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rspa_1905_0001 | 0950-1207 | Address delivered by the President, Sir William Huggins, K. C. B., O. M., F. R. S., at the Anniversary Meeting on November 30th, 1904. | 1 | 29 | 1,905 | 76 | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character | Sir William Huggins K. C. B., O. M., F. R. S. | speech | 6.0.4 | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1905.0001 | en | rspa | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 13 | 428 | 14,279 | http://corpora.clarin-d.uni-saarland.de/surprisal/6.0.3/?id=rspa_1905_0001 | 10.1098/rspa.1905.0001 | null | null | null | Biography | 87.018807 | Immunology | 3.397728 | Biography | [
36.41863250732422,
77.12043762207031
] | PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY .
Section A.\#151 ; Mathematical and Physical Sciences .
Address delivered by the Preside , Sir William , K.C.B. , O.M. , F.P.S. , at the Anniversary Meeting -on November 30 th,1904 .
Since the last Anniversary the Society has lost by death fourteen Fellows .
The deceased Fellows are:\#151 ; Sir Frederick Bramwell , horn 1818 , died Nov. 30 , 1903 .
Robert Etheridge , born Dec. 3 , 1819 , died Dec. 18 , 1903 .
George Salmon , born Sept. 25 , 1819 , died Jan. 22 , 1904 .
Lieut.-General C. A. McMahon , born March 23 , 1830 , died Feb. 21 , 1904 .
Sir C. Le Never Foster , born Mar. 23 , 1841 , died April 19 , 1904 .
George Johnston Allman , born 1824 , died May 8 , 1904 .
Alexander William Williamson , born May 7 , 1824 , died May 6 , 1904 .
Robert McLachlan , born April 10 , 1837 , died May 23 , 1904 .
Isaac Roberts , born 1829 , died July 17 , 1904 .
Sir John Simon , born Oct. 10,1816 , died July 23 , 1904 .
Joseph David Everett , born 1831 , died Aug. 9 , 1904 .
Sir William Vernon Harcourt , born Oct. 14 , 1827 , died Oct. 1 , 1904 .
Frank McClean , born 1837 , died Nov. 8 , 1904 .
Earl of Northbrook , born 1826 , died Nov. 15 , 1904 .
Memorial Notices of the Fellows who have been taken from us by death during the past year will appear in due course in the Obituary Notices .
VOL. LXXVI.\#151 ; A. B 2 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , Of some of them only , on this occasion , will time permit me to give expression , on your behalf , to a few words of appreciation of their work , and of deep sorrow at their loss .
In your name I place a wreath , emblem of our respect and of our deep sorrow , to the memory of our late Fellow and Copley-Medallist , the revered Provost of Trinity College , Dublin , who passed away at the ripe age of eighty-four years .
George Salmon was as remarkable in the influence of his powerful personality , as in his works , by which he extended and adorned two domains of thought , as diverse as mathematics and theology .
It is given to few men to achieve a European reputation as an investigator of the first rank in two distinct provinces of knowledge .
Born and educated in the City of Cork , he matriculated at Trinity College , Dublin , at the early age of fourteen .
After a brilliant undergraduate course , he took his degree in 1838 , and was elected a Fellow in 1841 .
Devoting himself to the study of pure mathematics , he produced a series of books , now accounted as classics in every university of the world , which were of very great service in promoting the advancement of that science .
Their value was shown by the number of their editions , by their translation into several languages , and by the honours they procured for their author .
In his " Lessons Introductory to the Study of the Modern Higher Algebra , " which grew in subsequent editions until it became a treatise , he made accessible to the student the recent researches of the previous twenty years into the theory of transformations of binary forms .
Following the traditions of the Dublin School of Mathematics , he gave wide scope in all his books to geometrical method , often relieving the monotony of pages of analysis by the introduction of a brilliant geometrical proof .
In 1866 , on the preferment of Dr. Butcher , Salmon was appointed Regius Professor of Divinity , from which time he ceased to work at mathematics , except in an occasional way at the Theory of Numbers.-This is not the place for a consideration of his contributions to theological literature , nor of his great influence in the Church in Ireland at a time of exceptional difficulty .
One important aspect of his theological labours is expressed by the title which was given to him of " malleus In the year 1888 he was appointed by the Lord Lieutenant to the post of Provost of Trinity College .
His large sympathy with all sorts and .
conditions of men , his unaffected dignity , his genial humour , and his kind heart , gave to his masterful tenure of the office of Provost an influence probably unparalleled in the history of Trinity College .
Not Trinity College alone , but all Dublin was proud of him .
Men of all 1904 .
] Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
classes and creeds praised him .
His private tastes were simple ; his chief relaxations , chess playing , music , and novel reading .
In the words of the late Bishop of Oxford:\#151 ; " The Provost is an extraordinary man .
The first day I met him I was most struck by his gracious courtesy , the second day by his learning , the third day by his humour , and every day by his humility .
" The Fates are inexorable ; there may be long delay , but always at last the thread is cut .
In midsummer our oldest Fellow , in point of election as well as of age , passed from us:\#151 ; Sir John Simon , the pioneer of modern sanitary science .
What Lister did for surgery , and Pasteur for bacteriology , Simon may be said to have accomplished for sanitation .
Very early he perceived clearly and developed the true nature and mode of dealing with contagious emanations proceeding from the sick , establishing a doctrine and practice which afterwards received their direct proof and further development in the growth of the new science of bacteriology .
Deeply grateful to his memory , we mourn one who by his life-work conferred incalculable benefit upon the whole civilized world .
Simon commenced the study of medicine in 1833 , and attended both St. Thomas 's Hospital and the recently established King 's College .
It was in 1848 that his attention was definitely directed to that branch of the profession with which his name will always remain famous , and which indeed he may almost be said to have founded , through his election to the newly-constituted post of Medical Officer of Health to the City of London .
Seven years later a Central Board of Health was created , on which Simon represented medicine .
When the functions of the Board were transferred to the Privy Council , he became adviser to the Government on all sanitary and medical matters .
It is not possible on this occasion to indicate , even broadly , his strenuous work through a long life for the public good .
His writings consist mainly of his numerous official reports , together with a volume published in 1857 , entitled " Papers on the History and Practice of Vaccination , " followed in the next year by a " Eeport on the Sanitary State of the People of England , " which brought out for the first time the wide variations which exist in the local incidence of diseases .
His great work on " English Sanitary Institutions " appeared in 1890 .
In 1878 he was elected President of the Loyal College of Surgeons ; he was the recipient of numerous honours from scientific bodies at home and abroad .
At the Jubilee in 1887 he received from Queen Victoria the distinction of K.C.B. These public recognitions were the outward signs of the universal respect and honour accorded him by all men .
His memory will ever remain green in the history of sanitary science .
4 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , In May passed away , full of years and full of honours , a Fellow to whose personal services the Society is largely indebted\#151 ; Professor Williamson .
Elected into the Society in 1855 , after serving twice upon the Council , he became Foreign Secretary in 1873 , which office he held for sixteen years , until 1889 .
Half a century ago Williamson took a prominent part in the development of chemical thought , and exercised a powerful influence on chemical teaching in this country .
He began the study of chemistry at Heidelberg , but soon passed to Liebig 's laboratory at Giessen , where he took his degree , and while there published papers on the decomposition of Oxides and Salts by Chlorine , and on " The Blue Compounds of Cyanogen and Iron .
" He then went to Paris , where he came under the teaching of Comte .
In 1849 he left Paris to occupy the chair of practical chemistry in University College , from which he continued to teach for thirty-eight years .
A little later he published the classical research , elucidating the process of the formation of ether , with which his name will always remain associated .
This paper , a model of concise reasoning founded upon happily devised experiment , produced a profound influence on contemporary thought , and received the assent of the whole chemical world .
In this paper he gave his acceptance of the doctrine of types , which was prominent in his subsequent teaching .
Williamson was a pioneer of chemical thought in quite another direction by the introduction of the conception of dynamics into chemical processes . .
He advanced the view , which is fundamental in the modern hypothesis of ionic dissociation , that in substances which appear at rest , the atoms of the molecules of the compound are in motion , exchanging from one molecule to another in an unending course of ionic migrations .
Williamson occupied the chair of the British Association in 1873 , and was twice President of the Chemical Society .
Honorary degrees were conferred upon him by the Universities of Dublin , Edinburgh , and Durham , and he received the honorary membership of many scientific societies .
Seventeen years ago he retired from professional life to Hindhead .
Alas !
this room will know no more a frequent and welcome attendant at our meetings who often took part in our discussions .
A man whose great natural vitality and intellectual activity were so remarkable and unimpaired , that his sudden death came as a great shock to his many friends .
Professor Everett was born and educated at Ipswich , and after graduating with honours at Glasgow , he became Professor of Mathematics at King 's College , Nova Scotia .
Later , in 1867 , he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at Queen 's College , Belfast , a chair which he occupied with distinction for thirty years .
Since his retirement , about seven years ago , he has resided in London , 1904 .
] Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
taking an active part in the proceedings of scientific societies , especially of the Physical Society , of which he was a Vice-President .
Professor Everett rendered important service to physical science , by his admirable translation of Deschanel 's " Treatise of Natural Philosophy , " which he brought up to date from time to time by the necessary additions and alterations , and by his " Illustrations of the C.G.S. System , " which was translated into several languages , and proved of material service in the establishment of a physical , system of units .
He did important work as the secretary of the Committee of the British Association which effected the selection and naming of these dynamical and electrical units , and also of the Committee which has collected our main knowledge of underground temperatures .
He was the inventor of a system of shorthand , which provides greater facilities for vowel insertion than other systems .
He was enthusiastically devoted to cycling .
A man of great kindliness and geniality , he is regretted by a large circle of friends , and will always be remembered by his numerous pupils with much gratitude and affection .
Death has deprived us of a Fellow whose genial humour , clear judgment , and ready wit endeared him to many friends\#151 ; Sir Frederick Bramwell .
In Bramwell the love of things mechanical was inborn .
At the time of his youth , technical education was all but unknown , and very few engineering students could take advantage of such a meagre scientific education as was then available .
He was a striking example of what he himself said of some distinguished engineers :\#151 ; " That they literally became such because they could not help it .
" With Bramwell the taste for engineering was innate and supreme .
Study was not congenial to him ; his extensive and varied knowledge was mainly the outcome of personal observation and experience .
After some years ' varied experience in different engineering workshops he commenced practice on his own account in 1853 .
He soon made his mark ; but , as he especially shone in debate , where his judgment was rarely at fault , and he brought shrewd common sense to bear with happy flashes of wit and apt practical illustrations , he was irresistibly drawn from the constructive to the legal side of his profession , in which he received no little advantage from his powerful voice and his commanding presence .
In giving evidence , Bramwell was remarkably able , and as an arbitrator his judgments were clear , judicial , and marked by legal acumen .
In one or other capacity his services were in much demand during the last thirty or forty years .
He was chosen President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1874 , and , ten years later , President of the Institution of Civil Engineers .
He was President of the British Association at its meeting at Bath in 1888 .
He became one of 6 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , our Fellows in 1873 , and served on the Council in 1877-1878 .
On the retirement of Sir William Bowman , he was elected Honorary Secretary of the Boyal Institution .
Honorary degrees were conferred upon him by the Universities of Oxford , Cambridge , Durham , and Montreal .
In 1889 Queen Victoria bestowed upon him the honour of a baronetcy .
George Johnston Allman was born in Dublin in 1824 .
He entered Trinity College at an early age , and at the honour degree examination , in 1843 , he obtained Senior Moderatorship and a gold medal in mathematics .
A few years later he was elected to the Professorship of Mathematics in Queen 's College , Galway , a post which he held for nearly forty years , until his retirement in accordance with the age limit .
His most important works were a paper , " On some Properties of the Paraboloids , " and a series of papers on the history of Greek mathematics , which formed the basis of his celebrated book " Greek Geometry from Thales to Euclid .
" He was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1884 .
The name of Dr. Isaac Eoberts will always be associated with the photography of the heavenly bodies .
He early showed his love for physical science .
His first scientific paper was on the wells and water of Liverpool , where he resided ; and in the following year , 1870 , he was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society.1 Other papers followed on underground waters , especially with respect to their oscillations in porous strata .
He soon directed his principal attention to Astronomy , and erected an observatory near Liverpool .
At first he contemplated photographing the whole northern heavens , but when an astrographic chart and catalogue for both hemispheres were undertaken by an international co-operation of Observatories , with great prescience he decided to devote himself to photographing star-clusters and nebulae .
Finding the neighbourhood of Liverpool unfavourable for such work , after a long personal examination of various sites , he erected an observatory on Crowborough Hill , where , during thirteen years , he secured the splendid series of astronomical photographs , bringing to light a wealth of unsuspected detail , which have largely aided in the recent extension of our knowledge of nebulae and star-clusters .
Two volumes containing reproductions of these photographs were published by Dr. Eoberts at his own expense , and widely distributed among astronomers .
He was elected to our Fellowship in 1890 .
In 1892 Trinity College , Dublin , conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.Sc .
; three years later he received the gold miedal of the Eoyal Astronomical Society .
To his many friends the sudden death of Sir Clement le Neve Foster came as a very painful shock .
He was educated in France , and obtained the degree Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
of Bachelor of Science of the University of France at the early age of sixteen .
He then entered the Boyal School of Mines , where in two years he achieved the remarkable distinction of securing the Associateship in the Mining , Metallurgical , and Geological divisions , as well as the Duke of Cornwall 's Scholarship and the Forbes Medal .
In 1872 he was appointed H.M. Inspector of Mines .
He succeeded , in 1890 , Sir Warrington Smyth as Professor of Mining at the Royal College of Science , and the Royal School of Mines .
He became a Fellow of our Society in 1892 .
On the King 's birthday , last year , he received the honour of Knighthood .
During his twenty-nine years ' Government Inspectorship , Sir Clement did much to ameliorate the lot of the miner , and to establish metal mining on a scientific basis .
Quite recently the Society has suffered a further loss in the unexpected death of Dr. McClean , who , by his wisely considered benefactions , as well as by his personal work , has contributed not a little to the increase of natural knowledge .
Having retired thirty-four years ago from professional work as an engineer , he built an astronomical observatory at his house at Tunbridge Wells , and devoted himself to photo-spectroscopic work on the sun and stars .
His photographic spectra of all stars above the magnitude appeared in our Transactions , in which he showed the presence of oxygen in connection with helium in certain stars .
His benefactions to Science are of two kinds .
In 1890 he founded the Isaac Newton Studentships at Cambridge for the promotion of the study of Astronomy and Astronomical Physics ; while , on the practical side , ten years later , he made a most generous gift of valuable instruments to the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope .
He has crossed the great bar , to the deep sorrow of his many friends , and to the great regret of all men of science .
During the last few years a very large amount , increasing each year , .
of work outside the reading , discussion , and printing of papers , of a more or less public character , has been thrown upon the Royal Society\#151 ; so large indeed as at present to tax the Society 's powers to the utmost .
A not inconsiderable part of this work has come from the initiation by the Society itself of new undertakings , but mainly it has consisted of assistance freely given , at their request , to different Departments of the Government on questions which require expert scientific knowledge , and which involves no small amount of labour on the part of the Officers and Staff , and much free sacrifice of time and energy from Fellows , in most cases living at a distance .
There is little doubt that this largely-increased amount of public work has arisen , in part naturally from the greater scientific activity of the present day , 8 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , but also , and to a greater extent , from the fuller recognition by the Government and the public of the need for scientific advice and direction in connection with many matters of national concern .
It may not be inopportune , therefore , for me to say a few words on the advisory relation in which the Society has come to stand to the Government , and to review very briefly the great work which the Society has done , and is doing , for the Nation .
Among Academies and Learned Societies the position of the Eoyal Society is , in some respects , an exceptional one .
In the British dominions it holds a unique position , not only as the earliest chartered scientific Society , but in its own right , on account of the number of eminent men included in its Fellowship , and the close connection in which it stands , though remaining a private institution , with the Government .
The Boyal Society is a private learned body , consisting of a voluntary and independent association of students of Science united for the promotion of Natural Knowledge at their own cost .
It asks for no endowment from the State , for it could not tolerate the control from without which follows the acceptance of public money , nor permit of that interference with its internal affairs which , as is seen in some foreign academies , is associated with State endowment .
In one particular case , in which it can receive aid without any loss of independence , the Society gratefully acknowledges its indebtedness to the State .
About 1780 the Society received a communication from the Government offering to provide apartments for the Society at Somerset House ; these were exchanged , in 1857 , for rooms in old Burlington House ; after its rebuilding , in 1873 , the Society moved into the 'apartments which it now occupies .
It should not be forgotten that nearly a century before the opening of the British Museum in 1759 , the Boyal Society 's Museum , or Bepository as it was called , enjoyed the prestige of being regarded as the most important Museum in London , and must have been of great use to men of science , and have aided materially in promoting and disseminating the knowledge of natural history .
The apartments offered to the Society at Somerset House were quite insufficient in capacity and in number to receive the Society 's Museum , and in consequence , this collection , which had been carefully maintained not only from the scientific side , but also with reference to the commercial value and importance of the foreign objects received , especially of the valuable zoological specimens frequently sent by the Hudson 's Bay Company from their territories , was presented by the Society to the Nation , a not unworthy acknowledgment , on the Society 's part , of the Government 's gift of apartments .
This collection has not been kept separate , but is now Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
hopelessly dispersed among the thousands of specimens which crowd the halls of our National Museum .
Some specimens , however , in comparative anatomy , preserved in the Museum of the College of Surgeons , are duly entered in the catalogue as having belonged originally to the Eoyal Society 's Museum .
Besides the grant of apartments in Somerset House , and subsequently in Burlington House , the Society has received no pecuniary support from Government , nor assistance of any kind , with one exception to be mentioned further on , beyond the grant by Charles II .
shortly after its incorporation , of Chelsea College and the lands appertaining to it ; a gift which proved much less valuable than appeared from the parchments .
Claimants at once came forward for portions of the estate , and the property was in so unsettled a state as to title , and so much out of repair , that after much money had been spent on repairing the College and great exertions made in vain to procure a tenant , the President was authorised to sell the estate to the King for the sum of \#163 ; 1,300 ; the Council voting their thanks to him for " thus disposing of a property which was a source of continual annoyance and trouble to them .
" To the extent of this sum the Society 's funds were enriched by the royal gift .
The grants of \#163 ; 4,000 and \#163 ; 1,000 now received annually by the Koyal Society from the Government are not applicable to its own needs , but are placed in its hands in trust for grants in aid of the prosecution of scientific research , and of the publication of scientific papers ; indeed , with the exception of part of the publication grant , are so far from being of the nature of a State bounty , that the careful administration of these grants brings no light burden upon the Society .
