THE second circular for the XIXth International Scientific Instrument Symposium has been distributed and the programme of conference sessions and other events is taking shape. The dates for this year's meeting of the Scientific Instrument Commission are the 4th to 8th September.

There is already a great deal of interest in the meeting and specialist sessions have now been arranged on twentieth-century instruments, on the replication and reworking of experiments, on the archives of collectors and dealers, and on the survival of astronomical instruments in active observatories. Anyone requiring further information should send an e-mail to symposium@hsm.ox.ac.uk or write to the Conference Office at the Museum's address below.