228 REPORT—1905. 
The Training of Teachers.—Interim Report of the Committee, éonsist- 
ing of the BisHor or HEREFORD (Chairman), Mr. J. L. HouLanp 
(Secretary), Professor H. EK. Armsrronc, Mr. Oscar BRowninG, 
Miss A. J. Cooper, Mr. Ernest Gray, and Dr. H. B. Gray. 
THE Committee recognise that the problem of the.training of teachers is at 
least as pressing in South Africa as it is in England at the present time ; 
but local conditions are entirely different, and a Report prepared from the 
standpoint of English education would be of little assistance to South 
African administrators and teachers in the solution of their own par- 
ticular training problem. Moreover, the time at the disposal of the 
Section for the discussion of Reports will be exceedingly short, and no 
adequate discussion will be possible. Under these circumstances, there- 
fore, your Committee propose to make their formal Report at the York 
Meeting of the Association next year, and in order that they may be able 
to do so they respectfully request the Council of the Association to 
reappoint them for a further year. 
On the Origin and Progress of Geodetic Survey in South Africa, and 
of the African Are of Meridian. By Sir Daviw Gitu, K.C.B., 
ERS. 
[Ordered by the General Committee to be printed in eatenso.] 
[PLATES II, AND III] 
Tue first geodetic operation in the southern hemisphere was that of 
the Abbé de la Caille, who, in 1752, measured an arc of the meridian 
1° 13’ 17” in length. : 
The result was anomalous, as apparently showing, by comparison: 
with arcs measured in the northern hemisphere, that in the southern 
hemisphere the earth’s polar radius is greater than its equatorial radius. 
Improbable as this result appeared, La Caille’s reputation for accuracy 
stood so high that a definitive settlement of the question was necessary. 
The work of revision was undertaken by Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) 
Maclear, His Majesty’s Astronomer at the Cape. After spending much 
labour in satisfactorily identifying La Caille’s points of observation, 
Maclear connected them by a chain of triangulation which he extended 
southward to Cape Point and northward to Koeberg and Vogel Klip, 
including La Caille’s four principal points. 
He could not identify the terminal points of La Caille’s base, but he 
measured a new base-line, 8:1 milesin length, nearly in the site of La Caille’s 
base, and connected it with the points of his own and La Caille’s triangu- 
lation. The measurement of the base was begun on October 30, 1840, 
aod with continuous work it was completed on April 3, 1841. The 
measurement of the angles of the triangulation was begun in October, 
1841, and the field-work, including the astronomical observations, was: 
completed in March, 1848. 
A full account of the work, edited by Sir George Airy, was published 
