PUi:siDEXl''s ADDRESS. 205 



from tlieir observations. The Fishery laws have been altered, 

 and the vrhole subject is now in a very different position Indeed 

 to what it was when our Club first took up tlie work. Surely 

 we feel some slight gratification that the tiny seed has sprung 

 up and borne such a useful and plentiful harvest ! 



Another field of investigation into the forces which are 

 ever being exerted around us is being very earnestly worked, 

 and rapidly developed, Meteorology. Ko subject attracts more 

 general interest. For some years it was my fortune to render 

 some small service to the Tyneside Club as Editor of the Mete- 

 orological Reports. The demands upon my time, from an ever- 

 growing Parish and other work, compelled me, very reluctantly, 

 to resign that ofiice. To my deep regret, and to the loss of 

 Science, by the breaking up of the able staff of observers, no one 

 was found ready to take up the work, so well commenced and 

 carried on by my predecessor, Mr. Mennell. A series of stations, 

 practically covering the whole of the two coirnties of Durham 

 and Northumberland, afforded opportunities of registering the 

 phenomena of wind and weather, and of recording other natural 

 phenomena, possibly without any parallel in other districts of 

 England. 



Had the Club been able to secure the services of an Editor, 

 we should have had, in the course of a few years, such a mass of 

 recorded facts as would have given us a knowledge of the pecu- 

 liarities of our local climate not to be found elsewhere in our 

 island. But vain are the regrets over lost opportunities ! One 

 can only hope that even yet some one may be found ready to re- 

 sume the work, and with more leisure and far more ability to 

 carry it on in future years. 



It may now almost be said that Meteorolog;y has been lifted 

 from the depths of obscurity -and contempt into the position of 

 one of the highest branches of scientific research. Possibly no 

 single step has been taken for many a year which is likely to 

 lead to discoveries of greater interest and importance than the 

 observations now being taken in the Arctic regions. Hitherto 

 the information obtained from thence on meteorological subjects 

 has been very incomplete. But it has also been felt that from 



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