SIR GEORGE DARWIN 183 



Association, the International Association of Acade- 

 mies, the International Congress of Mathematicians, 

 and the Seismological Congress. 



With regard to the last named it was in conse- 

 quence of George's report to the Royal Society that 

 the British Government joined the Congress. It 

 was however with the Geodetic Association that 

 he was principallj' connected. 



Sir Joseph Larmor {Nature^ December 12, 191 2) 

 gives the following account of the origin of the 

 Association : 



The earliest of topographic surveys, the 

 model which other national surveys adopted 

 and improved upon, was the Ordnance Survey 

 of the United Kingdom. But the great 

 trigonometrical survey of India, started nearly 

 a century ago, and steadily carried on since 

 that time b}' officers of the Royal Engineers, is 

 still the most important contribution to the 

 science of the figure of the earth, though the 

 vast geodetic operations in the United States 

 are now following it closel3^ The gravitational 

 and other complexities incident on surve^-ing 

 among the great mountain masses of the 

 Himalayas early demanded the highest mathe- 

 matical assistance. The problems originally 

 attacked in India by Archdeacon Pratt were 

 afterwards virtually taken over by the Roj'al 

 Society, and its secretarj^ Sir George Stokes, 

 of Cambridge, became from 1864 onwards 

 the adviser and referee of the survey as regards 

 its scientific enterprises. On the retirement 

 of Sir George Stokes this position fell very 

 largely to Sir George Darwin, whose relations 

 with the India Office on this and other affairs 



