Miscellaneous Intelligence. 239 



tainment of their visitors, while there is assurance that the more suitable of the 

 public buildings of the University will also be placed at their disposal for the 

 same purposes. 



The International Congress of Physiology is to meet in Cambridge concurrently 

 with that of Zoology, and certain arrangements will be made in common, though 

 there is no intention of uniting the two Congresses — each of which will retain its 

 distinct organization. 



The general arrangements of the Zoological Congress will be made, and from 

 time to time communicated, by the General Committee established at the House of 

 the Zoological Society in London (3, Hanover Square), but the duties of the 

 Reception Committee at Cambridge will be greatly facilitated by the receipt of a 

 reply to this invitation, which they hope may be accepted. 



On the receipt of such an acceptance on the accompanying form, further 

 details with regard to local arrangements will be duly forwarded. It is hoped 

 that it will be possible to find rooms in the several Colleges for many of the 

 visitors ; but it is necessary to point out that the accommodation afforded within 

 College walls is not suitable for ladies. The Reception Committee will use their 

 best endeavors to find accommodation in lodgings for members who are accom- 

 panied by ladies, and it is proposed in due course of Lime to issue a statement 

 relating to the cost of apartments, railway fares, and other information which 

 will be useful to visitors. Reception Committee: Alex Hill, M.D., Master of 

 Downing College and Vice-Chancellor of the University; Alexander Peckover, 

 Esq., LL.D., F.L.S., St. John's College, Lord Lieutenant of the County; Ernest 

 T. Hooley, Esq.. High Sheriff of the County; S. R. Ginn, Esq., Mayor of 

 Cambridge, and others." 



2. Report of S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Sntithsonian 

 Institution, for the year ending June 30, 1897, pp. 80. Washing- 

 ton, 1898 (Government Printing Office). — The Report of the 

 Secretary ol the Smithsonian just issued gives the usual state- 

 ment in regard to the year's work of the Institution. In this the 

 description of the National Zoological Park is particularly to be 

 noted. Further, the account of work done in the Astrophysical 

 Observatory. In regard to the latter the following paragraphs 

 are quoted from the report of Mr. C. G. Abbot. 



" The work of the observatory during the past year has con- 

 sisted largely in* preparing for publication an account of the 

 research on the positions of absorption bands in the infra-red 

 solar spectrum. 



In this report, which was completed in May, 1897, but which, 

 owing to unavoidable delay, has not yet appeared in type, the 

 positions of about 225 absorption lines and bands are determined 

 in deviation and refractive index for a 60° rock-salt prism at the 

 temperature of 20° centigrade. These lines are distributed in 

 the salt spectrum between deviations of 40° 25' and 38° 45', cor- 

 responding to wave lengths 076 /a and 5'20/x, respectively. The 

 average error probable in the absolute angular deviations of these 

 lines is about 4 seconds of arc, but in their relative deviations 

 measured from the A line in the visible spectrum the probable 

 error averages only about 0'5 seconds of arc, a degree of accuracy 

 even exceeding the anticipations held forth in last year's report. 

 The holographs from which these results were obtained were 

 taken on exceptionally favorable occasions between October 26, 

 1896, and January 9, 1897. These holographs, 13 in number, 

 were selected from among many more, of all degrees of excel- 

 lence, taken during the same interval. 



