JULY 23, 1897.] 
cussed, and a resolution was passed to the effect 
that catalogues of publishers should give the 
actual sizes of yolumes in the metric system. 
THE second interim report of the departmental 
committee appointed by the British Home Office 
to inquire into and report on certain dangerous 
trades has just been issued as a Parliamentary 
paper. This report, which is signed by all the 
members of the committee, including the addi- 
tional member, Mr. C. V. Boys, F.R.S., deals 
with electrical generating works. According 
to the London Yimes the committee has framed 
several regulations which they recommend 
should be applied in all cases where electricity 
at high pressure—a direct current of 700 volts 
or more, or an alternating current of 350 volts— 
is in use. The recommendations include the 
following regulations: The frames and bed- 
plates of all generating machines shall be 
efficiently connected to earth. The rails fencing 
dynamos or other generating machines shall 
be made of wood or other non-conducting ma- 
terial. The floors of all places where it would 
be possible to make connection with metal at 
high pressure should be covered with an in- 
sulating mat of suitable material and kept in a 
state of efficient insulation. In switchrooms 
and on the front of switchboards the main 
switches, main fuses, main terminals, omnibus 
bars and all other metallic parts shall be in- 
sulated or arranged in such a manner as to 
render it impossible for any person by accident 
or inadvertence to touch them. All switch- 
boards erected after the application of these 
rules shall have at the back a clear space of at 
least four feet. Thisspace shall not be utilized 
as a store room or lumber room, or be ob- 
structed in any manner. Any person at work 
upon a cable or portion of the mains under high 
pressure shall wear india-rubber gloves on both 
hands, and the gloves shall be supplied by the 
occupier, and it shall be the duty of the man- 
ager to see that they are in a proper state of 
repair and are worn by the work people. 
THE twenty-second annual report from the 
Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, Mr. 
H. H. Turner, is published in the University 
Gazette for June 23d. It is stated that the 
measurement and reduction of the plates for the 
SCIENCE. 129 
Astrographic Chart has been the staple work of 
the year. The Royal Society having granted 
£150 from the government grant fund during 
the year, four or five boys who have just left 
school have been engaged to carry out the meas- 
ures and reductions under the supervision of the 
assistants, and the experiment has been suc- 
cessful, one-tenth of the whole work having 
been accomplished in the last sixmonths. The 
need of a residence at the observatory pressed 
on the attention of the board at their last meet- 
ing, and fully recognized by them, has not been 
acknowledged by the Hebdomadal Council. In 
journeying across America to and from Japan, 
in order to observe the total solar eclipse of 
August 9th, the Astronomer Royal, Captain 
Hills, R. E., and Professor Turner took the op- 
portunity of visiting several Canadian and 
American observatories. Professor Turner ac- 
knowledges the courtesy shown to him, especi- 
ally at Montreal, Chicago, Cambridge and 
Washington. ‘‘It would be ungrateful not 
to add that what we saw was of immense value 
to us, in the way of suggestion; the ideas ac- 
quired at the Harvard observatory alone were 
worth the journey, and cannot fail to leave their 
impress on the work here.’’ 
THE report of Dr. Gill for the year 1896, to 
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, is 
abstracted in a recent issue of Nature. The 
Mclean telescope is expected to be completely 
installed and in full working order before the 
end of the present year. During the last few 
years Dr. Gill has somewhat necessarily restric- 
ted the amount of observational work in order 
to make more progress in the computation and 
publication of many arrears, and it is satisfac- 
tory, then, to hear that it has now become pos- 
sible to again resume a program of activity. 
Several important publications have been con- 
cluded in the last twelve months. Among 
them may be mentioned Vol. II., containing a ~ 
determination of the solar parallax and mass of 
the moon, from observations of Iris, Victoria 
and Sappho, made in the years 1888 and 1889. 
Vol. I. is also practically complete. The first 
volume of the Cape Photographic Durchmuster- 
ung is also ready for distribution, Vol. II. being 
in course of printing. The observational work 
with the transit circle, equatorials and astro- 
