498 



NA TURE 



{Sept. 2 2, 1887 



The Committee suggest that they should be reappointed, and 

 that the sum of ^10 be placed at their disposal to defray the 

 expenses of further experiments connected with the instrument. 



Report of the Electrical Standards Committee, consisting 

 of Prof . G. Carey Foster, S'r W. Thojnson, Prof. Aryton, Prof. 

 J. Perry, Prof. W. G. Adams, Lord Ray high, Prof. O.J. Lodge, 

 Dr. John Hopkinson,.Dr. A. Muirhead, Mr. W. H. Preece, 

 Mr. Herbert Taylor, Prof. Everett, Prof. Schuster, Dr. J. A. 

 Fleming, Pro''. G. F. Fitzgerald, Mr. R. T. Glazebrook {secretaty). 

 Prof. J. J. Thomson, Mr. W. N. Shaw, and Mr. J. T. Bottom ley. 

 — The Committee was appointed for the purpose of constructing 

 and issuing practical standards for use in electrical measurements. 

 The Committee report that the work of testing resistance coils 

 has been continued at the Cavendish Laboratory, and a table of 

 the values found for ten various coils is given. Of these two 

 coils have been tested before, but, owing to the green coloration 

 mentioned in the last report showing itself in the parafSn, the 

 paraffin was removed and the coils refilled with ozokerit, which 

 can be obtained mare nearly free from traces of acid. This 

 change in all cases produced an appreciable increase in resistance. 

 Shortly after the Birmingham meeting of the Association the 

 secretary received a letter from the Board of Trade, inclosing a 

 copy of the general bases of a convention proposed by the 

 French Government for the consideration of the Powers with 

 the object of carrying out the resolution of the Paris Conference 

 with regard to electrical standards. The convention stipulates 

 that a legal character is to be given to (i) the legal ohm, (2) the 

 ampere, (3) the volt, (4) the coulomb, (5) the micro-farad. 

 These questions had been considered by the Committee at the 

 Birmingham meeting, and the following series of resolutions, 

 which the secretary was instructed to forward to the British 

 Government, had been agreed to on the motion of Sir W. 

 Thomson, seconded by Prof W. G. Adams: (i) to adopt for 

 a term of ten years the legal ohm of the Paris Congress as a 

 legalized standard sufficiently near to the absolute ohm for 

 commercial purposes ; (2) that at the end of the ten years 

 period the legal ohm should be defined to a closer approxima- 

 tion to the absolute ohm ; (3) that the resolutions of the Paris 

 Congress with respect to the ampere, the volt, the coulomb, 

 and the farad be adopted ; (4) that the resistance standards 

 belonging to the Committee of the British Association on 

 Electrical Standards now deposited at the Cavendish Laboratory 

 at Cambridge be accepted as the English legal standards, con- 

 formable to the adopted definition of the Paris Congress. 

 During the year the original standards of the Association have 

 again been compared by the secretary. An account of this 

 comparison, and of the very complete one made in the years 

 1879-81 by Dr. Fleming, the details of which have not been 

 published previously, is given in the appendix. The general 

 result of the comparison is to show that there is no evidence 

 that any of the original coils have changed in value since 

 the year 1876, when they were compared by Prof. Chrystal 

 and Mr. Saunders. The Committee recommend the adoption 

 of the watt as the unit of power. The watt is defined to be 

 the work done per second by the ampere passing between two 

 points between which the difference of electric potential is one 

 volt. The Committee was also of opinion that it was highly 

 desirable to proceed with the construction of an air condenser 

 as a standard of capacity, and for this purpose they desire to be 

 reappointed, with the addition of the name of Mr. Thos. Gray, 

 and a grant of ;^ioo. 



Report of the Committee on Ben Nevis Meteorological Observa- 

 tions. — The work of the Ben Nevis Observatory for the past year 

 has been carried on by Mr. Omond and his assistants with the 

 same intelligence, enthusiasm, and completeness as in previous 

 years. With the two exceptions of October and November the 

 temperature was eveiy month below its normal. Atmospheric 

 pressure at Fort William was very nearly the normal on the mean 

 of the year, being only o'oi2 inch under it. The maximum pres- 

 sure for the year at the Observatory was 26 '093 inch on Novem- 

 ber 24, and the minimum 23*45 inch on December 8. The 

 maximum temperature for the year was 55°-8 in September, and 

 the lowest 8° "4 in December, thus giving an absolute range of 

 47° '4. In addition to the regular work of the Observatory, 

 Mr. Omond, superintendent, Mr. Rankin, first assistant, and 

 Mr. Dickson, who has repeatedly relieved the regular observers at 

 the Observatory, are engaged in carrying on original researches. 

