1881] H. F. Blanford — Van BysselhergTie Meteorograph. 65 



2. An English Translation of the Susruta, to be prepared by Dr. 

 U. C. Datta. This is an ancient Hindu medical work, hardly less impor- 

 tant than the Charaka. A portion of it has been already translated by 

 another Babu, under the supervision of Dr. Charles, who has placed his MS. 

 at the service of the Society. 



3. The JVaqaid el Fezazdaq and Jerir, to be edited by Mr. 

 C. J. Lyall in conjunction with Dr. Wright of Cambridge. This work is 

 extremely interesting both from the philological and historical point 

 of view, as it abounds in references to the old pagan history of the Arabs, 

 and the commentary with which the text is provided elucidates many 

 obscure points of that subject. 



Mr. H. F. Blanfoed, F. R. S. exhibited photographs of the Van Rys- 



selberghe Meteorograph, and specimens of the engraved plates produced 

 by it, with proof impressions from them ; and gave a general description of 

 the instrument and its working. A specimen of the record obtained will 

 be found in plate I. 



After referring to the fact that eye readings of instruments, if taken 

 only 3 or 4 times in the day were insufficient to meet the demands of 

 modern Meteorological enquiry, and if taken hourly and carried on night and 

 day, demanded such an establishment of observers as to practically restrict 

 detailed observation to a few costly observatories, he observed that, for nearly 

 half a century, inventive ingenuity had been directed to the construction of 

 self-registering or autographic instruments. Among the earlier inven- 

 tions of the kind were WhewelPs and Osier's anemographs, King's 

 barograph, &c, and among the more elaborate of later inventions, the 

 Kew thermographs and barographs which register by photography, Theo- 

 rell's barograph which prints in figures the value of the barometer reading 

 at short intervals, and Beckley's anemograph. 



These instruments were designed to register either one element of 

 observation only, or at the utmost two, as in the case of the thermograph 

 and the anemograph. But some inventors had gone beyond this, and had aimed 

 at registering all the more important elements of meteorological observa- 

 tion by means of one and the same recording apparatus. Such instru- 

 ments are termed meteorographs, and in order to establish communication 

 between the several instruments and the recording apparatus, the former 

 fixed in various parts of the building according to the character of the 

 required exposure, the latter in a secure place in the interior of the build- 

 ing, the aid of electricity had to be called in. A very elaborate instrument 

 of this kind had been in operation for many years at Berne ; another, 

 less elaborate, invented by the late Father Secchi, at Rome ; and also at 

 Zi-ka-wei near Shanghae and at St. Xavier's College at Calcutta. But 

 the latest and most compact, and at the same time the least costly and 



