320 Lieut.-Col. A. Strange on a new Theodolite [May 2, 



At the time the task of executing this design was entrusted to me, I 

 was commanding a party of the Great Trigonometrical Survey engaged in 

 carrying a chain of principal triangles along the eastern coast of the 

 Peninsula, a work known as the " Coast Series/' I at once, during such 

 leisure as I could snatch from these primary duties, "began the design ; but 

 I soon found that it was quite impossible to do justice to so difficult a 

 task whilst the mind and time were engrossed by matters of more pressing 

 urgency, and of at least equal difficulty and importance. Short and 

 broken periods did not admit of the continuity of thought and attention 

 that were indispensable, and the work made very slow progress, besides 

 needing constant revision in consequence of oversights and omissions 

 caused by such desultory application. This will be understood, by any 

 one who has gone through the same process, when I mention that the 

 conception I had formed of my task was that I should execute, in the 

 most minute detail, working drawings to scale of every part of this com- 

 plex structure, in plan, section, and elevation, accompanied not only by an 

 ample written descripton of every part, but also an explanation of the 

 grounds on which the numerous novelties introduced had been adopted ; 

 so that when the whole was in the maker's hands, he need do little more 

 than reproduce the drawings in metal by simple measurement, turning to 

 the specification in all cases of doubt. The intention was that the whole 

 should be sent home to be executed without any personal superintendence 

 by the designer. 



In April 1857, being at work in the Goomsoor Hills, a notoriously 

 unhealthy tract, I was struck down by jungle-fever, being nearly the last 

 of my camp of about 200 followers, only one of whom escaped, to succumb 

 to that dreadful malady. A few months afterwards I was sent, under 

 medical advice, to the Neilgherry Mountains for the recovery of my health ; 

 this gave me the leisure requisite for my design, which otherwise I might 

 never have enjoyed. For several months I did little else but work at my 

 drawings, which I now offer to the notice of the Society. One of these 

 alone, the complete vertical section, occupied me nearly incessantly about 

 three months, involving as it did the reconsideration of every other draw- 

 ing in order to render the whole consistent. 



At the expiration of my leave on medical certificate, the design, though 

 very far advanced, was not complete ; I had to lay it aside to resume my 

 ordinary field duties on the Coast Series triangulation. In 1869, on my 

 promotion to a regimental majority, I quitted the Survey in accordance 

 with the regulations of the service, and, after twenty-six years' continuous 

 residence in India, returned to England. Feeling a natural reluctance to 

 leave the completion of my design to other hands, and, indeed, doubting 

 whether any one unacquainted with my views could have completed it 

 satisfactorily, I took it with me, hoping to finish it, as I ultimately did, at 

 home, after my retirement from the army. 



In 1862 I was directed oy the Secretary of State for India to superin- 



