PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY, 



1850. No. 76. 



May % 1850, 

 The EARL OF ROSSE, President, in the Chair. 

 The following papers were read : — 



1. "On the Meteorology of England during the years 184<75 1848 

 and 1849." By James Glaisher, Esq., F.R.S. 



At the commencement of this paper the author states, that during 

 the three years ending December 1849, meteorological observations 

 on a uniform system have been taken at nearly forty different 

 places, situated between the latitudes of 49^° and 55°, and between 

 the longitudes of 1^° east and 5|-° west of Greenwich, at elevations 

 varying from 30 to 350 feet above the level of the sea. 



Many of 'the instruments which have been used he has himself 

 selected, and prior to their use has determined their index errors ; 

 he has also visited the greater number of the stations, and examined 

 their localities, the position of the instruments, &c. 



The results from each station at the end of every quarter were 

 forwarded to him ; these he tested in every possible way ; and those 

 returns only which were found good enough to stand this examina- 

 tion were published at the end of every quarter in the Q.uarterly 

 Reports of the Registrar-General. The object of this paper, the 

 author states, to be not only the deduction of mean values from the 

 combination of all these published results, but also the deduction 

 from them of formulaj, for the purpose of testing the accuracy of 

 the observations generally, and thus ascertaining the degree of con- 

 fidence which may be placed in meteorological observations as now 

 carried on, and if possible the deduction of the errors of the read- 

 ings of those instruments which had not been directly compared 

 with standards. 



He then gives the mean numerical values for the years 1847} 1848 

 and 1849 in different parallels of latitude. By comparison of these 

 he deduces general formulse, and then compares the results as found 

 from observation with those deduced from calculation, for every 

 place of observation in the year 1849. Proceeding to the con- 

 sideration of the difference between these two sets of numbers, he 

 finds them to be mostly small ; and hence concludes that the instru- 



1 



