lxvi REPORT — 1859. 



desirable to the different Sections to have special reports elaborated ; in such 

 cases the General Committee, in its capacity of the representative assembly 

 of all the Sciences, reserves to itself the right of judging what may be of suf- 

 ficient importance to be thus recorded. 



The special subjects which the Association points out for investigation, 

 in order to supply the gaps which it may have observed, are — either such as 

 the philosopher alone can successfully investigate, because they require the 

 close attention of a practised observer, and a thorough knowledge of the 

 particular subject; or they are such as require the greatest possible number 

 of facts to be obtained. Here science often stands in need of the assistance 

 of the general public, and gratefully accepts any contributions offered, pro- 

 vided the facts be accurately observed. In either case the Association 

 points out what is to be observed, and how it is to be observed. 



The first is the result of the same careful sifting process which the Asso- 

 ciation employs in directing the issue of special Reports. The investigations 

 are entrusted to specially-appointed committees, or selected individuals. 

 They are in most cases not unattended with considerable expense, and the 

 Association, not content with merely suggesting and directing, furnishes by 

 special grants the pecuniary means for defraying the outlay caused by the 

 nature and extent of the inquiry. If we consider that the income of the 

 Association is solely derived from the contributions of its members, the fact 

 that no less a sum than £17,000 has, since its commencement, been thus 

 granted for scientific purposes, is certainly most gratifying. 



The question how to observe, resolves itself into two — that of the scien- 

 tific method which is to be employed in approaching a problem or in making 

 an observation, and that of the philosophical instruments used in the obser- 

 vation or experiment. The Association brings to bear the combined know- 

 ledge and experience of the scientific men, not only of this but of other 

 countries, on the discovery of that method which, while it economizes time 

 and labour, promises the most accurate results. The method to which, 

 after careful examination, the palm has been awarded, is then placed at the 

 free disposal and use of all scientific investigators. The Association also 

 issues, where practicable, printed forms, merely requiring the different heads 

 to be filled up, which, by their uniformity, become an important means for 

 assisting the subsequent reduction of the observations for the abstraction of 

 the laws which they may indicate. 



At the same time most searching tests and inquiries are constantly carried 

 on in the Observatory at Kew, given to the Association by Her Majesty, 

 the object of which is practically to test the relative value of different 

 methods and instruments, and to guide the constantly progressive improve- 

 ments in the construction of the latter. 



The establishment at Kew has undertaken the further important service 

 of verifying and correcting to a fixed standard the instruments of any maker, 

 to enable observations made with them to be reduced to the same numerical 



