xlviii REPORT — 1875, 



Report of the Council for the Year 1874:-75, presented to the General 

 Committee at Bristol on Wednesday, August 2oth, 1875. 



The Council have received Eeporfcs during the past year from the General 

 Treasurer; and his Account for the year wiU be laid before the General 

 Committee this day. 



The General Committee at Belfast referred the following four Resolutions 

 to the Council for their consideration, and they beg to report their proceed- 

 ings in each case : — 



First Resolution. — " That the Council be requested to take such steps 

 as they may deem expedient to urge upon the Government of India 

 the desirableness of continuing Solar Observations in India." 



The Council, having considered this Eesolution, requested the President to 

 embody their views in a Letter to the Government of India. The following 

 is a copy of the letter to the Marquis of Salisbury : — 



" British Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 22 Albemarle Street, London, March 5, 1875. 



*' Mt Loed, — By the desire of the General Committee and of the Council 

 of the British Association, I beg to lay before your Lordship the accom- 

 panying resolutions regarding the continuance of Solar Observations in 

 India. 



" Besearches of the character here contemplated ai;e of comparatively 

 recent date, and have been hitherto pursued with conspicuous ability by 

 independent observers. They may be divided into three distinct groups : — 

 namely. Sun-spot Periodicity ; the relation of that Periodicity to Terrestrial 

 and Planetary phenomena ; and the Physical and Chemical changes of the 

 sun's visible surface. It is the opinion of the Council of the British Associa- 

 tion that observations of the sun conducted under these three heads would 

 furnish results of the highest scientific importance, and that India, presenting 

 as it does every diversity of climate and of atmospheric condition, and every 

 degree of elevation from the sea-level to the greatest mountain heights, is a 

 field eminently suited to the successful prosecution of such observations. 



" The specific proposal -which, on behalf of the Bi'itish Association, I 

 have the honour to submit for your Lordship's consideration is, that the 

 instruments recently supplied for the Observation of the Transit of Venus 

 should, now that they have served that purpose, be made to contribute to 

 the equipment of a Physical Observatorj'' to be established in the Himalayas, 

 the Nielgherries, or some other fit locality. These instruments are suitable 

 for solar observations, and with the addition of a spectroscope and a few 

 other minor adjuncts would suffice for the present. They would be ready to 

 be brought into practical action the moment the necessary buildings, which 

 might be of the simplest and most inexpensive character, are erected. 



" But to extract from solar observations their full value it is necessary 



