lviii REPORT—1852. 
covered by the ocean is not only much greater in extent, but is also better 
suited for the solution of several meteorological problems. Many striking 
examples might be adduced to show that it is “systematic direction,” and 
not “individual zeal” in naval men, which has been wanting, and it has been 
therefore with great satisfaction that meteorologists have learnt that a pro- 
position has recently been made from the United States Government to the 
British Government, to undertake, conjointly and in cooperation, a system 
of meteorological observations, to be made -at sea in all ships belonging to 
the naval service of the two countries, and sufficiently simple to be parti- 
cipated in by the merchant service also. In a partial trial which has been 
already made of this system in the United States, it has been found to produce 
results which, exclusive of their scientific bearing, are of great importance to 
the interests of navigation and commerce, in materially shortening passages 
by the knowledge of prevailing winds and currents at particular seasons. 
The practical advantages arising from the coordination of the observa- 
tions in the Hydrographic Office of the United States, and of the circu- 
lation of the charts of the winds and currents, and of the sailing direc- 
tions founded on them, have been such and so appreciated, that there 
are now, as it is stated, more than 1000 masters of American ships en- 
gaged in making them. The request for British cooperation in an uh- 
dertaking so honourable to the country in which it originated, was referred 
in the spring of this year by the Earl of Malmesbury to the President and 
Council of the Royal Society for a Report; from which I permit myself to 
quote the concluding sentence, in the persuasion that it would find an echo, 
if necessary, in every part of the United Kingdom, and that it cannot fail to 
be promptly acted upon by the Government of a country in which 
maritime interests hold so prominent a place :—“To the Government of 
this country the demand for cooperation and for the interchange of obser- 
vations is most earnestly addressed by the Government of the United 
States; and the President and Council of the Royal Society express their 
hope that it will not be addressed in vain. We possess in our ships of war, 
in our packet service, and in our vast commercial navy, better means for 
making such observations, and a greater interest in the results to which they 
lead, than any other nation; for this purpose every ship which is under the 
control of the Admiralty, should be furnished with instruments properly con- 
structed and compared, and with instructions for using them; similar in- 
structions for making and recording observations, as far as their means will 
allow, should be given to every ship that sails, with a request that they will 
transmit the results to the Hydrographer’s Office of the Admiralty, 
where an adequate staff of Officers or others should be provided for their 
prompt examination, and the publication of the improved charts and sailing 
directions to which they would lead; above all, it seems desirable to establish 
a prompt communication with the Hydrographer’s Office of the United States, 

