Studies of Temperatures 195 



Professor Frankland made some remarks on the winter 

 temperature and climate of Davos, where he had recently 

 spent about seventeen days. The weather phenomena were 

 almost opposite to those experienced in England. The 

 warmest wind was from the north-east, and the thicker the 

 snow upon the ground, the higher the temperature. Davos, 

 though about 5200 feet above the sea, enjoyed an almost 

 perpetual calm and bright sunshine, with a nearly uniform 

 temperature from sunrise to sunset. The rivers freeze from 

 the bottom instead of the top, and give off vapour even at 

 the freezing point. Anyone desirous of warming himself 

 sits still in the open air, but moves about if the contrary. 



June i8th, 245th meeting. Mr. Gassiot exhibited prints 

 from blocks suited for use in newspapers, to show the daily 

 meteorological condition. The map outlines were already 

 stamped on them, and those required to show these condi- 

 tions were engraved with Mr. F. Galton's drill pentagraph. 



Mr. Galton stated that the Meteorological Committee had 

 recently applied the planimeter an instrument for obtaining 

 areas mechanically to calculating the mean values of 

 meteorological observations, as recorded on the engraved 

 sheets of their quarterly reports, with quite satisfactory 

 results. 



Sir John Lubbock referred to a recent order of the Public 

 Schools Commissioners which made the teaching of Physical 

 Science, with examinations, generally obligatory in such 

 schools, and gave some details in regard to it. 



Professor Prestwich spoke of a memoir on deep sea 

 temperatures which he had submitted to the Royal Society. 1 

 In it he had collected and classified all available temperatures 

 from 1849 to 1865. So far back as 1823 temperatures of 

 35 to 36 F. were obtained at depths of 8000 to 10,000 feet, 

 and many concordant observations showed a constant 

 temperature at great depths in the Mediterranean. It was 

 not the case, as D'Urville had assumed, that the greatest 

 depths always had the temperature of the greatest density, 

 viz. 39 F. 



1 Proc. Roy. Soc. vol. xxii. page 462. 



