
Nov. TO, 1870] 


THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION ‘ 
SECTIONAL PROCEEDINGS 
SrcTIoN A.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE 
On the Temperature of the Air at four feet, twenty-two 
feel, and fifty feet high.—j. Glaisher, F.R.S. In his open- 
ing remarks, Mr. Glaisher spoke of the erroneous opinions 
which were entertained previous to his balloon ascents with re- 
gard to temperature at different heights; it was supposed that 
the temperature of the air always decreased from the earth up- 
wards, and followed some constant law; this was, however, 
found not to be the case; and in the Report to the British 
Association at Nottingham, in 1866, the conclusions were, 
“that the law of decrease of temperature with increase of ele- 
vation was variable throughout the day, and also in different 
seasons of the year; that at about sunset the temperature was 
sensibly the same up to 2,000 feet ; and that at night (conjec- 
tures from the results of the observations taken in the only two 
night ascents) the temperature of the air increased from the 
earth upwards.”’ It was therefore evident that a very large number 
of ascents would have to be made to determine the real laws. 
Fortunately, in the second year of the balloon experiments, he 
placed a dry and wet bulb thermometer at the height of 22 feet 
above the ground, readings of which have been taken four 
times daily, viz. at 9 P.M., noon, 3 A.M., and at 9 P.M. 
Although from these observations, and also from those made at 
the different ascents, it was known that sometimes readings at 
the higher point were above those at 4 feet from the ground, no 
particular attention was paid to the above readings until after 
the results of the observations made in M. Giffard’s Captive 
balloon were known ; these, however, were of such importance, 
proving that ‘‘ the decrease of temperature with increase of ele- 
vation had a diurnal range, and was different at different hours 
of the day, the change being greatest at mid-day, and least at or 
about sunset (see Report to the B. A. for 1869 at Exeter), and 
that sensible changes occurred within 30 feet of the earth,” that 
Mr Glaisher caused the observations taken at the height of 22 
feet to be reduced ; collecting the observations recorded during 
the period 1867-1870, the differences between the readings of the 
two thermometers were taken, and affixing the sign f/s (+) to | 
the difference when the temperature at the higher elevation ex- 
ceeded that at the lower, and the sign mzzus (—) when vice 
versi. 
On taking the monthly means of these differences, it was 
lee that the mean temperature of the air at 22 ft. high differs 

: rom that at 4 feet by :— 
:. - 9 A.M. Noon. 3 P.M. 9P.M 
q deg. deg. deg. deg. 
In January + 0°5 + 0-2 +o4 . +06 
5, February . + 0°2 oo + O'"4 + 0°5 
egeMarch .) —0O'3 —o'2 0.0 + 0'4 
ess) April —o6 —o0'5 + 0'2 + 0'5 
meviaye. 2 —06) 2 —o4 —0O4 . +05 
ees JUDE)... o8 . -——o'9 0°6 + 08 
Boys july . 3 as —o's —o's + 0'7 
4, August —1'0 —0'5 —oOr . +09 
mu, september —1'°0 . —0o6 . oo. +07 
2 5, October —2°2 —or1 . +06 . +10 
_,, November + 072 Foor Ade ous: +08 
4 », December + 0°5 +:/073),» | FO” + O74 
* Therefore the monthly mean temperature of the air at 22 feet 
was higher than at 4 feet, at all hours of the day and night, in 
January, February, November, and December; in the after- 
moon and during the night hours in the months of March, 
April, August, September, and October ; in the evening hours 
and during the night, in the months of May, June, and July ; 
and that the results in one year agreed very closely with those 
the same months in other years. 
- By selecting the largest number with a + sign, and the largest 
with a — sign in each month, it was found that in the winter months 
the temperature at 22 feet high ranged from 2° to 4° above, 
and from 1° to 2° below that at 4 feet, and in the summer months 
rom 4° to 5° above and from 4° to 5° below that at 4 feet high. 
_ The ratio of — readings to + was, ih January and February 
as 1 to 5 at all hours. In March, April, August, and September, 
uring the day, one of equality. In May, June, and July, as 3 
o 2 during the day hours. In October, as I to 4; in November, 
to 7; and in December, as 1 toro. At the hour of 9 P.M. 
throughout the year, it was as I to 7. 





