OBITUARY NOTICES.
59
of pounds in rectifying a blunder in the calculation of the water available
from a selected area, the mistake being due to the fact that a rod had been
left projecting over the single gauge which formed the basis of the calculations,
and that the rain dripping from the rod into the gauge was responsible for
the district being credited with an absurdly exaggerated capacity for supplying
water.
The rainfall was not, however, the only branch of meteorology in which
Mr. Symons interested himself. To the kindred subjects of evaporation and
percolation he also devoted his attention so far as they affected the under-
ground stores of water. The use of lightning conductors was another matter
in which he took interest, and, as a member of the Lightning-Rod Committee
of the Royal Meteorological Society, he had much to do with the valuable
report of the Committee which was the product of four years' labours. The
existence of the "thunderbolt" was another subject of Mr. Symon's charac-
teristically persistent attention. Whenever and wherever such a phenomenon
was said to have been seen, Mr. Symons, if it was at all possible, himself
visited the spot and investigated the evidence, with the invariable result that
he could get no proof of an electric meteor having existed.
Throughout the 40 years of his work, Mr. Symons, whenever possible,
adhered to his custom of giving in The Times a summary of his data respecting
the year's rainfall. These observations became especially valuable during
a cycle of dry years, such as 1890-99. He allowed few atmospheric
phenomena of any interest to pass without some useful comment. A remark-
able sunset, an abnormal barometric pressure, or a prolonged drought, were a
few among many such subjects, He was for some years a member of the
Council of the Royal Botanic Society. He also served on the Council of the
Sanitary Institute.
Mr. Symons was a great authority on bibliography. He collected the
titles of all books and pamphlets bearing on meteorology of which he could
gain intelligence, and at the time of his death these titles amounted to about
60,000. In 1882 he furnished about 20,000 to the Chief Signal Office,
Washington, U.S., with a view to their being printed, but this was not fully
carried out. It is to be hoped that this bibliography may come into the
possession of the Meteorological Society.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1878, and was chosen as
Chairman of the Committee appointed by the Society to report upon the
eruption of Krakatoa. In 1899 he was appointed a member of the Committee
in connexion with the scheme for the establishment of a national physical
laboratory at Kew. He was President of the Royal Meteorological Society in
1880, and he filled the office of secretary for many years up to the close of
1899. In view of the approaching commemoration by the Society early in
April next of its 50th year, it sought to honour him by re-electing him Presi-
dent. The attack of paralysis, which intervened between his election and
the subsequent meeting of the Society, prevented him from retaining the
position.
For the last 30 years he has been assisted in the compilation of rainfall
values by Mr. H. Sowerby Wallis, who, it is understood, will carry on the
work according to the wish expressed by Mr. Symons. The Council of the