60 REPORT— 1903. 



Lunar Halos :— January 20, 26,27; February 17, 18; March 28; 

 September 19 ; December 11, 14. 



The question of the advisabiUty of continuing the work at the Ben Nevis 

 Observatories has lately been under consideration, and your Committee 

 consider it advisable to state here briefly the past history of the Observa- 

 tories and their present position, especially in relation to the value of the 

 Observatories in forecastinac Aveather. 



The Meteorological Council, in 1887, when supplying information for a 

 reply to a question put in the House of Commons about the Ben Nevis 

 Observatory, stated that certain telegrams which had been sent from Ben 

 Nevis Observatory at their request were useless for forecasting purposes. 

 This statement was understood by the public to mean that the whole work 

 at Ben Nevis Observatory was useless for forecasting. This view of the 

 matter was corrected (1) in a letter to 'The Times ' by Mr. Omond, and 

 (2) in a Report to the meeting of the British Association from their Ben 

 Nevis Committee in 1887. 



The Low Level Observatory at Fort William, built by the Scottish 

 Meteorological Society, and equipped with the necessary instruments by 

 the Meteorological Council, was opened in July 1890. The full and 

 complete equipment of this Low Level Observatory at Fort William by 

 the Meteorological Council constitutes a feature of the first importance in 

 the history of the two connected Observatories. During the period of the 

 last thirteen years the High and Low Level Observatories have been in 

 complete working order, furnishing in combination the simultaneous 

 hourly observations which, in the opinion of your Committee, were 

 essential in the inquiries instituted at these Observatories into weather 

 changes and general meteorology. 



As regards the seven years previous to 1890, when there were no 

 hourly observations at the Low Level Observatory, what happened in 

 relation to forecasting — that is, to efforts to use high level observations 

 in forecasting — is told in the following extract from the Report of this 

 Committee to the British Association in 1887 : — 



Extract from Report of Ben Nevis Committee of British Associatioji, 1887. 



'On the evening of August 23, 1887, there was a discussion in 

 Parliament on the Vote for the Learned Societies, and in that discussion 

 the next-morning newspapers reported that Mr. Jackson, of the Treasury, 

 Sir John Lubbock, Sir E. Birkbeck, and others, argued against any grant 

 to the Observatory, on the ground that the Meteorological Council, 

 composed of men of the very highest scientific standing, had given it 

 as their opinion that the practical results to be obtained from the 

 Ben Nevis Observatory did not warrant the grant asked for from the 

 Treasury. 



'A word as to this opinion. The Meteorological Council recently 

 printed a memorandum " On Occasional Telegrams from Ben Nevis," 

 signed Frederick Gaster, which was forwarded to the Treasury some time 

 before the discussion came on in Parliament. A copy was also sent to 

 the Directors of the Observatory by instructions from General Strachey. 

 The memorandum concludes thus : " In their existing form the telegrams 

 (from Ben Nevis) are absolutely useless." 



' The whole question turns on the meaning of the phrase " their 

 existing form," which a few sentences will explain. 



