1867.] Chemical Science. 565 



three papers were read. The first was a very important one, by 

 Professor Wheatstone, " On a New Telegraphic Thermometer." 

 The apparatus consists of two distinct instruments, connected only 

 by telegraphic wires. The first is called the questioner, the second 

 the responder. With this apparatus the indications are not spon- 

 taneously conveyed to the observer, but they must be asked for, and 

 whenever this is done the indications will be immediately trans- 

 mitted to him, however frequently the question is put. The uses 

 to which this Telegraphic Thermometer may be applied, are, among 

 others, the following : — the responder may be placed at the top of a 

 high mountain and left there for any length of time, while its indi- 

 cations may be read at any station below. Thus, if there should be 

 no insuperable difficulties in placing the wires, the indications of a 

 thermometer placed at the summit of Mont Blanc may be read as 

 often as required at Chamouni. A year's hourly observations 

 under such circumstances would no doubt be of great value. If it 

 be required to ascertain during a long-continued period the tem- 

 perature of the earth at different depths below its surface, several 

 responders may be permanently buried at the required depths. It 

 will not be requisite to have separate questioners for each, as the 

 same may be applied successively 'to all the different wires. The 

 responder, made perfectly water-tight, in which there would be no 

 difficulty, might be lowered to the bottom of the sea, and its 

 indications read at any intervals during its descent. In the present 

 mode of making marine thermometric observations, it is necessary 

 that the thermometer should be raised whenever a fresh observation 

 is required to be made. 



The next paper was one by Major Tennant, regarding the steps 

 that are being taken by the Indian Government to ensure extensive 

 and correct observations of the total solar eclipse of 1868. This 

 will be seen to great advantage in India, and the totality will last 

 almost the maximum" possible time — about five-and-a-half minutes. 

 Arrangements will be made to obtain as many photographs as 

 possible of the phenomena of totality, and spectrum-observations 

 will also be made of the corona. 



Chemical Science. (Section B.) 



The President of this Section, Professor Thomas Anderson, 

 opened the proceedings on Thursday, the 5th of September, by an 

 address, in which he passed in review the new theories which have 

 lately been introduced into Chemistry, which have had the effect of 

 unsettling the views formerly entertained without as yet introducing 

 anything conclusive in their place. Dalton's atomic theory has 

 proved itself no longer sufficient ; it has done its work, and in the 