It may not be generally known that the Royal Society just missed becoming a richly-endowed Society .
Charles II. 's interest in the young Society did not end with the grant of a Charter of Incorporation , for in 1662 he addressed a letter , written with his own hand , to the Duke of Ormonde , then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , recommending the Royal Society for a " liberal contribution from the adventurers and officers of Ireland for the better encouragement of them in their designs .
" That is to say , in the new settlement in that country , on the Restoration , of the confiscated estates of such persons as by the King 's declaration were disqualified .
The Royal Society had but a poor chance , notwithstanding the King 's letter , of coming in for a portion of these so-called " fractions , " when so many high families were cheated of their rights , and the Duke 's own estates , through his methods of adjudication , increased from \#163 ; 7,000 to \#163 ; 80,000 per annum .
Sir 10 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Noy .
30 , William Petty , in a document preserved in the archives of the Society , estimates the value of the lands granted by the King to the Society , but not received by them , " as a great matter , but I know not what .
" It is on record that the non-fulfilment of the King 's generous intentions towards the Society did not damp the philosophic ardour of the Fellows ; indeed , it is a question on which opinions may widely differ whether the rich endowment of the Society , almost from its very birth , would have increased its scientific success .
We must not forget that , in the case of institutions as well as of individuals , the powerful and healthy stimulus to the exertion needful for success which arises from the necessity of coping with and overcoming difficulties , whether of a monetary or other kind .
In no small degree was due to the personal favour with which Charles II .
regarded the Society , the exceptional position it early took up , and which it still holds to-day , of a private institution supported and controlled from within , which , at the same time , is acknowledged by the State as the authoritative national representative of Science in this country , and from time to time consulted as such .
The first royal act which distinctly gave this representative character to the newly chartered Society appears to have been the King 's declaring his pleasure on the 15th October , 1662 , " that no patent should pass for any philosophical or mechanical invention until examined by the Society .
" This personal recognition by the King of the national position of the Society was followed and confirmed a few years later by a request from the department of the Admiralty for assistance from the Royal Society in raising some ships sunk , off Woolwich .
The Council replied that , though they would have great pleasure in affording all assistance in their power by advice , the want of funds rendered it impossible for them to provide the necessary machinery .
From that time down to the present the Royal Society , while remaining a purely private institution for the promotion of Natural Knowledge , has been regarded by the Government as the acknowledged national scientific body , whose advice is of the highest authority on all scientific questions , and the more to be trusted on account of the Society 's financial independence ; a body , which , through its intimate relations with the learned societies of the Colonies , has now become the centre of British Science .
The Society 's historical position and the scientific eminence of its Fellows have made it naturally the body which the scientific authorities of foreign countries regard as representing the Science of the Empire , and with which they are anxious to consult and to co-operate , from time to time , on scientific questions of international importance .
1904 .
] Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
On their part , the Fellows of the Royal Society , remembering that the promotion of Natural Knowledge is the great object for which it was founded and still exists , and that all undertakings in the home and in the State , since they are concerned with Nature , can be wisely directed and carried on with the highest efficiency only as they are based upon a knowledge of Nature , have always recognised the fundamental importance of the Society 's work to national as well as to individual success and prosperity , and their own responsibility as the depositories of such knowledge .
They have always been willing , even at great personal cost , ungrudgingly to afford any assistance in their power to the Government on all questions referred to them which depend upon technical knowledge , or which require the employment of scientific methods .
In particular the Society has naturally always been eager to help forward , and even to initiate , such national undertakings as voyages of observation or of discovery of any kind , or for the investigation of the incidence of disease , which have for their express object the increase of Natural Knowledge .
At the same time , as the Society is dependent upon the voluntary help of its Fellows , whose time is fully occupied with their own work , the Society may reasonably expect the Government not to ask for assistance on any matters of mere administration that could be otherwise efficiently provided for .
The hope may be expressed that in the near future , with increased official provision in connection with the recognition of Science , the relation of the Society to the Government may not extend beyond that of a purely advisory body , so that the heavy responsibilities now resting upon it , in respect of the carrying out of many public undertakings on which its advice has been asked , may no longer press unduly , as they certainly do at present , upon the time and energy of the Officers and Members of Committees .
The Society regards this outside work , important as it is , as extraneous , and therefore as subordinate , and would not be justified in permitting such work to interfere with the strict prosecution of pure natural science as the primary purpose of the Society 's existence , upon which , indeed , the Society 's importance as an advisory body ultimately depends .
The array of national undertakings of which the Society has been wholly or in part in charge , or to which it has given advice or assistance from time to time , is so very great that any attempt to point out , even in broad outline , the more important of the directions in which the Society 's influence has been actively employed for the public service , must necessarily be fragmentary and very incomplete .
On this occasion it is not possible to do more than to give , in a few sentences , a rapid presentation of a few typical examples of the Society 's public work .
12 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , It must be borne in mind that the bare statement in a few sentences of the public work accomplished by the Society fails altogether to bring before the imagination an adequate conception of the large amount of free labour ungrudgingly given by those Fellows who composed the several committees to which the work was entrusted .
Going back to the first century of the Society 's existence , the work done for the National Observatory at Greenwich may be fairly taken as typical of the Society 's outside activity at that time .
It is not too much to say that the Observatory owes , in no small degree , its early efficiency and the high position it soon reached , to the advice and the energetic action on its behalf of the Eoyal Society .
The Observatory , at the time it was placed , in 1710 , by Queen Anne in the sole charge of the Society , was without instruments , except such as Flamsteed had himself supplied .
Immediately on taking charge , the Society appointed a Committee which visited Greenwich , and , as a result , sent in an application to the Ordnance Office , but at the time unsuccessfully , for the new instruments which were absolutely essential for properly carrying on the work of an observatory .
The little interest taken by the Government of that day in Science is manifest from the answer received from the Ordnance Office , " that they had never been at any charge for instruments , but only for repairing the house and paying Mr. Flamsteed 's salary .
" The Society persevered , and when , in 1720 , Halley succeeded Flamsteed , was successful in persuading the Government to provide a few of the more necessary instruments .
At a little later date the Society induced the Government to expend \#163 ; 1,000 on instruments , to be constructed by Graham and Bird .
When George III .
came to the throne he re-appointed the Society as sole visitors , and ordered the Astronomer Royal to obey the regulations drawn up by the Council , and commanded the Master General of Ordnance to furnish such instruments as the Council should think necessary for the Observatory .
In the list of these instruments is mentioned a ten-foot telescope of Dollond 's " new invention .
" Further , it was in answer to a petition from the Royal Society that the King gave orders for the printing of the Observations made at the Observatory .
At a later date the Society called on the Government to advance funds to establish magnetical observatories at Greenwich , and in various parts of the British dominions , , with the result that in a few years no fewer than forty magnetical establishments were in full activity .
In connection with the Observatory may be mentioned the considerable share which the Society took in bringing about the important alteration of the Calendar , known as the Change of Style , which took place in 1752 .
The 1904 .
] Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
Bill was drawn up by Peter Davall , the Secretary of the Society , aided and supported by Lord Macclesfield , who became President the same year .
The change was approved and assisted by the actual President , Martin Polkes .
The feeling of the people was so strongly against the change that the illness and death of Bradley , who as Astronomer Royal had assisted the Government with his advice , which took place not long afterwards , were popularly attributed to a judgment from Heaven .
Very brief must be the mention of some of the other works in the public service which were carried out at a no small cost of labour to the Bellows of the Society .
About 1750 , the Lord Mayor of London , two of the Judges and an Alderman , having died in one year from jail-fever caught at the Old Bailey Sessions , the Society was called upon for advice and assistance .
A committee was appointed to investigate the wretched state of ventilation in jails .
A ventilator , invented by one of the committee , was erected in Newgate , reducing at once the number of deaths from eight a week to about two a month .
Of the eleven workmen employed to put up the ventilator , seven caught the fever and died .
At the request of the Government , committees were appointed to consider the best form of protection of buildings , and , later on , of ships at sea , from lightning .
The Society took a very active part in the measurement of a degree of latitude , afterwards in the length of a pendulum vibrating seconds in the latitude of London , and in the comparison of the British Standards with the Linear Measure adopted in Prance .
A committee was appointed to compare the Society 's Standard yard with that of the Exchequer .
Later , in 1834 , when the Standard yard was lost in the destruction by fire of the Houses of Parliament , a Commission ( all the members of which were Fellows of the Royal Society ) was appointed to consider the steps to be taken for the restoration of the Standards .
It was at the instance of the Council of the Society , who petitioned George III .
for the necessary funds , that the King gave his consent to a geodetical survey in 1784 , with the immediate object of establishing a trigonometrical connection between the Observatories of Greenwich and Paris .
The work , under General Roy , for which the Copley Medal was awarded to him , served as a basis for the operations of a more extensive nature , embracing a survey of the British Islands , which were commenced in 1791 .
Since its foundation the Society has taken an active part in many 14 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , important expeditions for scientific and geographical exploration , and for magnetical and astronomical observations , in some cases taking the initiative by memoralizing the Government for the necessary assistance by grants of money , the rise of ships , or otherwise .
Among these may be mentioned the expeditions sent out for the observation of the Transits of Venus in 1761 , .
and in 1769 .
The importance of Antarctic exploration , for which the recent National Expedition has recently been promoted jointly with the Royal Geographical Society , was fully understood by the Royal Society nearly a century and a half ago .
In 1771 , an expedition having for its principal object the exploring of high southern latitudes with the view of ascertaining the existence of a great Antarctic Continent , was strongly and successfully urged on the Government by the Society .
The expedition under Captain .
Cook sailed the following year .
On its return three years later , after having circumnavigated the globe , the Copley Medal was awarded to Captain Cook for the means he had taken to preserve the health of his crew .
In 1817 , a letter was addressed by Sir Joseph Banks , on the part of the-Council , to Lord Melville urging that an expedition of discovery should be sent out for determining the practicability of a North-West Passage. .
The Lords of the Admiralty gave orders for the fitting out of four vessels , and invited detailed instructions from the Royal Society for the guidance of the officers .
The Council recommended Colonel , then Captain , Sabine to proceed with the North-West Expedition , and Mr. Fisher to accompany the Polar one .
The expedition failed to procure geographical results of importance , , but it was far from fruitless , for the magnetical observations brought back by Sabine were an addition of real value to physical science .
This expedition was followed by another two years later under Parry , which resulted in the discovery of the Strait called after Barrow , then Secretary to the Admiralty .
A later Polar Expedition , under Captains Parry and Ross in 1827 , was promoted by the Royal Society , and brought home valuable magnetical observations , which were printed in the Society 's Transactions .
" At home , it was through the Society 's influence that Dr. Maskelyne , the-Astronomer Royal , was able to make observations in Scotland for the purpose of deducing the density of the earth .
Dr. Hutton undertook the laborious task of working up the data , the whole expenses being borne by the Society .
These few examples , inadequate as they are , must suffice on this occasion to remind us of the many labours during two centuries and a half undertaken 1904 .
] Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
by the Society for the public good .
I pass now at once to some of the many objects of public concern , which are at the present time either directly promoted , or assisted by the Society .
The establishment in this country of a National Physical Laboratory for the purpose of bringing scientific knowledge to bear practically upon the industries and commerce of the nation , was due in no small measure to the action of the Society , and has certainly thrown upon it much additional permanent responsibility .
The necessity for such an Institution in this country , which was clearly shown by the marked influence of a similar Institution on the improvement of technical science and the manufacturing interests of Germany , had been already strongly advocated by individual Fellows ; in particular , by Sir Oliver Lodge at Cardiff in 1891 , and Sir Douglas Galton at Ipswich five years later ; but the first practical step towards its realisation was taken by the Council in 1896 , when they decided that the Eoyal Society should join the British Association and other kindred Societies in a Joint Committee , under the Chairmanship of the President of the Eoyal Society , to take such action as they find desirable .
In the following year , this Committee waited upon Lord Salisbury , who was then Prime Minister , and , as a result , a Treasury Committee was appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer , with Lord Eayleigh as Chairman , to consider the desirability of establishing a National Laboratory .
That Committee , after hearing witnesses and visiting Germany , reported strongly and unanimously in favour of such a national Institution .
In 1898 , a communication was received from the Treasury expressing " the hope that the Eoyal Society will be willing to add to the already great services rendered by them to the Government and public of the United Kingdom , by consenting to undertake the new responsibilities now sought to be imposed upon them " in connection with the new Institution .
The Council accepted the important trust , under which the " ultimate control of the Institution is vested in the President and Council of the Eoyal Society , who in the exercise thereof may issue from time to time such directions as they may think fit to the General Board and Executive Committee .
" The income and all other property is vested in the Eoyal Society for the purposes of the Institution .
The Laboratory , which was formally opened by H.E.H. the Prince of Wales in March , 1902 , has already made remarkable progress under its energetic Director .
During the present year the attention of the Prime Minister has been called to the very great importance to the national industries of an immediate grant for new buildings and a more adequate-instrumental equipment , and of a larger annual endowment .
16 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , It is not too much to say that men of Science of all countries are under no small obligation to the Royal Society for their Catalogue of Scientific Papers which have appeared in all parts of the world since the beginning of the last century .
This great work , to which immense labour has been given gratuitously and without stint by Fellows during the past forty years , will be carried down to the close of the century , and will consist of two parts : an Authors ' Catalogue , and a Catalogue of Subjects .
Encouraged by a donation from Mr. Andrew Carnegie , and the noble liberality of Dr. Ludwig Mond and other Fellows , the Council decided to proceed with the completion of the Catalogue , in the hope of further donations from Fellows and others as the work advances .
It was obvious that to continue permanently to prepare and publish catalogues of the rapidly increasing output of scientific literature would be wholly beyond the means of any one Society , and was an undertaking so vast as to require organized international co-operation for success .
In 1893 , a letter , signed by seventeen Fellows , was addressed to the President , asking that steps might be taken to provide for the continuation of the Society 's Catalogue from the beginning of the century by adequate international co-operation .
A Committee was appointed , which reported in favour of an international conference on the subject .
Three conferences were held successively in 1896 , 1898 , and 1900 .
It is scarcely possible to convey an adequate conception of the arduous and prolonged labours of these conferences , and of the numerous meetings of committees held in connection with them .
The Society may well feel great satisfaction that a work of such magnitude , and of so great moment to all scientific workers , which was initiated by itself , -was taken up with such remarkable accord by the scientific world .
The organization consists mainly of a Central Bureau in London under the Royal Society , in connection with Regional Bureaus , established in thirty countries for collecting material in the form of catalogue slips , and transmitting them to the Central Bureau .
The Royal Society has taken upon itself practically the financial responsibility of the undertaking , making contracts in its own name with a printer and a publisher , the latter undertaking the technical duties as agent for the Society , which is its own publisher .
The first year 's issue of the catalogue has appeared , dealing in twenty-one volumes with the seventeen sciences decided upon by the conference .
The International Association of Academies , the realization for the first time of the great scientific idea of a Universal Academy , open without restriction of language or of country to every nation under heaven , owes its 1904 .
] Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
establishment to the initiative of the Royal Society .
In 1897 , the Royal Society was invited to send representatives to a Conference of a Union of German Academies and Societies which met from time to time .
The Society sent delegates , but declared that the Society 's permanent adhesion to any such association must be conditional on its being made truly international in character .
The principle of an international association of learned Societies suggested by the Royal Society , was accepted , and a Conference was held at Wiesbaden in 1899 for the purpose of taking steps for the formation of such an association .
Statutes were drawn up and arrangements made for the holding of the first General Assembly in Paris in 1901 .
The primary objects of the Association are the initiation and promotion of scientific undertakings of general interest and of universal concern to mankind , especially of such matters as are outside the power of a single Academy and require for their promotion the assistance of the Governments represented by the Association .
Indirectly by its triennial General Assemblies in different countries , it should become an instrument of no mean power for the promotion of the brotherhood of mankind and for hastening the day " When the war drums throb no longer and the battle flags are furled , In the Parliament of man , the Federation of the world .
" The Association , as now constituted , consists of twenty Academies and learned Societies of Europe and America .
The second General Assembly of the Association was held this year in London under the auspices of the Royal Society , which , as directing Academy , had had general charge of the conduct of its business during the last three years .
The Section of Letters met under the direction of the newly-founded British Academy .
The Society has accepted heavy responsibilities at the instance of the Government in respect of the control of scientific observations and research in our vast Indian Empire .
In 1899 , the India Office inquired whether the Royal Society would be willing to meet the wishes of the Indian Government by exercising a general control over the scientific researches which it might be thought desirable to institute in that country .
A Standing Committee was appointed in consequence by the Council for the purpose of giving advice on matters connected with scientific enquiry , probably mainly biological , in India , which should be supplementary to the Standing Observatories Committee which was already established at the request of the Government as an advisory body on astronomical , solar , magnetic , and meteorological observations in that part of the Empire .
An investigation , onerous indeed , but of the highest scientific interest and VOL. LXXVI.\#151 ; A. c 18 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , of very great practical importance , has been carried on by a series of Committees successively appointed at the request of the Government for the consideration of some of the strangely mysterious and deadly diseases of tropical \#166 ; countries .
In 1896 a Committee was appointed at the request of the Colonial Secretary to investigate the subject of the Tsetse Fly disease in South Africa .
Two years later Mr. Chamberlain , Secretary of State for the Colonies , requested the Society to appoint a Committee to make a thorough investigation into the origin , the transmission , and the possible preventives and remedies of tropical diseases , and especially of the malarial and " Blackwater " fevers prevalent in Africa , promising assistance , both on the part of the Colonial Office and of the Colonies concerned .
A Committee was appointed , and , under its auspices , skilled investigators were sent out to Africa and to India .
In the case of the third Committee the Society itself took the initiative .
An outbreak in Uganda of the disease , appalling in its inexorable deadliness , known as " Sleeping Sickness " having been brought to the knowledge of the Society , a deputation waited upon Lord Lansdowne at the Foreign Office , asking him to consider favourably the despatch of a small Commission to Uganda to investigate the disease .
He gave his approval , and a Commission of three experts , appointed on the recommendation of the Committee , was sent out to Uganda , \#163 ; 600 being voted out of the Government Grant towards the expenses of the Commission .
The investigations in tropical diseases , promoted and directed by these Committees , have largely increased our knowledge of the true nature of these diseases , and , what is of the highest practical importance , they have shown that their propagation depends upon conditions which it is in the power of man so far to modify , or guard against , as to afford a reasonable expectation that it may be possible for Europeans to live and carry on their work in parts \#166 ; of the earth where hitherto the sacrifice of health , and even of life , has been fearfully great .
