REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. XXV 



sident of the Royal Society, Chairman ; Lord Wrottesley, Sir John Lubbock, 

 Bart., Sir John Herschel, Bart., the Dean of Ely, J. C. Adams, Esq., 

 G. B. Airy, Esq., Sir David Brewster, E. J. Cooper, Esq., W. Lassell, Esq., 

 J. Nasmyth, Esq., John Phillips, Esq., Rev. Dr. Robinson, and the Officers and 

 Council of the Royal Society. The Committee have conducted their pro- 

 ceedings partly by meetings and partly by printed correspondence; and 

 having decided on the nature and size of the Telescope and the mode of 

 mounting which they deemed most advisable, they appointed a deputation to 

 communicate with the Earl of Aberdeen, with a view to obtaining the sanc- 

 tion of Her Majesty's Government, and the requisite funds for the construc- 

 tion of the Telescope ; the Council have learned with satisfaction that the 

 Deputation was very favourably received by Lord Aberdeen, and they have 

 reason to entertain the hope that the necessary funds for the construction of 

 the Telescope will be included in the estimates presented to Parliament in its 

 next session. 



"5. The resolution of the General Committee recommending that the 

 publication of the Townland Survey of Ireland, upon the scale of an inch to 

 a mile, should be accelerated, has been communicated to the Master- General 

 of the Ordnance, and a favourable reply received. 



"6. In compliance with the resolution directing the Council to solicit the 

 cooperation of the Royal Society in meteorological investigations attainable 

 by balloon ascents, a communication was addressed to the President and 

 Council of the Royal Society, which was most cordially received, and four 

 such ascents have been made under the direction of the Kew Observatory 

 Committee, by the aid of funds placed at their disposal by the Royal Society. 

 A highly satisfactory account of these ascents, and of the results obtained, is 

 given in a communication to the Royal Society, drawn up by Mr. Welsh by 

 whom the observations were conducted, of which communication 500 copies 

 have been presented to the British Association. 



" 7. Respecting ' a series of experiments on a large scale on the thermal 

 effects experienced by air in rushing through small apertures,' a representa- 

 tion, as recommended, has been made to the Royal Society, and a grant of 

 £100 from the Government Fund at the disposal of the Royal Society has 

 been made to Messrs. Thomson and Joule, for the necessary apparatus. 



" 8. The recommendation of the General Committee, that, in the event of 

 a survey of the Gulf stream being undertaken, provision should be made for 

 investigating its zoology and botany, has been communicated to the Hydro- 

 grapher of the Admiralty and favourably received. A proposition from Dr. 

 Bache, Director of the Coast Survey of the United States, for a joint survey 

 of the Gulf-stream by the United States and Great Britain, having been 

 addressed to the President of the British Association since the Belfast meet- 

 ing, has been forwarded to the Hydrographer of the Admiralty, and has given 

 rise to the following correspondence : — • 



" '^Dr. Bache to Colonel Sabine. 



" ' Washington, October 20, 1852. 



" ' Dear Sir, — In the report of the proceedings of the recent Meeting of 

 the British Association, over which you presided, I observe a recommendation 

 which refers to a ' Survey of the Gulf-stream.' A systematic survey of the 

 Gulf-stream at and below the surface, for hydrographic purposes, was com- 

 menced in connexion with the survey of the coast of the United States, under 

 my direction, in 184'4, and has been continued, as means served, each season 

 since, and we have now carried the examination by sections perpendicular to 

 the stream from off the capes of New York to Cape Hatteras. Might it not 



