160 REPORT— 1844. 



the Toronto observatory, for the first year of its establishment, gave him a 

 peculiar qualification for the task. It is satisfactory, however, to be assured, 

 by the results which are daily arriving from the observatories, that it has 

 been time well-bestowed, and we may pretty confidently say that assured secu- 

 lar determinations will date from the commencement of the present year at 

 all the observatories under the Ordnance superintendence. One consequence, 

 which may fairly be attributed to this work, and to tlie facilities thereby 

 afforded for the acquisition of a perfect knowledge of the processes, has been 

 the great increased demand for magnetic instruments since its publication, 

 which exceed the power of the opticians chiefly conversant with their con- 

 struction to meet. 



The valuable ' Annalen fur Meteorologie Erdmagnetismus,' &c., published 

 by Dr. Lamont, is continued, and the sixth and seventh numbers (for 184S) 

 have reached the Committee. They contain the magnetic term observations 

 for 1842, observed at Milan, Munich, Prague and Kremsmiinster ; M. 

 Weise's observations at Cracow for 1841 and 1842; the result of M. Kreil's 

 magnetic determinations in Bohemia, already mentioned ; the magnetic per- 

 turbations observed at Munich in 1842, and a vast collection of valuable 

 meteorological contributions from all parts of Europe, of which the great 

 length to which this report would thereby be extended alone prevents us 

 from presenting an analysis. 



The publication of the Russian observations, whether magnetic or meteo- 

 rological, at the stations Petersburgh, Catherinenbourg, Bogoslawsk, Lougan, 

 Zlaouste, Barnaoul, Nertchinsk, Kasan and Pekin, is complete up to the 

 end of the year 1841, and forms indeed a magnificent contribution to the 

 sum of science, worthy in every way of the greatness of the empire which 

 has produced it, and reflecting the highest credit on the indefatigable exer- 

 tions of M. Kupff'er, the superintendent of the Russian observatories. The 

 observations from Pekin are meteorological only, and are of course of great 

 interest, though affected in some points (especially in what relates to the 

 march of the hygrometer) by the social peculiarities of so vast a metropolis, 

 such as the practice of copiously watering its streets in the summer, &c. 



The third and fourth volume of the magnetic and meteorological obser- 

 vations at the Prague observatory, under M. Kreil, has also appeared, and 

 has been received by your Committee. The meteorological observations in 

 these volumes, as well as those in Lamont's 'Annalen,' and the records of the 

 Russian observatories for several years, are at present undergoing collation by 

 Mr. Birt, with a view to the tracing the progress of remarkable atmospheric 

 waves, in a mode presently to be more particularly referred to. 



The 'Annals of the RoyalObservatory of Brussels,' vol.ii. recently published 

 under the direction of M. Quetelet, is a most valuable contribution to 

 meteorological science, containing the assemblage of such observations for 

 the years 1837 to 1840 inclusive, in detail for Brussels and in summary for 

 Alost and Ghent, together with determinations of the magnetic declination 

 and dip for the same period, those of the declination for 1840 being diurnal, 

 at four hours daily. The magnetic term observations for 1842, observed at 

 Brussels, are printed in the 15th and 16th volumes of the 'Memoirs of the 

 Royal Academy of Brussels.' These volumes contain also the meteorologi- 

 cal horary observations made at the sunniier solstice and both equinoxes of 

 1842, at no less than forty-two principal European stations, in continuation 

 of the series of equinoxial and solstitial observations, in which M. Quetelet 

 has taken an especial interest. Tliese interesting and important observations 

 have subsequently, by the praisewortiiy exertions of M. Quetelet, seconded 



