158 Proceedings of the British Association. 



trum, Mr. DoUond has constructed for me some important pieces 

 of apparatus for directing and condensing the solar rays; and I 

 have recently obtained from Mr. Herz, of Munich, a ver3'" large 

 prism, to be used with the telescope, and a series of smaller prisms 

 for constructing a prismatic cylinder for the purpose of expanding 

 or magnifying particular parts of the spectrum. 



Prof. Whewell stated that the times of high water on the east 

 coast of Britain, and the north coast of Belgium, Holland, and 

 Germany, had led him to the conclusion that there must lie to- 

 wards the middle of the German Ocean, a central space, in wldch 

 the rise and fall of the tide vanishes. He presented a letter writ- 

 ten by Capt. Hewett, who was lost in H. M. S. Fairy, in the 

 German Ocean in 1840. Capt. H. had endeavored to decide the 

 point by a series of observations, the details of which are given 

 in the letter, and afford strong confirmation of the views of Prof. 

 Whewell. 



Mr. J. Scott Russell read a Notice Supplementary to the former 

 Report on Waves, containing results of experiments made during 

 the year. 



Mr. W. S. Harris communicated a report on the working of 

 WhewelVs Anemometer at Plymouth during the year past. He 

 exli^bited the curves for the year on a diagram twelve feet high 

 by seven wide, a red tape line showing the total effect. The 

 instrument, after having undergone certain improvements, appears 

 now to be entirely satisfactory. The mean result of the year's 

 observations, shows at Plymouth an annual movement of the air 

 from the S. S. E. toward the N. N. W. nearly. If we connect 

 this fact with the results obtained from ihe hourly meteorological 

 observations at the Dock-yard, we are entitled to say, so far as 

 our experiments extend, that there is an annual movement of the 

 atmosphere in this latitude towards the north, under a mean pres- 

 sure of 29.9 inches nearly, taken at the level of the sea, and a 

 mean temperature of 52° Fah. Having traced an annual move- 

 ment in the air, it remains to determine its rate of motion. This, 

 although at first sight a difficult matter, he hopes to accomplish 

 by a mode of experiment now in progress. 



Further Researches on Rain, by .Tohn Phillips, and at Harraby, 

 near Carlisle, by Joseph Atkinson, Esq. At previous meetings 

 of the Association, Mr. P. had offered a series of experiments on 

 the quantities of rain received on equal horizontal areas, at differ- 