A general summary of the work already done on Malaria , especially in regard to its prevention , and also on the nature of " Blackwater " Fever , has been published in a Parliamentary paper , which records Mr. Chamberlain 's acknowledgment to the Royal Society for its co-operation in the work undertaken by the Colonial Office .
Our Reports on Sleeping-Sickness up to this time form four parts of a separate publication giving-evidence in support of the view that this deadly disease is caused by the entrance into the blood , and thence into the cerebro-spinal fluid , of a species of Trypanosoma , and that these organisms are transmitted from the sick to the healthy by a kind of tsetse fly , and by it alone ; Sleeping Sickness is in short , a human tsetse fly disease .
1904 .
] Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
In 1897 , the Council was requested to assist the Board of Trade in drawing up Schedules for the establishment of the relations between the Metric and the Imperial Units of Weights and Measures .
A Committee was appointed , .
which , after devoting much time and attention to the matter , drew up Schedules which were accepted by the Board of Trade and incorporated in the Orders of Council .
A Coral Reef Committee has been in active existence for some years , and has directed the attempts to pierce , by boring , the atoll of Funafuti , towards the expenses of which grants have been made by the Council .
The results of the work have appeared in a large volume , giving a description of the whole core from the points of view of the naturalist and the chemist ; and a list , with critical remarks , of the species of animals and plants collected .
Soon after the reports were received of the appalling volcanic eruptions and the loss of life which took place in the West Indies in 1902 , the Council received a letter from Mr. Chamberlain to ask if the Society would be willing to undertake an investigation of the phenomena connected with the eruptions .
The Council , considering that such an investigation fell well within the scope of the objects of the Society , organized a small Commission of two experts , who left England for the scene of the eruption eleven days only after the receipt of Mr. Chamberlain 's letter ; the expenses being met by a grant of \#163 ; 300 from the Government Grant Committee .
Six weeks were spent in the Islands , including Martinique , by the Commission , which was successful in securing results of great scientific interest .
A preliminary report was published at the time , and a full report has since appeared in the " Transactions .
" Time forbids me to do more than mention the sucessive expeditions sent out by the Society , conjointly with the Royal Astronomical Society , for the observation of total solar eclipses ; and the onerous work thrown upon the Society for several years in connection with the National Antarctic Expedition , undertaken jointly with the Royal Geographical Society , which has this year returned home crowned with success as regards the latter ; but the Society 's labours are not at an end , for the prolonged and responsible task of the discussion and publication of the scientific results of the Expedition is still before them .
In addition to the numerous undertakings , of which some examples have been given , in which the influence and work of the Society have been exercised for national or public objects , there are a number of other ways in which the Society makes its influence continually felt and of which the responsibilities are always with it .
The Society is represented by the 20 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , President , as an ex-officio elector , in the election of eight scientific Professorships at the Oxford University , and one Professorship at Cambridge .
The President is also ex-officio a trustee of the British Museum , and of the Hunterian Museum , and a Governor of the City and Guilds of London Institute .
The Society has a voice , through a representative Fellow chosen by the Council , on the Governing bodies of the Imperial Institute , the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine , Sir John Soane 's Museum , Eton , Bugby , Harrow , Winchester , and four other Public schools , and the Advisory Board for Military Education .
The Council of the Society are electors of four members of Lawes ' Agricultural Trust , and are nominators of the members of the Meteorological Council .
The Society is represented by the President and six of the Visitors on the Board of the Greenwich Observatory .
One of the four sets of copies of the Standard Weights and Measures is held in custody by the Society .
There.is also a Committee for systematic work in Seismology .
To the Royal Society is entrusted the responsible task of administrating the annual Government Grant of \#163 ; 4000 for the purpose of scientific research , and a grant of \#163 ; 1000 in aid of the publication of scientific papers .
In addition to these permanent responsibilities , which are always with the Society , its advice and aid are sought from time to time both by the Government and by Scientific Institutions at home and abroad , in favour of independent objects of a more or less temporary character , of which , as examples , may be taken the recent action of the Society for the purpose of obtaining Government aid for the continuation through Egypt of the African Arc of Meridian , and for the intervention of the Government to assist in securing the fulfilment of the part undertaken by Great Britain in the International Astrographic Catalogue and Chart .
Upon the present Fellows falls the glorious inheritance of unbounded free labour ungrudgingly given during two centuries and a-half for the public service , as well as of the strenuous prosecution at the same time of the primary object of the Society , as set forth in the words of the Charters : " The promotion of Natural Knowledge .
" The successive generations of Fellows have unsparingly contributed of their time to the introduction and promotion , wdienever the opportunity was afforded them , of scientific knowledge and methods into the management of public concerns by Departments of the Government .
The financial independence of the Royal Society , neither receiving , nor wishing to accept State aid for its own private purposes , has enabled the Society to give advice and assistance which , both with the Government and with Parliament , have the weight and finality of a wholly disinterested opinion .
I may quote here the words of a recent letter from 1904 .
] Anniversary Address by Sir William .
H.M. Treasury:\#151 ; " Their Lordships have deemed themselves in the past very fortunate in being able to rely , in dealing with scientific questions , upon the aid of the Royal Society , which commands not only the confidence of the scientific world , but also of Parliament .
" In the past the Royal Society has been not infrequently greatly hampered in giving its advice , by the knowledge that the funds absolutely needled for the carrying out of the matters in question in accordance with our present scientific knowledge would not be forthcoming .
Though I am now speaking on my own responsibility , I am sure that the Society is with me , if I say that the expenditure by the Government on scientific research and scientific institutions , on which its commercial and industrial prosperity so largely depend , is wholly inadequate in view of the present state of international competition .
I throw no blame on the individual members of the present or former Governments ; they are necessarily the representatives of public opinion , and cannot go beyond it .
The cause is deeper , it lies in the absence in the leaders of public opinion , and indeed throughout the more influential classes of society , of a sufficiently intelligent appreciation of the supreme importance of scientific knowledge and scientific methods in all industrial enterprises , and indeed in-all national undertakings .
The evidence of this grave state of the public mind is strikingly shown by the very small response that follows any appeal that is made for scientific objects in this country , in contrast with the large donations and liberal endowments from private benefaction for scientific purposes and scientific institutions which are always at once forthcoming in the United States .
In my opinion , the scientific deadness of the nation is mainly due to the too exclusively mediaeval and classical methods of our higher public schools , and can only be slowly removed by making in future the teaching of Science , not from text-books for passing an examination , but , as far as may be possible , from the study of the phenomena of Nature by direct observation and experiment , an integral and essential part of all education in this country .
I proceed to the award of the Medals .
Copley Medal .
The Copley Medal is awarded to Sir William Crookes , F.R.S. , for his experimental researches in chemistry and physics , extending over more than fifty years .
Ever since his discovery of the element thallium in the early days of spectrum analysis , he has been in the front rank as regards the refined application of that weapon of research in chemical investigation .
Later , the discrepancies which he found in an attempt to improve weighings , by con22 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , ducting the operation in high vacua , were tracked out by him to a repulsion arising from radiation , which was ultimately ascribed by theory to the action of the residual gas .
This phenomenon , illustrated by the radiometer , opened up a new and fascinating chapter in the dynamical theory of rarefied gases , which the genius of Maxwell , 0 .
Reynolds , and others has left still incomplete .
The improvements in vacua embodied in the Crookes tube led him to a detailed and brilliant experimental analysis of the phenomena of the electric discharge across exhausted spaces ; in this , backed by the authority of Stokes , he adduced , long ago , powerful cumulative evidence that the now familiar cathode rays , previously described by C. F. Varley , must consist of projected streams of some kind of material substance .
His simple but minutely careful experiments on the progress of the ultimate falling off in the viscosity of rarefied gases , from the predicted constant value of Maxwell , at very high exhaustions , gave , in Stokes ' hands , an exact account of the trend of this theoretically interesting phenomenon , which had already been approached in the investigations of Kundt and Warburg , using Maxwell 's original method of vibrating discs .
These examples , not to mention recent work with radium , convey an idea of the acute observation , experimental skill , and persistent effort , which have enabled Sir William Crookes to enrich physical science in many departments .
Eumford Medal .
The Rumford Medal is awarded to Prof. Ernest Rutherford , F.R.S. , on account of his researches on the properties of radio-active matter , in particular for his capital discovery of the active gaseous emanations emitted by such matter , and his detailed investigation of their transformations .
The idea of radiations producing ionization , of the type originally discovered by Rontgen , and the idea of electrified particles , like the cathode rays of vacuum tubes , projected from radio-active bodies , had gradually become familiar through the work of a succession of recent investigators , when Rutherford 's announcement of a very active substance , diffusing like a gas with a definite atomic mass , emitted by compounds of thorium , opened up yet another avenue of research with reference to these remarkable bodies .
The precise interpretation of the new phenomena , so promptly perceived by Rutherford , was quickly verified for radium and other substances , by various observers , and .
is now universally accepted .
The modes of degradation , and the enormous concomitant radioactivity , of these emanations , have been investigated mainly by Rutherford himself , with results embodied in his treatise on Radio-activity and his recent Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
2a Bakerian Lecture on the same subject .
It perhaps still remains a task for the future to verify or revise the details of these remarkable transformations of material substances , resulting apparently in the appearance of chemical elements not before present ; but , however that may issue , by the detection and description of radio-active emanations and their transformations , .
Prof. Rutherford has added an unexpected domain of transcendent theoretical interest to physical science .
Royal Medal .
A Royal Medal is awarded to Prof. W. Burnside , F.R.S. , on the ground of the number , originality , and importance of his contributions to Mathematical Science .
The section of our " Catalogue of Scientific Papers " for the period 1883-1900 , enumerates fifty-three papers by Prof. Burnside , the first dated 1885 , and the " International Catalogue of Scientific Literature " thirteen more .
His mathematical work has consisted laregly of papers on the Theory of Groups , to which he has made most valuable additions .
In 1897 he published a volume " On the Theory of Groups of Finite Order , " which is a standard authority on that subject .
Two recent papers on the same theory , published in 1903 , may be specially mentioned .
In one of these he succeeded in establishing by direct methods , distinguished by great conciseness of treatment , the important subsidiary theory of group-characteristics , which had been originally arrived at by very indirect and lengthy processes .
In the other he proved quite shortly the important result that all groups of which the order is the product of powers of two primes are soluble .
Besides the treatise and papers relating to group theory , Prof. Burnside has published work on various branches of pure and applied mathematics .
His work on automorphic functions dealt with an important and difficult special case which was not included in the theory of these functions as previously worked out .
The paper on Green 's function for a system of nonintersecting spheres was perhaps the first work by .
any writer in which the notions of automorphic functions and of the theory of groups were applied to a physical problem .
He has also made important contributions to the Theory of Functions , Non-Euclidean Geometry , and the Theory of Waves on Liquids .
His work is distinguished by great acuteness and power , as well as by unusual elegance and most admirable brevity .
Royal Medal .
The other Royal Medal is awarded to Col. David Bruce , F.R.S. , who , since 1884 , has been engaged in prosecuting to a successful issue researches into 24 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , the causation of a number of important diseases affecting man and animals .
When he went to Malta in 1884 the exact nature of the widely-prevalent " Malta , " " Rock , " or " Mediterranean " Fever was entirely unknown .
After some years ' work at the etiology of this disease , he discovered in 1887 the organism causing it , and succeeded in cultivating the Micrococcus melitensis outside the body .
This discovery has been confirmed by many other workers , and is one of great importance from all points of view , and perhaps more especially as , thanks to it , Malta Fever can now be separated from other diseases , e.g. , typhoid , remittent , and malarious fevers , with which it had hitherto been confounded .
During the next few years he was engaged in researches of value on Cholera , and on methods of immunisation against this disease .
He also carried out some work on the Leucocytes in the Blood , published in the " Proceedings of the Royal Society , " 1894 .
In 1894 he was requested by the Governor of Natal to investigate the supposed distinct diseases of " Nagana " and the Tsetse Fly disease .
In the short time of two months he made the most important discovery that these two diseases were one and the same , and dependent upon the presence of a protozoan organism in the blood known as a Trypanosoma .
Some six months later Bruce was enabled to return to Zululand , and remained there two years , studying the disease and making the discovery that the Tsetse Fly acted as the carrier of the organism which caused it .
He was thus the first to show that an insect might carry a protozoan parasite that was pathogenic .
This observation was made in 1895 .
Bruce not only determined the nature and course of " Nagana , " but in addition he studied the disease in a large number of domestic animals , and also observed the malady in a latent form in the wild animals of South Africa .
Subsequent observers have found but little to add to Bruce 's work on this subject .
In 1900 , Bruce was ordered to join a Commission investigating the outbreak of Dysentery in the Army in South Africa , and a great part of the laboratory work performed by this Commission was carried out by him .
In 1903 , Col. Bruce went , at the request of the Royal Society , to Uganda , ' to investigate further the nature of Sleeping Sickness .
It was very largely , if not entirely , owing to him that the work of the Royal Society 's Commission was brought to a successful issue .
At the time when he arrived , a Trypanosoma had been observed by Castellani in a small number of cases of this disease ; thanks to Bruce 's energy and scientific insight , these observations were rapidly extended , and the most conclusive evidence obtained , that in all 1904 .
] Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
cases of the disease the Trypanosoma was present .
He showed further that a certain Tsetse Fly , the Glossina pcdpalis , acted as the carrier of the Trypanosoma , and obtained evidence showing that the distribution of the disease and of the fly were strikingly similar .
Bruce has therefore been instrumental in discovering and establishing the exact nature and cause of three wide-spread diseases of man and of animals , and in two of these , Nagana and Malta Fever , he discovered the causal organism .
In the third , Sleeping Sickness , he was not the first to see the organism , but he was quick to grasp and work out the discovery , and he made the interesting discovery of the carrier of the pathogenic organism , and thus discovered the mode of infection and of spread of the malady , matters of the highest importance as regards all measures directed to arrest the spreading of the disease .
All this research work has been done whilst serving in the Boyal Army Medical Corps , and engaged in the routine work of the Service .
Davy Medal .
The Davy Medal is awarded to Prof. W. H. Perkin , jun .
, F.E.S. , for his masterly and fruitful researches in the domain of synthetic organic chemistry , on which he has been continuously engaged during the past twenty-five years .
Dr. Perkin 's name is identified with the great advances which have been made during the past quarter of a century in our knowledge of the ring or cyclic compounds of carbon .
Thus , in the year 1880 , the cyclic carbon compounds known to chemists were chiefly restricted to the unsaturated groupings of six carbon atoms met with in benzene and its derivatives , whilst the number of compounds in which saturated carbon rings had been recognised was very limited , and it was indeed considered very doubtful whether compounds containing carbon rings with more or less than six atoms of carbon were capable of existence .
The starting point for Dr. Perkin 's researches in this field of enquiry was liis investigation of the behaviour of the di-lialogen derivatives of various organic radicals with the sodium compounds of malonic , aceto-acetic , and benzoyl-acetic esters , which led to the synthesis of the cyclic polymethylene compounds up to those of hexamethylene , whilst heptametliylene derivatives were obtained by an adaptation of the well-known reduction of ketonic bodies leading to pinacones .
The reactions thus introduced by Perkin are now classical , having proved themselves of the highest importance for synthetical purposes and having been instrumental in stimulating the further investigation of the cyclic compounds of carbon .
26 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
[ Nov. 30 , Dr. Perkin also extended the same methods to the synthetical formation of carbon rings of the aromatic series , obtaining by means of ingeniously designed reactions derivatives of hydrindonaphthene and tetrahydronaphtha-lene .
But whilst the above achievements depend mainly on happily conceived and brilliantly executed extensions of the malonic and aceto-acetic ester syntheses , Perkin has , by a remarkable development of the Frankland and Duppa reaction for the synthesis of hydroxyacids , been successful in building up the important camphoronic acid in such a manner as to place its constitution beyond doubt ( 1897 ) .
Dr. Perkin has further devoted much attention to the important subject of the constitution of camphor , towards the elucidation of which he has contributed valuable experimental evidence embodied in a most important and elaborate paper , containing the results of many years ' work in conjunction with numerous pupils , entitled " Sulphocamphylic acid and Isolauronolic acid , with remarks on the Constitution of Camphor and some of its derivates " ( 1898 ) .
Bearing on the same subject are later communications on camphoric acid and isocamphoronic acid .
About the year 1900 , Perkin , in prosecuting his researches on the constitution of camphor compounds , succeeded in devising synthetical methods for the production of what he has termed " bridged rings , " of which a simple example is furnished by the hydrocarbon clicyclopentane CH \#151 ; CH3 ch3 | \)H \#151 ; CH2 The universal admiration of organic chemists has been called forth by these investigations ; they reveal , indeed , a wonderful capacity for devising reactions which coerce carbon atoms to fall into the desired groupings .
Of other publications displaying not only extraordinary experimental skill but close reasoning and the power of interpreting results , mention may be made of Dr. Perkin 's memorable researches on the constitution of deliydra-cetic acid , berberine , brasilin , and hoematoxylin respectively .
During the .
present year ( 1904 ) , Dr. Perkin has made perhaps the most remarkable addition to the long list of his achievements by successfully synthesising terpin , inactive terpineol , and dipentene , substances which had previously engaged the attention of some of the greatest masters of organic chemistry .
1904 .
] Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
In conclusion it may be stated that Professor Perkin is not only the author of the above and numerous other important researches which are outside the scope of this brief summary , but that he has also created a school of research in organic chemistry , which stands in the very highest rank .
Darwin Medal .
The Darwin Medal is awarded to Mr. William Bateson , F.E.S. , for his researches on heredity and variation .
Mr. Bateson began his scientific career as a morphologist , and distinguished himself by researches on the structure and development of Balanoglossus , which have had a far-reaching influence on morphological science , and which established to the satisfaction of most anatomists the affinity of the Enteropneusta to the Chordate phylum .
Dissatisfied , however , with the methods of morphological research as a means of advancing the study of evolution , he set himself resolutely to the task of finding a new method of attacking the species problem .
Eecognising the fact that variation was the basis upon which the theory of evolution rested , he turned his attention to the study of that subject , and entered upon a series of researches which culminated in the publication in 1894 of his well-known work , entitled " Materials for the Study of Variation , etc. " This book broke new ground .
Not only was it the first systematic work which had been published on variation , and , with the exception of Darwin 's " Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication , " the only extensive work dealing with it ; but it was the first serious attempt to establish the importance of the principle of discontinuity in variation in its fundamental bearing upon the problem of evolution , a principle which he constantly and successfully urged when the weight of authority was against it .
