I02 



NATURE 



[June lo, 1875 



fewer than two errors. This is the number of errors in 

 the Table for August 1873 (p. 42 of Q. W. Report for 

 1873), being the last month for which the whole of the 

 curves have been published. One of these two errors has 

 reference to the minimum temperature for Aberdeen (39°'2) 

 which occurred at 4 a.m. of the nth August, and regard- 

 ing which the following remark is made in a footnote : — 

 "Doubtful; instrument out of action immediately after 

 6 A.M." If we turn to the Aberdeen temperature curve of 

 the nth (Plate xlv.), we see that the instrument was not 

 out of order during the whole of that day ; and by exa- 

 mining the curve for the whole month, we see further that 

 the instrument went out of action on no day at 6 a.m.^ 

 and that on the six occasions on which it was out of 

 order during the month, it is highly probable that in none 

 of the cases did the temperature fall so low as 39°'2. 



Tables of errata for 1869 have been published by the 

 Office from time to time, the last one appearing in 

 November 1874. Not one of the numerous errata refer- 

 ring to 1869, as well as those referring to the other years, 

 which have been detected in this examination, has yet 

 appeared in the Tables of errata published by the Office. 

 Furthermore, these Tables of errata are themselves re- 

 peatedly in error ; thus, the last one, printed on the title- 

 leaf of the Quarterly Weather Report for July — Sept. 1873 

 contains in the five lines which compose it no fewer than 

 three mistakes j viz., 1874 being twice printed for 1873, 

 and the hour of occurrence of the minimum at Glasgow 

 being curiously printed as o'' 2 a.m., whereas the month 

 began with the minimum temperature. 



As the curves for 1874 are not yet published, there are 

 no means of checking the hourly tabulated readings from 

 the curves. Referring, however, to the regulations laid 

 down for the detection and correction of small errors.^ 

 and to the minute refinement to which the results were to be 

 carried, viz., to the hundredth of a degree, we were led to 

 expect that the tabulated readings would be taken from 

 the curves with an approach to accuracy of at least the 

 tenth of a degree. A slight inspection of the figures of 

 the tabulated readings shows at once that this is not the 

 case, with the single exception of the Observatory at 

 Stonyhurst. 



A word will explain our meaning. There being no 

 reason why any one of the ten decimal figures, viz., 

 •I, '2, "3, . . . '8, '9, 'o should occur oftener than an- 

 other, it is evident that on the mean of, say, a month's 

 observations, the number of times on which a read- 

 ing of a whole degree occurred would be, approxi- 

 mately, a tenth of the whole number of readings. At 

 Kew, however, out of the whole 744 readings for 

 January 1874, 172 whole degrees were read off from 

 the curves and have been printed in the Tables ; in 

 other words, nearly 100 in excess of a due propor- 

 tion. Next month matters improved at Kew, and only 

 87 whole-degree readings are given ; in March they 

 rose to 127, and fell again in April to 94. In ^this 

 respect Kew shows the greatest irregularity of all the 

 Observatories, but more especially as regards the|tabula- 

 tions from day to day — showing in this respect a marked 

 contrast with the regular business-like tabulations of 

 Stonyhurst. Summing up all the whole-degree readings 

 at each of the Observatories for the nine months, and com- 

 paring the results with a tenth part of all the readings 



tabulated, we obtain the following results ; — At Stonyhurst 

 the number of whole-degrees read off were 16 per cent., 

 less than a tenth part of the whole ; at the other ob- 

 servatories the numbers are greater than a tenth part 

 of the whole, in the following order : Kew, 50 per cent. ; 

 Aberdeen, 95 per cent. ; Armagh, 112 per cent.; Fal- 

 mouth, 137 per cent. ; Valencia, 147 per cent. ; and Glas- 

 gow, 148 per cent. Every statistician will know the 

 meaning of these figures, and how completely they destroy 

 the scientific character of the work. It should moreover 

 be kept in mind that 1874 was the sixth year of the tabu- 

 lation by the Observatories of the readings taken from 

 the curves. The method of tabulation as carried out is 

 too rough for the determination even of the temperature 

 daily " constants "—a statement which will be self-evident 

 from the following hourly mean values for Valencia for the 

 month of July 1874, beginning with i A.M. : 57°7, 57°'5, 

 57°'3> 57°"2, 57°*i, 57°'6, 58°7, &c. ; the curve for the time 

 from 2 to 5 A.M. cannot be determined from observations 

 in which whole degrees so largely preponderate. Though 

 the instrumental arrangements for the continuous registra- 

 tion of the temperature at the Committee's seven Obser- 

 vatories may well be regarded as a triumph of science, yet 

 the results, as tabulated and published, can scarcely lay 

 claim to a higher value than eye-observations of third-rate 

 observers. 



In view of the results of this examination, it is not easy 

 to see how one can makeTa scientific use of the tabula- 

 tions, and results deduced therefrom, as made by this 

 department of the Office, until (i) the tracings of the 

 curves from the photographs, (2) the tabulations of the 

 hourly values from the curves, and (3) the monthly and 

 five-day means, have been carefully revised. 



It cannot be said that the publications have been issued 

 under a press of work in the Office, seeing that the 

 Quarterly Weather Reports have been published just when 

 the Office has been ready to do it. The last published 

 Report is for the quarter ending September 1873, and the 

 last quarter of 1871 only appeared in November last. 

 Further, at page 66 of the Report for 1873, giving a list of 

 persons in the employment of the Meteorological Com- 

 mittee, we learn that at the time of going to press the 

 number so employed was twenty-four, and the sum ex- 

 pended in the year for their salaries amounted to about 

 3,727/., to which, if we add 2,722/. for expenses at Observa- 

 tories (Report for 1873, p. 32), it is evident that there can 

 be no reasonable doubt that the staff available for this 

 work is amply sufficient. 



There is a question yet remaining to be considered, viz., 

 Are the thermometers at these Observatories in positions 

 which will fairly indicate the march of the temperature of 

 each place through the hours of the day ; and, above all, 

 are they so placed as to be comparable with each other ? 

 In the Introduction to the Quarterly Weather Report 

 for 1870, pp. iii. to vii., woodcut illustrations are given 

 of the thermometer screens, with their positions and sur- 

 roundings. No two of these are alike— the only approach 

 to uniformity being Stonyhurst and Glasgow. Two of the 

 Observatories, viz., Valencia and Falmouth, occupy im- 

 portant positions near the sea, and might have yielded 

 valuable results with regard to the influence of the sea on 

 climate, but they have been placed in situations so confined 

 that their temperature observations are of little value con- 



