4 NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



Promotion of Science was held at Liverpool, commencing September 

 20, the Earl of Harrowby in the chair. The meeting at Hull, in 

 1853, was so thinly attended, and exhibited such a lack of interest on 

 the part of the English savans, that the present meeting of the Asso- 

 ciation was looked upon by many as the crisis of its fortunes. Hap- 

 pily they have revived to a degree that promises well for the interests 

 of science. The meeting at Liverpool Avas numerously attended, 

 nearly all the distinguished promoters of science in Great Britain 

 being present, together with a large number of foreigners of reputa- 

 tion. The Committee, in connection with the Royal Society, to whom 

 was referred the plan of Lieut. Maury, of the National Observatory 

 at Washington, for the improvement of navigation, reported that the 

 English Government had established a department in the Board of 

 Trade, with the view of carrying out in every particular the recom- 

 mendations of the Royal Society and this Committee, in reference to 

 this important scheme for improving navigation, and accumulating 

 meteorological data to an extent far surpassing any thing which has 

 hitherto been attempted. The Government have also appointed Capt. 

 Robert Fitzroy, R. N., to be at the head of this new department, 

 which is in itself a guaranty that it will successfully carry out all 

 the important objects for which it has been established. 



Scientific officers of the navy and mercantile marine will now feel 

 assured that the records of their valuable observations and surveys 

 will no longer slumber neglected amidst the dust of offices, but be 

 reduced and rendered available to science and mankind without any 

 unnecessary delay. The sum voted for the new department by the 

 House of Commons for the present year is 3,200/. ; but there can be 

 no doubt that this sum will be augmented in future years, if the ex- 

 pectations that we have been led to form as to the inestimable public 

 benefits likely to flow from the labors of this office shall be realized. 



The " Kew Committee " reported that they had been especially en- 

 gaged in securing accuracy for the various implements of observa- 

 tion the thermometer, barometer, and the standard of weights and 

 measures. At the present time they have intrusted to them, for veri- 

 fication and adjustment, one thousand thermometers and fifty barome- 

 ters for the navy of the United States, as well as five hundred 

 thermometers and sixty barometers for the English Board of Trade, 

 the instruments which are supplied in ordinary commerce being found 

 to be subject to error to an extraordinary degree. 



The thermometer is constructed of enamelled tubing, and the 

 divisions are etched on the stem with fluoric acid ; the figures are 

 stamped on the brass scale at every tenth degree, and each instrument 

 is fitted to a japanned copper case, with a cup surrounding the bulb, and 