In this work he collected and systematised a great number of examples of discontinuous variation , and by his broad and masterly handling of them he paved the way for those remarkable advances in the study of heredity which have taken place in the last few years , and to which he has himself so largely contributed .
He was the first in this country to recognise the importance of the work of Mendel , which , published in 1864 .
and for a long time completely overlooked by naturalists , contained a clue to the labyrinth of facts which had resulted from the labours of his predecessors .
He has brought these results prominently forward in England in his important reports to the Evolution Committee of the Eoyal Society , and in papers before the Eoyal and other Societies , and also before horticulturists and breeders of animals .
He has gathered about him a distinguished body 28 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins .
\#166 ; of workers , and has devoted himself with great energy and with all his available resources to following out lines of work similar to those of Mendel .
The result has been the supporting of Mendel 's conclusions and the bringing to light of a much wider range of facts in general harmony with them .
It is not too much to say that Mr. Bateson has developed a school of research to which many biologists are now looking as the source from which the next great advance in our knowledge of organic evolution will come .
Sylvester Medal .
The Sylvester Medal is awarded to Georg Cantor , Professor in the University of Halle , on account of his researches in Pure Mathematics .
His work shows originality of the highest order , and is of the most far-reaching importance .
He has not only created a new field of mathematical investigation , but his ideas , in their application to analysis , and in some measure to geometry , furnish a weapon of the utmost power and precision for dealing with the foundations of mathematics , and for formulating the necessary limitations to which many results of mathematics are subject .
In 1870 he succeeded in solving a question which was then attracting much attention\#151 ; the question of the uniqueness of the representation of a function by Fournier 's series .
The extension of the result to cases .in which the convergence of the series fails , at an infinite number of suitably distributed points , led him to construct a theory of irrational numbers , which has since become classical .
From the same starting point he developed , in a series of masterly memoirs , an entirely new branch of mathematics\#151 ; the Theory of Sets of Points .
Having established the fundamental distinction between those aggregates which can be counted and those which cannot , Cantor showed that the aggregates of all rational numbers and of all algebraic numbers belong to the former class , and that the arithmetic continuum belongs to the latter class , and further , that the continuum of any number of dimensions can be represented point for point by the linear continuum .
Proceeding with these researches he introduced and developed his theory of " transfinite " ordinal and cardinal numbers , thus creating an Arithmetic of the Infinite .
His later abstract theory of the order-types of aggregates , in connection with which he has given a purely ordinal theory of the arithmetic continuum , has opened up a field of research of the greatest interest and importance .
The Boring of the Simplon , 29 ' Hughes Medal .
The Hughes Medal is awarded to Sir Joseph Wilson Swan , F.R.S. , for his invention of the incandescent electric lamp , and his other inventions and improvements in the practical applications of electricity .
Not as directly included in the award , should be mentioned his inventions in dry-plate photography , which have so much increased our powers of experimental investigation .
The Boring of the Simplon Tunnel , and the Distribution of Temperature that teas encountered .
By Francis Fox , M.Inst .
C.E. ( Communicated by C. Y. Boys , F.R.S. Received January 6 , \#151 ; Read January 26 , 1905 .
) The construction of this great tunnel under the Swiss Alps , between Brigue in Switzerland in the valley of the Rhone , and Iselle in that of the Diveria in Italy , a distance of 19,730 metres , has been carried on upon such highly scientific lines , and has revealed such extraordinary results , that it has been thought desirable to submit them in the form of a communication to the Royal Society .
They are likely to prove of considerable value and importance as regards the thermal condition of the region underlying that portion of the surface of the earth .
It is not necessary here to refer to the splendid organisation of the enterprise , nor to the humane arrangements for the welfare of the men ; but the rapidity with which the drilling has been effected , and the advance-headings driven forward , as also the excellent ventilation provided , have enabled much more trustworthy results to be obtained than would otherwise have been the case .
The Brandt hydraulic drill , by which a daily advance of 5'48 metres ( 18 feet ) for months together , has been attained , has been described elsewhere ; but the fact of its rapid advance enables the temperature of the rocks to be recorded before the lapse of a considerable time during which the rocks would be cooling .
On the other hand , the very excellent system
|
rspa_1905_0002 | 0950-1207 | The boring of the Simplon Tunnel, and the distribution of temperature that was encountered. | 29 | 33 | 1,905 | 76 | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character | Francis Fox, M. Inst. C. E. |C. V. Boys, F. R. S. | article | 6.0.4 | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1905.0002 | en | rspa | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 2 | 43 | 1,816 | http://corpora.clarin-d.uni-saarland.de/surprisal/6.0.3/?id=rspa_1905_0002 | 10.1098/rspa.1905.0002 | null | null | null | Geography | 34.843817 | Thermodynamics | 26.224835 | Geography | [
23.809709548950195,
21.30287742614746
] | The Boring of the Simplon Tunnel , etc. 29* Hughes Medal .
The Hughes Medal is awarded to Sir Joseph Wilson Swan , F.R.S. , for his invention of the incandescent electric lamp , and his other inventions and improvements in the practical applications of electricity .
Not as directly included in the award , should be mentioned his inventions in dry-plate photography , which have so much increased our powers of experimental-investigation .
The Boring of the Simplon Tunnel , and the Distribution of Temperature that ivas encountered .
By Feancis Fox , M.Inst .
C.E. ( Communicated by C. Y. Boys , F.R.S. Received January 6 , \#151 ; Read January 26 , 1905 .
) The construction of this great tunnel under the Swiss Alps , between Brigue in Switzerland in the valley of the Rhone , and Iselle in that of the Diveria in Italy , a distance of 19,730 metres , has been carried on upon such highly scientific lines , and has revealed such extraordinary results , that it has been thought desirable to submit them in the form of a communication to the Royal Society .
They are likely to prove of considerable value and importance as regards the thermal condition of the region underlying that portion of the surface of the earth .
It is not necessary here to refer to the splendid organisation of the enterprise , nor to the humane arrangements for the welfare of the men ; but the rapidity with which the drilling has been effected , and the advance-headings driven forward , as also the excellent ventilation provided , have enabled much more trustworthy results to be obtained than would otherwise have been the case .
The Brandt hydraulic drill , by which a daily advance of 5*48 metres ( 18 feet ) for months together , has been attained , has been described elsewhere ; but the fact of its rapid advance enables the temperature of the rocks to be recorded before the lapse of a considerable time during which the rocks would be cooling .
On the other hand , the very excellent system BO Mr. F. Fox .
The Boring of the Simplon Tunnel , etc. of ventilation , which has been provided , passes an enormous volume of fresh , air along the galleries , thus tending to produce a lowering effect in temperature .
During the trimestral period of July , August , and September , 1904 , the average volume of air introduced into the tunnel daily was as follows:\#151 ; From the Brigue portal ... ... 2,934,140 cub. metres From the Iselle ... ... ... 2,361,310 " Or a total of ... ... ... 5,295,450 " equivalent to 33*9 cub. metres per second at Brigue and 27*3 cub. metres per second at Iselle .
During this period the average temperature of the external air was 17'*5 C. , that of the travelling air in the advanced headings being from 27'*1 to 29'*7 C. As the advanced gallery was proceeded with , a series of holes were bored into the side of the tunnel , in a horizontal position , to a depth of 1*5 metres , at a distance apart of 1000 metres .
Into each hole was introduced a permanent thermometer , from which observations were made and results recorded .
It is not , of course , possible to place the thermometer in advance of the excavation , as it would be broken by the next " shot " in the blasting operations .
It is , however , placed in position in the side wall as soon after the boring machine has gone forward as is possible .
The effect of this , no doubt , is that a slight cooling of the rock occurs before the observation can be made , but this factor of error has been as far as possible allowed for in the diagram .
On the accompanying profile ( fig. 1 ) , which is drawn to natural scale , the squares being 1000 metres horizontal and vertical , is shown the position of the tunnel , with the height of the mountains above it throughout , and on the lower diagram are given the results of temperature observations , so that at a glance the heat curve may be compared with the corresponding mountain surface .
It will be observed that the maximum height of the Alps above the tunnel is 2135 metres ( 7005 feet ) , which is far greater than any depth previously attained ; the maximum temperature of the rocks is 54'*5 C. In order to show the rapid cooling of the rocks , so soon as perforation has taken place , I have selected four points on both sides , dated March , 1901 , 1902 , 1903 , 1904 ; the explanation of one will suffice for the remaining three .
March , 1901 Up to that date observations had been taken from the entrance at Brigue to a distance of 4693 metres , and these are represented SIMPLON TUNNEL 6 6 6 o o 6 b b b b o 'o vo in \lt ; r \gt ; o cvi \#151 ; a / i I ri A ) M I- " r* M 1*3 J k 4 / .
ii ( / I 1 / I ... .
1 0 if \ \ f \ \ \ \ s \ \#163 ; \\ \ n I 1 \#187 ; If 1 i i 1 i 1 Mi -5 \#163 ; \lt ; 5 \#163 ; g " | " g g o vD iO *o *vl \#151 ; 32 Mr. F. Fox .
Boring of the Simplon Tunnel , and [ Jan. 6 , by the thick top line on the chart .
But at that actual date , the readings between that point and the portal had been lowered by cooling , as represented by the " one dot and dash " line .
Similarly in March , 1902 , when the distance of 6884 metres had been reached , the readings are indicated by a " two dot and dash " line .
In March , 1903 , at a distance of 8930 metres , they are given by a " three dot and dash " line ; and in March , 1904 , at 10,140 metres , by a " four dot and dash " line .
At the southern or Iselle side of the Alps , it will be noticed that the temperature follows approximately the increasing altitude of the mountains , until a point is reached at about 2200 metres .
From that point forward as the tunnel advanced the heat began to fall off , indicating some probable change ; at about 4000 metres it fell rapidly , until at 4400 metres it attained the lowest point recorded throughout the tunnel , and the " Great Spring " of 800 litres per second ( 10,564 gallons per minute ) was struck .
The water when first encountered was under very high pressure , believed to be about 42 kilogrammes per square centimetre ( 600 lbs. to the square inch ) , but it now escapes under normal pressure , and with a temperature of about 13 ' C. 4 In consequence of the heat encountered in the extreme advanced headings under the centre of the Alps , resulting in high temperatures both in the air and in the water travelling along the tunnel from the " feeders , " the dotted line of March , 1904 , indicates a diminution in the cooling-off of the rocks on the north side between 2*6 kilometres and 8 kilometres ; and between 1 kilometre and 2*6 kilometres , the thermometers actually register higher figures than were encountered in the original driving of the tunnel .
In like manner on the south side between 0 kilometre and 4*4 kilometres the cooling-off has been reduced .
In considering the rise of the Earth 's temperature as progressive depths are attained from the surface , these phenomena at 4400 metres on the south side must be regarded as purely accidental , and as in no way affecting the general problem ; they must , therefore , be discarded and not be allowed to affect in any way the calculations or conclusions .
There are many other disturbing factors which prevent any really definite law being laid down : much depends upon the inclination of the strata , whether horizontal , inclined , or vertical ; whether synclinal , or anticlinal : the character of the rocks must also affect the problem considerably .
A point of some difficulty to ascertain , is the temperature which is to be assumed as existing near the surface in the high Alps .
Where perpetual the Distribution of Temperature encountered .
snow prevails , it doubtless acts as a protection , and prevents radiation ; and where snow lies during the long months of winter , the same results obtain to a modified degree .
Probably at a depth of 6 to 9 metres below the surface the temperature remains nearly uniform , and it will be safe to assume it to be zero Centigrade ( 32 ' F. ) .
As we have a total height of 2135 metres ( 7005 feet ) available , it will vitiate the results but to a very small extent , whether this be taken as 6 , 9 , or 12 metres .
But assuming 10 metres to be the depth at which uniformity is to be found , we then have 2125 metres as corresponding to a rise of temperature of 54'*3 C. ( or 97'*7 F. ) , giving a temperature gradient of 39 metres for 1 ' C. ( 71*5 feet for each degree Fahrenheit ) .
With the view to obtaining an average of the results , I have selected the altitudes and temperatures between 8 kilometres and 13 kilometres , and the temperature gradient thus obtained gives 37 metres per degree Centigrade , or 67*5 feet per degree Fahrenheit .
I was in hopes that I should have been able to report in this communication the successful and final perforation of the tunnel , but owing to the presence of very large " feeders " of hot water ( 46 ' C. ) encountered at 9141 metres from the southern entrance , progress has been retarded .
At this date ( December 22 ) , however , there remains only a distance of 203 metres to be traversed before the headings meet , and a through passage is expected early in 1905 , but this in no way modifies the temperature results given above .
VOL. lxxvi.\#151 ; a D
|
rspa_1905_0003 | 0950-1207 | On a method of finding the conductivity for heat. | 34 | 48 | 1,905 | 76 | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character | Professor C. Niven, F. R. S. | article | 6.0.4 | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1905.0003 | en | rspa | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 15 | 171 | 3,624 | http://corpora.clarin-d.uni-saarland.de/surprisal/6.0.3/?id=rspa_1905_0003 | 10.1098/rspa.1905.0003 | null | null | null | Electricity | 22.229782 | Formulae | 19.054271 | Electricity | [
11.812785148620605,
-65.65914916992188
] | ]\gt ; ; 34 Prof. C. Niven .
On Method of [ Dec. 5 , On a Method of Finding the onductivity for Heat .
By Professor C. NIVEN , ( Received December 5 , 1904 , \mdash ; Read January 26 , 1905 .
) INTRODUCTION .
This paper contains an account of a method for finding the conductivity for heat , especially in bad conductors .
The substance is supposed given in the form of a cylinder , or rather of two half-cylinders pressed together and heated by a current passing through a wire along the axis .
When the steady state has been reached , the conductivity is given in terms of the difference of temperatures at known distances from the axis , and the heat supplied by the wire .
The latter can be found when we know the current passing through it and the difference of potential at its ends .
The first part of the paper contains a detailed account of the methods employed for finding the difference of temperature , and a description of the apparatus used .
The results of some experiments made with it are also given , and compared with those found by other observers .
The second part of the paper contains a solution of the mathematical problem of the diffusion of heat in an infinite solid from a line at which it is supplied at a constant rate , and the solution of some other allied questions .
One result of the investigation suggests a method of finding the diffusivity directly , when the substance is of sufficiently great extent .
PART I. 1 .
If heat be supplied uniformly and continuously to a solid within a given space at the rate of units per second , and if a surface be drawn round this space , then when the steady state has been attained and the temperature at each point is constant in time , the integral being taken over the closed surface , being the conductivity , and the normal variation of outwards .
In particular , if the solid be in the form of a circular cylinder , and the heat supplied by an electric current passing through a uniform straight wire coinciding with its axis , the equation takes the form the enclosing surface being a coaxial cylinder , and the heat supplied per centimetre per second .
1904 .
] Finding the Conductivity for Heat .
If we rate this equation , we find for the difference of temperatures at distances , from the axis , the expression Upon this equation we may base a method of finding , since the heat evolved the wire per unit length is readily found when we know the current through it and its resistance ; or what comes to the same , the current and the di{ference of potentials in volts ) between two points at a known distance apart .
These data be by , say , a Weston millivoltmeter provided with suitable shunts and resistances , and may be obtained with considerable accuracy if the instrument be properly calibrated .
Reducing electrical to heat units the value of the conductivity is ooiven by bein the length of the wire , at the ends of which the potentials are taken .
The heating wires used were of platinoid .
At first wires of No. 40 .
were used .
currents of about one ampere , but these were afterwards replaced by thicker wires of No. 34 , as they were found to too great a heating effect , and caused the wood in which they were placed to shrink at the centre , and besides , in addition , were liable to snap when drawn tight .
The thicker wires gave more satisfactory results .
2 .
The temperatures , or rather , were ulensured either by the change of resistance of platinum wires embedded in the body parallel to the axis , or by thermo-electric junctions formed by soldering togethel thin iron and German silver wires placed in the same positions as the platinunl wires .
These fine wires were stretched round two brass pins so as to be at distances about 1 cm .
and 3 cm .
from the heating wire .
When solids were tested they were made in the form of two half , ylinders , one of which was placed in a semi-cylindrical wooden shell , which was moved up till the two wires rested on its flat face .
If platinum vires vere used their resistances were now compared .
The current is then passed the wire , which is drawn tight round a brass pin and fixed to lie parallel to the other two wires .
The second half cylinder and the other semi-cylin drical wooden shell vere then placed upon it and squeezed firmly down .
If this operation be carefully performed it is possible to fix the wires in their positions , though the thin platinum wires gaye some trouble owing to their great fragility .
Prof. C. Niven .
On Method of [ Dec. 5 , When the apparatus is used for testing the conductivity of powders , the lower shell is first filled and the wires placed in position on the upper SUl.face of the substance , the current turned on and the he ting wire drawn tight .
The upper shell is now laid above the first , and lilled through a slot made along the top , the powder being distributed to fill it completely .
The apparatus is shown generally in fig. 1 .
is a horizontal section FIG. 2 .
in the plane of junction of the two half cylinders ; AA , BB are the two thermometric wires , and the , wire fixed to brass plates .
The length of the cylinders used was 15 cm .
, and the diameter 9 cm .
The heating wire had a length of 25 cm .
in the later experiments .
3 .
mometric AnyeJnents .
When the difference of temperatures 1904 .
] inding the Conductivity for Heat .
was measured by the change of resistance of platinum , a piece of platinum wire was coated with copper and the whole drawn out till the platinum had a thickness of about mm. , that of the copper being about mm. Any change of resistance was thus appreciably due to the platinum .
Two lengths from the same piece were taken , laid ether , and being connected with soft wax , were bared as nearly as possible to the same extent of about 3 to4 cm .
, so that their resistances vere very nearly equal .
If be the resistance of the inner one , that of the outer before heating , let when compared by the Wheatstone 's Bridge method , , say , and a number not far from 1000 .
After heating , and when the temperature has become steady , becomes where is the temperature coefficient of the resistance of platinum , and is the temperature of the room .
Suppose now that .
Then If the total changes of resistance are only comparatively small fractions of the original resistance , we have Of course , if is a considerable fraction , the resistances must be found separately .
In the experiments actually made , amounted to about at most , and , so that the assumption here made is sufficiently accurate .
( 2 ) So much difficulty was experienced in use of these fine platinum wires , especially in testing loose powders such as sand or mould , that they were ultimately given up , and the difference of temperatures found by the hermo-electric junctions already described .
