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nature; only a few of our ornithologists have, and, as just stated, neither Wilson nor Audubon fared any better. However, I have carefully examined quite a number of them in the collections of the United States National Museum; and not long ago, Dr. Charles W. Richmond, Assistant Curator of the Division of Birds of that institution, kindly loaned me the head of a specimen of the Sooty Albatross. It had no artificial eyes, and apparently was simply a head and nothing more-not even bearing any label or history. This head I photographed on side view, reducing it about one fourth. furnishing the print with an eye. That print is here reproduced as an illustration to my article.

Audubon's description of the beak of this species is so obscure as to be of but little value.

The plumage of the head- -a rich snuff-brown-is soft and composed of fine feathers, and there is a narrow white stripe of short feathers surrounding the posterior half of the eye-lid on either side of the head. The beak is glossy black and formed as shown in the cut.

There is in existence a wonderful literature on the Albatrosses, especially when we consider how few species there are compara-. tively speaking. The old figures of them in the works are often very crude; while, upon the other hand, some fine photographic reproductions in different works are wonderfully fine and of great value. Among these are the remarkable photographs obtained by the Hon. Sir Walter Rothschild of the immense numbers of the Laysan Albatrosses, nesting on the island of that name; of the dreadful practice of carting away the eggs of that species, taken at the same place, and many others. Then Mr. Dudley Le Souëf, Director of the Melbourne Zoological Garden, has furnished us with a fine photograph of the White-capped Albatross on its egg, which latter, according to Professor Moseley, is held in a sort of pouch to be found between the legs of the bird.

Some species of these birds have a "tip to tip" measurement of the wings of no less than eleven feet and a few inches. It is a well-known fact that in the southern seas, where sailors have fallen overboard, they have been attacked in the water by one or more of these giants of the feathered race, and a poem on an incident of this sort would quite offset the experience of the ancient mariner who shot the albatross, which furnished Coleridge with the material for his famous verses.

The marvelous flight of one of these birds has been graphically described by Mr. Froude, who tells us that "the albatross wheels in circles round and round, and forever round the ship-now far behind, now sweeping past in a long, rapid curve, like a perfect skater on an untouched field of ice. There is no effort;

watch as closely as you will, you rarely or never see a stroke of the mighty pinion. The flight is generally near the water, often close to it. You lose sight of the bird as he disappears in the hollow between the waves, and catch him again as he rises over the crest; but how he rises and whence comes the propelling force, is to the eye inexplicable: he alters merely the angle at which the wings are inclined; usually they are parallel to the water and horizontal; but when he turns to ascend or makes a change in his direction, the wings then point at an angle, one to the sky, the other to the water.'

The bird of this group usually referred to in prose or poetry is the Wandering Albatross (D. exulans); and it is said that specimens of it have been collected having an alar extent of no less than twelve feet. It is a bird with extraordinary power of flight, and Professor Hutton has well described the remarkable power these birds possess in that direction. "Suddenly he sees something floating in the water," says this authority, "and prepares to alight; but how changed he now is from the noble bird but a moment before, all grace and symmetry! He raises his wings, his head goes back, and his back goes in; down drop two enormous webbed feet, straddled out to their fullest extent; and with a hoarse croak, between the cry of a raven and that of a sheep, he falls 'souse' into the water. Here he is at home again, breasting the waves like a cork. Presently he stretches out his neck, and with great exertion of his wings runs along the top of the water for seventy or eighty yards, until, at last, having got sufficient impetus, he tucks up his legs, and is once more fairly launched in the air."

Another distinguished British writer on this subject, Professor Moseley, in describing their mating habits informs us that "when an albatross makes love, he stands by the female on the nest, raises his wings, spreads his tail and elevates it, throws up his head with the bill in the air, or stretches it straight out forwards as far as he can, and then utters a curious cry. . . . Whilst uttering the cry, the bird sways his neck up and down. The female responds with a similar note, and they bring the tips of their bills lovingly together. This sort of thing goes on for half an hour or so at a time.'

There is great danger of the entire genus of Albatrosses becoming entirely extinct in the comparatively near future, and for several very good reasons. In the first place, many are shot and killed by passengers and others from the decks of vessels of all descriptions sailing on the high seas. This practice claims its quota every year, and no use is ever made of the poor birds thus ruthlessly slain. Again, many are caught with hook and line, but

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THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE

CURRENT COMMENT

By DR. EDWIN E. SLOSSON

Science Service

RELATIVITY AND THE ECLIPSE

ON September 21 the theory of relativity was put to the proof. After the results of the photographs then taken have been measured we may perhaps know whether Einstein is to be ranked with Copernicus and Newton, among those who have revolutionized man's conception of the universe, or whether he will be regarded merely as the author of an ingenious mathematical theory of limited applicability to reality.

For the last three years the theory of relativity has been the topic of lively discussion extending far beyond the scientific circle, for the public realized that some interesting issues were somehow involved in its incomprehensible mathematics. More than a thousand books and uncountable articles have been published on Einstein; all sorts, pro and con, physical and metaphysical, experimental and speculative, serious and frivolous. Prizes have been offered for explanations in ordinary language. Personal, political, religious and racial passions and prejudices have been aroused. Einstein was the first German scientist to be welcomed since the war, in England, France and the United States, but in his own country he has to go into hiding to escape assassination by the junkers.

It is a remarkable example of how the progress of science may continue in spite of political conflict that during the world war Einstein should have sat quietly in his study in Berlin thinking out his theory and that during the world war English astronomers should have been quietly studying his work and preparing to put it

to the test at the earliest opportunity.

This opportunity came on May 29, 1919, when there was a total eclipse of the sun. For Einstein had predicted that when the stars about the darkened disk of the sun were photographed they would appear as though pushed out of their positions. This is one of the consequences of his theory of relativity, which is designed to supplant, or at least to supplement, Newton's theory of gravitation.

According to Einstein, a ray of light from a star passing close by a heavy body like the sun is drawn out of its straight course a little, somewhat as though it were a stream of material particles, but to a greater extent than Newton's law would allow for. To an astronomer looking up at the star along this crooked path and not making allowance for the bend, it would seem that the star had been moved away from the sun a minute distance (1.74 seconds of are). Of course this effect is the same at all times, but it can only be observed when the sun's disk is com

pletely shadowed from us by the moon's coming between.

So the British astronomer royal, Professor Eddington, sent out two eclipse expeditions in 1919 to points where the eclipse could be observed, one to the west coast of Africa and the other to the east course of Brazil.

When he came to develop and measure up his photographs, he found that the stars about the darkened sun were displaced in the direction and close to the amount predicted by Einstein.

This was good evidence in Einstein's favor, but scientists are cautious creatures and not all of them

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THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN ECLIPSE PARTY

World Wide Photos

The members of the eclipse party, photographed prior to their departure from Perth, Western Australia, for Wallal. Standing, left to
right: J. Clark Maxwell, H. L. Quick, J. Hargreaves, J. P. C. Hoskinds, Dr. R. J. Trumpler, J. J. Dwyer, C. Nossiter, V. J. Mathews,
C. S. Yates, Dr. J. H. Moore, G. M. Nunn. Sitting: Miss Chant, Mrs. Adams, Dr. C. E. Adams, Mrs. Campbell, Dr. W. W. Campbell,
Mrs. Chant, Dr. C. A. Chant, A. D. Ross and Dr. Young.

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