1866.] 



Presidenfs Address. 



273 



Council were expressly requested to offer suggestions in reference to it. 

 The suggestions wliich they offered in reply have been made known to the 

 Society, in their leading outlines at least, in my Address of last year, and 

 in No. 82 of our * Proceedings.' They have been submitted by the Board 

 of Trade to a Committee appointed by itself, whose general approval they 

 are understood to have received ; and the whole scheme is now under the 

 consideration of Government in respect to its cost. 



The sea-observations, so hopefully spoken of by Captain Maury, were 

 the subject of a very full communication addressed by the President and 

 Council of the Royal Society to the Board of Trade in February 1855, and 

 the recommendations contained therein were made the basis of the instruc- 

 tions given to the Meteorological Office of the Board of Trade at its first 

 formation. The collection of what have since been comprehended under 

 the general designation of Ocean Statistics proceeded for some time 

 with much activity and success under the direction of our lamented Fellow 

 the late Admiral FitzRoy. His exertions and those of his assistants were 

 afterwards in great measure diverted to an object which, if it could be — or, 

 to speak more sanguinely, whenever it shall become — practically attain- 

 able with a fair measure of scientific certainty, will assuredly both deserve 

 and receive in the highest degree general favour and support. I mean 

 the system popularly known by the appellation of " storm-warnings." 

 Meanwhile, if the recommendations of the Royal Society and the inten- 

 tions entertained by the Board of Trade shall now receive the hoped-for 

 sanction of the general government, the collection of ocean statistics and 

 their systematic combination will be resumed with fresh vigour, and with 

 all the aids which experience and matured scientific consideration can 

 afford ; and at the same time, if our hopes respecting the proposed system 

 of Land-Meteorology are realized, and if its fruits correspond in a fair 

 degree to the expectations which we venture to form respecting them, we 

 shall gradually obtain such a more complete knowledge of the laws which 

 govern the changes of weather in the British Islands and their vicinity, as 

 may enable the predictions of approaching storms or " storm-warnings," if 

 now suspended, to be resumed hereafter, and at no very distant period, 

 with far greater confidence and more assured advantage. 



At our last Anniversary I acquainted you that the Legislature of Victoria 

 had voted the sum of jGoOOO for the construction of a large reflecting telescope 

 to be erected at Melbourne and employed in a thorough survey of the Nebulae 

 and multiple stars of the southern hemisphere. They also requested the 

 cooperation of the President and Council of the Royal Society in arranging 

 a contract for the work and superintending its execution. We selected 

 for the task one of our Fellows, Mr. Grubb of Dublin, whose well-known 

 optical and mechanical talents gave sure promise of success, and we obtained 

 for him the advantage and assistance of a Superintending Committee, con- 

 sisting of our late President the Earl of Rosse, Dr. Robinson, and Mr. Warrea 



z 2 