The arrangement used was a wile of German silver of mm. diameter between two iron wires of the same diameter , stretched parallel to the axis of the cylinder so that the two wires , and , therefore , the junctions , were at the distances apart previously chosen , that is to say , 1 cm .
and 3 cm .
from the heating wire .
As the resistance of the galvanometer employed was about 800 ohms , the deflection Prof. C. Niven .
On Method of [ Dec. 5 , was sensibly proportional to the difference of temperature .
By independent experiments one scale division represented C. 4 .
With regard to the choice of the distances from the central wire , it is clear that these should not be taken too nearly equal ; for , unless be a moderate multiple of , any error in the measurement of one of them , say will introduce a large error in Let for instance , , nearly .
Thus , if cm .
, cm .
, and mm. , so that the error is about 12 per cent. of the whole .
By taking the error lies between 4 and 5 per cent. As between the two pairs of distances 1 , 6 and 2 , 6 cm .
, we should rather choose the latter , as is not quite 2 , and an error of mm. in 2 cm .
is only half as important as the same error in 1 cm .
In the present form of the apparatus I have therefore taken cm .
, cm .
; and in a larger model , cm .
, cm .
5 .
It is desirable to know how long an experiment need be continued to get a fair approximation to the steady state .
For this purpose it is necessary to know how the temperatul.e rises at any point .
In the second part of this paper the solution is iven of the problem of the diffusion of heat in an infinite cylinder from a steady source at the axis .
Taking the result as a guide for the present case , we have where , and is the distance from the axis and the diffusivity .
Assuming , provisionally , that is large enough to make small , we may expand , and retain only the first two terms .
Thus .
The first term of the expression gives the temperature of the steady .
and if the temperature be 5 per below its final value , If cm .
, 1904 .
] Finding the Conductivity for Heat .
In the case of sand , for which is ( Everett 's 'Units and Physical Constants ' ) , or about hours .
To get within 1 per cent. , we should have to continue the for about hours .
It may , perhaps , be worth that the diffusivity may be found directly the expression for ooiven in the second part of the paper and quoted above ; for which is a maximum when cm .
, the time required is only about one-eighth of that previOusly necessary .
6 .
As an illustration of the results 1}hich the method gives , I add a list of some tarlces whose conductivities have been found by it .
In the case of the woods , the flow of heat is across the fibres .
In the second column the letter indicates that the diflerence of temperatures was found by the of resistance of the platinum wires , that it was found by thermo-electric junctions .
The distances of the thermometric wires from the central wires are given in the third and fourth columns ; in the earlier expel.iments , was taken nearly , while iu the later ones is about 3 .
The llumbers ag1ee fairly well , , for the reasons given above , I think the latter ratio preferable .
The fifth column shows the size of the platinoid wire used as the source of heat , and the sixth the current passing through it .
Some determinations by other observers are added ; these are taken from Everett 's ' Units and Physical Constants .
' I wish to express my indebtedness to Mr. William Mitchell , M.A. , by mauy of these determinations were made , for this and other assistance he has riven me in the course of the work .
Prof. C. Niven .
On Method of [ Dec. 5 , 1904 .
] Finding the Conductivity for Heat .
PART Il In connection with the foregoing method , based on the steady state , it seemed desirable to know the mode in which this state is attained at any time after the heating is begun .
As a preliminary , the problem of the heating of a rod by heat supplied uniformly in the middle , was first attacked in Fourier 's way by treating it as the limit of a ring of infinite radius .
The results , though complicated in form , may be worth recording , as the conditions approximate to those actually met with when one end of a metal rod is put into a hot flame .
The case of a small spherical cavity is added , and may be taken as an illustration of the way in which the heat given out by a small morsel of radium is propagated through an infinite solid .
In all the questions treated in this part the body is supposed infinite in the directions in which the flow of heat is considered , the ring and thin spherical shell excepted . .
Thin Circular Ring with Surface Impermeable to Heat.\mdash ; Consider first the case of a uniform thin circular ring heated at one spot .
Let conductivity , specific heat per unit volume , -section of ring , mean radius , arc of ring measured from the heated spot , angle subtended by at the centre , so that heat supplied at the spot per second .
general equation of conduction is . .
( 1 ) , being the temperature .
If the heat has been supplied for a long time , the temperature will be sensibly uniform throughout and equal to If we include the etfect of co1lduction we may satisfy Equation by adding to this a term of the form , where and the other constants are undetermined .
To complete the general solution we have to add terms of the form .
( 2 ) , where , .
3 Prof. C. Niven .
On Method of [ Dec. 5 , We have also to satisfy the conditions that the flow of heat outwards at the origin is constantly equal to on either side , that is , corresponding to All these conditions are satisfied by the expression . .
It will be noted that the last terms give no flow at , on either side , nor at the diametrically opposite point , as ought , from symmetry to be the case .
The constants are determined in the usual way by taking , when , all over the ring .
Thus ; And , finally , ' ( 5 ) .
CASE 2 .
Rod Heated the lfiddle.\mdash ; By putting , and we pass , in Fourier 's way , to the case of an infinite straight rod .
The second term , which is infinite , may be treated thus\mdash ; If we integrate the last term by parts , dropping the factor and include this term , we have and the part outside the sign now vanishes at both limits .
If we put ' 1904 .
] Finding C'onductivity for Heat .
and thus finally ( 6 ) .
CASE 3 .
with Radiating Su .\mdash ; If be the perimeter of a cross section , and the constant of radiation , the equation of the flow of heat along the ring is ( 7 ) .
If the flow of heat from the source were continued for a long time , the final temperature , neglecting conduction , would be iven by .
Including conduction , it is easy to see that the general Equation ( 7 ) is satisfied by an expression of the form ( 8 ) , where . .
( 9 ) .
The condition that the flow at either side of the origin should be equal to requires that -B . ?
when everywhere .
Thus Determining the constants in the usual way , Thus , finally , ( 10 ) .
Prof C. Niven .
On a Method of [ Dec. 5 , CASE 4 .
InJinite Radiating \mdash ; To pass to this case , pUlt c If then , and .
( 11 ) .
This Talo may be expressed in terms of two integrals of the errorfunction type , but it is unnecessary to the reduction here .
CASE 5 .
Thin Spherical Shdt.\mdash ; The case of an infinite cylinder heated from a wire passing along its axis is the same as the two-dimensional problem of a plate heated at a point .
To treat this , consider first the case of a thin spherical shell , heated steadily from a small circular hole , and take the boundary of the shell to be impermeable to heat .
The general equation of the flow along the shell is . .
( 12 ) , being the radius of the shell , , angular distance from hole .
If be its thickness , the final state , after a long time , is given by To satisfy Equation ( 12 ) generally , including this term , we require a term such that whence , where And the complete value of will be where being the usual zonal harmonic of degree The flow across any small circle is The part of this depending on vanishes when or ; and , if , the part derived from be equal to H. Thus , or .
1904 .
] Finding the Conductivity for The complete expression for is therefore . .
( 13 ) .
To determine we have , when Now and Hence The first term on the left hand vanishes except when .
On the right hand , between the limits ; and which vanishes both when and when .
Thus The constant term is given from , or .
Thus the complete expression for is ( 14 ) where When everywhere , and this requires that an expression which may be readily verified from the expression Prof C. Niven .
On JIethod of [ Dec. 5 , 6.\mdash ; Infinite Plane Plate .
This case , which also includes that of an infinite cylinder heated along its axis , may be deduced from the one by putting .
being the distance of any point from the centre , and by ; also , and the expression for is ( ) ( 15 ) , where stands for the heat supplied per unit in unit time , and The which itself is infinite , is coupled with an infinite term , the difference between the two being the finite part on which the solution depends .
same point came up in the deduction of the solution for the infinite rod from that of the ring , but in that case it was possible to assign a finite form for the difference .
The form of the .
in ( 15 ) ests , as will be seen later , another way of obtaining the solution , but it is possible to deduce from it a form of solution satisfying all the conditions of the problem .
For if we differentiate the above expression with regard to the time , we have ; or , putting we have It is easy to verify by direct differentiation that and therefore To find the constant , we observe that wheu ; so that Thus ' 1904 .
] Finding the Conductivity for But , and therefore Thus .
( 16 ) .
Another Solution of this Case.\mdash ; The expression just given for originally obtained by , different method , which may be now given .
The integral contained in the Equation ( 15 ) , may be written , using the same symbol , as above , in the form which shows that is of the form .
But the general equation of the flow of heat in two dimensions is which may be satisfied by , where , if and therefore ?
' The total flow across the boundary of the circle of radius , \ldquo ; in unit tinle and when , this is to be equal to .
Therefore Thus the upper limit of integration taken to make where , when Writing for , this expression becomes the same as that previously found in Equation ( 16 ) .
JIethod of Finding the Conductivity for Heat .
CASE 7 .
Case of an Infinite Solid with small erlcal Source.\mdash ; The equation of motion in this case is or . . . . .
( 17 ) , where When is inite and the flow has become steady , , where But the general Equation ( 17 ) is satisfied also by , and by If we choose the latter , and put , we may take as the applicable to the present case For , ( 1 ) When , it reproduces the steady state ; ( 2 ) When , , which vanishes if ; ( 3 ) which is equal to when .
All the conditions are therefore atisfied .
The solution therefore is .
|
rspa_1905_0004 | 0950-1207 | Theory of the reflection of light near the polarising angle. | 49 | 65 | 1,905 | 76 | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character | Richard C. Maclaurin, M. A., LL. D.|Professor J. Larmor, Sec. R. S. | article | 6.0.4 | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1905.0004 | en | rspa | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 18 | 108 | 2,722 | http://corpora.clarin-d.uni-saarland.de/surprisal/6.0.3/?id=rspa_1905_0004 | 10.1098/rspa.1905.0004 | null | null | null | Tables | 38.543461 | Fluid Dynamics | 28.361855 | Tables | [
36.659725189208984,
-41.95097732543945
] | ]\gt ; Tloeory of the Reflection of Laght the Polarising Angle .
By RICHARD C. MACLAURIN , M.A. , LLD .
, Fellow of St. John 's College , Cambridge , Professor of Mathematics , Wellington , New Zealand .
( Communicated by Professor J. Larmor , Sec. R.S. Received January 17 , \mdash ; Read February 2 , 1905 .
) Supposing the phenomena of light to be due bo displacements in a rotational ether , we have the following expressions for the kinetic energy and function in a transparent isotropic medium:\mdash ; V. Here denotes an element of volume , is the density , the displacelnent , curl , a constant that will prove to be the velocity of light in free ether , whereas will be identified with the refractive index .
The dynamical equations and boundary conditions are most simply obtained the Principle of Action , which makes We have The term containing in the variation of is ( ng-mh ) wIlere ( are the direction cosines of the outward normal to the bounding surface S. Picking out the coefficient of in the variation , we get , ( i ) and the surface conditions require ng\mdash ; , mf\mdash ; , to be continuous .
The displacement must also be continuous to avoid VOL. LXXVI.\mdash ; A. Dr. R. C. Maclaurin .
Theory of the [ Jan. 17 , rupture of the medium .
We shall take to be continuous , and if the surface of separation between different media be constant , the boundary conditions are satisfied when are continuous .
These boundary conditions combined with three dynamical equations of ths type ( i ) will suffice to solve completely the problem of the reflection and refraction of light at the boundary of two transparent isotropic media .
We take to represent the light vector , and if we wish to interpret results in the language of electric theory , we identify with the electric displacement , and take proportionalto the neCic force .
We shall first consider the case of an abrupt transition from one medium to the other .
The surface of separation is , the plane of is that of incidence , so that everything is independent of ( 1 ) Vibrations parallel to the plane of incidence ; so that is at right angles to this plane .
Thus ; ( incident ) ( reflected ) ; ( refracted ) .
The boundary conditions require the exponential factor to be the same for all values of and when ohus whence , which is the law of refleotion ; and 1905 .
] Reflection of Light the Polarising Angle .
which is the law of refraction for in order that the dynamical equation ( i ) for may be satisfied .
; ; O. Thus ; .
; .
; . .
These represent waves whose amplitudes are in the ratios 1 : The boundary conditions give ; whence , remembering that , we and 2 .
Vibrations to the plane of incidence .
In this case it is convenient , introduce a new vector which is the curl .
; ; ; ; ; Take Then the amplitude of the incident , reflected , and refracted waves are in the ratios 1 : : ; ; ; The boundary conditions give ; whence and If the incident light is plane polarised at an azimuth of to 'he plane of incidence , then the amplitu of the incident light are equal for the vibrations parallel and perpendicular to the plane of incidence .
After reflection and refraction the amplitudes will no longer be equal .
Let be the ratio of Dr. R. C. Maclaurin .
Theory of the [ Jan. 17 , the amplitude of the reflected light polarised parallel to the plane of incidence to that polarised at right angles , and let be the same ratio for the refracted light .
Then and are the " " coefficients of ellipticity\ldquo ; of the reflected and refracted light , and we have : and The formulae for and with those of .
They make vanish when , i.e. , when the polal ising a ; and they indicate a sudden change of phase of ls ( half a wave-length ) at this angle .
Experiments show that these formulae represent the facts very well as far as the ellipticity is concerned , except in the neighbourhood of the polarising angle .
It is found , however , is sensible at all angles , although smallest at the Brewsterian angle , and that the of phase does not occur suddenly , but enters by degrees .
explanation of this departure from Fresnel 's formulae was long ago ascribed to a gradual rather than an abrupt transition from one medium to the other .
This gestion was strongly supported by 's experiment on reflection from water having its surface artificially cleansed , and by the observation made in 1899 by Drude that the ellipticity of the polarisation of the reflected in the case of a freshly split surface of rock salt is very small , but that it rapidly increases on standing .
It seems probable that Fresnel 's formulae are rigorously applicable to the ideal case of an abrupt transition between two isotropic transparent media , and that the departure from these formulae is due to the fact that in most experiments there is what has been called a ' layer of transition\ldquo ; between the media .
The mathematical treatment of the problem of the layer has been undertaken by various writers\mdash ; amongst others Lorenz , Van Byn , Van Alkemaade , and Drude on the Continent , and in England , in an illustrative way , by Lord Rayleigh , and systematically by G. A. Schott .
* Schott 's * Phil. Trans , 1894 , pp. 82.3 to 885 .
1905 .
] Reflection of Light near the , Polarising Angle .
analysis is long and complicated , and leads him to results which do not coligate the experimental facts any more closely than very much simpler formulae that can be obtained .
Drude 's investigation*is more direct , but from a mathematical point of view his analysis leaves something to be desired , since he treats certain quantities as\ldquo ; approximately constant\ldquo ; merely because they are , continuous , and , further , because in proceeding by approxiation he gives no indication of the magnitude of the terms neglected .
Take the variable\ldquo ; layer of transition\ldquo ; to extend from to and to be continuous ( as regards ) with the media bounding .
In the layer is a function of only .
It will be convenient to put ( 1 ) tions parallel to the plane of incidence ( cf. p. 50 In the layer where is a function of only , The equation for ( see ( i ) .
p. 49 ) is .
Thus Put and , and we get .
( ii ) This equation , of course , cannot be solved completely until we know as a I'unction of ( and therefore of ) , i.e. , until we know the law of variation of in the layer .
However , in all cases to which we shall apply the solution , is a small quantity as will be shown later ) , and we can thus solve ( ii ) by approximations .
We get a first approximation by ecting d , so that ( ii ) becomes , whence and where is a function of " " Lehrbuch der Optik Transl .
Mann and Millikan , p. 288 .
[ somewhat similar analysis has been employed by L. Lorenz.\mdash ; Sec. ] Dr. R. C. Maclaurin .
Theory of the [ Jan. 17 , As a next approximation , put , and the equation for is Integrating , we get where ; ; A second integration then gives where ; ; When all the 's are zero , and when we have ; ; ; ; ; ; ; where E. . .
are constants depending on the law of distribution of in the layer .
Thus , when we have ; ; and when ; The boundary conditions give ; ; Eliminating A and from these , we get two equations to determine and It will appear later that in most cases we can safely neglect terms containing and higher powers of .
If we do this we get ; , to our order 1905 .
] Reflection of Light the Polarising Angle .
where and Thus ( to this order ) the amplitude is the same as in case of an abrupt transition ; but there is a chan of phase .
Similarly where ) , and at the polarising angle , where , and we have and Here again , in the general case , the amplitude is ( to our order of approximation ) the same as that given by Fresnel 's formula , but there is a small of phase depending on .
The most marked departure from Fresnel 's formula , however , occurs polarising angle .
In that case does not vanish as Fresnel gives , but there is a small amount of residual reflected and the change of phase is a quarter wave-length ) .
At the polarising angle ( 2 ) We shall consider in a similar way the case of vibrations to the plane of incidence ( cf. p. 51 ) .
1 the layer ' ; ; : ; Dr. R. C. Maclaurin .
Theory of the [ Jan. 17 , These equations are satisfied if .
Hence , or .
( iii ) .
Solving ( ui ) by approximations , we get first , so that and , as a second approximation , , where Now Hence on integrating ( iv ) , we get and , where When , and when G. Ihus we have when ; ; and when ; The boundary conditions give ; ; Eliminating A and from these equations , we get two equations to determine and .
If , as before , we retain only the first power of , we get 1905 .
] Reflection of the Polarising Angle .
Thus where and Similarly where As before , the amplitude is the same as that given by Fresnel , but there is a small change of phase .
If be the difference of phase between the parallel and perpendicular vibrations for reflection , and that for refraction , we have , since and are small .
except near the polarising angle , where and The above results show that and are the same as given by Fresnsl 's formulae , except in the neighbourhood of the polarising angle when is not , but is very small .
At the polarising angle we have We see from this that is a along with , i.e. , when .
If had this value throughout , we should have .
R. C. Maclaurin .
Theory of the [ Jan. 17 , This enables us to obtain an upper limit for the value of necessary to produce the observed ellipticity at the polarising angle .
Taking Kurz 's experiments on reflection from glass into air , we have , .
This gives and With Jamin 's experiments on reflection romp diamond into air , which gives and .
In the case of otYlass d is about one-hundredth of , while with diamond is about one-tenth of .
In the latter case it would not be satisfactory for accurate work to neglect in the determination of the ellipticity , so that it may be advisable to conduct the calculations to a higher order of approximation , retaining We have ; .
where and 1905 .
] Reflection of Light near the Polarising Angle .
Similarly where and at the polarising , where and .
For vibrations perpendicular to the plane of incidel ] , we have , in like nlanner , Dr. R. C. Maclaurin .
Theory of the [ Jan. 17 , and where and ?
