X - EOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



tidal currents are always connected with the direction and force of the wind and defy prediction. 

 While this is true of surface currents, there is reason to suppose that by far the greater part of their 

 irregularities are truly tidal, and their laws may be ascertained by a proper system of observation. 



" All the observations on the tides which had until quite recently been worked up had been taken 

 and reduced by methods which are now recognized as being inadequate to the solution of the problem. 

 It was therefore decided to take observations at a number of points in the Dominion and have them 

 reduced by modern methods. For this purf)0se three self-recording tide-gauges were imported from 

 Scotland, and sites were selected for the erection of these gauges during the season of 1891 by Mr. 

 Carpmael, at the following places, viz. : St. John, N.B., Father Point, P.Q., and South-West Point, 

 Anticosti. It is proposed to keep the self-recording gauges in operation for nineteen years for the 

 purpose of ascertaining the long period tides. At other points similar observations with similar 

 gauges will be necessaiy, extending over a period of three years, while, at the same time, observations 

 for a period of two months will be taken at numerous intermediate stations in order to complete the 

 system. 



" Mr. Carpmael, during the month of October, visited certain points for the purpose of ascertain- 

 ing their suitability for observing stations, and has reported that it would be better to leave the estab- 

 lishment of some ten tide staff stations until the opening of navigation next spring. The expenditure 

 on account of tidal observations, including instruments, salaries of observers at Liscombe and Canso, 

 N.S., and reduction of observations at Halifax, was $1,654.96. Tide-tables for the port of Halifax 

 were distributed in 1890 for the ])ast year, and tide-tables have already been distributed to collectors 

 of customs along the south coast of Nova Scotia for the year 1892, free of charge." 



The interest taken by the Eoyal Society of Canada in the determination of the true Longitude of 

 Montreal will be ascertained by reference to the two last volumes of the ' Transactions of the Eoyal 

 Society of Canada.' The report of the Honourable C. H. Tupper, Minister of Marine and Fisheries for 

 Canada, for the year 1891, gives the following information as to the measures that were taken that 

 year to attain the important objects in view : 



" The Astronomer Eoyal at Greenwich and the authorities at McGill College have been in corres- 

 pondence on the subject through the High Commissioner for Canada. The Board of Visitors to the 

 Eoyal Observatory, Greenwich, passed a resolution stating that it 'is of opinion that the telegraphic 

 determination of longitude is a matter of very great importance, and that necessary instrumental 

 appliances should be obtained in order that the Eoj'al Observatory may efficiently take part in such 

 determination.' The Admiralty accordingly set aside the sum of £350 for the instruments and £300 

 for the operations connected with the work. The sum of $2,000 was also appropriated by the Pai-lia- 

 ment of Canada for the same purposes during the last session. 



"Mr. Hosraer, general manager of the Canadian Pacific Eailway Telegraph Company, has, on 

 behalf of that company, ari'anged for the free use of the cable and telegraph lines for transmission of 

 signals and messages in connection with the work. 



"During the past season Prof C. H. McLeod of McGill College Observatory, Montreal, visited 

 Canso, N.S., the Canadian terminus of the cable, and caused an observing hut to be erected at Hazel 

 Hill. Instruments have been imported, and preliminary tests in transmission of messages were made 

 on the 'Tth and 14th June last between Montreal and Waterville, the terminus of the cable in Ii'eland, 

 and return, a distance of 8,000 miles. The mean time of some one hundred trials was r05 seconds. 

 In the operations of determining the longitude of Montreal it has been recommended by the Astrono- 

 mer Eoyal that one or two English observers cross the Atlantic from England to Canada, and that 

 one or two Canadian observers cross from this side to England. All arrangements are practically 

 completed, and it is expected that observations will be commenced early next spring and continued 

 throughout the summer." 



The following letter from Prof McLeod gives the latest information on the subject : 



