and location of each star in the sphere has been determined with great care, so that the sphere is an accurate miniature representation of the heavens. The stars of the first, second, third, fourth and a selected number of those of the fifth magnitude visible from the latitude of Chicago are represented in the sphere, and the total number is 692. The shifting positions of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Venus among the constellations have been provided for by a number of openings made to represent the different positions of each of these planets at different times of the year. The openings not in use are very readily covered. The sun is represented by a small electric light which may be moved from place to place along the ecliptic and thus be kept in its appropriate place among the stars. The moon will be represented by a series of small discs cut to represent its various phases and coated with a luminous salt. These discs may be moved from point to point along the orbit of the moon and thus represent that body in its appropriate position in the heavens.
Each star in the sphere has been numbered and star tables have been prepared so that it is simple for one to identify a particular star observed in the sphere or to locate a given star or constellation. Many of the mathematical conceptions necessary for the study of descriptive astronomy which often discourage the beginner are made with this sphere perfectly simple. Any one, including the younger school children, can with its aid become familiar with the chief constellations, their apparent movement, the brighter stars and the real and apparent movements of the sun, moon and planets.
SCIENTIFIC ITEMS
We regret to record the death of Sir Robert Stawell Ball, Lowndean professor of astronomy at Cambridge University; of Sir John Batty Tuke, M.D., lecturer on insanity at Edinburgh; of Dr. Henry Potonié, geologist of the Prussian Geological Survey, and of Dr. Edwin Klebs, the well-known German pathologist.
Dr. Aubrey Strahan has been appointed director of the British Geological Survey and Museum in succession to Dr. J. J. H. Teall, who will retire on January 5.—Provost Edgar F. Smith, of the University of Pennsylvania, has been elected a member of the board of trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to succeed Dr. Ira Remsen, recently president of the Johns Hopkins University.
At the meeting of the National Association of State Universities, which was held recently in Washington, D. C, a committee was appointed to draw up plans and policies to be submitted to congress for its approval. A bill will be presented asking for $500,000 as the first step in the organization.
Shortly after the issue of this number of the Monthly the scientific societies will hold their annual convocation week meetings. The American Association for the Advancement of Science meets in Atlanta, beginning on Monday, December 29. With it meet the national scientific societies devoted to astronomy, physics, entomology and botany. The societies concerned with zoology, physiology and anatomy meet in Philadelphia, the geologists in Princeton, the anthropologists in New York, the psychologists and philosophers in New Haven, the economists and sociologists in Minneapolis.