It will be observed that the retardations of phase are the same as to the first approximation , except that at the polarising angle is instead of On examining the various formulae thus obtained , it becomes apparent that it will not be possible to calculate the constants , etc. , so as to fit in with experimental results with much accuracy .
Of the quantities depending on these constants it is only ( the elliptioity ) and the retardation of phase that are large enough to be measured with accuracy , and even with these the departure from Fresnel 's formulae is appreciable only within a few degrees of the polarising angle .
Hence , instead of applying these results directly , we shall derive from them much simpler formulae for and \mdash ; formula which involve only a single arbitrary constant , and which colligate the experimental results well within the limits of elTors of observation .
* In the expression for the factor 2 is equal to .
Now F-E is not very large , for cannot be greater than , nor less than .
Thus for a variation of * See the graphs on pp. 64-5 .
1905 .
] Reflection of Light near the Angle .
a few degrees in , the expression is practically constant .
Pntting , we have these simple formulae for tnn .
( A ) ( B ) If we put , then we have very approximately , ( the of Fresnel ) .
( C ) denominator in will vary very little throughout a considerable range on each side of the polarising angle , so that hout this will be very nearly constant .
Hence , if we draw a raph to represent the amplitude and phase of the reflected light ( the vibrations being parallel to the plane of incidence ) , we very approximately a line parallel to the axis of , and all the points of departure from Fresnel 's formulae are indicated\mdash ; as ards both amplitude and phase\mdash ; by the ; of a line from the axis of to a parallel position .
* We shall apply these formulae to the case of reflection and refraction where the media diamond and air , and compare the theoretical results with in 's imeI ) on reflection with these media .
We have ; the polarising angle is Taking , we get the following table for the ellipticity in the hbourhood of the polarising angle , the theoretical ] calculated from the formula , above:\mdash ; *See graph , p. 65 .
Dr. R. C. Maclaurin .
Theory of the [ Jan. 17 , Outside of this range the ellipticity is given sufficiently accurately by Fresnel 's formula , as the following table will show : The following table ives the retardation of phase calculated from the formula ( A ) of p. 61 .
The column headed " " \ldquo ; gives the retardation expressed as an angle , that headed " " \ldquo ; gives the retardation in fractions of the half wave-length:\mdash ; If , we have the following values of and calculated from the formula ) of p. 61:\mdash ; 1905 .
] of Light near the Polarising Angle .
It has been remarked before thab the constants cannot be determined very accurately .
We have seen that is less than Further , we have , and since and must be positive , we must have , so that .
If , this ooives , so that must lie between and We shall take , and calculate , and from the formulae of pp. 55 and 57 .
following table ives the value of and the difference of phase ( as a fraction of the half wave-length ) between the parallel and perpendicular vibrations , compared with Jamin 's observations on reflection:\mdash ; Dr. R. C. Maclaurin .
Theory of the [ Jan. D7 , Reflection of Light near the Polarising Angle .
VOL. LXXVI.\mdash ; A.
|
rspa_1905_0005 | 0950-1207 | On the relation between variations of atmospheric pressure in North-East Africa and the Nile flood. | 66 | 86 | 1,905 | 76 | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character | Captain H. G. Lyons|Sir W. E. Garstin, G. C. M. G.|Dr. W. N. Shaw, F. R. S. | article | 6.0.4 | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1905.0005 | en | rspa | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 18 | 308 | 10,079 | http://corpora.clarin-d.uni-saarland.de/surprisal/6.0.3/?id=rspa_1905_0005 | 10.1098/rspa.1905.0005 | null | null | null | Meteorology | 51.203697 | Geography | 22.031809 | Meteorology | [
38.49224090576172,
12.977192878723145
] | 66 On the Relation between Variations of Atmospheric Pressure in North-East Africa and the Nile Flood .
By Captain H. G. Lyons , Director-General Survey Department of Egypt .
( Communicated by Dr. W. N. Shaw , F.R.S. , by permission of Sir W. E. Garstin , G.C.M.G. , Adviser , Public Works Ministry .
Received December 17 , 1904 , \#151 ; Read February 2 , 1905 .
) [ Plate 1 .
] Introductory.\#151 ; The relation of pressure variations to precipitation and the similarity of such variations over wide areas have been studied by several investigators .
' In presenting the evidence of variation of climate* Bruckner has shown that in every period of greater rainfall there is a reduction of the differences of atmospheric pressure between stations , while in every dry period there is an increase , and these variations occur both in the differences of pressure between one station and another , and between different seasons .
Sir N. Lockyer and Dr. W. J. Lockyer have discussed periodic variations of pressure in a series of communications to the Royal Society , !
wherein they point out that these variations of pressure over the Indian Ocean and neighbouring regions are inverse in character to those which occur in the American area , while certain other regions are intermediate in type .
Dr. F. H. Bigelow has recently dealt with !
the synchronism of the variations of the solar prominences with terrestial atmospheric pressures , and concludes that " the phenomenon of inversion prevails in the earth 's atmosphere , localizing the effect of solar action in two typical curves which are the inverse of one another .
" The distribution of his direct , indirect , and indifferent types agrees closely with that published by Sir N. LockyerS in his paper " On the Behaviour of the Short-Period Atmospheric Pressure Variation over the Earth 's Surface .
" In 1895 , Sir J. Eliot published|| a preliminary discussion of oscillatory changes of pressure in India , and showed thatlT well marked oscillations , having a period of more than a year , occur over the Indian area , and are * * Klimaschwankungen/ Vienna , 1890 , p. 218 .
f " On some Phenomena which suggest a Short Period of Solar and Meteorological Changes , " 'Roy .
Soc. Proc./ vol. 70 , p. 501 .
X ' Monthly Weather Review , ' November , 1903 , p. 509 .
S ' Roy .
Soc. Proc./ vol. 73 , p. 457 , 1904 .
|| 4 Indian Meteorological Memoirs/ vol. 6 , Part II .
% Loc .
cit\#187 ; 9 p. 117 .
Atmospheric Pressure and the Nile Flood .
directly related to the character and distribution of precipitation over the Indian monsun area , and to the great atmospheric movements over India .
Recently , Professor J. Hann has studied* the relation between the variations of pressure in Iceland and the weather conditions in north-western Europe .
Object of the Present Paper.\#151 ; The object of the present paper is to show that similar pressure anomalies stand in close relation to the excess or deficit of the monsun rainfall of Abyssinia , and consequently to the Nile flood , which is the direct result of the Abyssinian rainfall .
Until recently , the problem has been complicated by the assumption , based on the discharge measurements of Linant de Bellefonds and others , that the volume which the White Nile contributed to the flood was not very greatly inferior to that furnished by the Blue Nile , and consequently the rainfall of the basin of the White Nile and its tributaries must be considered .
Now , however , it is known that the volume of the White Nile is held back by the Blue Nile when in flood , and the supply it furnishes is practically negligible until the discharge of the Blue Nile falls below 3000 or 4000 cubic metres per second , that is about October , f It is , therefore , the meteorological conditions on the Abyssinian plateau which determine the rainfall which supplies the whole of the annual flood of the Nile .
A discussion of all available data concerning the Abyssinian rainfall^ shows that the distribution of rain in the different months of the summer is approximately as follows:\#151 ; June .
July .
August .
September .
North of lat. 9 ' N ... .
15 per cent. 30 per cent. 30 per cent. 15 per cent. South of lat. 9 ' N ... .
5 " 30 " 30 " 25 " the remaining 10 per cent , falling in March , April , and May .
As the flood wave caused by rainfall in the basin of the Abai or Blue Nile takes from 25 days in July to 15 days in September to reach Aswan , S we may consider that the meteorological conditions which we have to examine are those of June , July , August , and September , the months of heaviest rainfall on the Abyssinian plateau .
Summer Pressure Anomalies and Flood Conditions.\#151 ; If the yearly variations * " Die Anomalien der Witterung auf Island in dem Zeitraume 1851 bis 1900 und deren Beziehungen zu den gleichzeitigen Witterungs-anomalien in Nordwest-Europa , " ' Sitzungsberichte d. k. Akad .
Wiss .
in Wien , ' 1904 .
t Garstin , ' A Report on the Basin of the Upper Nile , ' Cairo , 1904 ; also Blue-book , ' Egypt , No. 3 , 1904 ; Lyons , ' Geog .
Journ. ' ( not yet printed ) .
+ Lyons , ' The Climatography of the Nile Basin , ' Survey Dept. , Egypt ( in the press ) .
S Lyons , ' Geog .
Journ. ' F 2 Capt. H. G. Lyons .
On Atmospheric Pressure [ Dec. 17 , from the mean of the atmospheric pressure of the summer months .
April to September , are examined ( fig. 1 ) , it will be seen that they exhibit an irregular oscillation which is generally inverse to that of the Nile floods ; years with high atmospheric pressure correspond closely to those of deficient Nile floods , and those of low atmospheric pressure to the high floods , and consequently with heavier rainfall in Abyssinia .
As has been shown by Bruckner , Sir N. Lockyer , Bigelow , and others , such oscillations of pressure are to he traced over very wide areas , high or low pressures occurring at nearly the same time in the observations recorded at distant stations .
The data which are available for an investigation of the pressure conditions occurring over the Nile basin itself are few , since temperature and rainfall have been more often recorded than atmospheric pressure , for which only a few years ' observations in the Nile valley , south of Cairo , and in the Sudan exist as yet ; still the observations which are available at Cairo and Alexandria from 1869 , and Beirut from 1875 , may be utilized to compare the pressure conditions of north-eastern Africa with those of more distant stations .
Taking , now , the summer or low pressure months , April to September , which include the period of rainfall in Abyssinia , the mean value of the barometric pressure is usually above the normal value for these months ( as deduced from the 35 years , 1869 to 1903 ) , when the Nile flood is below the average , and below it when the flood is above the average in this series of years ( fig. 1 ) ; a mean atmospheric pressure for April to September in excess of the normal occurred with twelve low floods as compared with seven high floods , while a deficient mean pressure occurred with fourteen high floods and no low floods .
The agreement is more clearly shown if the curves of the mean pressure anomalies and of the Nile floods ( inverted ) are compared .
It will then be seen that not only do excess pressures and deficient floods , and the converse , occur with considerable frequency , but also that the differences from the normal of the two curves , ; as plotted on fig. 1 , show a marked tendency to move in the same direction , although the amount of excess or deficit for any year in the atmospheric pressure may not bear any definite relation to the magnitude of the flood .
Of 18 years , in which there was an increase in the mean pressure of April to September , there was a decrease in the flood as compared with the previous year in 16 years and in 2 years there was an increase ; in 14 years , in which there was a decrease in the barometric pressure as compared with the previous year , 9 years had an improved flood and 5 years had a worse flood .
Therefore , though there is not an exact agreement between the curve of the mean atmospheric pressure for April to 1904 .
] in North-East Africa and the Nile Flood .
Fig. 1 .
Mean Variation of Atmospheric Pressure from Normal for the Months April-September .
-IO \#151 ; f\#151 ; |6'.AZORESi---- \#151 ; ( PONTE DE'LCaADA)i+I-O 5.ATHEN 4-.ALEXANDR 3 .
ADEN \#163 ; .CAIRO " I.BEIRUT Curve ( inverted ) of Nile Flood .
IQ68 70 70 Capt. H. G. Lyons .
On Atmospheric Pressure [ Dec. 17 , September at Cairo , and the inverted curve of the Nile floods , there is considerable similarity , which is worth further investigation .
The years in which the agreement is wanting , when the mean summer pressure for April to September and the flood are compared , are :\#151 ; Pressure difference from preceding year .
Pressure difference from normal .
Flood difference in volume from previous year.* Flood difference from mean.* 1871 mm. -0'49 mm. .
-0-59 Million cubic metres .
-11,800 + 3,700 + 27,600 -10,700 - 5,320 - 1,500 Million cubic metres .
+ 3,184 + 6,877 +17,434 + 6,709 - 5,855 - 8,661 1872 + 0-44 + 0-29 -0-15 1874 + 0-55 1875 -0-79 -0-24 1886 + 0-05 -0-42 + 0-01 o-oo 1901 If the investigation is carried out over a wider field , and the records of barometric pressure of other and more distant stations are utilised , this general agreement is seen to extend to many of them , also showing that variations from the normal pressure occur nearly simultaneously over very large areas.f The variations from the normal pressure have been plotted on Plate 1 for the stations of Beirut .
Zanzibar .
Bombay .
' Cairo .
Mauritius .
Hong-Kong .
Aden .
Bushire .
Shanghai .
Here the general agreement of the maxima and minima are well shown , as well as many of the minor crests , so that it would appear that the barometric conditions , with which a heavy or deficient rainfall in Abyssinia coincides , are often of very wide extension .
The agreement of the Cairo pressure curve with the inverted flood curve has been discussed ; the Beirut curve has much in common with the Cairo curve but presents some points of interest ; the high pressure in 1877 is well marked , coinciding with the very low Nile of * The volume of the flood is taken as the volume of water passing Aswan between July 1 and October 31 .
t See Lockyer , 'Roy .
Soc. Proe./ vol. 73 , p. 457 ; Bigelow , 'Monthly Weather Review/ November , 1903 ; Bruckner , 4 Klimaschwankungen/ Chap. VI , Vienna , 1890 ; Hann , 4 Sitzungs-berichte d. k. Akad .
d. Wiss .
in Wien/ vol. 110 , III , January , 1904 .
1904 .
] in North-East Africa and the Nile Flood .
that year , as it is in the Bombay and Mauritius curves ; at Cairo the discrepancy between the two curves is apparent rather than real , as the pressure was exceptionally high in July and August .
All the curves mark the low pressure of the summer of 1878 , a year of high and late flood .
In 1879 the pressure was rather higher but agrees with the flood ; 1880 continues in the same direction , as also does 1881 .
In 1882 there are points of peculiar interest to be noted ; at Cairo , Beirut , and to a lesser degree at Bushire , the mean pressure increased , and in Egypt the Nile flood was feebler than in any year since 1877 , these data being thus in agreement ; but in Mauritius , Aden , and Bombay the pressure fell considerably , the Bombay rainfall was in slight deficit , \#151 ; P92 inches , while that for India generally from June to September was 2'1 inches above normal .
In 1883 a marked improvement in the flood took place , with a very slight decrease of pressure at Cairo , Beirut , Aden , and rather more at Bushire , but at Bombay it rose .
In these two years then Indian and Egyptian pressures and rainfall conditions were not in agreement .
In 1884 again the mean pressure increased at most stations and the Nile flood was bad ; in 1885 the mean pressure fell at Cairo , Beirut and Aden , it rose at Bushire and Bombay the Nile flood was slightly above the average again , while in Bombay rainfall was 31 inches below the average ; 1886 shows rather higher pressures at Cairo and Beirut , while the flood was poorer , but Aden , Bushire , and Bombay had lower pressures , and at Bombay there was a large excess of rainfall ; in 1887 the conditions were reversed except that in spite of increased pressure Bombay had an excess of rainfall , but the noticeable point is that in these two years again , as in 1882 and 1883 , Egypt and Western India are at variance .
In 1888 , 1889 , and 1890 all the curves agree except Aden in the latter year , and the very low flood of 1888 followed by higher ones of 1889 and 1890 are paralleled by the failure of rainfall at Bombay in the first year , and the greatly reduced deficits of the next two years .
Until 1894 the curves show satisfactory agreement , but in that year Aden and Bushire contradict the others ; in 1895 agreement is again general , but in 1896 , 1897 , and 1898 the variations of the flood are not well indicated in the Cairo and Beirut curves , and in 1897 Zanzibar alone shows an increased mean pressure .
Pressure Anomalies in the Mediterranean.\#151 ; In the Mediterranean area the pressure anomalies in summer are generally of the same character as those of Cairo and Beirut , as is shown by the curves of Athens and Palermo , but those ot the Azores ( Ponte Degada ) and Lisbon are usually inverse .
It is instructive to notice that in the years 1871 , 1874 , 1881 , and 1882 , the Egyptian pressures differ markedly from those of Bombay and India Capt. H. G. Lyons .
On Atmospheric Pressure [ Dec. 17 , generally , but they agree closely with those of the Azores ( see fig. 1 ) , that is with the indirect or Cordoba type of pressure variation , which seems in these years to have extended across northern Africa to Cairo .
In 1874 the flood was a very high one , which would not have been anticipated from the high pressure at Cairo , although the pressure fell much in July ; possibly conditions to the southward were more favourable than the Mediterranean stations indicate , but no observations are available to bear this out .
We find then that Egypt and Abyssinia in their pressure anomalies in the summer months usually agree with the Indian or direct type of pressure , but occasionally revert for a year or two to the opposite type .
Monthly Pressure Anomalies.\#151 ; So far then , there appears to be considerable probability that the variations of the rainfall in Abyssinia are connected with the variations of barometric pressure from year to year in north-eastern Africa in the summer months , that is from April to September ; but it must be remembered that in taking the mean pressure for the six months , April to September , the first two months are unimportant , since practically no rain then falls which appreciably affects the flood , and meteorological conditions in these months may be highly favourable or unfavourable to precipitation without any material effect being produced on the Nile flood , though the mean pressure for the six months is affected by them .
It may be to this and to the fact that two or three stations only can furnish observations which are of use in this discussion , that the discrepancies which have been pointed out are due .
When the monthly pressure anomalies at Cairo , Alexandria and Beirut are compared with the monthly excess or defect of the Nile flood as recorded on the Aswan gauge , a closer agreement is found to exist .
Sir J. Eliot , E.RS .
, * points out that periodic changes of pressure in India are far smaller in amount than the annual and daily range , take place more gradually , and from their small magnitude accurate and long-continued series of observations are necessary for their discussion .
Their importance is not , however , to be measured by their size ; Sir J. Eliot is of opinion that in India they are due to the seasonal mass transfer of air across the equatorial belt between Southern Asia and the Indian Ocean and , as a consequence of this , " they are directly related to the largest and most important features of the weather in India , viz. , the character and distribution of the precipitation of rain and snow in the Indian monsun area.f It will hardly be remarkable if a somewhat similar oscillation be found to exist in the north-eastern part of Africa , and * ' Indian Meteorological Memoirs , ' vol. 6 , Part II , Calcutta , 1895 .
f Ibid. , p. 117 .
1904 .
] in North-East Africa and the Nile Flood .
73 we may expect it similarly to affect the African monsun rainfall in Abyssinia and the Sudan .
To examine this the " smoothed " values of the differences of mean atmospheric pressure of each month from the normal for Abbassia Observatory , Cairo , have been used .
The smoothed values are obtained in the same way as in the Indian Meteorological Memoir already quoted , that is , the smoothed values for any month is the arithmetical mean between the actual values for that month , the preceding and succeeding months .
