318 



Anniversary Meeting. [Nov. 30, 



hitherto performed its duties and administered its fnnds with such 

 intelligence and judgment may be disposed to continue their labours/' 

 To this recommendation the Treasury cordially assented ; deciding at 

 the same time that no period should be fixed to the Meteorological 

 Council for their tenure of office, but that it might be terminated by 

 either party at any time on twelve months' notice. 



The Meteorological Office has completed during the past year a 

 series of charts of sea surface temperature, for the three great oceans 

 of the globe, and for the representative months of February, May, 

 August and November. The work, which is now in the course of 

 publication, will consist of twelve large charts, for the Indian, 

 Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans respectively; and of four on a reduced 

 scale, showing, for the four months, the isothermal lines of sea sur- 

 face temperature over the entire globe. In the preparation of these 

 charts, all the observations existing in the Log Books of the Meteoro- 

 logical Office, and in the Remark Books of the ships of Her Majesty's 

 Navy, have been employed, as well as the information which has 

 been already rendered accessible in scientific memoirs, and in the 

 narratives of the great scientific voyages. The isotherms agree sub- 

 stantially with those which have been already given for the months 

 of February and August, in the wind and current charts published 

 by the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty ; but as the 

 present series is founded on a much larger number of observations 

 than have ever before been available for a similar purpose, it may 

 fairly be regarded as a valuable contribution to a not unimportant 

 part of terrestrial physics. Between the limits of 50° north and 

 50° south latitude, the mean annual surface temperature, so far as 

 it can be deduced from the data now available, appears to be 74° "9 F. 

 for the Indian, 69°-5 F. for the Atlantic, and 68°-6 F. for the Pacific 

 Ocean. The North Atlantic is 4 0, 6 F. warmer than the South 

 Atlantic Ocean; the corresponding difference in the case of the 

 Pacific Ocean is only 1°*8 F. 



Among other contributions to Ocean Meteorology, which the past 

 year has producod, I may mention (1) the Physical Charts of the 

 Atlantic Ocean, published by the Deutsche Seewarte, at Hamburg ; 

 (2) the second volume of the narrative of the voyage of H.M.S. 

 " Challenger," containing the magnetical and meteorological observa- 

 tions; and (3) a report by Captain Toynbee, F.R.A.S., on the Gales 

 of the Ocean District adjacent to the Cape of Good Hope, which com- 

 pletes the discussion by the Meteorological Council of the meteorology 

 of that tempestuous part of the sea. 



The meteorology of our own country has been actively studied 

 during the year. The Scottish Meteorological Society have given 

 in their Journal a series of monthly pressure charts for the British 

 Isles, together with a revised edition of the temperature charts 



