230 Britiih Association for the Advancement of Science. 



Should views like tliose which are here expressed be generally 

 adopted, — should the societies established in different districts be 

 disposed to combine their exertions through the medium of" this 

 Association, for the purpose of carrying a general system of obser- 

 vations into effect, each Society would then become a centre of in- 

 struction to its own neighbourhood, from which correct means and 

 methods of investigation might be derived. Thus, for instance, a 

 large proportion of the philosophical instruments at present in use 

 are so imperfectly constructed, and so discordant in their indications, 

 as to be of little service to science ; but if Societies will send to the 

 next meeting of the Association the thermometer or portable baro- 

 meter which they employ, in order that they may be examined, and 

 that any error which may be found in them may be rectified or esti- 

 mated, the instruments will thenceforward not onl}' speak the same 

 language among themselves, but will become standards with which 

 in every part of the kingdom those of insulated observers may be 

 compared. 



The principles which have been already noticed as having regu- 

 lated the choice of some of the subjects of investigation recommended 

 in the present Report, are important to be borne in mind at the en- 

 suing meeting by those who may take a share in proposing matter 

 of inquiry or discussion. To come to a common understanding on 

 unsettled questions of general interest ; to fix the data on which im- 

 portant points of theory hinge ; to collect and connect extensive 

 series of observations, — these appear to be the objects which pecu- 

 liarly belong to the Association, and which should therefore be 

 chiefly, if not exclusively, contemplated. It is also very material 

 that those who propose any subject of inquiry should have con- 

 sidered it well in a practical point of view. It is not enough to put 

 forth general recommendations of inquiries without making specific 

 arrangements for their being actually undertaken. The Committee 

 which met for the first time at York laboured under a disadvantage 

 in this respect, from not knowing on what auxiliaries to reckon. 

 Much was in consequence left to subsequent correspondence with 

 the members of the diffierent Sub-committees, which, had it been 

 possible, ought to have been settled at the meeting itself. 



These deficiencies, however, have been so far surmounted, that a 

 highly valuable store of appropriate scientific communications, as 

 has been seen, is already provided for the approaching meeting; and 

 in this respect also it will possess a great advantage over the last. 

 The Transactions, of which an account is given in the Report, were 

 miscellaneous contributions not expressly designed for the use of 

 this Institution, and in consequence they occupy but a small space 

 in the present publication. It is a principle of the Association to 

 claim no right of property in the papers which it receives; and, with 

 the exception of one essay, which, by leave of the accomplished 

 writer has been printed at length, the remainder of this part of the 

 Report consists of abstracts or notices of memoirs which will be com- 

 municated to the public through other channels. A few interspersed 

 memoranda of the occasional discussions which followed the reading 



of 



