform the 

 duty referred to. It has become like a trades- 

 man who has reached great wealth by the 

 exercise of inferior arts, but who spends it on 

 amusements, pleasures and the ostentation of 

 charity, without sparing a penny for higher 

 objects. This figure may at least be reached 

 as a rough integration of the general complex 

 formula of our present condition. Behind all 

 there is a shadow : for nations, like individuals, 

 must remain efficient. 



EFFECT ON TEE PROPAGATION OF ELEC- 



THIC WAVES OF TBE TOTAL ECLIPSE 



OF TBE SUN, AUGUST 21, 191/f 



The committee for radiotelegraphic inves- 

 tigation of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science calls attention to the 

 fact that the forthcoming total eclipse of the 

 sun affords an exceptional and important op- 

 portunity of adding to existing knowledge of 

 the propagation of electric waves through air 

 in sunlight and in darkness, and across the 

 boundaries of illuminated and unilluminated 

 regions. The eclipse will be total along a strip 

 extending from Greenland across Norway, 

 Sweden, Russia and Persia to the mouths of 

 the Indus. In Russia the duration of totality 

 will be a little more than two minutes. 



There are two main points calling for in- 

 vestigation during the eclipse. In the first 

 place, the propagation of signal-bearing waves 

 through air in the umbra and penumbra will 

 probably obey laws different as regards absorp- 

 tion and refraction from those obeyed in 

 illuminated air. In the second place, the 

 strength, frequency and character of natural 

 electric waves, and of atmospheric discharges, 



may vary. The variations may occur either 

 because the propagation of natural waves from 

 distant sources is facilitated or impeded by the 

 eclipse, or, possibly, because the production of 

 natural electric waves or atmospheric dis- 

 charges is for some unknown reason affected 

 by the eclipse. 



These points have previously been investi- 

 gated to only a slight extent. The observers 

 of signals during the solar eclipse of April 17, 

 1912, nearly all agreed that the strength of 

 the signals was greater during the eclipse than 

 an hour before or after. There was only one 

 special observation of strays during the same 

 eclipse, when very pronounced and remarkable 

 variations were recorded during the passage 

 of the shadow-cone across Europe. 



To investigate the propagation of signals 

 across the umbra it will be necessary to ar- 

 range for wireless telegraph stations on either 

 side of the central line of the eclipse to trans- 

 mit signals at intervals while the umbra passes 

 between them. This transit of the umbra 

 occupies about two minutes. It is thus very 

 desirable that the Scandinavian and Russian 

 stations should transmit frequently through- 

 out several minutes before, during and after 

 totality. But stations other than those favored 

 by their proximity to the central line should 

 endeavor to keep a complete record of the 

 variations of signals during the eclipse. Sta- 

 tions in Europe west of the central line and 

 stations in the Mediterranean and in Asia 

 Minor may find noticeable changes in the 

 strength of signals, particularly long distance 

 signals, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 

 P.M., Greenwich time; and it is probable that 

 the stations of India and East Africa, and 

 ships in the Indian Ocean, may feel the effect 

 of the penumbra in the afternoon. On the 

 other hand, ships in the Atlantic, and fixed 

 stations in Eastern Canada and the United 

 States, will probably be affected by the pen- 

 umbra in the early morning. At Montreal 

 the eclipse (partial) is at its greatest phase at 

 5:52 A.M. standard time. It is possible that 

 the eclipse may have some influence even when 

 it is invisible. 



The investigation of strays is of as great 



