162' EARL DE GREY'S ADDRESS. [May 28, 18G0. 



in course of publication, and two volumes have already been 

 published. 



Returns of the strength, organization, and equipment of every 

 army in Europe have been compiled from the most authentic 

 sources, and a great quantity of other v^^ork which it would be 

 tedious to detail ; but some idea may be formed of the extent of 

 the work performed in the Topographical Department, from the 

 fact that 190,000 plans were published during the last year. 



The Topographical Department has constantly to furnish officers 

 and men for the surveys of the colonies ; and we observe from the 

 Report that, during last year, Lieut. Bailey and a party of Royal 

 Engineers have been sent to the Cape of Good Hope, and other 

 parties to British Columbia, Belize, and Malta. 



Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade. 



In the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade (and 

 Admiralty), under the guidance of our excellent Medallist, Admiral 

 R. FitzRoy, much has been effected during the last two years by 

 simultaneous observations at many places, in addition to the regis- 

 tration of atmospheric occurrences sedulously carried on at sea and 

 on land in many parts of the world. 



Practically, these extensive observations of facts, occurring in 

 various climates and under a variety of conditions, from arctic or 

 antarctic regions to those of the tropics, have directly tended to 

 prove the uniformity of those laws by which our atmosphere is 

 governed and the differences of climates determined. 



Meteorology, which had been thought a complicated and vague 

 subject, has approached the character of an exact science ; and the 

 tabulated labours of many observers in successive periods of years 

 during the last two centuries have begun to bear fruit in their 

 present usefulness to practical as well as to theoretical students of 

 atmospherical phenomena. 



It is now by no means difficult to estimate the climate of any 

 place of which the geographical position is known. 



The hours of highest and lowest temperature and barometric 

 pressure, the normal height of the mercurial column, and the 

 prevalence of moist air, rain, or drj'ness, much or little cloud, &c., 

 can be predicated ai^proximately for any part of the world, although 

 in that particular place no observations may yet have been made. 



More than this, however, and more directly valuable, is our con- 

 firmed knowledge of the "laws of storms," and our further 



