430 



NATURE 



{Sept. 24, 1874 



4. " Although the Conference is of opinion that, as far as the 

 general scope of meteorological inquiry goes, tlie same form of 

 register should be supplied to merchant ships as to men of war, 

 it declares it will be most desirable tliat, besides the regular 

 observations, a more extended scale for scientific inquiry should 

 be adopted on board ships of war, as in such cases there is a large 

 number of suitable officers, as well as more means for carrying 

 on the service. As examples of observations which are of im- 

 portance for the development of Maritime Meteorology, over 

 snd above the regulations embodied in the scientific instructions 

 given to Naval expeditions for the special purpose of the 

 advancement of science, the following suggestions may be 

 enumerated : — 



(a) " Possibility of carrying out accurate observations on the 

 velocity of the wind by anemometers at sea. 



(/)) "Possibility of employing rain-gauges satisfactorily at sea. 



\c) "Observations with Regnault's and other hygrometers, 

 and experiments on the best mode of observing wet and dry 

 thermometers, and the best position to place them in on board 

 ship. 



(il) " Currents at the surface and at depths lo be observed with 

 great minuteness, with the special object of defining their limits. 



(t') " The comparison of various instruments, among which are 

 expressly mentioned that of aneroids with mercurial barometers. 

 It is further deemed very desirable that frequent comparisons 

 should be instituted between the instruments used at sea and 

 meteorological stations on shore in various countries. 



(/) " Deep-sea soundings and temperatures, with specimens 

 of water. 



(g) " The collecting of information on Ocean Meteorology at 

 outlying stations. 



(h) The furnishing of synchronous observations at oh. 43m. 

 G. M. T., in accordance with the suggestion and request of the 

 United States Signal Office." 



VI. — Discussion. 



Can general suggestions be That it is desirable that every 

 thrown out as to the most pro- Institution should publish the 

 fitable mode of discussing the observations and results in such 

 observations ? a manner that every foreign in- 



stitute can incorporate them with 

 its own observations and results 

 in the easiest way possible ; that 

 is, by preserving the number of 

 observations, together with any 

 means derived from them, for 

 single square degrees. 



That it is further desirable 

 that, whatever charts be pub- 

 lished, the results for single 

 square degrees should be pub- 

 lished in a tabular form. 



That it seems desirable for the 

 use of the sailor that each chart 

 should have reference to only 

 one elemen', or, at least, only to 

 elements closely related to each 

 other. 



VII. — Subjects of Inquiry. 



To what extent can a divi- 

 sion of labour, as regards sub- 

 jects of inquiiy, be carried out 

 in a spirit of fairness to the 

 collecting and discussing esla- 

 blisl.meuts respectively ? 



That the divi.sion of labour, 

 as regards investigations, can only 

 be carried out by mutual agree- 

 ment between the several insti- 

 tutions ; and each institution 

 s'lould announce to other insti- 

 tutions what investigations it 

 proposes to undertake. 



It is very desinable that such 

 divisions of labour should be 

 effected. 



VIII.— Sailing Directions. 



In how far are purely practi- That the sailor wants the 



cal investigations, such as the result of experience alone, and he 



preparation of sailing direc- must receive assurance that his 



tions, admissible for a scien- observations have been turned 



lific institution? to use. When these results of 



experience have been given, the 



theorist may point out the reason 



why certain routes arc tlie best. 



It was resolved, that Cajit. Toynbee's i-emarks on the pro- 

 gramme should be printed in full, with extracts from the remarks 

 of other gentlemen, should they contain important suggestions. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



Reports 



Report of the Committee on Luminous Meteors, by Mr. Glaisher. 

 — The appearance of meteors noticed in published journals, and 

 otherwise ascertained by the committee during the past year, 

 include some striking examples of such remarkable exhibitions, 

 discussed and investigated very ably by astronomers, as well as 

 of others passing almost unobserved excepting by accidental 

 gazers. A few such large meteors were doubly observed in 

 England. Some have been visible in the day-time, while many 

 other large and small fire-balls have Ijeen described to the com- 

 mittee, of which it is to be regi'etted that notices have hitherto 

 only reached them from single observers. The months in which 

 these phenomena have been most abundant were .September, 

 December, and January last, April, June, and again quite 

 recently, the last few days of July and beghining of August of 

 this year. The report contains descriptions of the brightest of 

 these meteors, and an account of Prof. Galle's calculations and 

 inquiries regarding the real cause of two large meteors which 

 passed over Austria on the 12th and 19th of June last, with the 

 probable path that he assigned to them. If a m.ass of burning 

 sulphur found on the giound immediately after the disappearance 

 of the latter meteor is not considered presumalily meteoric, no 

 occurrence of a fall of aerolites, as far as the committee is aware, 

 has taken place during the past year. 



The annual star-showers have been watched for ynih the usual 

 attention of observers in correspondence with the committee ; 

 and the results of their combined observations are described, with 

 accounts of some other occasional star-showers, at some length 

 in the descriptive part of the report. Although little important 

 information was thus added this year to our present well-known 

 star-showers of January, April, and October, and the cometary 

 meteor showers of November 14 and 27, connected with 

 Tempel's and with Biela's comet, all of which, in spite of very 

 favourable weather for their observations, were this year most re- 

 markable by their non-appearance ; yet the fluctuating intensities 

 of these showers at their successive periodic dates are an important 

 element to record ; and in the case of the star-showers of August 

 10 and December 12 of tlie past year, the watch was at least 

 attended ^\ ith more positive success. IDuplicate observations of 

 meteors were obtained in them, and the general centre of diver- 

 gence of each of these two meteor-currents was pretty exac'ly 

 ascertained. Bright meteors were more frequent on each of these 

 two nights than is at all usual in ordinary exhibitions of those 

 showers. It will be found among these observations that the 

 return of Biela's meteor-shower on the 27th of November last dis- 

 appointed expectation, and the small extent and rapid departure . 

 ol that meteor-cloud from the earth's neighbourhood is clearly 

 shown by its visibility a s a star-shower only for a single year. 



The duplicate observations described in former reports have 

 been reduced at the- request of the committee by Mr. T. 11. 

 Waller, whose report of these calculations is added, and whose 

 conclusions of their real heights and velocities are without doubt 

 very accurate and complete. 



The publication of Capt. Tupman's observations of shooting 

 stars in the Mediterranean during the years 1869-71, with the list 

 of radiant points obtained from them and shown on a pair of 

 charts accompanying them by Capt. Tupman, is now brought 

 to a close, and the catalogue and charts have been sent 

 to astronomers and correspondents of the committee in Eng- 

 land and abroad, and in America, and discussions of these 

 in foreign scientific journals have appeared, showing the 

 important light in which tlic appearance of this valuable new 

 meteor catalogue has been regarded. Its principal part, the 

 comparative catalogue of his meteor-showers with those of other 

 observers, and the charts on which they are projected, are pre- 

 sented in this report, with Dr. Schmidt's similar catalogue (tlie 

 remaining two principal meteor-shower lists, of wliicli no account 

 has yet appeared in these reports), thus placing before readers 

 of recent volumes of these reports all the material contributions 

 to this branch of meteoric astronomy that have yet been made. 



They are summed up in a veiy concise catalogue at the end of 

 this report by Mr. Greg, who has selected, to corroborate such 

 observations already published in his former lists, the greater 



