Clifton College Scientific Society. 43 



The President then announced that the Committee had decided 

 to devote Mr Cruttwell's donation to the purchase of a medal, 

 which should be given at Midsummer for the best collection of 

 Natural History objects collected during the present term by any 

 member of the Society. He further stated that, as this arrange- 

 ment might seem to exclude members of the Physical and Chemi- 

 cal sections from the competition, Mr Greene and himself would 

 be happy to offer another medal for the best essay on 'The 

 Spectrum/ 



MEETING, June 9, 1871. 

 The President in the Chair. 



The fourth meeting for the term was held on 9th June. Fifty- 

 two members and visitors were present. 



The following donations to the Museum were acknowledged : — 

 A collection of coins by J. I. Fox, Esq., Cor. Mem. ; the skull of 

 a horse, by Mr Wheeler, Triangle, Clifton ; five ancient axe-heads 

 from Ireland, by M. J. Barrington-Ward, Esq., President. 



The Rev. E. B. Poole, M.A., was declared to have been elected 

 an Honorary Member of the Society. 



J. Allen read the first part of a paper on ' Volcanoes.' When 

 completed this paper will appear in the ' Transactions.' 



P. E. Ogle next read a paper (of which the following is an 

 abstract) on 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 



The author opened his paper by drawing attention to the for- 

 mer universal application of the term ' air' to any gaseous body, 

 and its present restriction to the atmosphere. With regard 

 to its physical constitution, he first noticed the fact of its 

 rotation with the earth, and proceeded to discuss its extent, 

 showing that, in all probability, there is a limit to the 

 atmosphere ' as definite as that of the waters of the ocean' 

 (Miller) ; he then touched briefly upon the fundamental cause 

 of motion in the air ; the atmospheric tides and waves ; the 

 land and sea breezes, &c. Next passing on to the subject of 

 the trade-winds, he considered them more in detail ; this brought 

 under notice the calms, monsoons, simooms, siroccos, tornadoes, 

 typhoons, cyclones, hurricanes, &c., and the subject was closed with 

 an account of the storms of Clifton. He then entered upon a notice 

 of the pressure of the atmosphere, the barometer, and the measure- 



