April 12, 1900] 



NATURE 



565 



In spite of the fact that primroses and other flowers are now 

 enabled to produce seed by the agency of the bees, attempts to 

 introduce them into the woodlands and open spaces and to get 

 them to go wild there are still quite unsuccessful. Certain 

 grasses, particularly cocksfoot, Poa annt4a and Poa pratensis, 

 are too aggressive, and choke out nearly all other small 

 vegetation. Geo. M. Thomson. 



Dunedin, N.Z., February i6. 



JUBILEE OF THE RO YAL METEOROLOGICAL 



SOCIETY. 

 'T^HE Royal Meteorological Society attained its Jubilee 

 -^ on Tuesday, April 3, having been founded on April 3, 

 1850 ; and this fiftieth anniversary was celebrated by the 

 holding of a commemoration meeting, a conversazione, 

 and a dinner. 



The commemoration meeting was held at the Institu- 

 tion of Civil Engineers, in the afternoon of the 3rd inst., 

 and was numerously attended. The following delegates 

 from other societies had been appointed, most of whom 

 were present, viz., the Royal Society, Prof. J. J. Thomson, 

 F.R.S. ; Royal Astronomical Society, Mr. E. B. Knobel, 

 President ; Roval Geographical Society, General Sir 

 Henry W. Norman, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., CLE. ; Geological 

 Society, Mr. J.J. H. Teall, F.R.S., President ; Institution 

 of Electrical Engineers, Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, 

 F.R.S., President ; Royal Agricultural Society, Sir 

 Ernest Clarke, Secretary ; Royal Horticultural Society, 

 Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., President ; Royal Botanic 

 Society, Major J. W. N. Cotton ; Scottish Meteorological 

 Society, Mr. R. C. Mossman ; Sanitary Institute, Mr. 

 A. Wynter Blyth ; Hertfordshire Natural History So- 

 ciety, Mr. J. Hopkinson ; and Oxfordshire Natural 

 History Society, Mr. H. Balfour, President. The Ger- 

 man Meteorological Society sent, as their delegate, 

 Prof Dr. G. Hellmann. 



The Secretary, having read a number of letters and 

 telegrams, the President, Dr. C. Theodore Williams, 

 expressed his great pleasure and satisfaction in re- 

 ceiving good wishes and congratulations from so many 

 friends, and especially from foreign meteorologists and 

 meteorological societies. He then read the address 

 which the late Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S. , had prepared 

 for the occasion, and added some remarks of his own in 

 appreciation of Mr. Symons, and also on the work of the 

 Society. 



The earliest English meteorological observer and re- 

 corder, of whom the work has come down to the present 

 day, was the Rev. William Merle, v hose record of ob- 

 servations for the seven years 1337-1344 is still preserved 

 in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The earliest English 

 book on the weather was issued about 1530, the title 

 being "Godfridus : Here begynneth The Boke of Know- 

 ledge of Thynges Vnknowen apperteynynge to Astrono- 

 mye, with certayne necessary Rules," &c. Among the 

 early meteorological authors and observers, Mr. Symons 

 mentioned the Rev. Dr. John Goad, 1686 ; the Hon. 

 Robert Boyle, 1659 ; Dr. Robert Plot, 1683 ; and Sir 

 Christopher Wren, 1697. 



The first English Meteorological Society was founded 

 in 1823, on the suggestion of Mr. J. G. Tatem, but it 

 only survived for a few years. A second Society was 

 started in 1836 by Mr. W. H. White, which continued 

 in existence for some years, and included among its 

 members the late John Ruskin. The present Society 

 was founded on April 3, 1850, by Mr. James Glaisher, 

 F.R.S., with the co-operation of Dr. J. Lee, F.R.S., and 

 several others. This was called "The British Meteoro- 

 logical Society" until 1866, when a Royal Charter of 

 Incorporation was obtained, and the name was changed 

 to "The Meteorological Society." In 1882 Her Majesty 

 the Queen accorded the Society permission to adopt 

 the prefix " Royal." For many years the Society had 

 no habitation ; but in 1872 a room was engaged at 



NO. 1589, VOL. 61] 



30 Great George Street, Westminster, and an assistant 

 secretary appointed. Since that time great progress had 

 been made, the work of the Society had greatly increased^ 

 and a large and valuable library had been got together. 

