METEOROLOGY OF THE SUN AND EARTH. 87 



He has first to obtain with great expenditure of time or money, or 

 both, copies of the individual observations taken at some recognized 

 institution. He has next to reduce these in the way that suits his 

 inquiry ; an operation again consuming time and demanding means. 

 Let us suppose all this to be successfully accomplished, and a valuable 

 result obtained. It is doubtless embodied in the transactions of some 

 society, but it excites little enthusiasm, for it consists of something 

 which cannot be repeated by every one for himself like a new and in- 

 teresting experiment. Yet the position of such men has recently been 

 improved. Several observatories and other institutions now publish 

 their individual observations ; this is done by our Meteorological 

 Office, while Dr. Bergsma, Dr. Neumayer, and Mr. Broun, are recent 

 examples of magneticians who have adopted this plan. The publica- 

 tion of the work of the latter is due to the enlightened patronage of 

 the Rajah of Travancore, w^ho has thus placed himself in front of the 

 princes of India, and given. them an example which it is to be hoped 

 they will follow. But this is only one step in the right direction ; 

 another must consist in subsidizing private meteorologists and mag- 

 neticians in order to enable them to obtain the aid of computers in 

 reducing the observations with which they have been furnished. The 

 man of science would thus be able to devote his knowledge, derived 

 from long study, to the methods by which results and the laws regu- 

 lating them are to be obtained ; he could be the architect and builder 

 of a scientific structure without being forced to waste his energies on 

 the work of a hodman. 



Another hindrance consists in our deficient knowledge as to what 

 observations of value in magnetism and meteorology have already 

 been made. We ought to have an exhaustive catalogue of all that 

 has been done in this respect in our globe, and of the conditions under 

 which the various observations will be accessible to outside inquirers. 

 A catalogue of this kind has been framed by a committee of this Asso- 

 ciation, but it is confined to the dominions of England, and requires 

 to be supplemented by a list of that which has been done abroad. 



A third drawback is the insufficient nature of the present facilities 

 for the invention and improvement of instruments, and for their veri- 

 fication. 



We have, no doubt, advanced greatly in the construction of instru- 

 ments, especially in those which are self-recording. The names of 

 Brooke, Robinson, Welsh, Osier, and Beckley, will occur to us all as 

 improvers of our instruments of observation. Sir W. Thomson has 

 likewise adapted his electrometer to the wants of meteorology. Dr. 

 Roscoe has given us a self-recording actinometer, but a good instru- 

 ment for observing the sun's heat is still a desideratum. It ought 

 likewise to be borne in mind that the standard mercurial thermometer 

 is by no means a perfect instrument. 



In conclusion, it cannot be doubted that a great generalization is 



