TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 15 

7 From the observations made to ascertain the diurnal variation of the electricity of 
the air, M. Quetelet deduces the following conclusions :—1st. The electricity of the 
air, estimated always at the same height, undergoes a diurnal variation, which gene- 
rally presents two maxima and two minima. 2ndly. The maximaand minima vary 
according to the different periods of the year. 3rdly. The first maximum occurs, in 
summer, before eight o’clock in the morning, and towards ten o’clock in winter ; the 
second maximum is observed after nine o’clock in the evening in summer, and to- 
wards six o’clock in winter. The interval of time which separates the two maxima 
is therefore more than thirteen hours at the epoch of the summer solstice, and eight 
hours only at the winter solstice. 4thly. The minimum of the day presents itself 
towards three o’clock in the summer, and towards one o’clock in winter. The ob- 
servations were insufficient to establish the progress of the night maximum. 5th. 
The instant which best represents the mean electric state of the day, in the different 
seasons, occurs about eleven o’clock in the morning. 
The indications afforded by Peltier’s electrometer are simpler and more readily in- 
terpreted than atmospheric electrometers of the usual construction. The former is 
affected only by the inductive action of the atmosphere, or rather by the difference 
of the inductive actions of the earth and its superincumbent atmosphere ; however 
the instrument be raised above or depressed below its point of equilibrium, or how- 
ever the inductive action of the atmosphere may change, while it remains in the same 
position it neither receives nor loses any electricity ; its distribution only is changed. 
But if instead of a polished ball the stem be terminated with a point, a bundle of 
points, or a lighted wick, as in Volta’s experiments, to the phenomenon of induc- 
tion there is added another which complicates and sometimes disguises it; the un- 
coerced electricity radiates into space, and though this radiation is greater as the in- 
duction is more powerful, yet it is also greatly influenced by the moisture of the 
air, rain, and the force of the wind, none of which circumstances affect in any obvious 
degree the induction electrometer. 
On Shooting Stars. By W. R. Brrr. 
See Reports in this volume, page 1. 


Meteorological Phenomena observed in India from January to May 1849. 
By Georce Buist, LL.D., F.R.S. (Communicated by Colonel Syxes.) 
The papers comprised pressure curves of the barometer for five years at Bombay, 
four years at Madras, and four years at Calcutta; a map of the occurrence of 
storms at various places in India between the 19th and 25th of April 1849; corre- 
sponding observations at various places during storms in India on the 15th and 
22nd of January; the same between the 20th and 23rd of February and the Ist and 
3rd of May. ‘The pressure of papers in the Section disabled Colonel Sykes from 
giving more than a running commentary upon the different phenomena. He called 
the attention of the Section to the general uniformity of the several pressure curves 
at the three presidencies in India; the maximum pressure being in December or 
January, and the minimum pressure in June or July; the absolute height of the 
barometer however was different in different years; but the gradual descent of the 
curve from January to June and ascent from June to January was rarely inter- 
rupted, excepting at Bombay in the months of September and October 1845 and 
1846; in the months of August and September, at Madras, in 1841; and in No- 
~ vember and December 1843 and 1844. At Calcutta the descent and ascent of the 
curves did not show any interruption, but the barometer appeared to have a greater 
annual range at Calcutta than at Bombay or Madras. Colonel Sykes called atten- 
tion to the fact that these curves were not affected by the passage of the sun twice 
annually over the places of observation, nor by the occurrence of the monsoon at 
Calcutta and Bombay in June, and at Madras in October. The map of storms be- 
tween the 19th and 24th of April, showed that they occurred almost simultaneously 
in the Punjab, near Wuzeerabad, at Loodiana, at Simla, Delhi, Calpee, Alahabad, 
Calcutta, Bombay, Belgaum, Madras, and down the coast to Tranquebar ; at Man- 
galore, and down the Malabar coast to Cochin, and on the western side of Ceylon, 

