SECTION A.- MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



SOME ASPECTS OF APPLIED 

 GEOPHYSICS 



ADDRESS BY 



PROF. A. O. RANKINE, O.B.E., D.Sc, 



PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 



It will be in accordance with the desire of this Section, I am sure, that 

 I should take this opportunity of placing on record our appreciation of 

 the work of Dr. E. H. Griffiths, who died since our last meeting. 

 Dr. Griffiths was President of this Section when the Association last 

 met in this city in 1906. Subsequently he was President of Sec- 

 tion L, and, still later, he rendered great service to the Association as 

 General Treasurer for a period of eight years. His contributions to 

 knowledge in the field of accurate thermal measurements are of funda- 

 mental importance, although they are liable to be overshadowed by the 

 more recent and more spectacular discoveries in atomic physics. It is 

 natural enough, but still in some ways regrettable, that physicists of the 

 younger generation turn to the new and attractive branches of physics, 

 and avoid so comparatively dull a subject as heat. Thus the disappearance 

 of men like Griffiths and Callendar, who so often worked in close associa- 

 tion, leaves this important part of experimental physics greatly in need of 

 new workers of equal initiative and skill. 



One other reference is, I think, called for before passing to the subject 

 of my address. We are now commencing the second century of our 

 existence as an association for the advancement of science. It could 

 scarcely have fallen out more appropriately that this year is specially 

 marked by the important new discoveries in the Cavendish Laboratory — 

 interpreted as the production of 7ieutrons, about which we shall hear more 

 during our proceedings, and as the transformation of the elements by 

 artificial means. Whether or not these interpretations may require future 

 modification, there can be no doubt as to the fundamental nature of 

 the phenomena observed. It seems certain, too, that we can look forward 

 confidently to further remarkable developments, which, we may hope, 

 will form the subject of a presidential address in this Section. But it is, 

 as yet, too early to take stock of this, and related, recent work, and there 

 are others much more qualified than I to undertake the task in due course. 

 Accordingly I have chosen a subject with which I am more familiar, and 

 which, although not new, seems to be worthy of consideration at the 

 present time. 



Perhaps some apology, or at least explanation, is necessary for the choice 

 of a subject for which I have not even been able to find a satisfactory 



