November 21, 1907] 



NA TURE 



61 



consists of the president, vice-president, and secretary. 

 There is no question, however, that the formation of 

 the catalogues will always form one of the great 

 objects of the association, and its publication will 

 absorb a material fraction of its funds. 



One of the subjects discussed at the meetings was 

 the study and origin of small periodic disturbances, 

 some of which have short periods of 6 to 1 1 seconds, 

 or the somewhat longer period of 30 seconds. The 

 latter seem to occur when strong winds sweep over a 

 country, but no connection of the former with meteoro- 

 logical occurrences has been proved, and the only 

 suggestion of a rational explanation is that due to 

 Prof. Wiechert, who believes them to be due to the 

 impact of ocean waves on the shores. A small com- 

 mittee was appointed to investigate the question, and 

 a sum of 50/. was placed at its disposal. Prof. 

 Omori, who had independently expressed the wish to 

 investigate this matter, was also granted a sum of 

 50/. to carrv out his investigations. 



.\nother committee was appointed to report on the 

 question of preparing a complete annual index of the 

 literature of the subject. The committee was in- 

 structed to enter into communication with the Inter- 

 national Catalogue and the " Office international de 

 Bibliographie," in order to ascertain whether one of 

 the existing organisations may be utilised for the 

 purpose. 



•According to a resolution arrived at in Rome in 

 October, iqo6, the president of the association vacates 

 his office on .\pril i following the general meetinsfs, 

 which, as a rule, take place every four years. The 

 permanent committee had therefore to elect a new 

 president; Prof. Palazzo, who has held the office 

 during the last vear. not being re-eligible, a ballot was 

 taken, and Prof. .Arthur Schuster received the majority 

 of votes. In thanking the meeting for the honour 

 bestowed upon him, and accepting the office. Prof. 

 Schuster said that he was not an expert on seismo- 

 logical questions, but considered it to be his duty to 

 accept the position, as he considered that it was in- 

 tended as a recognition of the services rendered by 

 Great Britain, and notably by Prof. Milne, not only 

 in originating the scientific study of earthquakes, but 

 also in first organising combined observations on an 

 international basis. Prof. Forel, of Lausanne, who is 

 well known through his work on seiches, was elected 

 vice-president. 



The general meeting was opened on the morning 

 of September 24 by a speech of the Minister of the 

 Colonies, and the two succeeding days were taken up 

 in great part by addresses on various subjects con- 

 nected with seismology. Of special interest were the 

 account given bv Prince Oalitzin of his seismomctric 

 studies, and a paper by Prof. Wiechert on the utili- 

 sation of seismic records towards the investigation 

 of the physical properties of the earth. 



It was the duty of the general meeting to fix the 

 locality of the central bureau, and it was resolved to 

 retain Strassburg for the next period of four years. 



The delegates were most hospitably entertained ; an 

 evening entertainment, as well as a dinner, was given 

 bv the Minister of the Colonies on behalf of the 

 Government of Her Majesty the Queen, and the meet- 

 ing concluded with an excursion by boat through 

 some of the characteristic canals and inland lakes 

 of the country. Prof, van der Stok, the vice-presi- 

 dent, and his able assistants, Dr. Hartmann, Dr. 

 Romeljn, Mr. Levoir, and Baron van Voorst tot 

 Voorst, must be congratulated on the perfection of the 

 organisation, which more than anything else allowed 

 the meeting to do its work smoothly and effectively. 

 The permanent committee will come together in 1909 



NO. 1986, vol. ']']'\ 



at some place in Switzerland not yet determined, and 

 the place for the next general meeting in 191 1 will 

 then have to be fixed. It was too soon to come to 

 any definite decision, but an informal expression that 

 the meeting might appropriately take place in 

 England seemed to meet with a very general approval. 



A 



SIR F. L. McCLINTOCK, K.C.B., F.R.S. 

 DMIR.XL SIR FR.WCIS LEOPOLD McCLIN- 

 TOCK, whose death on Sunday last, at eighty- 

 eight years of age, we regret to announce, will be 

 remenibered so long as the story of polar exploration 

 has any interest for the human race. Fifty years 

 have passed since the Fnx, with Sir Leopold (then 

 Captain) McClintock in command, sailed In search of 

 the Franklin expedition, and the fiftieth anniversary 

 of this memorable event was appropriately marked on 

 June 30 last by a letter of congratulation sent to 

 him from the Royal Geographical Society. 



Sir Leopold McClintock 's .Arctic service began in 

 1848, when he accompanied Sir James Clark Ross as 

 second lieutenant on board H.M.S. Enterprise, in 

 the expedition sent out by the Admiralty. Returning 

 unsuccessful in November, 1849, McClintock joined 

 a second expedition sent out early in 1850 as senior 

 lieutenant of H.M.S. Assistance, with Sir Erasmus 

 Ommanney. It was his fortune in August, 1850, to 

 see, at Cape Riley, the first traces of the missing 

 Franklin expedition. In the following spring, whilst 

 frozen up at Grifiith Island, he signalised himself by 

 a remarkable sledge journey of 80 days and 760 geo- 

 graphical miles, reaching the most westerly point 

 which had been attained from the east in the 

 Arctic regions. Upon the return of this expedition 

 to England in October, 185 1, he was promoted to the 

 rank of commander; and in the following spring he 

 proceeded to the Arctic regions in command of H.M.S. 

 Intrepid, one of five vessels composing the third 

 searching expedition, under Sir Edward Belcher's 

 command. In accordance with instructions from the 

 .Admiralty, the Intrepid, in company with the Reso- 

 lute, Captain Kellett, wintered at Melville Island, in 

 order to search for Captain McClure and his com- 

 panions; and, fortunately, they were discovered and 

 rescued, after their three years' imprisonment In the 

 ice. McClintock again distinguished himself by his 

 sledge journey of 105 days and 12 10 geographical 

 miles into the hitherto unexplored region northward 

 of Melville Island. The advances which .Arctic sledge- 

 travelling has made are almost entirely due to the 

 improvements effected by him. Abandoning four out 

 of the five ships imbedded in the ice, and also 

 McClure's ship, the Investigator, the personnel of 

 this expedition, with McClure and his companions, 

 returned to England in October, 1S54, in the dep6t 

 ship Worth Star, and two relief ships, freshly arrived 

 out. under Captain Inglefield. 



In 1857 McClintock accepted the command of the 

 search expedition fitted out mostly at Lady Franklin's 

 expense. He selected and equipped the steam-yacht 

 Fnx, of 177 tons, and with twenty-four companions 

 sailed on July i, 1857. He returned on September 

 20, 1859, having discovered, upon the north-west shore 

 of Klnsr William's Island, a record announcing the 

 death of Sir John Franklin and the abandonment of 

 the Erebus and Terror. He brought home intelligence 

 of their discoveries and the fate of their crews, and 

 many relics of the expedition. The story of this 

 voyage was fullv related bv McClintock himself in 

 " The Voyae-e of the Fox in 'the Arctic Seas : a Narra- 

 tive of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin 

 and his Companions," a work which ran through 



