1\ 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 281. 



the coutinued. interest of the public in the four 

 institutions embraced under the above title, for 

 while the attendance was not so large as in 

 1898, it was something over 898,000. The 

 growth of the collections is pretty evenly- 

 divided between art and science, the most im- 

 portant acquisition during the year being a col- 

 lection of fossils obtained from the Geological 

 Society of Glasgow. 



At the monthly meeting of the British As- 

 tronomical Association, on April 25th, some 

 statements, reported in the London Times, 

 were made regarding the arrangements for ob- 

 serving the total solar eclipse of May 28th next. 

 A party, of which the Rev. J. M. and Miss 

 Bacon, and Mr. and Mrs. Nevil Maskelyne 

 will be members, will go to Wadesboro, in 

 North Carolina ; Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Maun- 

 der, Mr. and Mrs. Crommelin, Mr. Evershed 

 and others, will go to Algiers ; and Mr. G. F. 

 Chambers and others to Portugal. In describ- 

 ing the proposed work of the expedition to 

 the United States, Miss Bacon said that Mr. 

 Nevil Maskelyne, assisted by Mrs. Maskelyne, 

 would direct the telescopic kinematograph upon 

 the corona throughout totality, and expose a 

 long film in an ordinary kinematograph camera 

 directed towards a chosen point of the land- 

 scape for a period commencing somewhat before 

 and terminating somewhat after totality. The 

 Rev. J. M. Bacon, with a telescopic camera, 

 would photograph the inner corona as at Buxar, 

 India, in 1898, the exposures, however, being 

 shorter, and the development more prolonged. 

 He would endeavor to make these exposures 

 at definite and exact moments symmetrical 

 with reference to mid-totality to aid in deter- 

 mining the relative position of sun and moon. 

 He would also expose to the zenith for several 

 minutes before, during, and after totality, a 

 long sensitive film, continuously driven in 

 a especially designed automatic instrument. 

 By means of a kite he would compare 

 during the eclipse the temperature at an 

 altitude of a few hundred feet with that 

 on the ground. Miss Bacon said that she 

 would endeavor to photograph the outer corona 

 and extensions, and would also repeat her 

 former experiment of taking a ' gathering 

 gloom ' series. Special observations of shadow 



bands would be organized, these including a 

 proposal to pursue them along a white road by 

 a party of cyclists. Photographic tests would 

 be adopted as at Buxar to compare the light of 

 the corona with that of the full moon. Miss 

 Bacon mentioned that the Pennsylvania Rail- 

 road authorities had kindly promised special 

 concessions for the occasion. The United 

 States Naval Department had intimated that 

 the instruments would be admitted into the 

 country free of charge and of examination ; the 

 Canadian government had granted similar facili- 

 ties should the expedition pass into Canada, 

 and the British government had done the 

 same in respect of the return to England, so 

 that much inconvenience and risk to photo- 

 graphic material and instruments generally 

 which would otherwise be experienced would 

 be avoided. Professor Young, the eminent 

 solar authority, who, with his party from 

 Princeton, had chosen the same station, Wades- 

 boro, had offered them every assistance in his 

 power. 



The annual meeting of the members of the 

 Royal Institution was held on May 1st. The 

 annual report of the Committee of Visitors for 

 the year 1899, testifying to the continued pros- 

 perity and eflScient management of the Institu- 

 tion, was read and adopted, and the report on 

 the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory of the 

 Royal Institution, which accompanied it, was 

 also read. Sixth-three new members were 

 elected in 1899. Sixty lectures, 17 evening 

 discourses, and two centenary commemoration 

 lectures were delivered in 1899. The books 

 and pamphlets presented in 1899 amounted to 

 about 280 volumes, making, with 672 volumes 

 (including periodicals bound) purchased by the 

 managers, a total of 952 volumes added to the 

 library. 



The Association of Economic Entomologists 

 will as usual hold its annual meeting in con- 

 junction with the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science. It will meet at 

 Columbia University, New York City, on June 

 22d and 23rd. A joint session with the Society 

 for the Promotion of Agricultural Science will 

 be held on the morning of June 23rd. Mem- 

 bers of the Association are requested to send to 



