178 REAR-ADMIRAL F. W. BEECHEY'S ADDRESS. [May 26, 1856. 



nomer-Royal at Edinburgh, is about to proceed to Teneriffe, to make 

 astronomical observations on the summit of the famed Peak of Teyde. 



The distinguished author of the ' Law of Storms,* Sir William 

 Reid, has published a notice of the motion of winds and storms in 

 the Mediterranean, and drawn a comparison between the gales and 

 forces of the winds of Malta and of Bermuda. The work embodies 

 a memorandum by our valued associate. Captain Graves, k.n., on the 

 advantages which sliipping will derive from pursuing a certain 

 course in the Mediterranean, with respect to prevailing winds at 

 certain seasons of the year. 



I am happy to be able to announce the completion of an important 

 series of observations upon the tidal streams of the seas around our 

 own shores, which have been carried on for several years in a small 

 vessel, which the Admiralty liberally placed at my disposal. These 

 observations are of great importance as regards this particular branch 

 of science, as they satisfactorily establish, in tidal waves of a 

 peculiar character, the existence of a simultaneous turn of stream 

 throughout the wave, notwithstanding the remarkable fact of there 

 being a progressively increasing tidal establishment. This theory 

 was advocated in two papers under my own hand, printed in the 

 * Transactions' of the Royal Society ; and it has now been further 

 confirmed by numerous observations. The result will facilitate and 

 simplify the navigation of our channels, and will aifect much that 

 has been written upon the subject of tides. 



In connection with this branch of physics, I mention a work by 

 Mr. F. A. Keller, an able hydrographical engineer of the French navy, 

 entitled, ' Expos^ du Regime des Courants dans la Manche et la Mer 

 AUemagne.' The author has endeavoured to arrange the results 

 derived from the first series of the observations, published, as before 

 mentioned, in the Philosophical Transactions, in a manner which, he 

 is of opinion, will render them more generally useful to mariners. 



Lieutenant Maury has furnished a pamphlet on ' Lanes for 

 Steamers,' or upon the routes which he would have steamers 

 follow, when passing between England and America, in order to 

 render this much frequented route more safe, by diminishing the 

 chance of collision. In addition to lessening the danger of these 

 passages, Lieutenant Maury points out several other advantages 

 which would attend the adoption of his plan, and gives much useful 

 information on the course of the Gulf Stream, as well as on districts 

 where fogs and gales are most frequent, and the times when they 

 most prevail. 



