26 REPORT — 1842. 



by " Rain," that the day has been decidedly wet — " Snow," when any quantity fell — 

 and " Changeable," showery and otherwise unsettled weather. The village of Bedd- 

 sjelert, where the above observations were taken, is situated on the south-west side of 

 the Snowdonian range of mountains, and about twenty yards above high-water mark. 

 The last summer (1841) was unusually wet. 



On the Meteorology of the Northern Atlantic, the South-west Monsoon of 

 India, and places adjacent. By Thomas Hopkins. 

 Mr. Hopkins argued that the common mode of accounting for the trade-winds and 

 other great currents of the atmosphere was not correct. The general theory, he said, was 

 that the action of the sun's rays on the earth at the tropics raised the temperature of the 

 atmosphere ; and that, as the air thus heated became specifically lighter, it naturally 

 ascended ; and, the cold air rushing in to supply its place, a current was produced. He 

 did not mean to deny that such results took place, but he affirmed that the theory in 

 question did not account for the various meteorological phenomena which have been 

 observed, and that there was another cause which accounted for them in a much more 

 satisfactory manner. He then proceeded to show, that the condensation of the air by 

 great mountains, and the consequent precipitation of rain, must not be left out of ac- 

 count in explaining- the monsoons and other periodic winds. 



On a Meteorological Chart. By Thomas Hopkins. 



On the Application of the Law of Definite Proportions to the Stratification 

 of Clouds. By James Nasmyth. 

 Mr. Nasmyth was first led to speculate on this subject by observing the arrange- 

 ment of clouds in fine weather, when, towards the horizon particularly, they may be seen 

 extended in parallel bands or stripes. He conceived that the excess of vapour floating 

 in the atmosphere beyond what the air could combine with, formed clouds ; and that 

 the air, in each electric state, was capable of sustaining a definite proportion of vapour, 

 and consequently that the clouds of one class or description floated (in what might be 

 called a plane of equal electricity) at a uniform distance from the earth. 



On the Changes in the Climate of England. By Henry Fairbairn. 



The author proposes to prove that the low temperature of the summers of Europe 

 is caused by the unusual presence of ice in the Atlantic Ocean. This he states to 

 have been the fact during the four last cold summers, and adds, that the intelligence 

 brought on the subject by steam-ships justified the expectation of the summer of 1842 

 in Europe being also chilled from the same cause in the Atlantic. About half a century 

 since icebergs were a plnenomenon in the Atlantic not visible until the autumn ; now 

 they increase annually in numbers, and appear as early as the month of March. 



Interposed between Great Britain and America, and drifted eastward by the Gulf- 

 stream on the line of the north-west winds which prevail in summer, these moun- 

 tains of ice cool the air which blows from the west at that season, while the easterly 

 winds are warm. 



The augmentation of ice in the Atlantic is referred by the author to the increase of 

 warmth on the North American Continent, consequent on the cutting down of the 

 forests and the extension of civilization. By this means the ice is detached from the 

 circumpolar bays and rivers at an earlier period, and floats further south before being 

 melted than heretofore. 



The President presented to the Section a pamphlet, transmitted for the acceptance 

 of the British Association, from M. Lenz, containing two Essays, one ' On the Resist- 

 ance of the Human Body to Galvanic Currents,' the other ' On the Theory of Magneto- 

 Electric Machines;' also 'A Treatise on Atmospherical Electricity,' by M. Peltier. 



