56 REPORT 1860. 



any period ; the other, by the continuous precipitation of the vapour from alcohol, re- 

 cords the mean amount of difference between the wet and dry bulbs. The curves laid 

 down from these instruments varied very greatly from that of the ordinary observa- 

 tions at 9 a.m. The instruments are very simple, and not capable of derangement. 

 Curves were also exhibited showing the character of the climate of Torquay during 

 a long series of years, from observations periodically communicated to the Registrar- 

 General. The comparison with the average of other places in England showed the 

 climate of South Devon to be very much more equable, both in regard to temperature 

 and humidity. The summers are as much cooler as the winters are more mild. 

 The fall of rain is rather greater, but the number of wet days is less. Other curves 

 exhibited the degree of confidence to be placed in the barometer in prognosticating 

 changes in the weather, and the influence of the moon, which was only discoverable 

 in the more disturbed state of the atmosphere at the times of the spring tides. 



Results of Ten Years' Meteorological Observations at Stonyhurst. 

 By the Rev. A. Weld. 



Stonyhurst College is situated in the county of Lancashire, in lat. 53° 50' 40" N., 

 and long. 9° 52' W. It stands at an elevation of 380 feet in the S.E. vicinity of 

 Longridge Fell, which rises upon elevated broken undulations from the bed of the 

 Kibble to 1140 feet. In the centre of the garden, which commands a wide extent 

 of country, was chosen the site for the observatory, having on all sides generally a 

 free and distant horizon. The observatory contains a 5-foot equatorial, a meridian 

 circle 2\ feet diameter, a transit instrument, two transit clocks, and a considerable 

 meteorological apparatus. The report opens with an historical sketch of the origin 

 of the Meteorological Observations in 1847. The instruments have been compared 

 ■with standards by Mr. Glaisher, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The report 

 extends over ten years, from the beginning of 1848 to the end of 1857. The chief 

 instruments recorded have been the barometer ; the dry and wet bulb ; the highest 

 and lowest readings of the thermometer in the shade ; the highest of a thermometer 

 "with a blackened bulb exposed to the sun's rays, and the lowest of a thermometer 

 exposed upon grass ; the direction and estimated force of the wind, and the amount 

 of cloud at the time of each observation ; the daily and monthly fall of rain and 

 snow ; amount of evaporation from an exposed surface of water ; the general cir- 

 cumstances observed to attend Aurora Borealis and thunder-storms ; and a general 

 description of the state of the weather and appearance of the sky. The observations 

 were recorded at 9 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., and 9 p. m., local time, which have been 

 made, almost without exception, throughout. The report describes at length the 

 methods used in recording and reducing the observations. Then follow the tables 

 and very carefully executed curves and diagrams, with explanatory notes interspersed. 



General Physics. 



Physics as a Branch of the Science of Motion. 

 By J. S. Stuart Glennie, M.A. 



In order that the great aim of modern science may be accomplished, and 

 mechanical principles be rigorously applied to physical and chemical phenomena, 

 it seems clear that physical and chemical forces must be conceived in the same 

 ■way as mechanical forces. Therefore, as the general condition of the development 

 of a mechanical force, and, consequently, of a mechanical motion, is a difference of 

 pressures, and as a mechanical motion is in the direction of least pressure, a phy- 

 sical or chemical force must be similarly conceived as a difference of pressures, and 

 attractions and affinities explained as motions in the direction of least resistance : 

 and as the cause of an ordinary mechanical motion is no supernatural or unrelated 

 entity or agent, but simply the condition or relation of difference among a set of 

 mutual pressures, so the causes of physical and chemical motions must be conceived, 

 not as agents, but as relations. But as (though an absolute force is inconceivable) 



