which passed into the Society's possession on his death, 

 together with an elaborate Bibliography of Meteorology, to 

 the compilation of which he devoted much time and labour, 

 and which has since been kept up to date -by the Society. 

 On the approach of the Jubilee of the Society in 1900 he was 

 again elected to the office of President, as the most fitting 

 person to occupy the chair on that important occasion ; but 

 a sudden illness supervened and he passed away a few weeks 

 before the event took place. He had, however, prepared 

 an Address for the occasion, which was read by Dr. C. 

 Theodore Williams, who was elected to fill his place. The 

 celebration was attended by representatives of many learned 

 Societies and was a great success. 



The memory of Mr. Symons's name is kept before the 

 Society by the establishment of a memorial Gold Medal, 

 which is awarded every alternate year, irrespective of sex 

 or nationality, for distinguished work done in connection 

 with Meteorological Science. The list of recipients includes 

 the most eminent meteorologists in the world, the last name 

 thereon being that of Dr. H. R. Mill, F.R.S.E., who has 

 succeeded to Mr. Symons's work as Director of the British 

 Rainfall Organisation. 



In the early days there was little uniformity in the 

 patterns of instruments employed, in the methods of their 

 exposure, or in the instructions for their use, and the Society 

 took a full share in securing improvements in these matters 

 The adoption of the Stevenson screen for thermometers at 

 the Society's stations was an important step in the desired 

 direction, and a convenient handbook of instructions and 

 tables, under the title Hints to Meteorological Observers, was 

 prepared by Mr. Marriott and has passed through a number 

 of editions. For the encouragement of improvements in 

 instruments, exhibitions have been arranged from time to 

 time, on which occasions an address on the history of some 

 class of instrument or some cognate subject has been given, 

 and an opportunity afforded for illustrating results of obser- 

 vations by means of charts and diagrams. Since the 

 Science of Meteorology is almost entirely cooperative in its 

 methods, it finds itself in a peculiar position with regard to 

 the development of instruments. It is very important that 

 observers in different parts of the country should use 

 standardised instruments if possible, and, when the instru- 

 ments are not standardised, it is often better for observers 

 to use similar instruments than for each observer to alter 

 his equipment in order to take advantage of ^improvements 



