INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



BY THE 



COUNCIL OF THE SCOTTISH METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The whole responsibility of erecting and equipping the Observatories and carrying 

 on the Observations on Ben Nevis was undertaken by the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society ; and the management of the Scientific work was placed in the Council of 

 the Society, along with representatives appointed by the Royal Society of London, 

 the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, which 

 together constitute the Directors of the Observatories. 



The Council of the Scottish Meteorological Society have been enabled to publish 

 this account of the Meteorology of Ben Nevis by the liberality of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh, as the Scottish Meteorological Society has no funds at its disposal 

 for the purpose. The publication forms Vol. XXXIV. of the Royal Society's 

 Transactions, and consists of the detailed Hourly Observations made at the Ben 

 Nevis Observatory and the five Daily Observations at Fort- William, from December 

 1, 1883, to December 31, 1887, and prefaced by a Report by Dr Buchan, Secretary 

 of the Scottish Meteorological Society, on the Meteorology of Ben Nevis, based on 

 these Observations. 



The reasons which led to the establishment of this High Level Observatory 

 and the tentative steps taken preliminary to the raising of the funds for the 

 erection of the buildings are detailed in pages ii. and iii. of the Report. An 

 appeal to the public for funds was made early in 1883, and, mainly by the great 

 personal exertions of members of a Committee of the Council of the Scottish 

 Meteorological Society,* the necessary funds were soon collected,t the Observatory 

 was built, and the regular Hourly Observations were begun in the end of 

 November of that year. 



* This Committee, called the Building Committee, consisted of John Murray, Convener, D. Milne Home 

 of Milne-Graden, Thomas Stevenson, James Sanderson, Arthur Mitchell, Alexander Buchan. 

 t See Subscription List appended. 



