592 Meeting of the Britisli Association. [Oct., 



certain sea temperatures. The report pointed out that help in 

 many cases was only offered on condition that the apphcants 

 employ clerks to search out the information required from the 

 records, which expense the committee did not incur. 



Mr. G. J. Symons read the report of the Rainfall Committee, 

 which more especially pointed out the necessity for more stations 

 of observation. 



The report of the Tidal Committee was read by Mr. Eankine. 



Mr. Glaisher read the report of the Association Committee on 

 "Luminous Meteors." Large numbers of meteors had been seen 

 during the past year. The report gave an account of an extraordi- 

 nary meteor seen in France in October, which exploded with a 

 detonation louder than any artillery, at, it was considered, a height 

 of sixty miles. Much was said of the extensive observations made 

 in America by Professor Newton and others. The report contained 

 catalogues of all the meteors and aerolites observed. The radiant 

 of the November meteors was well ascertained, but of the August 

 meteors the radiant was not certain. 



Dr. Neumayer read an abstract of a paper detaiHng the facts 

 relating to the fall of a meteor a short time ago at Kriihenberg. 

 The fall took place in the day-time, and so great was the velocity 

 of the mass that it buried itself two feet deep in the sandstone rock. 

 It was dug out while still warm, and found to weigh 31^ lbs. The 

 sound was heard over a radius of thii'teen miles. 



Mr. Glaisher narrated the results of some meteorological experi- 

 ments made in the car of the captive balloon. The principal fact 

 was, that often when the air near the ground is quite still, and the 

 smoke from the chimneys of the houses rising vertically, a hard gale 

 is blowing aloft, and that at a height of less than 1000 feet. 



The most important paper read on Monday was one by 

 Mr. Whitworth, " On the Penetration of Armour-Plates by Shells 

 with Heavy Bursting Charges fired obliquely," in which he sot 

 forth the superiority of the flat projectile over the pointed one for 

 piercing armour-plated ships. 



M. Janssen then described in French his method of obta^iing 

 views of the solar prominences at any time by means of a rapidly 

 revolving slit and spectroscope. 



A paper by Professor A. Morren, " On the Chemical Eeaction 

 of Light," discovered by Professor Tyndall, was then read. Pro- 

 fessor Morren said that he had repeated Dr. Tyndall 's celebrated 

 experiments on the action of light upon vapours in tubes, but that, 

 living in the south of France, he used the rays of the sun, instead 

 of the hght from the electric lamp. His tubes, hke those of 



