254 



NA TURE 



[April 28, 1910 



magnetic survey of Egypt and the Sudan. It was 

 intended also, should time permit, to make observa- 

 tions in German South-west Africa. 



These proposals met with the approval of the 

 trustees of the Carnegie Institution, and they allo- 

 cated a sum of 2oooi. for the work. In the first 

 instance the proposals contemplated only one field- 

 party with one observer ; later, however, the writer 

 modified his plan so as to include a second observer, in 

 the hope of being able to have two field-parties. At 

 his suggestion the Department of Terrestrial Mag- 

 netism in Washinirton appointed Prof. Morrison as 

 second observer. The additional money necessary was 

 provided by the Government Grant Committee of the 

 Royal Society (2c;oL), and by Dr. L. S. Jameson and 

 Sir Lewis Michell (looL) 



The work began at the end of November, 1908, 

 when the writer left Ceres Road, in the Cape Colonv, 

 for Windhuk, in German South-west Africa. This 

 journey lasted four months. During February and 

 March of igoq Prof. Morrison made observations along 

 the railways in the northern part of the same region. 



In April, 1909, repeat observations were made in 

 Cape Colony and in Rhodesia, and Prof. Morrison 

 also made observations between the Victoria Falls and 

 Broken Hill, the then terminus of the Beira and 

 Mashonaland Railways. 



The two observers left Broken Hill in the bep-in- 

 ning of May, and marched to Abercorn viA. Fort 

 Roseber}^ After Broken Hill the only means of trans- 

 port was bv porters ; one set of instruments was car- 

 ried from there more than 2000 miles, the other more 

 than 1400, the whole distance being accomplished with- 

 out mishap to any of the instruments. 



At Abercorn the observers separated : Prof. Morrison 

 proceeded to the northern end of Lake Nyasa, then 

 down the Nyasaland plateau and the Shire and Zam- 

 bezi valleys to Chinde ; from there he went by sea to 

 Dar-es-Salaam, and made observations between it 

 and the terminus of the railway which goes from that 

 place inland. He was able to secure a number of 

 observations which will be of great value for deter- 

 mining the secular variations of the mafrnetic elements 

 in that part of the world. Finally, he made a number 

 of observations along the Uganda Railway from Mom- 

 basa to Port Florence. 



The writer went overland from Abercorn to Bis- 

 marckburg, a German station on the south shore of 

 Lake Tanganyika. From there he marched to Tabora, 

 an important town in German East Africa ; observa- 

 tions could not be made along the shores of Tan- 

 ganyika, as he had originally intended, because the 

 steamer had temporarily ceased to run — the two white 

 men on it, the captain and the enefineer, having con- 

 tracted sleeping sickness. From Tabora he io'irneved 

 overland to Bukoba, a German port orie^inally founded 

 bv Emin Pasha, on the west shore of Victoria Nvanza ; 

 the march was continued along the west coast of that 

 lake to Entebbe. At the latter place he found it was 

 impossible to take the usual overland routp to Gon- 

 dokoro, on account of sleeping sickness ; his caravan 

 had to go z'jfl Albert Nyanza, and there be conveved 

 forty-five miles from Butiaba to Koba. The end of 

 the porter transport was reached at Gondokoro, just a 

 little more th^n 2000 miles from Broken Hill by the 

 route followed. The work was brought to a close bv 

 the two observers once more meeting at Cairo, and 

 comparing their instruments with those at Helwan 

 and, finally, with those at Kew. 



In addition to the observations taken along the 

 routes mentioned above, a number of stations pre- 

 viously worked at in Cape Colony, the Transvaal, 

 Natal and Zululand were aerain occupied in 1908 ; the 

 cost of this was defrayed by a grant from the Royal 

 Societv (25L) In all about 360 new stations were 

 NO. 21 13, VOL. 83] 



occupied, mainly in regions which formerly wer 

 known magnetically only slightly or not at all. ' 



The instruments used for the above observations wer 

 the same as in the earlier work in South .Afric 

 (1898-1906), and were lent to the writer by the Roya 

 Society, the Royal Observatory of the Cape of Goo 

 Hope, and the South African College. By means o 

 the repeat observations, the results obtained in 190 

 and in previous years can be reduced to the sam 

 standard; and, further, through the comparisons a 

 Helwan and at Kew, can be compared with mucl 

 that has been done in recent years in other parts o 

 the world. 



While making the preliminary arrangements for th 

 journey, the writer received great assistance from th 

 Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 

 Sir Walter Heh'-Hutchinson, who communicated witl 

 the authorities of the various territories it was pro 

 posed to survey, and obtained permission for thi 

 observers to enter them, and to enjoy while then 

 special privileges. 



In German South-west Africa the authoritie 

 allowed the observers to travel free of charge over thi 

 Government railways ; the same facilities were giver 

 by the Cape, the Central South African, the Natal 

 the Rhodesian, and the Uganda railwaj-s ; the write: 

 had valuable concessions while travelling in the Sudai 

 and on the Egyptian Government steamers and rail 

 ways. 



In addition to these facilities, the courtesy and hos 

 pitality of the English and the German officials die 

 much to relieve the tedium and strain incident to worl 

 of this nature in such circumstances. The writer feel 

 that a formal recognition such as this is but a poo 

 return for the help so willingly and generousl; 

 accorded. 



In conclusion, it gives the writer great pleasure t( 

 have the opportunity of thanking Mr. R. S. Wood 

 ward, the president of the Carnegie Institution, an< 

 Dr. L. A. Bauer, director of the Department of Terres 

 trial Magnetism of that institution, for their advice am 

 encouragement during the progress of the work, an< 

 in particular to thank the latter for the great interes 

 he has taken in the reduction of the results, a worl 

 which is being carried out at W^ashington under hii 

 direction. J. C. Beattie. 



SIR ROBERT GIFFEN, K.C.B., F.R.S. 



THE sudden death of Sir Robert Giffen on th 

 morning of April 12, while on a tour in Scot 

 land accompanied by Lady GifTen. is a great loss t 

 economic and statistical science. He joined the Stati« 

 tical Society in 1867, at the age of thirty, having the: 

 alreadv acquired reputation as a writer on financif 

 subjects in the Globe, the Fortnightly Review, th 

 Economist, and the Spectator. He was elected 

 member of the council and one of the secretaries c 

 the society in 1876, in which year he joined the Civ 

 Service, and was appointed chief of the Statisticj 

 Department of the Board of Trade, and one of th 

 delegates of the Government of England to the Intel 

 national Statistical Congress at Buda-Pest. He sut 

 mUted to that congress "Considerations sous Form 

 de Tableaux pour la Preparation d'une Statistique ir 

 ternationale des Chemins de Fer," and was appointe 

 a member of the permanent committee. To the Soci.' 

 Science Congress at Liverpool, in the same year, h 

 contributed a paper on the causes and effects of th 

 depreciation of silver, how far is it an evil, and wh; 

 are the means of remedying the evil? In his officii 

 capacity, he devoted himself with zeal to rectifvin 

 and harmonising governmental statistics, and 1 

 diminishinor the overlapping and cost of parliamentai 

 returns. For example, he pointed out that the stati 