 The offices now comprise a suite of rooms at 70 Victoria 

 Street. Both Mr. Symons and Dr. Williams referred^ 

 in some detail, to the work which had been done by the 

 Society, and to the investigations which were still in 

 progress. 



Congratulatory addresses were delivered by Prof. J. J. 

 Thomson, F.R.S., Mr. E. B. Knobel, Mr. J. J. H. Teall, 

 F.R.S., Mr. R. C. Mossman and Mr. A. Wynter Blyth. 

 Dr. G. Hellmann handed to the President an address 

 from the German Meteorological Society, and also spoke 

 of the valuable work accomplished by the Royal Meteor- 

 ological Society. The President then presented to the 

 delegates a commemoration medal which had been 

 struck for the occasion. 



A conversazione was held in the evening at the Royal 

 Institute of Painters in Water-Colours, Piccadilly. In 

 addition to the music provided by the Royal Artillery 

 String Band and by the " Schartau " Part-Singers, an 

 exhibition of meteorological instruments, &c., was ar- 

 ranged in an adjoming room. This included many 

 interesting and historic instruments, among which were 

 some used by Dr. Livingstone in his travels through 

 Africa, and the aneroid barometer used by Mr. Glaisher 

 and Mr. Coxwell in their famous balloon ascent froni 

 Wolverhampton on September 5, 1862, when they 

 attained an altitude of seven miles from the earth. 

 During the evening lantern demonstrations were given 

 (i) by Mr. T. C. Porter (of Eton), showing the growth 

 of eclipse of the shadow of the Peak of Teneriffe by the 

 shadow of the earth ; (2) by Colonel H. M. Saunders 

 on clouds ; and (3) by Mr. W- Marriott, on meteorological 

 phenomena and portraits of presidents of the Royal 

 Meteorological Society. 



On Wednesday morning, the 4th inst., a large number 

 of the Fellows went down to Greenwich, and were, by 

 permission of the Astronomer Royal, shown over the 

 Royal Observatory. In the afternoon a visit was paid 

 to the Painted Hall and the Naval Museum. 



In the evening a dinner was held at the Westminster 

 Palace Hotel, uYider the presidency of Dr. C. Theodore 

 Williams. General Sir Henry W. Norman, in respond- 

 ing for the Army, stated that as senior officer he had 

 taken Lord Roberts under fire for the first time. He 

 also brought a message from the Royal Geographical 

 Society congratulating the sister society on the attain- 

 ment of its jubilee. Mr. W. N. Shaw, F.RS., in pro- 

 posing the toast of the evening, said that the history of 

 the Royal Meteorological Society was fifty years of 

 development and co-operation in meteorological research . 

 — ^a development which had taken place chiefly m the 

 direction of combining the observations of many persons 

 in different parts of the country for the single purpose of 

 advancing our knowledge of atmospheric phenomena. 

 Dr. Williams, the President, replied. In replying for 

 "The Delegates from other Societies," Prof Silvanus- 

 Thompson, F.R.S., spoke of the contact of electricity 

 with meteorology, and pointed out how that science had 

 keenly interested many of the inquirers into magnetic 

 and electrical matters, from Boyle to Lord Kelvin, for it 

 was impossible for a man to work at physics generally 

 without coming across the physics of the earth, the atmo- 

 sphere and the sea. Speaking of the interference caused 

 to magnetic and meteorological observations by leakage 

 from electric-light and traction systems, he said such 

 leakage was quite unnecessary. It arose from the 

 adoption of methods that had, perhaps, been adopted 

 without due consideration, and it was possible to propel 

 electrical tram-cars without corrosion of gas and waters 

 pipes, and without disastrous consequences to meteor- 

 ological and magnetic observations. 