 The plotting of the observations of storms made at the sixty- 



four Scottish lighthouses is now far advanced. The results 

 show a very large number of failures both of storms which have 

 occurred of which no warning has been sent by the Meteoro- 

 logical Office, and of warnings issued with no accompanying or 

 following storm. These failures are at present being investi- 

 gated by the Ben Nevis observations in connexion with the 

 observations at Fort William and other low-lying stations in 

 Scotland. The directors of the Observatory have from the out- 

 set spoken with some earnestness on the aVisolute necessity of 

 combining the double observation for all forecasting purposes — 

 in other words, of combining the observations at the top of 

 Ben Nevis with those made at the same instant at Fort William. 

 The reason is obvious, it being by vertical gradients, and not by 

 horizontal gradients, that the observations at high-level stations 

 can be turned to their proper and fullest account in forecasting 

 weather. Since none of the sea-level observations at Fort 

 William are in the Meteorological Office, or indeed anywhere 

 but in the office in Edinburgh, the opinion that the Ben Nevis 

 observations are useless in forecasting falls to the ground. A 

 recent discussion in Parliament, already referred to in Nature, 

 was then alluded to. 



In the course of a discussion Prof. Cleveland Abbe said that 

 the problems of meteorology demanded mathematical treatment 

 more and more. 



Final Report of the Committee, consisting of Mr. R. H. Scott 

 {secretary), Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, Prof. G. G. Stokes, Prof, 

 Balfour .Stnvart, and Air. J. G. Symons, appointed in August 

 i88t, and reappointed in 1882-83 '^'^'^ l?>^\ to co-operate ivith the 

 Aleteorological Society of the Mauritius in the publication of 

 Daily Synoptic Charts of the Indian Ocean for the year 1861. 

 — Your Committee have to report that the sum of ;i^5o granted 

 in 1881 has now been expended, and they inclose herewith a 

 receipt for the amount, showing its disposition, from the Treasurer 

 of the Mauritius Meteorological Society. 



Dr. Meldrum, in a letter to the Secretary, dated June 4, 

 1887, says : "I am requested by the President and Council of 

 our Meteorological So:iety to convey to yourself and the British 

 Association their very best thanks, and to say that the Society 

 will forward to the Association, through you, two copies of each 

 of the publications that have been issued." 



The following is a list of these publications : — 



1. Daily Synoptic Weather Charts of the Indian Ocean for 

 the months of January, February, and March, 1861. The charts 

 for the remaining months of 1 86 1, and remarks to accompany 

 the months already published, are in preparation. 



2. Tabular Statements of the number of gales experienced 

 monthly between the parallels of 20° S. and 46" S., and the 

 meridians of 0° and 120° E. during the last 39 years. 



Dr. Meldrum further states that the following works are nearly 

 ready for publication : — 



I. Synoptic Weather Chirts of the Indian Ocean for January 

 i860, in the course of which month a typical cyclone took 

 place. 



II. The Tracks of the Tropical Cyclones in the Indian 

 Ocean, south of the Equator, from 1848 to 1886, as far as is 

 known, together with the observations from which the tracks 

 have been deduced. 



III. The ]\Iean Pressure and Temperature of the Indiaa 

 Ocean for 5° square, in the months of January and July. 



IV. Synoptic Charts of the Indian Ocean for each day, 

 during the last 39 years, in which it is known that a cyclone 

 existed. 



V. The Average Limits in the Indian Ocean of the Sou^ 

 East Trade in each month, and of the North- West Monsc 

 from November to May. 



Fourth Report of the Committee, consisting of Prof. Balfa^ 

 Stewart {secretary), Mr. J. Knox Laugliton, Mr. G. J. Symo 

 Mr. R. H. Scott, and Mr. G. Johnstone Stoney, appointed^ 

 the purpose of co-operating with Mr. E. J. Lowe in his projcc^ 

 establishing on a permanent and scientific basis a MeteorologiS 

 Observatory Jtear Chepstow. — This Commi'tee met at 22 Albe- 

 marle Street on March 26, and passed the following resolution ; 

 — " As your Committee have heard no further results frorii the 

 action referred to by Mr. Lowe in his letter quoted in their last 

 report, and there thus appears to be an absence of local support, 

 they see no prospect of the scheme ever being carried out. The 

 fundamental idea presiding over the establishment of the obs 

 vatory was that it should be one of permanence, and hence 



