30 



REPORT 1855. 



described the recently erected time-ball on the Nelson Monument, on the Calton 

 Hill, Edinburgh ; which ball is dropped daily by a clock adjusted to true time in 

 the Edinburgh Observatory, and acting through electric agency, in much the same 

 way as at the Greenwich Observatory. 



This electric agency having been proved, through a year and a half, to be most 

 certain and accurate, and the ball proving of great advantage to Edinburgh and 

 Leith, the question of extending the signal to the other parts of Scotland had been 

 raised. 



If only local means be provided for raising the halls, there can be no difficulty 

 in dropping them with equal accuracy, and by the same electric contact which drops 

 the Edinburgh time-ball, if they also be connected together metaUically by the 

 wires of the Electric Telegraph. 



But, practically, there is some difficulty, or rather doubt, when the distance 

 becomes great, on account of the loss of electricity by the way. An actual experi- 

 ment, therefore, in the proposed locality, was important ; and Sir T. Makdougall 

 Brisbane, having long desired to see a time-ball established in Glasgow, most libe- 

 rally volunteered to bear the expense of laying down temporary wires between the 

 telegraph station and the meeting-room of Section G. The Royal Scottish Society 

 of Arts lent a large model of a time-ball ; and the Electric Telegraph Company lent 

 many batteries, and the services of their practised assistants. With this help, the 

 model was erected in the room of Section G, placed in electric connexion with the 

 Edinburgh Observatory, and having been half raised at five minutes and full raised 

 at two minutes before one o'clock, according to preliminary signals received, at one 

 o'clock P.M. exactly, the ball was dropped by the Edinburgh clock at the same 

 instant as it also dropped the Edinburgh time-ball. 



Meteorology. 



On the Fall of Rain at Arbroath. By Alexander Brown, Arbroath. 



The following Table, containing a synopsis of the depth of rain which falls at 

 Arbroath, was compiled for insertion in the article " Forfarshire " in the forthcoming 

 edition of the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica/ and is one of a series for the purpose of 

 showing the climate of that county : — 



From the Table, it appears that at Arbroath, in latitude 56° 34' N., Longitude, 2" 

 36' W., the mean annual fall of rain from ten years' observation, ending February 



