October 31, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



719 



spectroscopy. Lists of wave-lengtlis will not 

 be reprinted in this volume, as they are readily 

 accessible elsewhere; and any subscriber to 

 this volume may obtain, by application to the 

 Jolms Hopkins Press, Baltimore, a copy of 

 Rowland's ' Preliminary Table of Solar Wave- 

 Lengths.' The price set is five dollars net per 

 copy for orders sent in advance of publication, 

 after which the price will be $7.50. Orders 

 may be sent to Professor Joseph S. Ames, Sec- 

 retary of the Committee of Publication, Johns 

 Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. 



The board of visitors to the Melbourne Ob- 

 servatory in their report to the Governor of 

 Victoria express their regret that the position 

 of cliief assistant has not yet been filled, "for 

 it has become more and more urgent from the 

 fact, among other reasons, that new and im- 

 portant duties will shortly devolve on the as- 

 tronomer in connection with the bureau of 

 standard weights and measures, which, we are 

 informed, is to be placed in Mr. Baracchi's 

 charge. Mr. Baracchi's predecessor always 

 had two trained astronomers as assistants, but 

 now what was formerly the work of three men 

 falls entirely on his shoulders. All the pres- 

 ent stafE except Mr. Baracchi are either ob- 

 servers or computers, each doing the work he 

 has been trained to do accurately and well, 

 but among them all there is no one competent 

 to take charge of an observatory even for 24 

 hours. The observatory, one of the most im- 

 portant in the Southern Hemisphere, is pri- 

 marily a place for astronomical research, and 

 its existence can only be justified by research 

 work carried on in it. Mr. Baracchi has al- 

 ready proved himself to be eminently qualified 

 to conduct astronomical research, but he is 

 practically unable to attempt such investiga- 

 tions, as his time is more than fully occupied 

 with the routine work of administration and 

 detail that could equally well be done by a 

 chief assistant. We cannot expect the repu- 

 tation of our observatory to be maintained if 

 we compel the director to spend his time con- 

 ducting correspondence, arranging details of 

 the work, supervising computers, and travel- 

 ling about the country inspecting barometers 

 -and rain-gauges." 



A SPECIAL sub-committee of the Technical 

 Education Board of the London County Coun- 

 cil has recently published a report on ' The 

 Application of Science to Industry.' The 

 Electrical World states that the committee 

 has arrived at the conclusion that " various 

 branches of industry have during the past 20 

 or 30 years been lost to this country, owing 

 to the competition of foreign countries; that 

 in many others our manufacturers have fallen 

 seriously behind their foreign rivals; and that 

 these losses are to be attributed in no small 

 degree to the superior scientific education pro- 

 vided in foreign countries." In this connec- 

 tion, reference is made to the transfer from 

 England to Germany of numerous depart- 

 ments of manufacturing chemistry, the best- 

 known instance of loss being the manufacture 

 of aniline dyes and many other valuable prod- 

 ucts from coal tar. Whereas the original in- 

 vestigations and discoveries on which the in- 

 dustry is based were made almost entirely in 

 England, there are not now a thousand work- 

 people employed in the industry in the King- 

 dom. On the other hand, it is a most lucra- 

 tive and flourishing business in Germany. 

 Then the manufacture of high-class lenses for 

 photographic cameras, microscopes, telescopes 

 and field-glasses, as well as of thermometer- 

 glass tubes for making thermometers for accu- 

 rate physical measurements, has practically 

 been lost to the country. Thirdly, the com- 

 mittee points to the rapid development in the 

 United States, Germany and Switzerland of 

 the various branches of the manufacttire of 

 electrical machinery, as compared with the 

 relatively slow progress made in the United 

 Kingdom. In 1890 the imports of electrical 

 appliances and scientific apparatus were too 

 insignificant to be separately scheduled. In 

 1900 they amounted to £1,174,000 and £522,- 

 000, respectively. Wliile some of the wit- 

 nesses examined attributed the relative back- 

 wardness of England in scientific industries 

 partly to other causes, they were practically 

 all agreed in considering it due, in the main, 

 to the deficiencies of the British educational 

 system. It did not appear that the training 

 of the workmen was at fault. It is believed 

 that the opportunities now open to the Lon- 



