17 
a contrast he showed a picture of a modern observatory, that at 
Greenwich. He then offered some remarks upon the subject of 
winds, and especially with regard to cyclones, the directions of 
which he explained by means of diagrams prepared from charts 
of the tracks of ships. With regard to air pressure he explained 
what an enormous amount of information could be gained from 
a systematic study of barometers in all parts of the country at 
the same time. A great many more barometers were needed, 
and also sunshine recorders, and more confidence in their readings. 
There had been cases in which the readings of sunshine recorders 
at health resorts had shown the number of hours of sunshine in one 
day as an hour longer than the sun could be above the horizon. 
On the question of temperature the lecturer offered some remarks 
in regard to experiments conducted in the upper air by means of 
box kites fitted with various instruments. Coming to the subject 
of the measurement of rain, he described a rain gauge, and spoke 
of the importance of placing such an instrument in the right position, 
on account of the eddies due to houses, hills, or trees, giving some 
humorous stories of the curious results obtained in cases where 
such difficulties were overlooked. He then displayed a number 
of diagrams showing the rainfall in recent years, and suggested 
that the results showed that the heaviest rainfall was always on 
the left-hand side of the track of a cyclone. A popular belief was 
that we always had two dry years and then a wet one, and since 
1889 that had proved to be so; but if they went further back 
than those years they found that no such rule obtained. 
The Society is indebted to the Editor of the Hampstead and 
Highgate Express for assistance in reporting the above meetings. 
$44 
Watural history Section. 
The number of members of this Section and the attendance 
at the meetings are still up to the standard of former years, the 
average attendance being thirty-two, or about one half of our 
members. Of the seven meetings this past year, five have been 
addressed by our members whose names and work are known 
and appreciated. Still, it would have been desirable to have 
heard some members whose names are not so familiar, and whose 
modesty, or perhaps inertia, seems to hold them eternally in the 
background. 
