158 RESEARCH 



economy in administration which, while compulsory 

 in view of the limited resources of the Association, 

 is nevertheless to be admired. The first officer in 

 charge of the observatory under the Association, 

 who kept a regular meteorological register, received 

 apartments, fuel, and light, and a salary of 27 7s. 6d. 

 per annum. He acted under the superintendence of 

 Professor Wheatstone, who during the first year 

 established (1) an ordinary meteorological record 

 with standard instruments, (2) a meteorological 

 record with ' self-registering instruments on a new 

 construction/ (3) a record of the electrical state of 

 the atmosphere, with an apparatus purchased by 

 private subscription. 



As early as 1845 the Council was asked by the 

 General Committee to consider the expediency of dis- 

 continuing the observatory. From the earliest years 

 it had been held that the Association, as stated in 

 a preceding paragraph, should not, unless in excep- 

 tional circumstances, charge itself with the permanent 

 maintenance of any particular research work or 

 institution. At this period the interests of meteor- 

 ology, astronomy, terrestrial magnetism, and allied 

 departments of science were very strongly repre- 

 sented in the Association by John Herschel, Sabine, 

 and others, and a series of resolutions was addressed 

 to the Government and other bodies as an outcome 

 of the ' magnetic conference ' at the Cambridge 

 meeting (1845), asking for the continuance or estab- 

 lishment of magnetic and meteorological observations 

 at Greenwich, Dublin, Toronto, St. Helena, the Cape 

 of Good Hope, Bombay, and Madras, and in Tasmania 

 and elsewhere, and proffering advice as to the 

 maintenance of such work ; some of which recom- 



