3«8 



NA TURE 



[A Hg nst 2, 1883 



mounting birds and mammals, given very briefly, but 

 probably with sufficient detail to serve as a guide to be- 

 ginners. The author appears to be a dealer in natural 

 history accessories, and the book has rather the aspect of 

 a trade advertisement from its recommending the almost 

 exclusive use of a "preservative" prepared and sold by 

 the author, the composition of which he keeps secret. As 

 a practical guide to English collectors in foreign countries 

 it is very inferior to Air. Ward's " Sportsman's Hand- 

 book," which was reviewed in Nature last year (vol. 

 xxvii. p. 146). A. R. W. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[ The Editor does not hold h imself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



[ The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters 

 as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great 

 that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even 

 of communications containing interesting and novel facts.] 



The Meteorological Council and Falmouth Observatory 



The Meteorological Council contemplate closing on Decem- 

 ber 31 next the Primary Observatories at Glasgow, Armagh, 

 Stonyhurst, and Falmoutb, which have been in full operation 

 since 1868, and continuing only those at Kevr, Aberdeen, and 

 Valentia. 



The Falmouth Observatory has a geographical position which 

 insures it the first record from the south, and the position of the 

 instruments is considered satisfactory by scientific men. It is 

 superintended and managed by the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic 

 Society, who for the small sum of 250/. per annum provide suit- 

 able buildings, an observer, assistant observer, gas, and the other 

 necessary outgoings, thus supplementing by local effort the 

 Treasury grant. 



The Meteorological Office have been satisfied with the manner 

 in which the Observatory has been managed. The accompanying 

 report, which Prof. J. Couch Adams of Cambridge sent to the 

 Meteorological Council at their own request, denrecates, on 

 scientific grounds, the retrograde step contemplated by the 

 Council, and I am requested by my Committee to invite through 

 you the assistance of scientific men generally to prevent the dis- 

 continuance of so important an observatory as the one at Fal- 

 mouth. Edward Kitto, 



Secretary to the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society 



Falmouth, July 30 



Copy of the Document submitted to the Meteorological Council by 



Prof. J. Couch Adams, E.A.S., en July 5, 1SS3. 



To the Members of the Meteorological Council. 



In compliance with the wish expressed by some members of 



the Council at the interview of June 27, I have great pleasure 



in explaining my view on the matter then discussed more fully 



and clearly than I was able to do vivd voce. 



1. First I will say a few words about the relative value from 

 a scientific point of view of a continuous record of meteorological 

 phenomena when compired with occasional observations of the 

 same phenomena. 



In my opinion the continuous record would be in this case in- 

 comparably the more valuable. When we know the laws of 

 variation of an observed quantity, occasional observations at 

 intervals which may be settled beforehand are sufficient to deter- 

 mine all the constant quantities which enter into the expression of 

 the law. On the other hand, when the law of variation is in a 

 great measure or altogether unknown, as is the case with most 

 meteorological phenomena, a continuous record may throw more 

 light on the law or laws of variation than would be afforded by 

 any amount of occasional observations. 



I have no hesitation in expre-sing my belief that if we ever 

 attain to a knowledge of the principal laws which regulate the 

 weather, it will be as a result from continuous records, and not 

 from occasional observations. 



2. In the second place, in order to study the laws of variation 

 of any particular phenomena, it is important to have continuous 

 observations at different places which are not so far distant from 

 each other as to make the circumstances of the phenomena at the 

 different stations differ too widely from one another. 



In this way only will it be practicable to study and trace the 

 progress of a wave of disturbance of any kind across a given 

 country. From this point of view I do not think that seven 

 stations judiciously distributed over the surface of the British 

 Isles are at all too many. Hence I should regard the prop >sed 

 abandonment of four out of these seven stations as a retrograde 

 step which is greatly to be deprecated. 



3. In the first place I come to the circumstances which relate 

 to the Falmouth Observatory in particular The unique situa- 

 tion of Falmouth, nearly at the mouth of the English Channel, 

 and considerably to the south-west of any of the other meteoro- 

 logical stations will render continuous observations made there 

 peculiarly valuable. Most of our storms and other atmospheric 

 disturbances come from the south-west, and therefore they would 

 first affect and be recorded by the instruments at Falmouth. 

 Valentia is the only other station which can compare with Fal- 

 mouth in this respect, and I should consider the observations at 

 Falmouth more valuable, as its more southerly situation enables 

 us better to trace the progress of any disturbance across the 

 southern and the central parts of England by comparison with 

 other observations in those parts, while Valentia is too much to 

 the north to answer this purpose. 



4. Next I will consider the objection which has been brought 

 ajainst further c intituling these observations, viz. that they have 

 already been continued tor twelve years, and nothing of impor- 

 tance has been deduced from them. Considering the compli- 

 cated nature of the phenomena we are concerned with, it is not 

 to be wondered at that little or no progress has been made in 

 twelve years in unravelling their laws. Even in astronomy, if 

 the fate of the Greenwich Observatory had depended on the 

 results deduced during the first twelve years of its existence from 

 the observations made there, the consequences to the progress of 

 the science might have been disastrous. The fact that we already 

 have twelve years' continuous observations at a given place makes 

 any additional observations at the same place much mire valu- 

 able. Thus twenty-four years' continuous observations at the 

 same place would be much more valuable for any theoretical 

 deductions than twelve years' observations at one place and 

 other twelve years' observations at a different place. 



5. There can be no doubt that one of the principal astronomi- 

 cal conditions by which meteorological phenomena are affected 

 consists in the varying motion of the moon in declination, and 

 this again depends on the position of the moon's node, which 

 takes between eighteen and nineteen years to perform a complete 

 revolution. 



Hence it would be desirable that mete jrological observations 

 should be continued at the same place during one or more revo- 

 lutions of the moon's node. 



This is already well recognised to be necessary in the case of 

 tidal observations. And here I may incidentally remark, though 

 it does not directly affect the Meteorological Council, that Fal- 

 mouth would be a very important station for making continuous 

 observations of the tides. 



6. If the pre-ent grant were withdrawn from the Falmouth 

 Observatory, the Cornwall Polytechnic Society have not the 

 means of keeping it up, and the abandonment of the Observatory 

 would be a heavy blow to the cultivation of meteorological 

 science in Cornwall and the West of England generally, where 

 there are many local stations which regard Falmouth as their 

 scientific centre. This is a matter which ought not to be indif- 

 ferent to the Meteorological Council. No doubt it is no part of 

 the duty of the Council to subsidise local efforts, unless indeed 

 by means of such efforts the objects of the Council can be better 

 and more economically carried out than would otherwise be 

 done. I submit that this is the case in the present instance. 

 The difference between the expenditure at Valentia, where the 

 Meteorological Office has to defray the whole cost of the esta- 

 blishment, and the expenditure at Falmouth affords some indica- 

 tion of the advantages to be derived from local efforts. 



7. Lastly, if it is absolutely necessary to reduce the expendi- 

 ture on some branches of the work undertaken by the Meteoro- 

 logical Office, it may be inferred from what I have already said 

 that in my opinion the continuous records are almost the last 

 branch in which any reduction should take place. 



(Signed) J. C. Adams 



Determination of " H" 



It has occurred to me that the following notes of a rough 

 determination of the value of the horizontal component of the 



