1906.] on International Science, 355 



While the international organisation of meteorology is well on-{its 

 way, though difficulties such as those I have mentioned may tempo- 

 rarily retard it, another question not altogether disconnected with it 

 has been raised by Sir John Eliot. This is the establishment of an 

 institution devoted to the collective study of meteorological problems 

 affecting all parts of the British Dominions. It is true, not only in 

 this but also in other matters, that in order to take our proper position 

 in international work it is necessary that we should set our own house 

 in order, and we must give Sir John Eliot's proposals our hearty 

 support. If I do not enter further into this question, it is because I 

 am now dealing more especially with problems which go beyond the 

 limits of the Empire. I assume the existence of a national organisa- 

 tion, but lay stress on the insufficiency of this limitation. 



The importance of the subject, however, may be my justification, 

 if I direct attention for a moment to the meteorological question as 

 it presents itself in India. We all know and realise the vital import- 

 ance of the rainy season, and the benefit which the native population 

 would derive if it were possible to predict, even if only imperfectly, 

 the setting in of the monsoon. It appears that Dr. Walker, the 

 present Director of Observatories in India, recently obtained very en- 

 couraging results in this respect. According to his investigations, a 

 forecast of the monsoon may be derived from a knowledge of the 

 weather during preceding months in different parts of the world. 

 Thus a heavy rainfall in Zanzibar in May is followed by a weak 

 monsoon, while a pressure deficiency in Siberia during the month of 

 March indicates a probable deficiency of rain in India during the 

 following August. I need not insist on the importance of these 

 results, which at present are purely empirical and require further 

 confirmation, but it is quite clear that for the successful prosecution of 

 these inquiries political boundaries must be disregarded, and a system 

 of intercommunication organised between the countries chiefly con- 

 cerned. Dr. Walker informs me that he has successfully arranged for 

 telegraphic reports to be sent to him at the beginning of June from six 

 different stations in Siberia. It is hoped that this co-operation, which 

 was unavoidably discontinued during the late war, may now be re- 

 established. 



The course of international organisations does not always run 

 smoothly. The efforts made toward co-operation in earthquake 

 records have unfortunately led to differences of opinion, which have 

 hitherto prevented a truly international system being formed ; and if 

 I give a short historical account of the circumstances which have led 

 up to these differences, it is only in the hope that this may help to 

 remove them. The scientific investigation of earthquakes may be 

 said to have begun when British professors of physics, engineering, 

 and geology, were appointed at the Imperial College of Engineering 

 in Tokio. Some of them on returning home succeeded in interesting 



2 A 2 



