aiEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 131 



and £l,750j together with an additional sum of ,f 94. for books sold, 

 making the total income £5,214. The expences and sums due by 

 the 'Association were probably £1,000, leaving a clear property of 

 £4,214. It was gratifying to state that the receipts of the preced- 

 ing year in Edinburgh were £1,626, while in Dublin they amount- 

 ed to £1,750; and also that grants for the advancement of science, 

 to the amount of £1,700, had been this year placed at the disposal 

 of the committee. Of this sura the following was its mode of dis- 

 tribution : — for a duplicate reduction of the astronomical observa- 

 tions made at L'Ecole Militaire, of Paris, £500 ; for determining 

 the constant of lunar notation, £100; for observations on the tem- 

 perature of the tide, £100; for continuing tidal observations at Li- 

 verpool and the port of London, £250 ; for the advancement of me- 

 teorology, £100 ; for the continuation of Professor Wheatstone's 

 experiments, £30 ; for reducing to practice Dr. Jerrard's plan for 

 solving equations of the fifth or higher degrees, £30 ; to Mr. John- 

 ston for completing tables of chemical constants, £20; to Mr. Fair- 

 burn for experiments on the hot and cold blasts for iron works, £30; 

 for prosecuting researches in British fossil ichthyology, £105 ; for 

 researches into the absorbents, £50 ; for examining the sounds of 

 the heart, £50. 



Concluding Evening.- — Dr. Barry gave an account of his ascent 

 to Mount Blanc. He mentioned that 20 persons only had reached 

 the summit of the mountain, and, of these, 1 2 were Englishmen. — 

 Professor Babbage made some remarks on a whirlpool observed at 

 the island of Cephalonia, through which the sea had poured for 40 

 years. He had applied to Lord Nugent, the Governor of Corfu, to 

 know whether he was acquainted with the fact, and that nobleman 

 had given him a statement on the subject, which he would endea- 

 vour to report, although not perhaps with sufficient accuracy, as he 

 omitted to take notes at the time. A hole is seen between two 

 rocks, and an excavated channel conveys the sea water into a pit, 

 100 yards round, and four feet below^ the surface. The sea that 

 enters rushes in with considerable velocity-*— the water rises in the 

 pit through the sluice, to the height of two feet, and is then dis- 

 charged through some means not yet ascertained. Mr. Babbage 

 observed that the waters which disappeared might go into vast hid- 

 den receptacles not yet filled up, or else the volcanic agency supply- 

 ing heat might, as the waters descended into the earth, cause 

 eruptions.;^ — Professor Wheatstone exhibited his speaking machine, 

 and explained the principles on which this ingenious machine is 

 invented. 



The thanks of the Association were then given to the Presidents, 

 &c., to the Public Institutions in Dublin for the accommodation 

 granted to them, to Sir John Tobin, of Liverpool, for the use of a 

 fine steam vessel for the conveyance of Members of the Association 

 to and from Ireland — and the proceedings of the British Associa- 

 tion for 1835 terminated. 



Experience is so much in favour of these meetings, and their 



k2 



