May 31, 1901.] 
side of the sun, duplicate plates of each 
region being taken. He has also two spec- 
troscopes, each with a single prism and with 
polarizing apparatus, for special study of the 
coronal light. 
Members of the party from the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology have found 
a good site near Sawah Loento, and are 
setting up in addition to their eclipse 
intruments, a number of geodetic instru- 
ments, among others a short-period pendu- 
lum. They also havea program of observa- 
tions with magnetometers in continuation 
of their work in last year’s eclipse, in which 
definite movements were detected in the 
magnets at the moment of totality. 
The Japanese party, including Professors 
Shin Hiroyama and Seiji Hirayama, of 
Tokio, and five Japanese assistants, will 
probably find a station at Padang, as also 
will the parties from the Jesuit Colleges at 
Calcutta and Manila. We learn that a 
German expedition is to arrive on April 
28th, and that Count de la Baume Pluvinel 
will arrive on the same date and proceed to 
Solok. 
It is too early to speak of the chances of 
clear skies for the various parties, and at 
present it would seem that success is very 
precarious. It is fortunate that totality 
occurs at midday; the sky is frequently 
clear then, though many fleeting clouds 
pass over the sun. Meanwhile, the prep- 
arations are being pressed forward with a 
good will by observers and resident author- 
ities alike. 
SILAS W. HOLMAN. 
Sizras Wuitcomsp Hoitman was born at 
Harvard, Massachusetts, Jan. 20, 1856, and 
graduated from the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology in 1876, having made a 
specialty of the study of physics through- 
out his course. He was thereupon appointed 
to a position as assistant in the physical 
laboratory of that institution, but on ac- 
SCIENCE. 
857 
count of illness did not enter upon his 
duties until a year later. Continuing in 
the service of the Institute, he was pro- 
moted to more advanced positions and was 
made professor of physics in 18938. Even 
at this date his health, never firm, had 
become much impaired, and a few years 
later it became necessary for him to relin- 
quish active work. In 1897 he was made 
emeritus professor of physics. He died 
April 1, 1900. : 
Professor Holman’s original contributions 
to science are of high merit and give evi- 
dence both of great skill in manipulation 
and of remarkably clear insight into the 
choice of methods for conducting a difficult 
investigation. 
The most important of his researches are 
those upon the viscosity of air and carbonic 
acid as affected by temperature, which 
were published in the Proceedings of the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences 
in 1876 and 1885, the first of which 
was based upon his graduating thesis at 
the Institute of Technology. These con- 
tain by far the most complete study of this 
difficult subject which had been made up 
to their date, and the results are still of 
standard value. Indeed, within the past 
few years, they have played an important 
part in the advancement of the kinetic 
theory of gases. 
In the same Proceedings for 1886 is found 
a further noteworthy paper, written in con- 
junction with one of his pupils, upon the 
determination of fixed reference points for 
thermometric measurements at high tem- 
peratures in which several such points are 
established. — 
A number of years later, in 1895, appeared 
another group of papers, the last published 
by him, relating to the thermo-electric meas- 
urement of high temperatures, and a single 
paper upon calorimetry, which subjects had 
occupied much of his attention for some 
time previous. Of these, the one entitled 
