ON SCIENCE-LECTURES AND ORGANIZATION. 499 



for Government are at this moment largely subsidizing the observational part 

 of meteorology. 



It is, however, very evident that unless the facts so accumulated can be 

 thrown open sufficiently to men of science their use will be limited. In the 

 establishment of the Meteorological Office, Government have virtually allowed 

 that the proper maintenance of a sufficient number of observing-stations 

 cannot be expected from private means ; but they appear to have forgotten 

 that it is also necessary to open up these observations to men of science, and 

 to provide the necessary means for discussing them. 



When it is considered that it is now an established fact that meteorological 

 changes have more to do with the production of diseases and death than all 

 other known causes, it will be apparent that, besides its uses for the purposes 

 of navigation and in the operations of the agriculturist, a knowledge of the 

 laws and principles of meteorological science has an important bearing upon 

 the welfare of all classes of the community, and that therefore the advance- 

 ment of meteorology ought to be an object of anxious solicitude to every 

 civilized Government. 



The second point to which I would direct attention is the bearing of Solar 

 Physics upon meteorology. 



Recent investigations have increased the probability of a physical con- 

 nexion between the condition of the sun's surface and the meteorology and 

 magnetism of our globe. 



In the first place, we have the observations of Sir E. Sabine, which seem 

 to indicate a connexion between sun-spots and magnetic disturbances, inas- 

 much as both phenomena are periodical, and have their maxima and minima 

 at the same times. 



On the other hand, the researches of Mr. Baxendell appear to indicate a 

 relation between the daily wind-currents of the earth and its magnetism, and 

 also between the earth's wind-currents and the state of the sun's surface. 



In the last place, the researches of Messrs. De La Rue, Stewart, and 

 Loewy appear to indicate a connexion between the behaviour of sun-spots and 

 the positions of the more prominent planets of our system. Whatever be the 

 probability of the conclusions derived from these various researches, they at 

 least show the wisdom of studying together for the future these various 

 branches of observational science. 



Now, while a good deal has been done of late years in extending meteoro- 

 logical and magnetical observations, very little has been done in the way of 

 taking daily photographs of the sun's surface. Mr. Warren De La Rue has 

 undertaken, since 1862, the charge of the Photo-heliograph belonging to the 

 Royal Society at the Kew Observatory ; and the Royal Society have hitherto 

 contributed yearly funds from the Government Grant for the working of this 

 instrument ; but this annual grant from the Royal Society is about to expire. 

 Unless, therefore, these solar autographs shall continue to be obtained at 

 private expense, we shall, in February 1872, be without a single station, 

 either in the British Isles or, as far as we know, in any favourable part of the 

 earth's surface, from which any thing approaching to a sufficiently regular 

 production and discussion of sun-pictures is likely to proceed. 



It has already been acknowledged by Government, in the formation of the 

 Meteorological Board, that it is beyond the power of private liberality t/t 

 maintain such regular and long-continued observations ; we therefore trust 

 that they will once more come forward and establish stations in which the 

 sun's surface may be regularly mapped, and the positions and areas of sun- 

 spots regularly measured. 



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