246 



NATURE 



[May 30, 19 1 8 



lectureships, one in Italian and one in Spanish. 

 The institution of a separate chair for chemistry 

 in medicine may be expected to make possible a 

 fuller development of the original chair as a centre 

 of scientific research, and the University of Edin- 

 burgh is to be congratulated on having given a 

 useful lead in this much-needed reorganisation of 

 the chemistry department. 



Arranging under general groups the sums ex- 

 pended during the year 1916-17, and taking into 

 account the change in the allocation for the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, we find that 43 per cent, 

 was applied towards providing new buildings and 

 permanent equipment in arts, medicine, and 

 science, 36 per cent, towards endowment of pro- 

 fessorships and lectureships in these three facul- 

 ties and for other general purposes, 9 per cent, 

 towards books, etc., for libraries, and 12 per 

 cent, towards the direct endowment of research in 

 science, medicine, and history — where under 

 history are included also archaeology, economics, 

 modern languages, and literature. It may be men- 

 tioned that fully half the sum was allocated to the 

 history group, so that only 6 per cent, of the 

 grants for the year were used in the encourage- 

 ment of research in modern progressive science. 



It must be recognised that under present war 

 conditions scientific research by young graduates 

 is practically impossible ; but the fact remains that 

 in the present quinquennial scheme, which was 

 inaugurated nine months before the outbreak of 

 war, direct endowment of scientific research did 

 not form a very con^icuous feature. On the 

 other hand, it may be argned that it is not an easy 

 matter to supply money directly for research un- 

 less the purpose of the research is clearly recog- 

 nised. Post-graduate work by Carnegie scholars 

 and fellows may or may not yield important gains 

 in increasing or systematising scientific know- 

 ledge. A trust like the Carnegie Trust for the 

 Universities of Scotland may have good reasons 

 for believing that the interests of scientific le- 

 search may be best advanced in the meantime by 

 providing better laboratories, increased equipment, 

 and more efficient teaching, in the hope that other 

 good things will follow in their train. In any case 

 the trust has a grave responsibility, and must 

 see to it that there is no chance of wasteful 

 squandering of the funds it has to administer. 



THE RELATIONS OF GEODESY TO 

 GEOLOGY.^ 



THE study of the earth is the aim of both geo- 

 logists and geodesists, but their methods 

 of investigation differ so widely that their co- 

 operation is sometimes difficult to bring about. 

 While the geologist utilises descriptions and 

 measurements which he has collected at many 

 places widely distributed over the earth's surface, 

 the geodesist deals with a comparatively limited 

 number of observations carried out with the aid 

 of instruments of high precision, and carefully 



1 " The Structure of the Himalayas and of the Gangetic Plain as Eluci- 

 date^ hy Geode'ic Observations in India." By R. D. Oldham. "Memoirs 

 Geol. Sur.vey of India," vol. xlii., part 2, 1917. 



NO. 2535, VOL. lOl] 



corrected for all ascertainable errors ; his material 

 for discussion is provided from data the magni- 

 tudes of which are very small, and the weight 

 and relevance of which are not readily appreciated 

 by workers whose advance is along other lines. 

 Still, the co-operation of geology and geodesy is 

 very desirable, and the work that has been done 

 during the past ten or fifteen years in India,, 

 where the most extensive collection of high-grade 

 geodetic material in the Empire is available, in, 

 bringing together these tvio lines of investigation 

 may lead, we hope, to further work both there and 

 elsewhere. The reports of the Geodetic Survey 

 of South Africa furnished some similar material,, 

 and Dr. W. Bahn, in an article which appeared 

 in the Beitrdge fi'ir Geophysik of 1910, discussed 

 the geodetic results and indicated their bearing 

 on the tectonic geology of the area ; but such 

 discussions have been few. 



The Himalaya problem is dealt with in the 

 present memoir by Mr. Oldham, who aims at 

 adding to the stock of fundamental facts and so 

 utilising the work of Col. Sir Sidney Burrard, 

 Dr. Hayden, and others that a theory may be 

 built up such as will adequately account for the 

 conditions revealed by geodetic and geological 

 observations. 



The following conciusions are quoted as obtain- 

 ing general acceptance, and as, therefore, pro- 

 viding a starting point for discussion. The eleva- 

 tion of the Himalayas has been accompanied by 

 compression of the rocks of which they are com- 

 posed ; a great main boundary fault lies along the 

 outer edge of the Himalayas, and separates the 

 rocks of the northern area from the Upper 

 Tertiary rocks of the southern area ; a series of 

 similar faults is found within the Siwalik area, 

 and these are regarded as marking progressive 

 shifts southwards of the boundary of uplift to the 

 north and deposition to the south. 



The discussion is introduced by a chapte'r which 

 is devoted to an explanation of the nature of the 

 geodetic evidence in which the theories of com- 

 pensation and isostasy are discussed. A short 

 but useful account of compensation from the 

 work of Archdeacon Pratt and Sir George Airy 

 to the recent studies of Hayford, Bowie, and 

 others leads up to the development of tables of 

 compensation factors for various distances and 

 depths. 



The geodesist does not determine the absolute 

 value of the deflection of the plumb-line from the 

 vertical, and selects a station as origin to which 

 he refers the results obtained at other stations. 

 For India the station of Kalianpur has been taken 

 as origin with the assumption that no deflection 

 exists there ; but as the existence of a southerly 

 deflection has been established, a correction for 

 the amount of it has to be applied generally before 

 the results at other stations can be employed. 

 Variations in the force of gravity are determined 

 by comparing the period of a free-swinging pen- 

 dulum at different stations when all the necessary 

 corrections have been applied. These local values 

 have then to be compared with the normal value 

 for that point on the earth's surface, and to do 



