752 TBAJiSACTlOKS OF SECTIOI^ E. 



arc over thi.t section. North of tbis point the line comes into the territoi'y of 

 the British Soudan, and traversing this eventually reaches Egypt proper. Here it 

 comes into the charge of Captain H. G. Lyons, the director of the Survey 

 Department of Egypt, under whose care its interests are safe. 



It will thus be seen that while the actual completion of the whole chain is as 

 yet somewhat remote, we are in the satisfactory position of being able to say that, 

 as far as the section lying on the continent of Africa is concerned, there is no 

 portion of which there is not a reasonable probability that it will be finished 

 within a measurable period. With regard to the section joining Africa and 

 Europe the position is not so happy. This will run through Palestine and Asia 

 Minor and therefore lies in Turkish territory. It is not likely that the Turkish 

 authorities either will or could carry out such a work ; in fact, seeing that even 

 when completed it would be totally useless to them, it would be hardly reasonable 

 to expect them to do so. It must, therefore, presumably be a matter for inter- 

 national co-operation. One point may be mentioned with regard to the exact 

 route of this connecting section. Sir ]). Gill, in his Report on Geodetic Survey 

 of South Africa, 1896, said: 'By an additional chain of triangles from Egypt 

 along the coast of the Levant, and through the islands of Greece, the African 

 arc might be connected by direct trianglation with the existing triangulation of 

 Greece, and the latter is already connected with Struve's great arc of meridian 

 which terminates at the North Capo in latitude 71° N. The whole arc would 

 then have an amplitude of 105°.' This, however, gives rather a poor connection 

 with the European triangulation. The South Albanian series has a much higher 

 average error than either Struve's original work or any part of the African series. 

 This portion would consequently be a weak link in the geodetic chain, and it 

 would be better to avoid it altogether by carrying the line along the coast of 

 Asia Minor to Constantinople, and then up the east side of Turkey to the mouth 

 of the Danube. 



When we look back a few years and call to mind the prominent part that 

 this country has taken in the survey of Palestine — I need only mention in this 

 connection the names of Kitchener, Warren, and Oonder — we cannot avoid a 

 feeling of regret that we are not ourselves in a position to take the whole 

 execution of this section of the line upon our shoulders. I am too well aware of 

 the many urgent claims upon the Treasury to suggest that it is possible that they 

 would be prepared to incur such a charge ; but supposing, for the moment, that 

 part of the necessary funds could be provided from other sources, I think we may 

 fairly urge that it is our duty to contribute a substantial monetary grant towards 

 the furtherance of an end so desirable and so practically useful. 



The difficulty of obtaining money for geodetic work, the benefit of which is not 

 immediately apparent to the man in the street, is notorious. Thus Sir T. Holdich, 

 in 1902, said: ' But this accurate framework, this rigorously exact line of precise 

 values which ultimately becomes the backbone of an otherwise invertebrate survey 

 anatomy, is painfully slow in its progress and is usually haunted by the bogey of 

 finance. It does not appeal to the imagination like an Antarctic expedition, 

 although it may lead to far more solid results, and it generally has to sue in forma 

 pauperis to Government for its support.' To account for this regrettable, but 

 undoubtedly true, fact two reasons may be adduced. There is, in the first place, 

 the possible ignorance as to the ultimate value of the work ; but, secondly, and 

 perhaps not least, there is the fear, not entirely unjustified, that to satisfy the 

 demands of the scientific man is something akin to the operation of filling a 

 sieve with water. It has been so often seen that compliance with one demand 

 ouly leads to another being made, that we may well sympathise with the holder 

 of the public purse when he draws the strings tight and refuses to pay for an arc 

 along the thirtieth meridian in the fear that directly this is completed he will 

 be asked to pay for one along the twentieth meridian, and then along the tenth, 

 and so ad hifinitum. It behoves us, therefore, as practical men to make sure that 

 our demands are reasonable and limited to the actual requirements of the case, 

 and where such limits cannot be set we should make this fact clear at the outset. 

 When, however, it is possible to set such limits, we should not hesitate to 



