Sciences of Meteorology and Terrestrial Magnetism. 161 



called the Kew Observatory, to the Association. Here they conduct 

 various scientific investigations bearing almost entirely on meteorology, 

 and keep a set of standard instruments with which others sent there 

 may be compared. They have supported it for several years by grants 

 varying from £200 to £500 per annum, drawn entirely from their own 

 funds. The working of this admirable institution, under the superin- 

 tendence of Mr. Welsh, promises to be of the utmost service to the 

 progress of meteorology. I spent a day at this observatory in July, 

 1856, and was beyond measure instructed and delighted by an inspec- 

 tion of the various arrangements and contrivances for making observa- 

 tions, and correcting and adjusting instruments. The Association has 

 fostered it with the utmost care, with scarcely any aid from the Com- 

 missioners of Woods and Forests, who have charge of the park ; indeed, 

 a long correspondence was conducted, and much time lost before gas 

 could be introduced, or a space of two acres be got enclosed with a 

 wooden fence for the purposes of the observatory ! 



(4.) In 1852, Lieut. Maury, of the American Navy, and Dr. A. D. 

 Bache, head of the Coast Survey of the United States, incited by the 

 example of the British Association, induced the American Government 

 to organize a system of combined observations in all ships both of the 

 navy and mercantile marine. Lieut. Maury visited this country soon 

 after ; and on the invitation of his Government, seconded by our own, a 

 conference was held at Brussels on the 23d August, 1853. Besides 

 representatives from England and the United States, there attended 

 those of France, Russia, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, 

 and Portugal. A plan of observations was agreed on, and recommended 

 for all ships of friendly nations. In the year following, Prussia, Austria, 

 Spain, Sardinia, the Pope, Hamburg and Bremen, Brazil, and ChiU, 

 offered their co-operation. In case of war between these powers, the 

 treaty provides that the journal of the observations shall be held sacred 

 on the capture of any vessel ! May we not cherish the hope that such 

 friendly co-operation in the pursuit of scientific objects will lessen the 

 chances of war, bind these nations together with the bonds of a closer 

 amity, and bring about those happy times, — 



" When each man's good shall be 

 Each man's best rule, and universal peace 

 Lie like a shaft of light across each land, 

 And like a lane of beams across each sea." 



Acted upon by the various influences above referred to, our Govern- 

 ment, in 1854, created a new department, in connection with the Board 

 of Trade, for the special purposes of meteorology. This has been placed 



Vol. IV.— No. 1. y 



