1 866.] General Sabine — Note on Meteorological Correspondence. 35 



purposes of navigation, but not those which relate to meteorology proper 

 or meteorological observations on land. 



Several documents accompanied this communication, — amongst them a 

 statement by Mr. Babington, chief clerk in Admiral FitzRoy's office, regard- 

 ing the method adopted in the department in regard to forecasts and storm- 

 warnings ; and returns, exhibiting a comparison of the probable force of the 

 wind indicated by signals in the years ending March 31, 1864, and March 

 31, 1865, and its actual state as reported in the three days following the 

 exhibition of the signals. 



The reply of the President and Council was dated June 15, 1865. It 

 suggested the continuance, for the present, of the practice of forecasts and 

 storm-warnings as before, and the continued issue of instructions and forms 

 to such masters of vessels proceeding on distant voyages as might be ex- 

 pected to make a profitable use of them ; both these duties to be continued 

 under Mr. Babington's superintendence, by whom in effect they had been 

 carried on for some time previous to Admiral FitzRoy's decease. And it 

 was further recommended that both the system under which the forecasts 

 and storm- warnings had been hitherto carried on, and the extent and value 

 of the information regarding ocean-statistics which had been accumulated 

 in the office of the Board of Trade, should be subjected to a careful exami- 

 nation. These recommendations were adopted ; and a Committee has been 

 appointed, of three members, one nominated by the Board of Trade, a second 

 by the Admiralty, and a third by the Royal Society, to report on what has 

 been done, and to suggest any modifications which may appear desirable for 

 the future. The report of this Committee is expected to appear very shortly. 



With reference to the subject of Land Meteorology, the President and 

 Council had been apprized by the Board of Trade, in February 1855, that 

 *' observations on land upon an extended scale might hereafter be made 

 and discussed in the meteorological department of the Board," and 

 had been requested to be "prepared for such a contingency." In the 

 more recent correspondence in 1865, the subject of land observations was 

 again brought forward, and the Royal Society was invited to offer sugges- 

 tions in reference to it. Thus appealed to, the President and Council 

 would have failed in their duty if they had not replied fully and expli- 

 citly to a request proceeding from Her Majesty's Government, — care- 

 fully restricting themselves, in their reply, to such suggestions as their 

 own knowledge enabled them to affirm with confidence could be carried 

 into practical operation, and which at the same time enabled them to re- 

 spond to the more general inquiry in the letter from the Board of the 26th 

 of May 1865, viz. "Have the Royal Society any suggestions to make as 

 to the mode, place, or establishment in, at, or by which the duties of the 

 meteorological department can best be performed 1 " 



The reply of the President and Council was as follows : — " There remain, 

 therefore, to be noticed solely the considerations which relate to * Meteo- 

 rology proper,' i. e. to the Land Meteorology of the British Islands. We 



