It is unfortunate that drawings were not made on each occasion the aurora was seen, the lack of diagrams greatly increasing the difficulty of working up the results. In all that follows, unless it is specifically stated to be otherwise, the times are those of the 180th meridian and the directions are astronomical. The position of Cape Evans Winter Quarters is Latitude 77 38' 24" S., Longitude 166 24' 7" E., so that time of the 180th meridian is approximately 54 minutes in advance of local time. Hours are numbered from 1 to 24, 1 hour being, therefore, approximately the time at which the sun was due south from the station. The magnetic declination at Cape Evans was about 154| East and the dip about 86 26'. A typical example of the changes in aurora seen at Cape Evans is furnished by the auroral observations of May 1st to May 3rd. The general course of the variations during that period was as follows : May 1st. From 1 hour to 6 hours, no aurora was seen at the exact hours, though the sky was clear. A faint cloud-like patch was, however, seen between North and North 20 East at an altitude of 8, at 4.10 a.m. At 7 hours, faint streamers were observed between N.E. and S.E., rising to an altitude of 35. Observations were discontinued until 22 hours, when an incomplete arch, broken in the centre, was seen to extend from S.W. by S. to E.N.E. The arch was faint, the maximum altitude being about 50. At 23 hours, the aurora was still faint, in the form of a discontinuous arch of maximum altitude 20, extending from E.N.E. to S.S.E. At 23.55, the aurora was bright, in the form of three parallel arches extending from S.W. by S. to N.W. by N. almost across the zenith. These arches gradually coalesced and moved N.W. across the zenith, developing folds. The maximum brightness occurred just before crossing the zenith at 0.04 on May 2nd. There was little motion of detail and no colour could be seen. Unsuccessful attempts were made to take photographs at this time. May 2nd. The aurora was very faint at 0.18, the eastern limb at this time having moved round to north, the western limb remaining stationary. At the same time, a low faint arch of 10 altitude was seen between N.N.W and W. The aurora at 1 hour was in the form of a single, broad, ill-defined arch extending across the zenith from North to S. by W. At 1.30, three broad, parallel, hazy bands were seen in the western hemisphere, of which the uppermost extended from North to S.S.W. across the zenith, and the lowermost was at an altitude of 30 at its maximum. At 2 hours, the only aurora visible was a very faint hazy patch of light in the S.S.W. No aurora was seen at 3 hours and 4 hours, but at 4.07 a rather taint band (moderately bright in places), with little motion, was seen to extend Irom X.X.W. to S.E. At 5 and 6 hours, no aurora was seen, but clouds were visible in the north. At 7 hours, faint patches of light were seen due East, at an altitude of 30. No observations were then recorded during the bright portion of the clay, but, at 19 and 20 hours, the sky was clear, no auror...

Objective— A review of the use of computer collected audit data in assessing the quality of maternity services. Setting— All maternity units managed by the North West Thames Regional Health Authority. Recommendations— A system of audit must supply information that is both credible and of interest to clinicians managers and consumers. The information should be adjusted for differences in populations to allow valid comparisons between units. It needs to be presented in an easily digested form. One way of implementing audit would be to establish a regional group representative of clinicians, patients and managers who would initially interpret the data and make recommendations. A local group of similar composition would be asked to comment on and respond to these with a plan for the following year. Changes would be monitored by analysis of the routinely collected data. Conclusions— Medical audit in the maternity services requires new concepts if it is to influence the quality of clinical care and the use of resources available to provide that care. The appropriate balance needs to be found between the perspectives of clinicians, patients and managers. A major challenge is the collection of valid data. This has largely been overcome by the St Mary's maternity information system. The next stage is to devise a system of audit that is epidemiologically sound and is acceptable to those who will be asked to implement the lessons that emerge. Only then will it be possible to determine whether clinical practice and the use of resources can be altered to the benefit of patients.

The auxiliary adjustable pendulum is used only to determine the flexure correction for No. 21 and, for this, its period of vibration is adjusted till it is approximately equal to that of No. 21.

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