JuLy 11, 1912] 
Newton Moore, Agent-General for Western 
‘Australia, spoke of the immense saving of labour 
which such a bureau might have effected in his 
office last year, when the establishment of the 
University of Perth was under consideration. The 
delegates also resolved that it is desirable that the 
Congress should meet at intervals of ‘five years, 
and that both in the United Kingdom, in the 
several great dominions and in India representa- 
tives of universities should meet annually. 
The entertainments offered to the Congress were 
of remarkable interest. The Government invited 
the delegates to lunch at the Savoy Hotel. They 
were seated at thirty round tables, with a member 
of the Government or the Chancellor of a Univer- 
sity at each. Prince Arthur of Connaught, Presi- 
dent of the General London Committee, replying 
to the second Royal toast, said that the Royal 
Family had shown its appreciation of a university 
training by giving the Heir to the Throne the 
opportunity of sharing it for the last two genera- 
tions, and that a university course is contemplated 
for the Prince of Wales. Mr. Lewis Harcourt, in 
a most felicitous speech, proposed the toast of the 
Congress, to which Lord Rosebery and Principal 
Peterson, of the McGill University of Montreal, 
replied. 
In the evening Prince Arthur received the dele- 
gates in the Marble Hall of the University of 
London. Chancellors and  Vice-Chancellors 
grouped themselves behind the Prince. The con- 
versazione which followed was attended by 2500 
people, most of the men and many of the ladies 
in academical robes. On Wednesday and Thurs- 
day, delegates were invited to dinner by the 
Clothworkers’, Merchant Taylors’, Fishmongers’, 
Vintners’, and Leathersellers’ Companies; the 
Countess Beauchamp received them later at her 
house in Belgrave Square. The Victoria League 
and the Marchioness Dowager of Bute gave a 
garden party. There was an “at home” at the 
Mansion House. The Royal School of Medicine 
for Women gave an “at home.” Mrs. E. B. 
Sargant gave a delightful party at Claridge’s. 
The Principal and Staff of King’s College invited 
a large number of delegates to dinner. The 
British Academy 
Shakespeare lecture for the Monday night, and 
followed it with a soirée. The delegates from 
overseas are now on tour, receiving similar hos- 
pitality at Oxford, Birmingham, Manchester, 
Liverpool, Leeds, and Cambridge. Before the 
meeting in London they visited the Scottish 
universities, Dublin and Durham. 
Not the least important result of the meeting of 
the Congress will be the Report, which will neces- 
sarily be a bulky volume, since it will contain, in 
addition to all the papers prepared for and speeches 
made at the Congress, appendices of information 
regarding the regulations and practices of all 
British universities with regard to the matters 
which were discussed at the Congress. It will be 
published early in the autumn, and will be obtain- 
able from the Congress Office, University of 
London. ; 
NO. 2228, vo. 89] 
arranged the second annual | 
NATURE 
479 
GEODETIC WORK IN THE ORDNANCE 
SURVEY.} 
KS is with very great pleasure that we record 
the issue of the first of a new series of Pro- 
fessional Papers by the Ordnance Survey. The 
fundamental work of the Survey is recorded in a 
series of volumes which form one of the most 
important contributions to geodesy that have been 
made; but in more recent years new material has 
oftener been referred to in the annual progress 
reports than dealt with thoroughly in special 
publications such as the one before us. At the 
present time, when there is already high-grade 
work in hand, and much more will be required in 
the survey of all parts of the Empire, the experi- 
ence gained by the great survey establishments is 
of the highest value to those engaged on similar 
work in the oversea Dominions and the Crown 
Colonies. 
The present paper deals-with the measurement 
of a base-line at Lossiemouth, which is the out- 
come of a representation made by the Council of 
the British Association for the Advancement of 
Science in 1908 to the Board of Agriculture and 
Fisheries, that it was highly desirable to ascertain 
the accuracy of a portion of the principal tri- 
angulation of the United Kingdom remote from 
the principal bases at Salisbury Plain and Lough 
Foyle. 
Three invar tapes, roo feet long, were em- 
ployed, and the first two chapters of the paper 
describe the preliminary operations and the pro- 
cedure employed in making the measurements. 
The next three chapters contain a very valuable 
and interesting account of the standardisation 
of the 10-foot Ordnance Intermediate Bar, Ol],, 
at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures 
at Sévres, the standardisation of a subsidiary 
| standard bar, OI,, at Southampton, and of a 
100-foot base, as well as of two standard invar 
| tapes, at the same place. 
In the field a 100-foot base was laid down with 
the aid of these two standardised tapes, and with 
it the three invar tapes which were used for the 
measurement of the base were compared on four 
occasions during the work. 
The last two chapters contain a very useful dis- 
cussion of the theory of tapes in catenary, due 
to Prof. O. Henrici, F.R.S., and Captain E. O. 
Henrici, R.E., which ends with a summary of 
the errors affecting a base measurement, omit- 
| ting, however, the possibility that the tapes or 
wires may not always be at the same temperature 
as the air. All possible errors should be con- 
sidered in determining the probable accuracy of a 
base, and not only the discrepancy between the 
two or more measurements made, as is sometimes 
the case. The final value for the base is given as 
23,525°97944 feet, with a probable error of x in 
900,000. 
1 “An Account of the Measurement of a Geodetic Base Line at Lossie- 
mouth in 1909. together with a Discussion of the Theory of Measurement 
by Metal Tapes and Wires in Catenary."’ Ordnance Survey Professional 
Papers. New Series, No. r. Pp. 39. (London: H.M. Stationery Office ; 
Wyman and Sons, Ltd.; Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd; Dublin: E. 
Ponsonby, Ltd., 1912) Price 2s. 
