222 Proceedings of the British Association. 



SATURDAY. 



* On some Points in the Meteorology of Bombay/ by Col. 

 Sabine. — It would be impossible, within reasonable space, to give an 

 intelligible abstract of this communication, it being itself a statement 

 of conclusions derived from multitudinous observations. This, how- 

 ever, is to be the less regretted, as the communication is to be print- 

 ed in the next volume of the Reports. The following are a few parti- 

 culars, selected as a sample : — In a communication to Section A. at 

 York, it had been shown, by a comparison of the two-hourly ob- 

 servations at Toronto, that when the gaseous and vapour pressures 

 had been distinguished in the total barometer pressure, their annual 

 and diurnal variations exhibited a striking and instructive accordance 

 with the annual and diurnal variations of the temperature. And 

 when these were projected in curves the characteristic features were 

 seen to be the same, consisting in each case of a single progression, 

 having one ascending and one descending branch. The epochs of 

 maxima and minima, and other circumstances, having so close a 

 correspondence as to manifest an intimate connection. The conclu- 

 sions deduced from the facts at the York meeting, being compared 

 with the results derived from the observations of M. Kreil at Prague, 

 showed that the characteristic features of the periodical variations at 

 Toronto were not peculiar to that locality, but might rather be consi- 

 dered as belonging to a station in the temperate zone, and in the 

 midst of a continent. Soon after the York meeting, the publication 

 of the Greenwich Magnetical and Meteorological Observations for 1842 

 enabled Colonel Sabine to add a postscript to the printed account of 

 this comparison ; showing the correspondence of the results at Green- 

 wich with the periodical march of the phenomena at Prague and 

 Toronto. From these premises it was inferred, that the normal 

 state of the diurnal varieties of the pressures of air and vapour, and 

 of the force of the wind in the temperate zone, might be that of a 

 single progression, with one maximum and one minimum, the epochs 

 of which should nearly coincide with those of the maximum and 

 minimum of temperature. But a more complex state of the pheno- 

 mena was to be looked for in particular localities, particularly where 

 a juxta-position should exist of columns of air resting on surfaces 



