It consisted of a partial reduction of the thermometrical 

 observations made in the water of the Thames during a period of 

 thirty-five years. The self-recording instruments were attached to 

 ships wliich were anchored in the Thames, nearly opposite Green- 

 wich, and the^ thermometers were read every day at 9 a.m. The 

 following appear to be the legitimate inferences : — 



(1.) The Mean Temperature of the Thames water is higher 

 than that of the Observatory thermometers by 1°"5. But the 

 locality of the Observatory thermometers is about 160ft. above that 

 of the Thames thermometers. It would seem probable, therefore, 

 that the mean temperature of the water is higher than the climatic 

 temperature by only a small fraction of a degree. 



(2.) This difference is not uniform throughout the year. 

 With some irregularities, the greatest excess of Thames temperature 

 occurs in October and the least in February. 



(3.) The mean range of temperature during the day is 2°*1. 



(4.) The material water is very little changed at Green-\vich 

 by the tide. Although a vast body of water rushes up at every flow, 

 running with great speed, and sometimes raising the surface by 

 20ft., yet nearly the same water runs down at ebb, and is again 

 brought up, with all its contents, at the next flow. These ex- 

 pressions are to be taken as modified by the descent of fresh water 

 from the land ; but the amount of that water must be small in 

 comparison with the mass which it joins in the Thames at London. 



(5.) The author did not imagine that the tidal action had 

 any beneficial efi'ect on the climate of London, except that probably 

 the agitation of the water produced mechanical agitation of the air, 

 and thus destroyed injurious stagnation. 



II. — A Lecture was then delivjered on " The Sun, its Origin, 

 History, and Future," by Henry Walker, Esq., F.G.S. 



The Lecturer said that the topic seemed not only novel but 

 audacious ; but we live in the days of the new astronomy, and 

 there is evolution in astronomy as certainly as there is in biology. 

 The new astronomy had its origin in the Spectroscope, and 

 Wollaston, Frauuhofer, and Kirchho£f paved the way for our 

 present conception of the universe. By means of the Spectroscope, 



