PROCEEDINGS OP THE MEETING. XIX 



in a metaphysical point of view, several of which are very spe- 

 cifically treated of in Mr. Peacock's report. It is much to be 

 desired that nothing may longer postpone the conclusion of a 

 work which cannot fail to reflect honour upon the Association. 



" Were those annual Reports the only fruits of the labours of 

 this Society, there would be no reason to complain. But yet more 

 specific results of its impulsive action on science may be quoted. 

 The questions suggested by the reporters and others, and recom- 

 mended for investigation, have met with ready attention from se- 

 veral individuals capable of satisfactorily treating them. Pro- 

 fessor Airy has himself investigated, from direct observation, the 

 mass of Jupiter, suggested as a desideratum in his report on As- 

 tronomy ; and since the last meeting of the Association, has con- 

 firmed his first results by new observations, which give almost 

 the same mass by the obsei'ved elongations of the satellites, as 

 had been deduced from the perturbations of the small planets 

 by Jupiter. Hourly observations of the Thermometer in the 

 South of England have, in two instances, been commenced ; 

 and we are assured that the same desirable object is about to 

 be attained by the zeal of the Committee in India, where the 

 Association has established a flourishing colony. A series of 

 the best observations for ascertaining the law which regulates 

 the fall of rain at different heights, conducted at the sugges- 

 tion of the Physical Section, by Messrs. Phillips and Gray of 

 York, have been ably discussed by the former gentleman, in 

 last year's report, and have since been continued. A regu- 

 lar system of Auroral observation, extending from the Shet- 

 land Isles to the Land's End, has been established under the 

 superintendence of a special committee, and specimens of the 

 results have been published. Observations on the supposed in- 

 fluence of the Aurora on the Magnetic Needle have likewise 

 been pursued in consequence of this proceeding. The condi- 

 tions of Terrestrial Magnetism in Ireland have been experimen- 

 tally investigated by Professor Lloyd. An important inquiry 

 into the law of Isomorphism has been undertaken by a special 

 committee, which has likewise reported progress ; and an ela- 

 borate synopsis of the whole Fossil Organic Remains found in 

 Britain is in progress, under the hands of Professor Phillips, 

 Many specific inquiries are besides going forward, under parti- 

 cular individuals, to whom they were confided ; whilst it is not 

 to be doubted that numberless persons, many of them perhaps 

 new to the world of science, are at this moment pursuing inves- 

 tigations recommended in general terms, in one or other of the 

 publications of the Society. 



" To others the Association has not scrupled to commit a por- 

 tion of the funds at their disposal, for the purpose of pursuing 



