146 REPORT—1840. 
324. Directions would thus be obtained for prosecuting, under 
the most favourable circumstances, and at the least possible ex~- 
pense of labour, all inquiries as to ocal climate in observatories 
of the second class, and by private individuals. In such ob- 
servatories, observations might be made twice or thrice a-day, 
and some even seldomer. The regular observations at public 
observatories should include the following :— 
Thermometer, barometer and moistened bulb hygrometer, 
at least every second hour. 
Wind may be registered by Whewell’s and Osler’s gauges. 
The state of the sky may be frequently noted. 
Rain by Osler’s gauge; other rain-gauges at three vertical 
stations. 
Temperature of the earth from the szface down to twenty- 
four French feet. The shorter thermometers must be ob- 
served at different hours of the day; the longest once a 
week. 
Temperature of the earth at a considerable depth in caverns, 
wells, or Artesian bores. The thermometers (generally) 
should have their zero verified from time to time (twice a 
year). 
Solar radiation by the actinometer. 
Nocturnal radiation. 
Atmospheric electricity and the aurora borealis, with cor- 
responding magnetic observations. 
Falling stars, especially in August and November. Other 
occasional phenomena, of course, will be recorded. 
Experiments, by means of balloons, on the decrement of 
temperature above the soil. 
325. It would not be too much to expect that the directors 
of the first class of observatories should be capable of forming a 
judgement on the great cosmical questions of meteorology (ad- 
verted to in the section of this report on terrestrial tempera- 
ture,) and of uniting theoretical and practical knowledge to the 
important end of obtaining tangible and useful solutions of 
these great problems. For this purpose, it would be necessary 
not only to institute observations, but experiments; and, by 
the trial of many independent plans, to estimate the confidence 
due to the various methods in so delicate a research. By ascer- 
taining exactly what data may be obtained a posteriori, a definite 
problem may then be given to mathematicians to resolve; and we 
shall then know, and not till then, what investigations are to be 
regarded as merely speculative, and what of any substantive value. 
326. Thirdly.—The laws of phenomena being known by such 
a limited course of elaborate experiment as has been recom- 