The same has also been done for Beirut , Aden , Zanzibar and Mauritius , and for India , for which the figures have been taken from Sir J. Eliot 's Memoir .
These smoothed values have been plotted on Plate 1 to a scale of 5 mm. to 1 mm. of variation of pressure from the normal , so that the correspondence between the various stations at the same season can be followed .
In the Indian Memoir , ( Vol. 6 , pt .
II ) freehand curves have been drawn through the Indian curves ; this could easily be done for the Zanzibar curve , but those of Beirut and Cairo are too irregular for a satisfactory curve to be drawn , though traces of oscillations similar to the Zanzibar curve can be traced here and there in them .
In studying these curves , and especially those of Beirut , Cairo , and Aden , we must remember that it is with the effect of the pressure variation during June , July , August , and September that we are principally concerned .
This leads to another point ; since the rainfall which affects the Nile flood is strictly limited to the Abyssinian area , high and low pressures may occur in the winter months without having any effect on the subject under consideration , the Nile flood .
This is the reason that if the mean pressures at Cairo for October to March or even January to April are examined , they show no relation to the variations of the Nile flood ( fig. 2 ) .
Flood Conditions.\#151 ; The agreement between the barometric curve for Cairo and the variation of the Abyssinian rainfall and the Nile flood , cannot conveniently be shown graphically when the monthly pressure variations are considered , because the discharge of the Nile in different months depends on different factors .
After October the Blue Nile supplies a steadily decreasing amount , until in May its discharge at Khartoum may almost cease ; the Sobat is at its maximum in November and decreases until it , too , supplies hardly anything in April in allow year ; the combined discharge of the Bahr-el-Zaraf , Bahr-el-Jebel and Bahr-el-Ghazal is always a practically constant amount for the purpose of the present discussion .
Although , therefore , pressure conditions might be such in November as to favour a heavy rainfall , and even though this might fall at the equatorial lakes , the Nile discharge would no more be Capt. H. G. Lyons .
On Atmospheric Pressure [ Dec. 17 , Fig. 2 .
Mean Variation of Atmospheric Pressure from Normal at Cairo .
8 oo 'APRIL JANU m.m +1-0 MARC OCT OB +1*0 \#151 ; IO Curve ( inverted ) of ' Nile Flood .
-20 + 10 80 2 \ 4 influenced by it than by conditions of excessive drought at a similar time .
In short , conditions favourable or unfavourable to precipitation will affect the Nile flood supply in some such way as the following:\#151 ; April and May : Advance or retard commencement of flood ; June , July , 1904 .
] in North-East Africa and the Nile Flood .
August : Increase or decrease flood ; September , October : Delay or accelerate the fall of the flood .
In other months they will have no effect on the Nile supply , since no rain is falling within the effective basin.* The low-stage supply is due to the combined effect of the July to August rainfall , and to the September to October later rains ; a heavy rainy season ceasing usually in September , and a moderate rainy season , followed by prolonged September to October rains , may both furnish a good low-stage supply drawn from the stored ground-water and the springs of Abyssinia .
Since the pressure changes are practically simultaneous over wide areas , their effect on the river gauge readings will take place in the flood two to four weeks later at Aswan , according to the distance that the water has to flow , from where the rain was falling to the point of observation , and also on the velocity of the current , while at low stage the discharge is the result of the meteorological conditions in Abyssinia several months earlier .
Since , therefore , the pressure curves and river gauge curves cannot be directly compared , Table I , which gives the mean difference of each month 's gauge readings from the 32 years ' mean of the readings of the Aswan gauge , will be used to show the effect of the rainfall on the river 's discharge .
Comparison of Monthly Pressure Anomalies with Excess or Deficiency of Flood.\#151 ; A comparison of these differences with the pressure anomalies on fig. 1 , will serve to show the remarkably close connection which there is in most years between the variations of pressure from the normal at Beirut , Cairo and Aden , and the rainfall of Abyssinia , as represented by the gauge readings at Aswan .
In one or two cases even a brief change of pressure for a month appears to be reproduced in the gauge readings , as a consequence of the increased or decreased rainfall , but though no special stress should be laid on these minor agreements , it is certainly remarkable to see how closely the two phenomena of pressure and rainfall agree in most years .
The following table ( No. I ) gives the monthly mean difference of the Aswan gauge readings from the mean readings of 1872 to 1901 , and though these differences do not furnish as accurate a means of comparison as the volume of water discharged in each month would do , still they will not introduce any great error .
In Table II the pressure anomalies for June to September are compared with the flood for the year by means of its ratio * Strictly speaking , Wadelai on the Bahr-el-Jebel ( lat. 3 ' N. ) , which has November rains , would be within the effective basin , since there is a direct waterway from this point to the lower reaches of the Nile , but as the discharge at the mouth of this river , where it joins the White Nile , only varies between 250 and 350 cubic metres per second throughout the year , this rainfall has no seasonal effect on the Aswan discharges .
76 Capt. H. G. Lyons .
On Atmospheric Pressure [ Dec. 17 , to a mean flood .
This ratio has been obtained by comparing the volume discharged at Aswan between July 1 and October 31 in each year .
The nine years which disagree may now be examined more in detail .
In 1874 , pressure at Cairo was much above the normal in March , April , and May , after which it fell rapidly till the end of the year ; the flood at Aswan was in considerable excess from the middle of June onwards .
In 1876 , though Cairo pressure was above the normal , that of Beirut and Alexandria was below it .
Table I.\#151 ; Mean Difference of Gauge Leadings at Aswan in Centimetres from the Mean Gauge Leadings of 1872 to 1901 .
Year .
J uly .
Aug. Sept. Oct. !
Year .
| July .
Aug. Sept. Oct. 1869 + 46* + 39 + 61 + 115 1887 + 79 + 122 + 77 + 14 1870 + 71 + 108 + 53 + 95 1888 - 82 - 74 \#151 ; 106 -146 1871 + 32 + 57 + 22 + 1 1889 - 61 + 14 + 23 + 4 1872 + 88 + 42 + 34 + 78 1890 - 13 + 74 + 46 + 80 1873 + 18 - 58 - 48 - 54 1891 - 5 + 6 + 15 + 48 1874 + 76 + 124 + 94 + 83 1892 - 30 + 40 + 99 + 121 1875 + 13 + 58 + 36 + 64 1893 - 54 + 20 \#151 ; 22 + 51 1876 + 93 + 42 + 63 + 11 1894 + 65 + 72 + 68 + 131 1877 + 47 - 107 \#151 ; 154 - 122 1895 + 62 + 144 + 41 + 1 1878 - 24 + 10 + 95 + 182 1896 + 38 + 2 + 53 + 29 1879 + 168 + 72 + 44 + 42 1897 + 2 - 56 - 16 - 26 1880 + 122 + 27 \#151 ; 24 - 18 1898 \#151 ; 47 + 42 + 42 + 55 1881 \#151 ; 44 - 78 + 28 + 2 1899 - 52 -144 - 152 -194 1882 - 92 - 80 - 34 - 45 1900 \#151 ; 105 - 17 - 55 - 41 1883 + 43 + 55 + 22 - 3 1901 \#151 ; 30 - 16 - 23 - 105 1884 - 45 - 75 - 62 - 10 1902 - 120 -249 - 127 - 79 1885 + 78 + 66 \#151 ; 28 - 39 1903 \#151 ; 49 -118 - 18 + 10 1886 \#151 ; 38 12 \#151 ; 2 41 In 1883 , pressure was above the normal until October , the maximum being in July ; the flood was in moderate excess July to September , with a considerabe excess July 25 to August 10 ; October in moderate defect .
In 1888 , pressure at Cairo was below normal till August , then above it ; Beirut was below normal , but rising ; at Aden it was high in September .
The flood of July and August was in considerable defect , and after September 15 in large defect .
In 1891 pressure at Cairo was below normal April to June , and above it July to September ; pressure at Aden fell steadily after July .
The flood was # Ten days only .
1904 .
] in North-East Africa and the Nile Flood .
in good excess June 10 to July 5 , moderate defect July 15 to August 10 , normal July 20 to September 30 , moderate excess in October .
In 1893 , pressure at Cairo was high in March , April , and May , after which it fell to slightly below normal ; at Beirut July was above normal , after which pressure fell ; at Aden pressure rose in August .
The flood was in defect in June and July ; in fair to good excess in August ; in moderate defect in September .
In 1895 pressure at Cairo was high in April to June , after which it fell Table II.\#151 ; Comparison of Pressure Anomalies , June to September , at Cairo , with the Ratios of the Nile Floods to a Mean Flood .
Year .
Ratio to mean flood .
Pressure anomaly.* Year .
Ratio to mean flood .
Pressure anomaly.* 1869 1*18 mm. -0-67 1887 !
1 * 19 mm. -0-47 1870 1*23 -0-12 1888 | 0-72 -0-06t 1871 1-05 -0-49 1889 1-00 -0-45 1872 1-11 -0-49 1890 1-12 -0-28 1873 0-84 + 0-43 + 0'36f 1891 1-01 + 0-421 -0-52 1874 1-26 1892 1-20 1875 1-10 -0-14 1893 0-99 -0-22f 1876 1-09 1 +0-161 + 0-91 1894 1-22 -0-38 1877 0-70 1895 1-15 + 0-33f 1878 .
1-25 -0-86 1896 1-06 + 0-09f 1879 114 -1-15 1897 0-89 + 0-06 1880 i 0-98 + 0-11 1898 1-07 -0-005 1881 0-93 + 0-11 1899 0-63 + 0-54 1882 0-84 + 0-60 1900 0-89 + 0-30 1883 1-04 + 0-391 1901 0-87 -0-09f 1884 0-83 + 0-95 1902 0-63 + 0-11 1885 0-99 + 0-02 1903 0-89 + 0-30 1886 0-91 !
+0-17 steadily , being normal in August ; at Aden it was low after J un .
The flood was in good excess June to September , and in large excess August 1 to 25 .
In 1896 , pressure at Cairo was high June to August , and low in September ; at Aden generally low but above normal in August .
The flood was in small excess in June , moderate excess in July , considerable defect in August , and good excess in September .
* Mean of the mean anomalies of the months June , July , August , September .
t Years in apparent disagreement from the rule that \#151 ; anomalies coincide with floods above the average , and + anomalies with floods below the average .
78 Capt. H. G. Lyons .
On Atmospheric Pressure [ Dec. 17 , In 1901 , pressure at Cairo was high till May , then fell to just below normal ; Aden and Zanzibar were above normal .
The flood was in moderate defect until the end of September , except for a moderate excess from August 15 to 31 ; in October there was a large defect .
Out of these nine years then , 1883 and 1895 floods alone are in disagreement , while those of 1874 and 1896 are in fair agreement only , though it should be said that the years of 1888 and 1902 were not so remarkable for conditions of high pressure as the deficiency of rainfall would have led one to expect .
Percentage of Agreement.\#151 ; Still we may say that 30 out of the 35 years , or 86 per cent. , show a good agreement of \#151 ; anomalies of pressure with excess of rainfall and + anomalies with a deficiency , which is sufficiently satisfactory to encourage further study ; it at all events furnishes a working hypothesis which may be used to estimate the probability of a year 's flood being much below or above the normal , and as knowledge advances a closer estimate may perhaps be formed .
Extent of Agreement with the South-west Monsun of India.\#151 ; As the Abyssinian rains are due to the monsun of Eastern Africa , which in the summer months crosses the equator and extends as southerly and southwesterly moisture-laden winds as far as Khartoum ( lat. 15 ' 40 ' N. ) , and even to Suakin ( lat. 19 ' N. ) , it is not surprising that there should often be considerable similarity between the Abyssinian rainfall and the south-west monsun of India .
The relation is not , however , so close as Sir W. Willcocks* and Sir John Eliotf have maintained ; years of famine or excessive rain in India usually coincide with low or high Nile floods as might be expected , since conditions unfavourable or favourable to precipitation will be strongly marked and consequently wide in their influence , !
but if the series of years , 1875 to 1903 , is taken , 9 yearsS out of 27 are in disagreement , as may be seen from the following table .
If the Bombay rainfall is taken , the result is even less satisfactory .
Therefore , in basing anticipations of the Nile flood solely on the prospects of the Indian south-west monsun , it would seem likely that as many times as 1 in 3 they would not be fulfilled , a very much lower proportion than the 1 in 7 , derived from the barometric anomalies of Beirut , Cairo , and Aden .
Low Stage of Nile.\#151 ; Besides the heavy rains of July and August which # A paper read before Meteor .
Congress , Chicago .
f * Nature/ August 23 , 1900 , p. 392 .
X Lyons , 'G-eog .
Journ. ' S I.e. , 1876 , 1881 , 1882 , 1883 , 1884 , 1886 , 1891 , 1896 .
1904 .
] in North-East Africa and the Nile Flood .
Table III .
Year .
Ratio of Nile flood to mean flood .
Indian rainfall.* Year variation from normal .
Bombay rainfall . !
Variation from normal .
April to September .
Year .
June to Sept. in .
in .
in .
1875 Ill + 2-38 ?
+ 13-08 1876 1-10 -4-49 -3-4 -21-00 1877 0-71 -4-28 -9-3 + 1-40 1878 1-25 + 6-34 + 2-9 + 41-71 1879 1-15 + 1-69 + 2-7 - 9-64 1880 0-99 -1-56 -2-6 - 3-10 1881 0-64 + 0-10 + 2-4 + 1-99 1882 0-65 + 2-64 + 2-1 - 1-92 1.883 1-05 -0-12 -1-7 + 19-05 1884 0-84 + 1-73 + 2-5 + 3-26 1885 1-00 + 1-05 + 0-8 - 310 1886 0-92 + 3-02 + 1-4 + 28-72 1887 1-21 + 2-42 + 0-1 + 23-76 1888 0-72 -1-54 + 0-6 -15-16 1889 1-00 + 2-41 + 3-3 - 3-26 1890 1-13 + 0-68 + 1-3 - 5-97 June to Dec. 1891 1-02 -3-54 -4-25 + 5-94 1892 1-21 + 5-09 + 5-69 + 24-10 1893 1-00 + 9-07 + 4-72 - 413 1894 1-23 + 6-47 + 6-75 - 4-46 1895 1*16 -2*90 -1-95 - 3-49 1896 1-08 -4-83 -3'59 + 16-63 1897 0-90 -0-15 -0-02 + 10-51 1898 1-07 + 0-43 + 0-93 + 2-91 1899 0-63 -11-14 -11-34 -36-68 1900 0-90 -0-57 -0-26 - 1-87 1901 0-88 -4-13 -5-12 1902 0*64 -2-05 -1-64 1903 0-89 principally supply the Nile flood , the meteorological phenomena may also indicate conditions favourable or unfavourable to precipitation at the time of the later autumn rains of September and October which affect the low stage or summer supply of the river .
* Eliot , 1875 to 1896 , see * Nature , ' June 3,1897 , p. 110 ; 1897 to 1902 , see 1 Nature , ' August 25 , 1904 , p. 403 .
t c Indian Meteorological Memoirs .
' 80 Capt. H. G. Lyons .
On Atmospheric Pressure [ Dec. 17 , The connection is not so simple as in the case of the flood , for the effect of heavy autumn rains may be counteracted by the effects of a very deficient rainfall of earlier months , while an unusually copious rainfall will give a good low stage supply , even though the autumn rains have been feeble .
In Table IV the pressure anomalies for September and October are compared with the mean excess or defect of the March to May gauge readings at Aswan of the following year .
From this it is seen that out of 34 years a negative value of the mean of the anomalies for September and October was followed by a low stage above the average , and a positive value by one below the average in seventeen cases .
If now we take the excessively high floods of 1870 and 1878 , when the summer rains were sufficiently heavy to mask any effect of the positive pressure anomalies in the autumn , and also the very low floods of 1873 , 1877 , 1888 , 1901 and 1902 , when deficient summer rainfall outweighed the precipitation which we may assume accompanied the small negative pressure anomalies of the autumn , the cases which agree with what might be expected are 24 out of 34 , or 71 per cent. ; of the 11 discrepant years , 1871 and 1891 , which were followed by a deficient low-stage supply , and 1883 , which was followed by a favourable low stage , had respectively + and \#151 ; pressure anomalies in September , which month would naturally be more effective in rainfall than October .
This agreement is as good a one as can be expected where so many causes are at work , and where no data from the immediate neighbourhood are available .
It should be mentioned here that the true distribution of pressure in Egypt and the Sudan is very different from that usually shown in meteorological atlases.* In April and May the principal feature is a low-pressure area which lies over Abyssinia and the Eastern Sudan , and to which the early rains ( Azmera ) of Abyssinia are due ; by June it has joined the trough of low pressure which extends across Beluchistan in a south-westerly direction , and a gradient exists everywhere from the Nile Valley towards the neighbourhood of Muskat and Bushire .
In July this gradient is steepest ; in August it is somewhat reduced by a slight rise of pressure in the Persian Gulf , and is very considerably reduced in September .
Thus instead of a continuous trough of low pressure extending from Central Asia into the central part of North Africa , there is a marked gradientf eastwards * This distribution of pressure is discussed in a Report on the Climatography of the Nile Basin which will be published shortly .
f Five millimetres in about 8 ' of longitude between Dueim , lat. 14 ' N. on the White Nile , and the Red Sea in July .
in North-East Africa and the Nile Flood .
Table IV .
Year .
Pressure variation .
Flood ratio to mean flood .
Mean difference from mean gauge readings at Aswan , of March , April , May , next year .
September .
October .
Mean .
mm. mm. mm. cm .
1869 -1*16 + 0-75 -0-20 1*18 \#151 ; 1870 + 0-04 + 0-15 + 0-10 1*23 + 39 1871 + 0-34 -0-65 -0-16 1-05 - 52 1872 + 0-34 + 0*15 + 0-25 1-11 - 2 1873 -0-36 + 0-05 -0-16 0-84 - 79 1874 + 0*44 + 0*35 + 0-40 1*26 - 4 1875 + 0-84 -3-05 -1*10 1*10 + 39 1876 + 0-34 + 0-45 + 0-40 1-09 - 4 1877 -0-26 -0-45 -0-36 0-70 - 74 1878 -0-38 + 0-47 + 0-05 1-24 + 177 1879 -1*11 + 0-52 -0-28 1*14 + 110 1880 + 0-14 + 0-27 + 0-20 0-98 - 6 1881 ... ... -0-03 + 0-06 + 0-02 0-93 - 35 1882 + 0-38 + 0-37 + 0-38 0-84 + 20 1883 -0-45 + 0-68 + 0-12 1-04 + 58 1884 + 0-98 + 0*68 + 0-83 0-83 - 25 1885 + 0-08 + 0-19 + 0-14 0-99 - 26 1886 -0-11 -0-52 -0-32 0-91 - 21 1887 -0-21 -0-58 -0-40 1-19 - 10 1888 + 0-42 -0-45 -0*02 0-72 - 82 1889 -0-28 + 0-25 -0-02 1-00 - 67 1890 + 1-44 + 0-97 + 1-20 1 .
