On contemporaneous Meteorological Observations. 153 



Sir, — In the Edinburgh Journal of Science, published in 

 June, one of the articles of scientific intelligence is on Me- 

 teorology, originating with the Royal Society of Edinburgh ; 

 with a request that observations might be made in different 

 parts of England, and on the Continent, on the barometer, 

 thermometer, raingauge, &c. on the 1 7th of July at every hour 

 of the day. 



Being aware of the importance of such simultaneous obser- 

 vations for determining the relative altitude of the places of 

 observation, as well as other points connected with the physi- 

 cal constitution of the atmosphere, and not seeing a notice of 

 such an object in any other periodical work, or in the news- 

 papers, I took the liberty to request the editor of the Courier 

 to admit a notice to that effect in that paper, which was very 

 liberally complied with. 



In consequence of this notice I have received several com- 

 munications from different parts of Great Britain; and al- 

 though much praise is due to the gentlemen who took the 

 trouble to register the hourly state of their instruments, it is 

 to be regretted that many of them were only entered to two 

 places of decimals instead of three, which in good barometers 

 may be done ; which, when connected with observations on 

 the temperature of the air, and the degree of moisture by some 

 instrument that will enable us to find the dew point, afford data 

 for determining the relative heights of the stations with tole- 

 rable accuracy, and may serve, if occasionally repeated, to 

 furnish a table of the real altitude of every place of consequence 

 in Great Britain, and thereby supply the defect in all our geo- 

 graphical books ; which, in defining the position of a place, at 

 present only give us two out of three ordinates, viz. latitude 

 and longitude. 



And when it is known that actual sections of the surface of 

 England have been obtained by levelling in almost all direc- 

 tions, I presume the labour in reducing the necessary infor- 

 mation to one general list or table will not be great. 



The task of observing every hour in the day appears to me 

 more than necessary. The times of observation at the Royal 

 Society's house in London are 9 h A.M. and 3 h P.M. ; and 

 as these are taken daily, opportunity is thus afforded to deter- 

 mine the heights of all places within a moderate distance from 

 London. 



I am, sir, yours truly, 



B. Bevan. 



P.S. Improved rules for calculating the height of places may 

 be seen in Daniell's Meteorological Essays. 



Vol. 68. No. 340. Aug. 1826. U major 



