60 NATURE 
[SEPTEMBER 21, 1916 © 
it forms one of the most important parts of the 
society’s work. This course of instruction in ged- 
graphical surveying, which has now been in existence 
for about thirty-eight years, was first conducted by 
my predecessor, the late Mr, John Coles, and, since 
he resigned in 1900, has been-under my charge. Alto- 
gether 725 surveyors and explorers have received in- 
struction, without reckoning special large classes. of 
forty or fifty men which during the past few years, 
until the outbreak of war, were sent to us by the 
Colonial Office to learn the more elementary parts 
of compass-traversing and mapping. 
Now as regards the future. The demand for pro- 
perly trained geographical surveyors has been steadily 
increasing in past years, and is likely to be still 
greater as time goes on. After the termination of the 
war there will be much work to be done, especially 
as regards the surveying of new boundaries, and 
freshly acquired districts in Africa and elsewhere; and 
it would be wise to make preparations for this well 
ahead. 
The future surveyor will be in a much better posi- 
tion than his predecessors, not only on account of the 
improvements in instruments and apparatus for his 
work, but because, in many parts, a good beginning 
has been made with the triangulation to which the 
new surveys can be adjusted. In Asia a considerable 
amount of new work of this kind has been done over 
the frontier of India in recent years by the Survey of 
India, among the more important of which are the 
connecting of the Indian triangulation with that of 
Russia by way of the Pamirs, the surveys of 
Sir Aurel Stein, Dr. de Philippi, and _ others. 
The many boundary surveys that have — been 
carried out in Africa, the triangulations of 
Egypt, the Sudan, East and South Africa, and 
other parts of the continent are well advanced, 
and will be of the utmost value to the future 
surveyor. One of the most important lines is the 
great triangulation which, it is hoped, will some day 
run across the continent from south to north, from the 
Cape to Egypt. Owing to the energies of the late 
Sir David Gill, this important chain of triangles has 
already got so far as the southern end of Lake Tan- 
ganyika; the part to the west of Uganda, near Ruwen- 
zori, has also been finished, and it now remains to 
carry the chain through German East Africa and down | 
the Nile Valley. The latter, it is hoped, will by 
degrees be accomplished by the Sudan and Egyptian 
Survey Departments, although it may be delayed for 
some years yet; and the former, which was to have 
been undertaken by, the Germans, it is to be hoped 
will, after the war, be accomplished by British sur- 
veyors, through—not German East Africa—but newly 
acquired British territory. Running right through 
parts of Africa that are but imperfectly mapped in 
many districts, the stations of this triangulation will be 
invaluable for the adjustment of any network of 
triangulation for future surveys in the interior, and, 
indeed, has already been utilised for the purpose. 
The carefully carried out boundary surveys between 
various countries of South America will be of the 
greatest assistance in future exploration and survey 
in the interior of that continent, wherever they are 
available, while the Survey Departments of Canada 
and the United States are doing excellent work and 
extending their surveys far into the imperfectly mapped 
regions of North America. So, altogether, the sur- 
_veyor of the future will soon have a good foundation 
of trustworthy points to work from. It is important 
to remember that running a chain of triangles across 
a country, though important as a framework, does 
not constitute a map of the country; and what is 
wanted is a series of good topographical maps, based 
upon triangulation, showing the leading features with 
NO. 2447, VOL. 98] 
sufficient accuracy for the purposes of ordinary map- 
ping, so that on scales of 1 : 250,000, or even I : 125,000, 
there is no appreciable error. —  - va 
As regards instruments, the astrolabe a prisme is 
being increasingly used for taking equal altitude ob-° 
servations with most excellent regults, but at the pre~ 
sent time the 5-in. transit micrometer theodolite, 
already referred to, is perhaps’ all that is required for 
general work. It has now been thoroughly tested and 
found most satisfactory. As regards smaller instru-- 
ments, there is the 4-in. tangent-micrometer theodolite, 
and for rapid exploratory survey, where weight is a 
great consideration, a little 3-in. theodolite has been 
found useful, ’ 
For base-line measurement the invar tape should be~ 
taken on all serious work, and for filling in the topo- 
graphical features a good plane-table is doubtless the” 
instrument to use. In mountainous regions and in 
some other special conditions photographic surveying 
doubtless has a future before it, and in military opera- 
tions when the photographs are taken from aircraft 
it has proved itself invaluable; but in ordinary survey- 
ing it is, I think, not likely to take the place of well- 
established methods. The introduction of wireless tele-- 
graphy for the determination of longitude is likely 
to increase in usefulness. Good examples of the work 
done with it have lately been given in the Geographical 
Journal and elsewhere. : 
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