12 - 32 1891 + 0-68 -0-77 -0-04 1-01 - 48 1892 -0-80 -0-61 -0-70 1-20 + 123 1893 -0-68 -0-25 -0-46 0-99 - 15 1894 -0-40 + 0*27 -0-06 1-22 + 104 1895 + 0-92 -0-87 + 0-02 1-15 + 58 1896 -0-54 -0-02 -0-28 1-06 + 66 1897 -0-17 + 0-92 + 0*38 0-89 - 25 1898 -0-17 -1*30 -0-74 1-07 - 129 1899 + 0-11 + 0*31 + 0-21 0-63 + 72 1900 + 0-69 + 0-28 + 0-48 0-89 - 61 1901 -0-07 -0-18 -0-12 0-87 - 76 1902 -0-39 + 0-30 -0-05 0-63 - 85 from about the line of the Nile Valley .
Here the isobars run from N..N.W .
to S.S.E. as far as about lat. 10 ' N. , when they turn E.S.E. The last few years have shown that the rainfall on the Bahr-el-Jebel , lat. 2 ' N. to lat. 7 ' N. , may differ entirely from that of Abyssinia in its VOL. LXXVI.\#151 ; A. q 82 Capt. H. G. Lyons .
On Atmospheric Pressure [ Dec. 17 , character , but the causes of this are still unknown .
In 1878 and 1879 the rainfall was exceptionally heavy in both areas ; in 1899 it was extremely deficient in both ; on the other hand , while 1902 and 1903 were years of very deficient and slightly deficient rainfall in Abyssinia , the fall in the districts to the north of Lake Albert was very heavy and exceptionally heavy respectively .
Possibility of Flood Prediction.\#151 ; The present hypothesis seems to furnish us with a more satisfactory basis for predicting the character of the Nile floods when it is used in conjunction with the indications of the Indian south-west monsun , as they are construed by the Meteorological Department of India , than most of the proposals which have been previously made .
Mahmud Pasha El Falaki , in a paper* read before the Khedivial Geographical Society at Cairo , January 6 , 1882 , suggested that the Nile flood might be predicted by a study of the temperatures and barometric pressures observed at Cairo , and as he was under the impression that the White Nile furnished a considerable part of the flood , he proposed to consider the meteorological conditions in February , March , and April as furnishing -a guide to the probability of an excess or deficit of equatorial rainfall , and those of July as indicating the conditions on the Abyssinian plateau .
Having taken the spring months , he was led to consider that a high temperature and a low pressure coincided with the low flood , and a low temperature and high pressure with a high flood , basing his view on the years 1870 to 1881 .
Ventre Pasha , t in a paper on the hydrology of the Nile , discusses the possibility of predicting the flood , and concludes that the knowledge of the force and direction of the winds in the neighbourhood of Aden and Zanzibar should furnish a basis for satisfactory forecasting .
He refers to some investigators who have endeavoured to trace a connection between the Nile flood and the barometric pressure and temperature at Cairo , but that such a relation is possible he denies , apparently on the ground that the distance between the equatorial lakes and Cairo is over 3500 kilometres , and consequently too great for meteorological phenomena at the two places to have any relation to one another ; but it is with the Abyssinian plateau some 2200 kilometres distant that we have to do , and also variations of barometric pressure are frequently found to occur over as great and even greater areas .
Ventre Pasha also speaks of what he considers to be a law , viz. , that a * 1 Bull .
Soc. Edied .
Geog.,5 February 6 , 1885 , p. 327 .
f 'Bull .
Soc. Khecl .
Geog .
, ' January , 1894 , Cairo .
X 'Bull .
Soc. Geog .
Cairo , ' January , 1894 , p. 41 .
1904 .
] in North-East Africa and Nile Flood .
83 low flood is followed by a low summer supply , but this is only a natural sequence , since a low flood means insufficient rainfall on the Abyssinian area , and consequently the September rains are likely to be also below the average .
Therefore the springs and streams will run low or dry sooner than in wetter years , and the Sobat and Blue Nile , the two variable factors of the summer or low-stage supply , will be furnishing but little .
On the other hand , it will sometimes occur that a season of deficient rainfall may improve towards the end , as was the case in 1903 , when the increased rainfall in the autumn provided a good low-stage supply for 1904 .
It is , therefore , rather on the amount of rain falling at the end of the rainy season in Abyssinia , and its continuance into the autumn months , that a good low-stage supply depends ; the Sobat keeps up the level of the White Nile with the water it brings from the high lands of Kaffa , and the Blue Nile is fed by its tributaries in Gojam and Wallega .
In 1903 , the Blue Nile was discharging nothing at Khartoum on the 8th , 15th , and 23rd of May , after the deficient rainfall of 1902 .
Sir W. Willcocks , * in his paper on the Wadi Kayan , refers incidentally to the prediction of the Nile floods , and considers that good floods coincide with high humidity in June , and with a prevalence of southerly winds in April and May at Cairo ; also that deficient floods are heralded by exceptional dryness in June and few southerly winds in April and May .
In the 33 years\#151 ; 1870 to 1902\#151 ; the mean relative humidity in June is not of any real value as a guide in prediction , since out of 19 years in which the relative humidity in June was above the mean , 9 floods were below the average , and 10 were above it ; and of 13 years in which the humidity was below the mean , 8 floods were above the average , and 5 were below it .
Turning now to the southerly winds , the number of observed winds of which the direction was south of east or west ( from some part , that is , of the southern half of the horizon ) has been taken from the 3-hourly observations at Abbassia ( near Cairo ) .
In 9 years , when the flood was above the average , the southerly winds were above the average m 5 years , and below it in 4 years .
In 7 years having floods below the average the southerly winds were below the average in 4 years and above it in 3 years .
It cannot therefore be said that either the mean relative humidity in J un or the prevalence of southerly winds in April and May are safe guides in predicting the Nile flood ; the proposed relation will be found to hold 19# ^1C *^sw:ln \#174 ; 'eser'tr'i1 ' and Lake Moevis , ' London , 1904 ; and ' Khed .
G-eog .
Soc. , ' January , 84 Capt. H. G. Lyons .
On Atmospheric Pressure [ Dec. 17 , occasionally , as in 1902 , when there were few southerly winds and a large deficiency in the flood , also in 1892 was a high Nile , and the June relative humidity was also high , hut in no sense can they be considered as satisfactory bases for regular prediction .
Sir W.Willcocks does not say what he considers the relation between these phenomena , and the precipitation in Abyssinia to be ; no relation of cause and effect is indicated , nor are they shown to be effects of the same cause .
It seems that the two principal factors to be considered are firstly the strength of the south-east trade winds as they progress from the south to the north of the equator , along the eastern coast of Africa , and secondly , the excess or defect of atmospheric pressure in the area represented by Aden , Cairo , Beirut , and careful study , year by year , of the varying conditions , will be necessary before their effects are properly understood .
The results may be summarised as follows:\#151 ; 1 .
Generally speaking the curve of Nile floods varies inversely as the mean barometric pressure of the summer months , high pressures accompany low floods , and low pressures accompany high floods .
2 .
These pressure variations show a great similarity over wide areas , from Beirut to Mauritius , and from Cairo to Hong-Kong , and are usually of Sir N. Lockyer 's Indian type of curve , or Professor Bigelow 's " direct " type .
3 .
Occasionally , however , pressure at Beirut and Cairo is in disagreement with that of the rest of the area , and then more nearly approaches the " Cordoba " type of Sir N. Lockyer , or the " indirect " type of Professor Bigelow .
This would seem to be a confirmation of other evidence which tends to show that Egypt belongs to the class of Bruckner 's " temporarily exceptional " areas .
4 .
Taking the monthly means of atmospheric pressure , this relation is even more clearly shown , and pressure above or below the normal in months of the rainy season of Abyssinia coincides closely with deficiency or excess of rainfall .
5 .
Taking the 35 years\#151 ; 1869 to 1903\#151 ; in 6 years out of 7 a very fairly accurate prediction of the flood from month to month could have been made .
Conditions in 1904 .
The data which have been utilised extend up to 1902 or 1903 ; 1904 may be examined to see what amount of accuracy would have been arrived at .
In the early summer of the present year it was the general opinion in Egypt that there would be a good Nile flood , and Sir W. Willcocks wrote , * " Egypt has had a very good supply this year ... ... ... .the Atbara and the other rivers are coming down fairly early , so that all anxiety about * ' Egyptian Gazette/ June 11 , 1904 .
1904 .
] in North-East Africa and tlic Nile Flood .
want of water may be dismissed for 12 months " ; yet the flood of 1904 was a low one , and the low-stage supply promises to be exceptionally low .
Looking at the meteorological data , at no time after April was there any evidence that the Abyssinian rainfall was likely to be heavy .
The following Table Y shows that in Northern Egypt and Arabia pressure was in excess in April and May , and in June all stations show the same ; by this time the slight deficiency in the river level at Wadi Haifa* in April and May had disappeared , but the high pressure in June rendered it improbable that the rainfall of that month in Abyssinia , which would affect the Nile at Wadi Haifa in July , would be above the average .
In July , conditions were more favourable , and rains were plentiful , but in August , high pressure again set it , and in Abyssinia rains were very scanty , so that the mean level of the river at Wadi Haifa , was 83 cm .
below the average in September .
In Table VI the mean 10-day readings of Roseires and Khartoum on the Blue Nile , and of Khashm-el-Girba and Berber for the Atbara , are given for 1903 and 1904 .
These show clearly that in June the river was low and rising slowly until the last week of June , when the level rose markedly , and this continued throughout July , until the beginning of August ; then a rapid fall took place as the rains weakened in consequence of the unfavourable high pressure conditions , and as these continued throughout the month , it soon became clear that the flood would be a feeble one .
Table Y.\#151 ; Monthly Pressure Anomalies , 1904 .
Place .
March .
April .
May .
June .
J uly .
Aug. Sept. mm. mm. mm. mm. mm. mm. mm. Beirut -1*00 + 0*30 + 0-50 + 0-33 + 0*73 + 0*66 + 1-06 Alexandria -1 *00 + 0*10 + 1*00 -o-io -0*70 + 0*40 + 0-70 fAden \#151 ; 0 *80 -0*60 -0 -30 + 0*93 -0*23 + 0-50 + 0-88 Zanzibar -0*43 0 -0-35 + 0-66 -0*23 + 0-45 +1 *22 fBusbire -0*70 + 0*10 + 0-80 + 0-35 -0*45 -1 -oo + 0*82 fMuscat -0*35 -0*65 -0-55 + 0-23 -0*58 + 0-23 + 0*70 fKurachi -0*30 -0*93 -0-73 + 0-15 + 0*08 + 0-20 + 1 *80 Mauritius -1 *23 -0*10 + 0-15 + 1-55 + 0*05 !
Difference from mean of 1891 to 1902 in centimetres .
Wadi Haifa Nile -17 -18 -7 0 -42 -83 gauge i | -25 * The Aswan cannot be used , as in these months the reservoir is supplying water , f After April taljen from Daily Weather Reports .
Table VI .
Atmospheric Pressure and the Nile Flood .
s O 03 rH .
00 03 03 3 o o o + + + N05O 03 03 X o o o 1 1 I H 00 ^ ^4 *4 X o o o 1 4- 4- 4 Ci CO P no rH O O rH + 1 1 -0-95 -0 75 -1 -02 Berber .
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O O O \#151 ; i 03 00 I I I H H H ' rH Ol ci rO O \amp ; m With weak summer rains and high pressure conditions in September and the first part of October , no large amount of water can have been stored up in the soil of Abyssinia , so that the springs will run oft ' early , and a very low stage may be expected in 1905 .
|
rspa_1905_0006 | 0950-1207 | On the radio-active minerals. | 88 | 101 | 1,905 | 76 | "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physi(...TRUNCATED) | The Hon. R. J. Strutt|Lord Rayleigh, O. M., F. R. S. | article | 6.0.4 | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1905.0006 | en | rspa | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 13 | 291 | 5,232 | http://corpora.clarin-d.uni-saarland.de/surprisal/6.0.3/?id=rspa_1905_0006 | 10.1098/rspa.1905.0006 | null | null | null | Atomic Physics | 31.064923 | Thermodynamics | 24.813459 | Atomic Physics | [
0.5565857887268066,
-81.0883560180664
] | "]\\gt ; On the -active .\nBy the Hon. B. J. sTIiuTT , Fellow of Trinity College , Cambridge .\nComm(...TRUNCATED) |
rspa_1905_0007 | 0950-1207 | The rate of transmission of the Guatemala earthquake, April 19, 1902. | 102 | 111 | 1,905 | 76 | "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physi(...TRUNCATED) | R. D. Oldham.|Professor John Milne, F. R. S. | article | 6.0.4 | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1905.0007 | en | rspa | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 4 | 186 | 5,037 | http://corpora.clarin-d.uni-saarland.de/surprisal/6.0.3/?id=rspa_1905_0007 | 10.1098/rspa.1905.0007 | null | null | null | Meteorology | 29.426514 | Tables | 17.906164 | Meteorology | [
42.02155303955078,
-7.958930492401123
] | "102 The Bate of Transmission of the Guatemala April 19 , 1902 .\nBy R. D. Oldham .\n( Communicated (...TRUNCATED) |
rspa_1905_0008 | 0950-1207 | A determination of the amounts of neon and helium in atmospheric air. | 111 | 114 | 1,905 | 76 | "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physi(...TRUNCATED) | Sir William Ramsay, K. C. B., F. R. S. | article | 6.0.4 | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1905.0008 | en | rspa | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1 | 72 | 1,998 | http://corpora.clarin-d.uni-saarland.de/surprisal/6.0.3/?id=rspa_1905_0008 | 10.1098/rspa.1905.0008 | null | null | null | Thermodynamics | 83.949142 | Chemistry 1 | 9.447805 | Thermodynamics | [
-2.4979958534240723,
-45.71963119506836
] | "Amounts of Neon and Helium Atmospheric Air .\nIll distance .\nThe easiest explanation would be to a(...TRUNCATED) |
rspa_1905_0009 | 0950-1207 | A new radio-active element, which evolves thorium emanation. Preliminary communication. | 115 | 117 | 1,905 | 76 | "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physi(...TRUNCATED) | O. Hahn, Ph. D.|Sir William Ramsay, K. C. B., F. R. S. | article | 6.0.4 | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1905.0009 | en | rspa | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 2 | 58 | 1,500 | http://corpora.clarin-d.uni-saarland.de/surprisal/6.0.3/?id=rspa_1905_0009 | 10.1098/rspa.1905.0009 | null | null | null | Chemistry 2 | 43.247674 | Atomic Physics | 34.030047 | Chemistry | [
0.8326960206031799,
-78.4195556640625
] | "115 A New Radio-Active Element , which Evolves Thorium Emanation .\nPreliminary Communication .\nBy(...TRUNCATED) |
rspa_1905_0010 | 0950-1207 | On the spectrum of silicon; with a note on the spectrum of fluorine. | 118 | 126 | 1,905 | 76 | "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physi(...TRUNCATED) | Joseph Lunt, B. Sc., F. I. C. |Sir David Gill, K. C. B., F. R. S., H. M. | article | 6.0.4 | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1905.0010 | en | rspa | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 8 | 153 | 4,452 | http://corpora.clarin-d.uni-saarland.de/surprisal/6.0.3/?id=rspa_1905_0010 | 10.1098/rspa.1905.0010 | null | null | null | Atomic Physics | 83.734171 | Thermodynamics | 8.035295 | Atomic Physics | [
18.809511184692383,
-43.4476318359375
] | "118 On the Spectrum of Silicon ; with a Note on the Spectrum Fluorine .\nBy Joseph Lunt , B.Sc. , F(...TRUNCATED) |
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in Dataset Viewer.
Data Card for the Royal Society Corpus (RSC) Version 6.0 Open
General Information
- Dataset Name: Royal Society Corpus (RSC) 6.0 Open
- Repository URL: Royal Society Corpus Access
- Creator(s): Various authors contributing to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
- Maintained by: Saarland University
- Dataset Version: 6.0 Open
- License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Dataset Description
Abstract
The RSC 6.0 encompasses over three centuries of scientific publications from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, ranging from its inception in 1665 to 1920. It includes all types of publications, predominantly in English, capturing the evolution of scientific discourse over time.
Content Description
- Content Type: Text (Journal articles)
- Volume: Approximately 78.6 million tokens
- Languages: Primarily English
- Temporal Coverage: 1665 - 1920
- Fields: Titles, Authors, Publication Dates, Text Bodies, Text Types (e.g., article, abstract)
Data Quality
- Data Source: Digitized texts from the Royal Society of London and other journals, provided by JSTOR in XML format
- Integrity and Processing: Texts have undergone OCR processing with subsequent corrections; further enriched through linguistic annotation
Data Structure and Accessibility
- Access: The dataset is accessible for online search and can be downloaded in various formats including plain text and XML.
- Query Tool: The data can be queried through the CQPweb server hosted by Saarland University after free registration.
Utilization and Citation
- Use Cases: Suitable for historical linguistics, diachronic studies of scientific writing, and training data for natural language processing applications focused on historical text.
- Citation: For publications using the dataset, please cite these papers:
@inproceedings{fischer2020royal,
title={The Royal Society Corpus 6.0: Providing 300+ Years of Scientific Writing for Humanistic Study},
author={Fischer, Stefan and Knappen, J{\"o}rg and Menzel, Katrin and Teich, Elke},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 12th Language Resources and Evaluation Conference},
pages={794--802},
year={2020},
organization={European Language Resources Association},
url={https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/2020.lrec-1.99}
}
@inproceedings{kermes2016royal,
title={The Royal Society Corpus: From Uncharted Data to Corpus},
author={Kermes, Hannah and Degaetano-Ortlieb, Stefania and Khamis, Ashraf and Knappen, J{\"o}rg and Teich, Elke},
booktitle={Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation},
pages={1928--1931},
year={2016},
organization={European Language Resources Association},
url={https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/L16-1305}
}
Additional Information
- Support and Funding: The development of the RSC was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and the CLARIN-D infrastructure.
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