634 



RKroRT — 1884. 



SATUIiDAY, AUGUST 30. 

 The Section did not meet. 



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The follo-\ving Papers and lleporta -vvure iTad: — 



1. On ilie Connection hctneen Sum^pots and Terrestrial Phoinmona. 

 Bij Protbssor Arthur Sciiustku, F.B.S. — See Reports, p. 44G. 



2. Oh certain Short Periods conmon to Solar and Terrestrial MeteoroV>rtical 

 Phenomena. Bi/ Professor Balfouu Stkwart, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., 

 and Wm. Laxt Carpenteh, B.A., B.Sc, F.C.S. 



In 1879 it was sliown by ona of us that tlio diurnal temperature rann-(>g at 

 Kew, Utrecht, and Toronto ap])rared to exliihit common periods around '2i davs, 

 .and that simihxr phases occurred at Toronto eight days before they occurred at Kew. 

 Using- a metl\od of analysis detecting the existence of luiknown inequalities having 

 apparent periodicity iu a mass of observations previously described (' i'roceedings 

 lioyal Society,' May 15, 1870), tlie authors have now made a detailed comparison 

 between sun-spot observations extending from 183^* to 18G7 inclusive, Toronto 

 diurnal temperature ranges from 1844 to 1870 inchisive, and Kew temperature 

 ranges from 1800 to 1870 inclusive. As Professor Stokes has pointed out, it is not 

 necessary for present purposes to discuss whether these sun-spot inequalities have 

 a real or only an apparent periodicity. The results of the comparisons made by the 

 authors appear to justify the following conclusions : 



(1) Sun-spot inequalities around twenty-four and twenty-six days seem to 

 have periods very nearly the same as the Toronto and Kew temperature ranges. 



(2) In the sun-spots and Kew temperature ranges there is o!ily a single 

 •oscillation iu the period, while there is evidence of a double oscillation in the 

 Toronto temperature ranges. 



(ti) The solar maximum occurs eight or nine days after one of the Toronto 

 maxima, and the Kew maximum occurs about seven days after the same Toronto 

 maximum. 



(4) The proportional temperature range oscillation is much less than that 

 •exhibited in the case of the solar inequalities. 



3. Second Report of the Committee for the Harmonic Analysis of Tidal 

 Observations. — See Reports, p. 83. 



4. Beport of the Committee for reducr.ig and tahulating the Tidal Observa- 

 tions in the English Channel made xvith the Dover Tide-gauge, and of 

 connecting them iviih observations made on the French Coast. — See 

 Reports, p. 37. 



-5, On the Importance of Tidal Observations in the Gulf of St. Laivrence, and 

 on the Atlantic Coast of the I)oininion. Bg Professor Johnson, LL.D. 



The object of this communication is to draw attention to the fact that a 

 considerable number of wreclts in past years, involving great loss of life and 

 property, were probably due to want of knowledge of the Tides and Tidal Currents 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the adjacent Atlantic coasts, and to suggest 

 that some means be adopted by the British Association to urge the Canadian 

 Government to establish a series of stations where systematic Tidal Observations 



