Improvements in modern Science derivedfrom the East. 15 



of great interest have been elucidated, by the observations of our 

 countrymen in the Peninsula. 



The horary oscillations to which the barometer is subject in all 

 latitudes, but which, from the absence of the disturbing causes 

 aflecting the atmosphere in the temperate zones, are more pro- 

 minent between the tropics, were first observed by Lamanon, in 

 the expedition under the unfortunate Peyrouse ; and the earliest 

 confirmation of the fact, appears in Dr. Balfour's observations, 

 made at Calcutta, in 1794, and published in the fourth volume 

 of the Asiatic Researches.* To Mr. Goldingham, of the Ob- 

 servatory at Madras, a zealous observer, both in Astronomy 

 and Meteorology, we owe the first satisfactory train of re- 

 searches on an important subject in Acoustics, intimately con- 

 nected with the study of atmospheric phaenomena ; viz. the 

 influence of the ordinary changes in the air, whether of pres- 

 sure, temperature, or humidity, or in the force and direction 

 of the winds, upon the velocity of sound. + The most interest- 

 ing accession, however, which the East has contributed to 

 meteorological science, is unquestionably Mr. Williams's account 

 of the explosion of a meteor near Benares, in 1798, and of 

 the falling of some stones at the same time, which he com- 

 municated in the following year, to Sir Joseph Banks. This 

 narrative afforded the most indubitable evidence of the descent 

 of meteoric stones, at the period when the late Mr. Howard 

 and the Count de Bournon undertook the investigation of the 

 subject. And it still remains one of the most valuable records 

 of that remarkable phaenomenon ; though the reality of the fall 



* See Daniell's Meteorological Essays, p. 252. Further observations on 

 this very interesting subject have been made in various latitudes, by M. de 

 Humboldt, Captain Sabine, M. Ramond, and Mr. Daniell ; w hich prove, " that 

 while the irregular movements of the atmosphere and the general range of the 

 barometer increase, in going from the equator towards the poles, there is a 

 regular concomitant fluctuation, which augments, as we proceed from high 

 latitudes towards the equator." This phienomenon remained, until lately, 

 one of the unresolved problems of Meteorology, but it appears to have received 

 a satisfactory solution from Mr. Daniell ; though much still remains to be 

 done for its conr.plete elucidation. Ibid. p. 25.^. 



t See Phil. Trans, for 1823. 



