308 Royal Society :— 
nions which I submitted to the Magnetical and Meteorological Con- 
ference at Cambridge in 1845, as all that has since taken place has 
served to confirm them. 
‘* Before I close this communication, I wish to advert to the ex- 
pediency of extending the system of observation now in operation at 
Toronto, St. Helena, and the Cape of Good Hope, to other of the 
British Colonies, where the same objects can be accomplished in an 
equally effective and economical manner. 
“In cases where the institution of similar establishments is 
strongly urged by the Governor of a Colony,—where competent per- 
sons are present and disposed to superintend the observations, and 
where soldiers of the Artillery are stationed whose services may be 
available, and whose employment has been shown to be economical 
and effective in a high degree in the execution of a laborious and 
exact routine of observation,—there is wanting only a supply of in- 
struments,—the temporary allotment of a building to contain them, 
—extra pay, such as the individuals at the above-named Observatories 
receive,—and an authorized connexion with a head-quarter esta- 
blishment whence they may derive instruction and guidance. 
“The cost of one of the Ordnance Observatories (including £100 
a year for incidentals of all kinds) is £392 a year, exclusive of pub- 
lication. It may be assumed that five years of hourly observation 
is a sufficient time of continuance for obtaining in any particular 
colony the mean values of the magnetical and meteorological ele- 
ments, and their diurnal, annual, and secular variations, as well as 
the peculiarities of climate bearmg on the health and industrial oc- 
cupations of man. If the observations were printed in full detail 
for the five years, they would occupy two quarto volumes; but if it 
were thought sufficient hereafter that duplicate or triplicate manu- 
Script copies should be deposited in different public libraries, and 
that publication should be confined to abstracts and an analysis, the 
cost of the publication would form but a small addition. 
**The colonies of Ceylon, New Brunswick, Bermuda, and New- 
foundland are in the described case ; their respective Governors are 
recommending the establishment of Magnetical and Meteorological 
Observatories in them; competent directors are on the spot [this 
was written in 1845] ; and they are all Artillery stations.” 
To the four stations thus named may be now added Mauritius and 
Demerara, as from both those Colonies, strong and repeated applica- 
tions to the same effect have been sent through their respective Go- 
vernors to the Secretary of State for the Zolonies. Both these Colo- 
nies have offered to bear a portion of the expense of the proposed esta- 
blishments ; and have earnestly solicited to be placed in connexion 
with a head-quarter establishment, from which they might receive 
properly constructed instruments, with instructions and guidance in 
their use. Can it be said that we perform our duty as a mother- 
country when we put such applications on the shelf ?—whilst, in the 
interests of science, it would be difficult to estimate too highly the 
value of such institutions,—in forming good observers, who might 
subsequently extend their activity over a wider range,—in affording 
to trayelling observers the opportunity of testing and correcting their 
