656 REPORT—1899. 
tributed. The meteorological results obtained during the past year have been 
important ; some records in cyclones and anti-cyclones are discussed by my 
assistant, Mr. Clayton, in the Observatory ‘ Bulletin,’ No. 1, 1899, and his deduc- 
tions from this investigation support the convectional theory of the formation of 
cyclones. The writer has given a general account of the use of kites at Blue Hill 
in a paper published in ‘ Quart. Journ. Roy. Met. Soc.,’ October 1898. 
The value of kites for meteorological observations, which was demonstrated at 
Blue Hill, has led to their trial in the United States and in Europe. The attempt 
of the United States Weather Bureau to secure each day records with kites a mile 
above sixteen stations was unsuccessful for forecasting, on account of light winds, 
which prevented daily flights at all the stations. The German and Russian 
meteorological bureaux will employ kites at Hamburg, Berlin, and St. Petersburg ; 
and at Trappes, near Paris, M. L. Teisserenc de Bort has already got records at 
great heights. It appears, therefore, that henceforth the equipment of a meteoro- 
logical observatory should include the kite (and perhaps the captive balloon for 
use when wind is lacking), so that automatic records may be obtained at the height 
of a mile or two in the free air at the same time that observations are made at the 
ground. 
6. Remarks concerning the First Crossing of the Channel by a Balloon. 
By A. Lawrence Rotcu. 
The author gave a brief account of the balloon voyage of M. Blanchard and Dr. 
Jeffries from Dover on January 7, 1785. 
7. The Hydro-Aérograph. By F. Navier Denison, Victoria, B.C. 
In 1897 I had the honour of presenting an illustrated paper before the Toronto 
Meeting of this Association, entitled ‘The Great Lakes as a Sensitive Barometer.’ 
It was then mentioned that the writer, in order to prove the direct action of atmo- 
spheric waves upon the lake’s surface, had devised an automatic instrument to 
synchronously record both phenomena upon the same time sheet, and suggested 
for it the above name. The records from this instrument have not only demon- 
strated the direct action of atmospheric undulations upon the water, but have 
graphically shown that various types of undulations occur before the approach of 
important storms. 
In order to more thoroughly prove the practical value of this instrument, Mr. 
Stupart, Director of the Canadian Meteorological Service, permitted me to instal 
another upon the harbour at Victoria, British Columbia, the records to be 
studied in conjunction with the synoptic weather charts recently instituted here 
for the issuing of British Columbian forecasts.!_ The instrument, which was set up 
on the Government Wharf last May, consists of a recording cylinder three feet in 
Tength by two in circumference, which, actuated by clockwork, completes one 
revolution every twenty-four hours. Upon this cylinder rest two automatic 
inking pens; the one on the left records the tidal action, the other the barometric 
changes. The movement of the float in the tidal shaft is transmitted to the 
instrument by means of a special non-oxidisable and flexible wire, which passes up 
to and is coiled several times round the large grooved circumference of the re- 
duction pulley on the floor to the left. From the small grooved circumference 
of this pulley is attached another flexible wire, which passes up to and over a finely 
centred pulley on the left of the instrument, then through a clamp upon the under- 
side of the pen carriage, and finally over another small pulley to a counterweight 
below. 
The ‘ aérographic’ portion of this instrument is decidedly unique, for the huge 
air chamber used is nothing less than an illicit copper whisky still, which was con- 
1 A photograph representing the instrument temporarily mounted was exhibited 
to the Section. 
