PROVISIONAL. REPORTS AND NOTICES. 329 



The only expenditure which has been made from the grant placed at the 

 disposal of the Committee for the current year has been 111. 2s. for a plate 

 of the Transportable Magnetometer lithographed at Gottingen under the 

 direction of M. Weber, the inventor of the Sextant, and admitted duty-free 

 by permission of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. 



(Signed on the part of the Committee) Edward Sabine. 



Report 071 the Hourly Observations at Inverness and Uist. 



In conformity with the wishes of the British Association, the Hourly Ob- 

 servations at Inverness were recommenced on the 1st of November 1840; 

 but a difficulty presented itself to their renewal at Kingussie, which it was 

 not easy to overcome. 



Under these circumstances, I felt that I should promote in the most effec- 

 tual manner the objects which the Association contemplated, by transferring 

 the observations to a more northern locality ; and, with the assistance of Dr. 

 Fleming, I succeeded in establishing them at Balta Sound in Unst, the most 

 northern of the Shetland Islands, already distinguished in the history of science 

 by the astronomical observations made there in 1817 and 1818 by M. Biot 

 and Captain Kater. 



Dr. Edmonston of Buness, whose love of science induced him to enter 

 warmly into the views of the Association, undertook to superintend the ob- 

 servations, which were begun early in the present year. 



The island of Unst being situated in lat. 60° 40', Leith in lat. 55° 58', and 

 Plymouth in lat. 50° 22', and all of them nearly in the same meridian, we 

 shall now obtain a series of hourly observations of peculiar value, from their 

 being made at the extremities and the middle of an arch of the meridian of 

 more than ten degrees. D. Brewster, 



St. Leonard's, St. Andrew's, July 28, 1841. 



Report on the Erection of an Osier's Anemometer at Inverness. 



The Anemometer constructed by Mr. Osier for Inverness, though ready for 

 use, has not yet been erected, in consequence of an unexpected difficulty in 

 finding a suitable building. 



It was at first proposed to erect it on the roof of Raining's school, where 

 the hourly meteorological observations are made by Mr. Mackenzie ; but the 

 roof of this building was not considered strong enough for thf; purpose, and 

 other difficulties prevented this arrangement from being carried into effect. 



The observatory of Inverness was unfortunately in the act of being trans- 

 ferred from one body of proprietors to another, otherwise the anemometer 

 would have been erected on its summit ; but I am informed by Mr. Macken- 

 zie that the transaction is nearly completed, and that the Committee of the 

 Mechanics' Institute, to whom it now belongs, will cheerfully devote a part 

 of it for the reception of the anemometer. D. Brewster. 



St. Leonard's, St. Andrew's, July 22, 1841. 



Report on the State of the Inquiry into the Action of Gaseous and 

 other Media on the Solar Spectrum. 



In prosecuting this inquiry my attention has been principally directed to 

 the action of the earth's atmosphere upon the solar spectrum, and I hope to 

 be able to present to the next meeting of the Association a map of the 

 bands produced by atmospheric absorption. I have also made considerable 



