Ixvi REPORT — 1855. 



James Thomson, be requested to prepare a Report to the Council on the ad- 

 vantages of the telegraphic communication of Time-signals, and on the best 

 method of accomplishing it. 



That a Committee, consisting of Mr. W. Fairbairn, Dr. Neil Arnott, Mr. 

 HenryHouldsworth,Mr.J.B. Neilson, Mr. C. T. Dunlop, Mr. James Robert 

 Napier, Mr. James Aitken, Mr. Thomas Webster, Mr. W. J. M. Rankine, 

 and Dr. John Taylor, be requested to prepare a Report on the subject of 

 the Prevention of Smoke. 



That a Committee, consisting of Mr. Andrew Henderson, Mr. J. R. 

 Napier, Mr. John Wood, Mr. John Scott Russell, Mr. Allan Oilman, Mr. 

 Charles Atherton, C.E., and Mr. James Peake, be appointed to consider 

 the question of the Measurement of Ships for Tonnage. 



A communication from Professor Henry, of Washington, having been read, 

 containing a proposal for the publication of a Catalogue of Philosophical 

 Memoirs scattered throughout the Transactions of Societies in Europe and 

 America, with the offer of co-operation on the part of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, to the extent of preparing and publishing, in accordance with the 

 general plan which might be adopted by the British Association, a Catalogue 

 of all the American Memoirs on Physical Science, — 



The Committee approve of the suggestion, and recommend- 

 That Mr. Cayley, Mr. Grant, and Professor Stokes, be appointed 

 a Committee to consider the best system of arrangement, and to report 

 thereon to the Council. 

 That the Rev. Dr. Whewell, the Dean of Ely, the Astronomer Royal, Sir J. 

 F. W. Herschel, Colonel Sabine, Colonel Sykes, Mr. Gassiot, Professor Miller, 

 and Mr. Hopkins, be appointed a Committee for considering the propriety of 

 repeating the Balloon Experiments of 1852 ; and of applying to the Royal 

 Society for the grant of the necessary funds ; and that the Rev. Dr. Whewell 

 be the Convener. 



Having received from the Committee of Section A, a communication re- 

 specting the importance of having observations on the Sun's Atmosphere made 

 at a considerable elevation above the sea, the General Committee resolved, — 

 That a Committee, consisting of Mr. Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer 

 Royal for Scotland, Professor Nichol, Mr. G. B. Airy, Astronomer 

 Royal, Dr. Robinson, and Mr. W. Lassell, be appointed to consider 

 of this proposition, and investigate the best means of accomplishing 

 the object, and that they report to the next meeting of the Asso- 

 ciation. 

 That a Committee, consisting of Mr. James Thompson, C.E., and Mr. 

 William Fairbairn, C.E.. be requested to continue their investigations on the 

 Friction of Discs in Water, and on Centrifugal Pumps. 



That the Committee appointed last year, (viz. The Earl of Harrowby, 

 Admiral Beechey, Mr. J. B. Yates, Mr. J. Boult, Sir R. I. Murchison, and 

 Mr. Rennie,) to report upon the condition of the River Mersey, be reap- 

 pointed, with the addition of Sir Philip Egerton, Bart., M.P., and Captain 

 Henderson, and requested to continue the inquiry. 



Communications to be printed among the Reports. 



That the Communication by Mr. W. Whitehouse, on the rate of Electro- 

 telegraphic Conduction, be printed entire in the next volume of Transactions. 



That the Communication by Mr. J. Dobson, B.A., on the relation be- 

 tween Rotating Storms and Explosions in Collieries, be printed entire in the 

 next volume of Transactions. 



