200 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Sept., 1904. 



h:is written on various branches of mathematical physics, and 

 has pulilished a bool< on Hydrodynamics. He was elected a 

 Fellow of the Koyal Society in iS(S4 ; Koyal Society Medallist, 

 1902 ; and is Honorary LL.D. of Glasgow and D.Sc. of 

 Oxford. Professor Lamb is President of the London Mathe- 

 matical Society. 



Professor Horace Lamb's address to the Mathematical and 

 Physical Section was a consideration of the place occupied by 

 the late Sir Gabriel Stokes, who took the presidential 

 chair of the Section when last the Hritish Association met at 

 Cambridge, in the development of iMathematics. The aspect 

 of Stokes' work to which attention was specially directed was 

 its historic or evolutionary relation to the work of his prede- 

 cessors and followers in that field. The review of this work 

 led to the consideration of the question of the part which 

 abstract conceptions played in the development of science; of 

 the uses, for example, of theories of matter or of electricity, of 

 the atom, of the ether, of tbe universe. Professor Lamb con- 

 cluded his paper with a pertinent quotation from the address 

 which Stokes delivered at Cambridge in 1862, and which was 

 one of the shortest ever delivered ; — 



" In this Section, more perhaps than in any other, we have 

 frequently to deal with subjects of a very abstract character, 

 which is many cases can be mastered only by patient study, at 

 leisure, of what has been written. The question may not un- 

 naturally be asked, If investigations of this kind can best be 

 followed l)y quiet study in one's own room, what is the use of 

 bringing them forward at a Sectional meeting at all ? I believe 

 that good may be done by public mention, in a meeting like 

 the present, of even somewhat abstract investigations; but 

 whether good is thus done, or the audience wearied to no pur- 

 pose, depends upon the judiciousness of the person by whom 

 the investigation is brought forward." 



Sub-Section. 



John KiAUT, K.C.I.K., 



Cosmic Physics. 



Sir John I-Imot, K.C.I.K., M.A., F.R.S., was educated at 



St. John's College, Cambridge. 



i86g. — Bracketed Second Wrangler. First Smith's Prize- 

 man. Elected Fellow of St. John's College. 



November. — Went out to India as Professor of Mathematics 

 in Engineering College, Koorkha. 



Photo. I'll Hoiirlif <f- Shcitheril. | 



SIR JOHN ELIOT. 



1872. — Transferred to Muir College, Allhabad, also as Pro- 

 fessor of Mathematics. 

 1876. — Transferred to Calcutta as Professor of Physics, Pre- 

 sidency College, and Meteorological Reporter to the 

 Government of Bengal. 

 1886. — Appointed to officiate as Meteorological Reporter to 

 the Government of India, and in 1888 appointed 

 permanently. 

 i8gi. — Also appointed Director-General of Indian Obser- 

 vatories, when the Scientific Observatories at Bombay 

 (magnetic), Madras (astronomical), and Koodookund 

 (solar physics), were placed under the control of the 

 head of the Meteorological Department. 

 Has written numerous reports and meteorological 

 memoirs; also a "Handbook of Cyclonic Storms in the Bay 

 of Bengal." to serve as a practical book of reference to sailors 

 in that area. 



Chief changes in India Meteorological Department during 

 his ri-^iiiu- : — 



(i.) Large extension of storm warning and flood warning 



work. 

 (2.) Large extension of area of meteorological observa- 

 tions, chiefly in India, Persia, and the Indian 

 Ocean. 

 (3.) Large extension of work of collection of meteoro- 

 logical data of the North Indian Ocean and Indian 

 area, and tabulation and publication of daily data 

 with chart. 

 (4.) Unification of the rainfall ; reporting systems and 

 publication of complete annual data for the Indian 

 Empire, &c., &c. 

 Also took a considerable share in the arrangements for the 

 establishment of a Solar Physics Observatory in India, and 

 for the commencement of a magnetic survey of India. 



Sir John Eliot's address to the sub-section of Cosmical 

 Physics dealt chiefly with that department of meteorology which 

 has attracted most attention, and has held forth the greatest 

 possibilities of development daring recent years — the theory of 

 weather types. Sir John Eliot's duties as an official meteor- 

 ologist in India have enabled him to speak with the greatest 

 authority on this subject ; and his observations on the regularly 

 recurring weathertypes of the Indian Ocean are to be regarded 

 as the starting-point of these new methods of investigation. He 

 divided his theme at Cambridge into two parts — (i) A Brief 

 Sketch of the Broad Features of Tropical Meteorology in their 

 Relations to the General Meteorology of the Indo-Oceanic 

 Region; and (2) Illustrations of Abnormal Features of the 

 Meteorology of that Area for the Ten Years ending in igo2. 

 Following on the illustrations which he gave of the uses 

 of seasonal forecasting in India — uses which are identical, 

 in many instances, with the prosperity or the desolation 

 of millions of people — Sir John Eliot urged the establish- 

 ment of a system of Imperial meteorology. He would co- 

 ordinate the meteorological system of the British Empire, and 

 establish a central office for the investigation of problems of 

 Imperial meteorology. The area to be dealt with on the 

 ludo-Oceanic area was partially covered by a number of inde- 

 pendent meteorological systems, including those of Egypt, 

 East Africa, Central and South Ceylon, Mauritius, the Straits 

 Settlements, and Australia. Large areas were unrepresented, 

 and the departments controlling the systems w'orked indepen- 

 dently of each other. He suggested a combined system, of 

 which the following might be the leading principles : — 



( 1 ) The extension of the field of observation by the establish- 

 ment of observatories in unrepresented areas, and the syste- 

 matic collection of marine meteorological data for the whole 

 area. 



(2) The collection and tabulation of the data necessary to 

 give an adequate view of the larger abnormal features of the 

 meteorology of the whole area. 



(3) The direction by some authoritative body of the 

 work of observation, collection, and tabulation of data, in 

 order to secure the use of similar methods for the thorough 

 discussion of the data. 



(4) The preparation of the summaries of data required as 

 preliminary to the thorough scientific discussions, and for the 

 information of the officers controlling the work of observation 

 in the contriliutory areas. The earliest publication of the 

 data should be regarded as essential for use of oflices issuing 

 seasonal forecasts. 



