324 PROCEEDINGS OK PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES. 



of the want of coincidence with the moon's position, she heing as often 

 in their nadir as in their zenith. Philosophers at present seem in- 

 clined to the belief that vast quantities of unconsolidated particles and 

 small masses of matter traverse space, and, impelled by some projec- 

 tile or attractive power, continue to move until they approach the 

 earth or some other body ; a notion which is corroborated by the 

 recently observed periodical appearance of meteoric bodies near the 

 close of the year. But against this hypothesis there are, neverthe- 

 less, considerable difficulties. The similarity of the constituent 

 ingredients of talc with those of such meteoric bodies as have been 

 subjected to analysis, is a remarkable coincidence ; though it is to be 

 regretted that the actual descent of that substance was not witnessed. 



Mr. Follett Osier's " Review of the Meteorological Changes dur- 

 ing the first half of the year 1837, with Illustrations from the Tables 

 obtained by the use of the Self-registering Anemometer and Rain- 

 gauge," excited great and deserved interest. Although the great 

 agents of meteorological change have long been known, the science of 

 meteorology, at least in some departments, has made but slow advances; 

 nor is it to be wondered at that, invisible and impalpable as some 

 of its elements are, they should long have eluded accurate observa- 

 tion. But with the perfection of instrumental aids, this interesting 

 department of natural science will probably assume a certainty and 

 perfection to be anticipated only by those who consider what has been 

 accomplished by diligent and patient observation in other branches 

 of knowledge. Amongst other desirable results, a series of obser- 

 vations continued by these means for a sufficient length of time, will 

 probably give a series of graphical curves representative of some- 

 thing like a cycle of the wind at particular places, and lead to gene- 

 ralizations applicable to objects of great social importance. Some 

 curious and valuable practical results have been obtained by the 

 observation of the phenomena of storms and hurricanes in the West 

 Indies and on the coast of the United States ; and the tracks of 

 many of them have been laid down, and found to be, in general, 

 portions of an elliptical or parabolic circuit, whose vertex is uni- 

 formly found to be in or near a certain latitude. 



Mr. Francis Clark's " Observations on some Official Statistical 

 Returns, with Hints for the Collection of Statistical Data," pre- 

 sented us with much curious and valuable information, and offered 

 several important suggestions in the compilation of tables and 

 returns. This branch of science is now attracting its fair share of 

 notice ; and the amended form and greater accuracy of the tables 

 which have of late been published by authority, attest the prevalence 

 of a more coriect estimate of the importance of statistical science in 

 all its details. Statistical knowledge is eminently important in its 

 practical application to the moral and physical exigencies of society. 

 It is a great recommendation of this branch of knowledge that 

 though, to the superficial observer, its details may seem to consist 

 of disconnected facts, irreducible to any stable principle, they are 

 really subject to general laws as fixed and immutable as the law of 