NAAT ORE 
af 
Thus the — sign preponderates, indicating lower temperature 
above, during the day hours, in the months of May, June, and 

| July ; the two signs are about equal in number in the months of 
| March, April, August, and September, and the + sign prepon- 
| the rare cerium phosphate from Cornwall. 

derates, denoting higher temperature during the day and night, 
in January, February, October, November, and December, and 
during the night throughout the whole year. 
A second thermometer, carefully protected from radiation, 
was placed in the middle of the year 1869 at the height of 50 
feet, and since then its readings have been regularly taken. 
The mean monthly temperature of the air at 50 feet high was 
found to differ from that on the ground as follows :— 


1869 9 A.M. Noon. 3 P.M OPM 
deg. deg. deg. deg. 
Tn October ae e 025 + 0'7 Ge ty 
,, November + 0°6 +0°5 + 0'8 + 1°4 
3) December a yt O Ogee PuOrsy. a 1055 + .0°5 
1870 
>, January + 1'! ios. +OF . +09 
», February. + O°F —03 OF VE Ons 
=) March OMe. 18 o'7 + 0°7 
» April. . —o9 —2°'2 —I17 + 14 
», May — 24 — 36 —2°8 + I'l 
>> June — 24 — 35 — 31 + .'I 
aa jrutLye — 18 — 29 —2°8 +11 
», August ah —— — 2’0 a= Ae, 
Thus we have the unexpected results that the mean monthly 
temperature of the air at 22 feet and at 50 feet high is higher 
during the evening and night hours throughout the year than at 
the height of 4 feet, and also higher night and day during the 
winter months. 
In conducting the above investigation, it was known that the 
clouds had great influence on the temperature; Mr. Glaisher 
therefore selected those days with a sky covered with dense 
clouds, and it was found that there was on such days no differ- 
ence between the temperature at the heights of 4, 22, and 50 feet. 
At the height of 50 feet, in the summer months, the temperature 
during the day was frequently 6° or 7° lower, and at night 5° or 
6° higher than at 4 feet. 
Section B,—CHEMICAL SCIENCE 
Experiments on the Preservation of Building Stones,—Prof. 
| A. H. Church, M.A. 
This paper gave a brief account of a process for preserving 
stone in which solution of monocalcic phosphate, barium hydrate, 
and dialysed silica are successively employed. Very numerous 
and extensive experiments have been made with this process upon 
public and private buildings. The New Midland Terminus, 
| St. Pancras, has been treated with these solutions, and so have 
the Chapter House, Westminster, and portions of Canterbury 
Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament. The process is now 
the property of the Patent Concrete Stone Company. 
Contributions to Mineralogical Chemistry.—By Prof. Church, 
M.A. 
The author gives an account of his researches into the 
constitution of numerous mineral species. The paper gives 
a list of the nine species which he has discovered, including 
The paper also 
contains the chief results which its author has obtained in the 
analyses performed by him during the last seven years with a 
view to the revision of the formule of the mineral phosphates 
and arseniates. References to the original memoirs are given 
under the description of each mineral. Prof. Church lays great 
stress, in the prefatory remarks to his paper, on the importance of 
ascertaining the hygroscopic water of minerals, and of obtaining 
the samples for analysis ina state of freedom from admixture by 
foreign and intruding bodies. 

SEcTION D.—BIoLocy 
Department of Zoology and Botany 
Prof. Huxley, President of the Association, read a paper on 
the relations of Penicillium, Torula, and Bacterium, in which he 
showed the extreme probability, if not amounting to absolute 
demonstration, perhaps going as far towards it as the extreme 
difficulty of the investigation of the subject admitted, that these 
two latter forms were but stages of the first. Prof. Huxley gave 
| an account of his experiments and researches, which were carried 
