1865.] DAWSON — THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 423 



with the information that at certain heights above the earth our sum- 

 mer showers are represented by drifts of snow. One of the most inter- 

 esting facts in the present year's report, is the almost constant 

 occurrence of south-west wind in the higher regions of the air 

 over England — a fact satisfactorily explaining its warm and moist 

 climate. Another most interesting subject, which occupied much 

 of the time of this section, is the observations now being made by 

 many astronomers on the superficial appearance and physical 

 structure of the sun and other bodies of the solar system. Much 

 attention has been given to those vast and remarkable disturb- 

 ances in the luminous envelope or atmosphere of the sun, known 

 as the solar spots, and it is probable that their laws of occurrence 

 will soon be as well understood as those of the hurricanes and 

 typhoons of our own atmosphere. The exploration of the surface 

 of Mars, by Prof. Phillips and others, I have already referred to ; 

 and an elaborate map of the moon is in progress, in which every 

 ridge and ravine of her scarred surface will be represented in such 

 a way as to enable future observers to decide the question whether 

 any physical changes are now in progress in our satellite. Most 

 remarkable results have been obtained by the application of the 

 method of spectrum analysis, and, among others, the interesting 

 fact that the nebula of Orion, which had been resolved into 

 apparent stars, is, after all, a gaseous mass with brighter spots or 

 nuclei of gaseous matter, a fact tending to revive the evidence for 

 the so-called nebular hypothesis of the formation of the solar 

 system. Luminous meteors or shooting-stars were also the subject 

 of a report, in which it was stated that the average height of these 

 bodies is sixty miles above the earth, that the average number in 

 our atmosphere in a day rises to the astonishing amount of seven 

 and a half millions, and that at any one instant there would be 

 found in the space occupied by the earth and its atmosphere 

 13,000 of such bodies, all of which are supposed, like the greater 

 planetary bodies, to be pursuing orbits of their own. Time would 

 fail even to name the vast number of new facts of industrial 



importance brought before these sections — the Atlantic telegraph 



the improvements in gun cotton — the applications of photography 

 — researches in organic chemistry — new methods of coating iron 

 with copper — machinery for extraction of coal — Bessemer's process 

 for making steel — and the improvements in furnaces, are only a 

 few of these subjects; and, with regard to one of these, it was 

 stated by Sir W. Armstrong that it is not uncommon in ordinary 



