SESSION 1895-96. xi 



In commeucinp; liis address, Mr. Symons dwelt upon the duties 

 of the Corresponding Societies and the necessity for holding these 

 Conferences. Eacli Society, he said, had a double duty : the duty 

 to humanity of doing its best to interpret triithfuUy the lessons of 

 the world in which we live, so that by increasing knowledge future 

 generations may learn to make better use of its marvellous stores, 

 and perchance repair some of the waste which has gone on in the 

 past and which is still going on ; and the duty of advancing the 

 cause of the various bodies with which they were connected ; for in 

 these days, when a universal genius has become an impossibility, 

 and progress can be effected only by limiting one's work to some 

 corner of the field of science, there was great danger of specialization 

 leading to forgetfulness of generalization, and of what is the end of 

 all research. The necessity for intercommunication in the early 

 years of this century rendered the formation of the British Asso- 

 ciation imperative, and this Conference and the work which it is 

 doing were an equal necessity of the present time. How could 

 workers in any branch of science know all that was being done by 

 local effort without the index to their proceedings? The world 

 was the better for the knowledge gained being rendered generally 

 accessible, and both the British Association and the local societies 

 gained the strength which arises from federation. 



He had already intimated his opinion that if a man wishes to do 

 good work for science he must take some field, or corner of a field, 

 and labour there. He had only a corner — Rainfall — but he 

 thought that he knew enough about some other parts of the field 

 of meteorology to point out spots where good work could be done, 

 and work precisely suitable for the members of their societies. 



He would now take up the syllabus. 



1. Meteorological olservations in general. — The delegates were 

 advised not to encourage the keeping of records from any but good 

 instruments, properly placed. A hard frost occurred, and forthwith 

 there was a crop of wonderful records, some from thermometers 

 badly placed, some from thermometers which never were good, 

 some from good thermometers allowed to go wrong. An incorrect 

 statement was much worse than none at all ; such records as they 

 published should be worthy of their Society. It was by no means 

 necessary to start with an elaborate and costly set of instruments ; 

 but the instruments should be good, and no records except from 

 good and tested instruments properly placed should ever appear in 

 their volumes. The Royal Meteoi'ological Society had published, 

 almost at cost price (Is.), an amply illustrated pamphlet, ' Hints to 

 Observers,' which would show anyone what, and when, and how, 

 observations ought to be made. 



2. Sea and river temperature. — For a few years there was 

 a Committee of the British Association studying river temperature ; 

 and Mr. Symons was sure that if their societies took up the 

 investigation, a fresh committee could be appointed, so that we 

 should not need to go to a German book to learn the details of the 

 temperature of the Thames. The work was easy, healthy, and 



