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telegraph offices open all over the country day and night, 

 by which means alone could the desired end be attained, 

 and it was impossible for the same reason to establish a 

 telegraph office at every fishing station, or along the west 

 coast of Ireland. There was one way in which the present 

 system might be supplemented and strengthened, and that 

 had been referred to by Mr. Milne Home. For two years 

 past observations had been carried out by the Scottish 

 Meteorological Society on the top of Ben Nevis, and they 

 were endeavouring to make the system permanent. It was 

 not known to all present, perhaps, that the storm warnings 

 in the air were somewhat earlier in the upper regions of 

 the atmosphere than at the surface ; the disturbance 

 occasioned by a cyclone was to some extent tilted forwards, 

 and the upper part travelled considerably in advance of 

 the lower. From this cause an observatory on Ben Nevis 

 would be equivalent to one several degrees farther west- 

 ward ; and he hoped before many years that similar 

 observations would be established on several other high 

 peaks, in Cumberland for instance, or Snowdon or some 

 adjacent hill, and on one of the highest "tors " in Dartmoor. 

 The expense was not absolutely prohibitive ; as they had 

 heard 5000 was sufficient, and that might be given 

 either by united contributions, or by some rich man who 

 felt interested in the subject. At South Kensington they 

 could see what private munificence could achieve for public 

 objects ; there were magnificent collections of pictures and 

 works of art given to the country by private individuals, 

 and it might be hoped that when the utility of 

 upper stations, such as that on Ben Nevis, was once 

 established, men of wealth would come forward to 

 support similar establishments in other parts of the 

 country. In connection with the Fisheries Exhibition at 



