438 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 585. 



as follows: Pole of Mars, E. A. 317°.5; Dec, 

 64°. 5. Epoch 1905. Tilt of martian equator 

 to martian ecliptic, 23° 59'. This value of 

 the inclination of the martian equator is some- 

 what less than that which has been generally 

 accepted heretofore. 



RECENT COMETS. 



During the year 1905 three comets were dis- 

 covered for which orbits were determined. 

 Two of them were found by Giacobini, and 

 the other by Shaer. So far during the pres- 

 ent year two comets have been discovered, by 

 Brooks and Kopfi. None of these has been of 

 much popular interest. For an unusually long 

 period no spectacular object, such as the great 

 comets of 1843, 1858, 1881 and 1882, has ap- 

 peared. One may appear at any time, but 

 of this there is" no certainty. However, 

 Halley's periodic comet will be due about 

 1910, and it will probably be bright. 



S. I. Bailey. 



That the Executive Committee be requested to 

 arrange for a memorial meeting to be held in 

 Washington. 



That Doctor Andrew D. White be invited to 

 prepare a suitable memorial which shall form a 

 part of the Records of this Board. 



SAMUEL PIEBPONT LANGLEY. 



At a memorial meeting of the board of 

 regents of the Smithsonian Institution, on 

 March 6, the following resolutions were passed : 



Resolved, That the Board of Regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution express their profound 

 sorrow at the death, on February 27, 1906, of 

 Samuel Pierpont Langley, Secretary of the Insti- 

 tution since 1887, and tender to the relatives of 

 Mr. Langley their sincere sympathy in their be- 

 reavement. 



That in the death of Mr. Langley this Institu- 

 tion has lost a distinguished, efficient and faith- 

 ful executive officer under whose administration 

 the international influence of the parent Institu- 

 tion has been greatly increased, and by whose 

 personal efforts two important branches of work 

 have been added to its care — the National Zoolog- 

 ical Park and the Astrophysical Observatory. 



That the scientific world is indebted to Mr. 

 Langley for the invention of important apparatus 

 and instruments of precision, for numerous addi- 

 tions to knowledge, more especially for his epoch- 

 making investigations in solar physics, and for 

 his efforts in placing the important subject of 

 aerial navigation upon a scientific basis. 



That all who sought the truth and cultivated 

 science, letters and the fine arts, have lost through 

 his death a co-worker and a sympathizer. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



Sir George Darwin, K.C.B., Plumian pro- 

 fessor of astronomy, will represent the Uni- 

 versity of Cambridge at the celebration of the 

 two hundredth anniversary of the birth of 

 Benjamin Franklin by the American Philo- 

 sophical Society. 



At a meeting held at the Mansion House, 

 on February 27, the Lord Mayor of London 

 presiding. Lord Halsbury moved " That, in view 

 of this being the fiftieth year of the founda- 

 tion of the coal-tar color industry, it is desir- 

 able that steps should be taken to memorialize 

 the event and to do honor to Dr. W. H. 

 Perkin, the founder." After this motion had 

 been supported and carried. Lord Rayleigh 

 moved " That an appeal be made in this 

 country and abroad for subscriptions for the 

 purpose of carrying out the following objects: 

 (1) The presentation to Dr. Perkin for his 

 life time of an oil portrait of himself, executed 

 by an eminent artist, the portrait to become the 

 property of the nation at his death. (2) The 

 execution of a marble bust of Dr. Perkin to be 

 placed in the rooms of the Chemical Society. 

 (3) The establishment of a ' Perkin Research 

 Fund ' for the promotion of chemical research 

 to be administered through the Chemical So- 

 ciety." After this motion had been supported 

 by Sir William Eamsay and Sir Henry Eoscoe 

 and carried, arrangements were made for the 

 appointment of a general committee and an 

 executive committee for carrying out the ob- 

 jects of the resolution. 



Dr. Hans Dreisch, of Heidelberg, has been 

 appointed Gifford Lecturer in Aberdeen Uni- 

 versity for 1907-9. 



The University of Heidelberg has conferred 

 the Victor Meyer prize on Dr. Ernst Stern for 

 his investigations in organic chemistry. 



Dr. Egbert Koch will return to East 

 Africa, in April, to continue his investigations 



