On January 18, 1903, there was sent, by Signor Marconi, from the wireless station at South Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Mass., to the station at Poldhu, Cornwall, England, a distance of 3,000 miles, the message-destined soon to be historic-from the President of the United States to the King of England. This photograph was taken by A. B. Phelan exclusively for McClure's Magazine immediately after the sending of the

message.

munication by his system between from 1878 to 1881 and again at the Canada and England, and in January, 1903, he transmitted a message from the President of the United States to the King of England, inaugurating wireless connection also between Cape Cod (Mass.) and Cornwall.

Thomas Corwin Mendenhall was born in Ohio in 1841. He was professor of physics at the Ohio State University from 1873 to 1878, at the Imperial University of Japan

Ohio State University from 1881 to 1884. Dr. Mendenhall was president of the Rose Polytechnic Institute from 1886 to 1889, superintendent of U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1889 to 1894 and president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute from 1894 to 1901. At the International Electrical Congress held in Chicago in 1893, Dr. Mendenhall was chosen one of a committee of five delegates, to formulate definitions for the fun

has appeared is in a press dispatch prepared by Dr. W. W. Campbell, director of the Lick Observatory, who has now observed six total eclipses of the sun.

only to people who witness its dramatic phases, but also to men of science who study its phenomena. The event is so rare, the duration is so short, the distance that must often be traveled to reach the place The Crocker Expedition from the of observation is so great, the diffi- Lick Observatory was stationed at culties of arranging apparatus in Goldendale, Wash., situated exactly an unusual place are so consider- on the central line of the eclipse able, the chance of a cloudy sky is path. Dr. Campbell states that a so disastrous, that unusual interest few of the twenty-six photographs is excited even among astronomers. secured with cameras of focal The eclipse of June 8 was notable lengths from eleven inches up to in that the shadow passed across forty feet have been developed, and the whole United States from Wash- the details of coronal structure are ington to Florida. Not for a hun- recorded with admirable sharpness, dred years will a total solar eclipse showing that the earth's atmosphere be visible over so large an area of was in a tranquil state. Four camthe country. Though the shadow eras of fifteen-feet focus, using was rather narrow, the time of to- plates of 14 x 17 inches, were used tality not long and the sun some- to record the brighter stars in the what too near the horizon, the opregions immediately surrounding portunity for observation in the the sun to detect, if possible, the Northwest was very good. The war, displacements required by the Einhowever, prevented the presence of stein hypothesis and to determine any expeditions from abroad, and the existence of bodies such as the American observatories are much hypothetic planet Vulcan in the vicinity of the sun. Two spectrodistracted from their regular work graphs gave images of the stratum by existing conditions. It is also the case that photography has per- the sun, and the general spectrum of green coronium gas enveloping mitted the solution of many of the was recorded in good strength with problems of special interest and two spectrographs. that this can now be used in many directions apart from an eclipse. New problems, however, always arise and scientific men are now interested in the Einstein theory of relativity, according to which rays of light from the stars should be subject to deviation by gravitation when passing close to the sun, and this may be determined by photographing the sky about the sun at the time of a total eclipse.

Expeditions to the Northwest were sent from the Lick, Mount Wilson, Yerkes, Naval and other observatories and from the Smithsonian Institution and the Weather Bureau. The Chamberlin Observatory of the University of Denver is only eight miles from the middle of the shadow. The best account of the eclipse that

The

The weather conditions at Goldendale were most dramatic. prospect for a clear sky was apparently hopeless during the whole day, but a very small area of blue sky free from clouds with the sun as its center appeared exactly at the center of the total phase when all other parts of the sky were clouded. This region cleared not more than a minute before the beginning of totality and the clouds again covered the sun within less than a minute of the passing of the shadow.

THE CONSERVATION OF
PLATINUM

THE Country is and for many years will be urgently in need of platinum in its industrial work and

ready throughout the country thousands of women have signed the following pledge: "I will neither purchase nor accept as gifts jewelry and other articles made in whole or in part of platinum so that all possible supplies of this precious metal shall be available for employment where they can do the greatest good in the service of our country, and I further pledge my influence to per

must now have it for war purposes. lege women have been enlisted. AlIt is believed that aside from the large amount of platinum metals in the form of manufactured jewelry, a large part of which is in private ownership, there is less than twentyfive per cent. of the normal stock of unmanufactured platinum in this country available for the needs of the war. In an effort to fill the immediate pressing needs of the government in its war program, the War Industries Board has ordered, suade others to take the same pathat seventy-five per cent. of the triotic stand." stock of platinum in the hands of manufacturing jewelers be commandeered and also the complete stock held by refiners, importers and dealers, but this, it is said, will only fill a small gap and that temporarily. The American Chemical Society has issued an appeal to the people not under any circumstances either during the war or afterwards to use platinum jewelry, but to conserve this metal, now priced at five times the cost of gold, for the exclusive

use of the chemical and other necessary industries.

The first purpose will be to obtain a sufficient supply of platinum for the needs of the war, and then to retain the production of the future for the industries. It is claimed that even before the

war, as a result of the craze for platinum in jewelry, the highly important work of the chemists had been curtailed and research work, especially in the universities, handicapped by inability to meet the constantly rising price for platinum.

Dr. Charles L. Parsons, secretary of the American Chemical Society, states that platinum ought not to be used in jewelry either in war time or in time of peace. It is too greatly needed for the development of chemical science and industry. The Russian mines, from which 95 per cent. of the platinum comes, are reported to be nearly exhausted, and these are now virtually in German hands. The United States has not

enough for its probable war needs and, as the jewelers now use over 50 per cent. of the supply that comes into commerce, they must be held responsible for its scarcity.

SCIENTIFIC ITEMS

WE record with regret the deaths of Frederick Remsen Hutton, honorary secretary of the United Engineering Society and long dean of the faculty of engineering at Columbia University; Charles Christopher Trowbridge, assistant professor of physics in Columbia University, and of Joseph Deniker, the distinguished French anthropologist.

A movement among the women of the country to discourage platinum in jewelry has been initiated by the IN honor of Professor Emeritus American Chemical Society. The John J. Stevenson, who held the Women's National League for the chair of geology at New York UniConservation of Platinum has been versity from 1871 to the time of his formed as a national organization, retirement from active service in with Mrs. Ellwood B. Spear, Cam- 1909, the building to be occupied by bridge, Mass., as chairman. State the Faculty Club has been named councils have been formed in four- Stevenson Hall. It was presented teen of the leading states of the to the university at the commenceUnion and even the efforts of col- ment exercises on June 3.