CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 399 
binding the covers of scientific magazines to preserve the lists of contents 
as well as the dates of issue. He regretted to find that the British 
Museum, instead of binding the first cover of each number had lately 
only bound the cover of the first part and the last part, usually the one 
in January and the other in December. The only other point Mr. 
Hopkinson wished to draw attention to was this, that the Office of the 
British Association was, after all, the best place at which the transactions 
of the Corresponding Societies could be kept. Every year the titles of a 
selected list of papers from these transactions are published in the Report 
of the British Association, and if anyone wants to refer to a paper in that 
list he knows at once where it can be seen—at the Office of the Association. 
Therefore he thought it was most important that the publications should 
be kept there, where they are bound and carefully preserved, the cost of 
binding them being defrayed out of the annual grant to the Corresponding 
Societies Committee. 
The Reports of the Delegates from the various Sections were then 
received. 
Dr. H. R. Mill, representing Section A, explained that this Section 
was composed this year, as it had been for some time past, of two Sub- 
sections. ‘The Conference of Delegates naturally came more immediately 
- into contact with the Sub-section called, for want of a better name, 
Cosmical Physics, and the Committee of that Section desired him to 
convey to the Delegates their feeling of the value of the work that had 
been done by the Corresponding Societies. Although there was no 
specific question to be laid by the Section before the Delegates, the repre- 
sentative was given a free hand to make any remarks he considered 
appropriate to the occasion. He would refer only to meteorological 
observations. A number of the Societies represented there, notably those 
with which Mr. Hopkinson and Mr. Whitaker were connected, had given 
a great deal of attention to this question of meteorology, and had pub- 
lished each year a most admirable meteorological report of the areas they 
dealt with. A number of other Societies dealt with the same subject 
nearly as completely, and others in a more fragmentary fashion, but there 
was room for a great deal of improvement. The Royal Meteorological 
Society was endeavouring to improve the position of this country in this 
respect, to increase the interest in observation, and to direct it sys- 
tematically. They had sent outa circular in which four questions were put 
to the Fellows of the Society. When these were brought before the local 
Societies the speaker trusted that the Delegates would reinforce the action 
of the Fellows of the Royal Meteorological Society who approached them, 
and would at any rate discuss the matter. If they needed any information 
on the subject they should refer either to the Assistant-Secretary, Mr. 
Marriott, to the speaker, or to any of the officials of the Society, and that 
information would be furnished. He hoped on a future occasion it might 
be possible to make more definite suggestions than at present. The subject 
was one of great interest. The observations were easily made, and when 
brought together could be put to excellent scientific use. 
Mr. Whitaker (Section C) explained that it was the joint desire of 
the Geographical and Geological Sections to get a Committee appointed 
to determine and record the exact significance of local terms applied to 
topographical and geographical objects. All members of the Correspond- 
ing Societies must meet with such terms, and the Delegates are naturally 
