1866.] General Sabine — Note on Meteorological Correspondence, 29 



March 8, 1866. 



Lieut. -General SABINE, President, in the Chair. 



i\xr. Archibald Geikie was admitted into the Society. 



The following communications were read : — 



I. "Note on a Correspondence between Her Majesty's Government 

 and the President and Council of the Royal Society regarding 

 Meteorological Observations to be made by Sea and Land/' By 

 Lieutenant- General Sabine, P.R.S. Received March 8, 1866. 



Her Majesty's Government having been pleased to consult the Royal 

 Society on several occasions in the last few years regarding the proper steps 

 to be taken by this country, under the sanction aud authority of its Go- 

 vernment, for the prosecution, in cooperation with the Governments of other 

 States in Europe and America, of systematically conducted meteorological 

 observations by Laud and Sea, it may be desirable to offer to the Fellows a 

 resume of the correspondence, and of the suggestions which from time to 

 time have been tendered on the part of the Society to the several depart, 

 ments of the State. 



The correspondence commenced by a communication from the Foreign 

 Office in March 1852, transmitting, by direction of the Earl of Malmesbury, 

 several documents received from foreign governments in reply to a propo- 

 sition which had been made to them by Her Majesty's Government, for 

 their cooperation in establishing a uniform system of recording meteorolo- 

 gical observations ; and requesting the opinion of the President and Council 

 of the Royal Society in reference to these documents, and more especially 

 in reference to a communication from the Government of the United States 

 of America respecting the manner in which the proposed cooperation might 

 be carried out. 



The reply of the President and Council was dated May 10, 1852. It 

 recognized fully the importance of well-directed and systematically con- 

 ducted meteorological observations, not only for their scientific value, but 

 also on account of the important bearing which correct climatological know- 

 ledge has on the welfare and material interests of the people of every 

 country. With reference to a specific proposal for the adoption, by all 

 countries, of a uniform plan in respect to instruments and modes of obser- 

 vation in meteorological researches on land, the President and Council ex- 

 pressed a doubt whether any practical advantage was likely to be gained by 

 pressing such a recommendation in the then state of meteorological science. 

 Many of the principal Governments of the European Continent had already 



