TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 



807 



p 



X, M.A. 



to explore and 



iiiii, the niu,«! 

 iiracttT. which 



iiiid lonjritud" 

 iijuire (It'liuite 

 I'l' fiuinifratMi], 

 ■tiict coiitaiih 

 iHlird an easv 

 t^ its many and 

 i*asy niat't>T to 

 lit a in has bwn 

 stern side; its 

 ivesterii side a 

 le jjfeneral, but 

 is inaccessiblf, 

 r any traveller 

 i uuthoritativf 



the necessf.!; 

 iscs to t'xamiii'- 



asct'iit shdiild 

 )ra and fauna, 

 an>. in who.^c 

 uich theauthur 

 piiical Society, 



'i'iif rriiite by 

 I' till' I'otaro, a 

 istant from the 

 pt" " 'ice gained 

 } 1. iffjrage niusi 

 el iVoni wliicli 

 stinn-statioiiat 

 point some two 

 UT fall, a.i yut 



r as Jvaieleiir, 



ssured, a path 

 an setllemeuti 



F.h'.G.S. 



^)^.tined them- 



s wore 



happilv 

 niich reniaiiit'd 

 carried on in i 



rake tlio puiiiis 

 advocated the 



MOJ^DAY, SEPTEMltEU 1. 



I'hi! following Report and Papers were read: — 



1. Itcport of the Committee for j^romoting the Survey of Eastern Palestine. 



See Reports, p. 272. 



2. Coriqjarhon of the Cll)iiafes of the Eastern and Western Ucmis^yheres. 

 By Dr. J. Beaufokt HuRLiiEin. 



3. Some peculiar Storms on the North American Continent. 

 By Dr. J. Beaufout Huulheut. 



4. On Dominion Surveys. By TiMCLAWXEr Saundeus. 



The advent nf the British Association appeared to the author to call for a notice 

 i! certain unscientitic proceedings in the Dominion .Surveys. In particular be 

 illuded to the maintenance of an atteaipt devised in times of geodetic ignorance in 

 the United .State.~, and adopted in tlit> Dominion from that source, involving the 

 :ipplicatioii of u network of squares to the allotment of public lamls for the purposes 

 jt i-ale. No doubt the idea of allotting land bv the square mile, and divisions of 

 the square mile, would naturally commend itself to surveyors trained in the 

 maiia;remei!t of estatca and parishes. JJut such a method faiinot be carried out 

 jvor the surface of the earth to any considerablo extent. Jt is only on the basis 

 '1 meridians and parallels that rectangular intersections can be applied over a 

 •iiherical surface of any great extent. The discrepancies and objections to the 

 ivstem of squares in the I'nited States in time attracted the attention of the 

 lieiieral Legislature of the United States, and in the o])inion of the author it is to 

 !»■ re^rretted that the conclusion arrived at was a compromise contrary to science, 

 providing a method of correction at certain intervals. So fiir from this compromise 

 itl'eritig facilities for the uniform allotment of land, it is decidedly the reverse. 

 Tlierecan be no diiUculty in finding the area, in acres or otherwise, of any division, 

 however large or however small, on the true geodetic basis of meridians and 

 parallels; and a given area being once found between any two parallels, it is of 

 I'lrse the same all around tlie sphere in the same belt and over similar limits. It is 

 uImi to he observed that boundaries defined un<ler the system of .squares, or on any 

 ither basis nr.',iiral or even capricious, can be as easily dtdineated on the true basis as 

 j;i the false one. There does not, indeed, appear to be any sufUcient grounds for 

 1't.tair.ing the unscientific method now in vogue according to law in tlie United 

 States, and adopted by law also in the Dominion from the example of the great 

 independent Englisii-speaking Kepublic. 



XotitKj was also called to the aspect of these allotment-maps. They are rather 

 rciristins tl:an niiip.- registers, indeed, of the allot nient-s<iuari's and comproraise- 

 snaces rather than maps of the natural f-Jiitures id" the ground. Such true raapa 

 are, however, far from being altogether wanting, though the public seldom have 

 access to such maps on a largo scale suilieieni for the study of geographers. 



The triangulation of both the Ihiited States and the Dominion of Canada 

 ippeared to t!ie author to invito the attention of geodesists. l)ut the subject was 

 ji^rLips too technieal for the present discussion. 



o. An Ai'Inmatic Sounder. By James Dillon', M.Inst.C.E. 



This apparatus, consisting of a bar attached to tlie side of the boat or steamer, 

 wiiieii automat ieally regi.sters the doptli iipoii a dial to wdiichita upper end ia 

 attached, was iirst explained at the York meeting <d' the Association. 



