128 
GENERAL EXCURSIONS: 
STONYHURST OBSERVATORY AND COLLEGE, 
JUNE 181, 1885. 
Director: Rev, A. L. CORTIE. 
This deeply interesting and profitable visit took place on 
Saturday, June 13th, when a large number of ladies and gentle- 
men assembled at four o'clock in front of Stonyhurst College to 
meet the Rev. A. L. Cortie, who had lectured to the club during 
the preceding winter session on ‘‘ Sun-spot Phenomena observed 
at Stonyburst.” The authorities of the College had kindly allowed 
the members the special privilege of visiting that portion 
which is not generally shown to the public, and which was 
intended to illustrate the lucid remarks of Mr. Cortie on the 
occasion referred to, when carefully made drawings of the 
observations were exhibited by the aid of the oxyhydrogen lantern. 
The party were first conducted, under the ciceroneship of their 
leader, to what may be termed the meteorological observatory 
standing in the collegiate grounds on the spurs of Longridge Fell, 
at an elevation of about 360 feet above the level of the sea. The 
day was brilliant in the extreme, and the clearness of the atmo- 
sphere in these Lancashire latitudes exceptional. From the 
terraced walks a magnificent view was obtained of a portion of 
the Ribble, Hodder, and Calder Valleys, with Thievely Heights, 
beyond Burnley, in the distance. On entering the meteorological 
section Mr. Cortie explained an apparatus called the anenometer, 
for measuring the force and velocity of the wind. Piercing the 
roof of the building containing the instrument was a vane-like 
arrangement delicately poised, and which acted on the machinery 
in the room below. At each point of the compass where the 
letters N.S.E. and W. appear on an ordinary vane, gilt hollow 
cups were fixed, and which, collecting the wind, imparted a 
rotatory motion in greater or lesser degree of force according to 
the action of the wind. This mechanical contrivance communi- 
cated with a self-registering apparatus, so that ‘ Nature told its 
own tale,”’ whilst the record was left upon paper on which was a 
lithographed diagram. These diurnal records are carefully com- 
pared, and filed, copies being sent to distant meteorological 
stations ; they constitute a record of great importance and value. 
The most interesting feature of the buillding was that devoted to 
terrestrial magnetism, a peep into which mysterious chamber, 
although at the risk of disturbing the delicate instruments, was 
accorded to the members. Before descending, however, into the 
recesses of this scientific crypt the members had to eliminate 
from pocket and person all metallic substances likely to affect the 
