1869.] Meteorological Observations at the Central Observatory. 7 



and Barnaoul have, on the mean, almost exactly the same degree of hu- 

 midity, the greater amount of vapour at Kew being balanced, in its influence 

 on the humidity, by the higher temperature. Nertchinsk is both the 

 coldest and the driest. 



So far as the purposes of the Meteorological Committee can yet be con- 

 sidered as settled, it is their intention to combine the results of every five 

 years of observation into a Table of Diurnal Variations, similar to that 

 which is now presented for Kew for a single year. A second period of five 

 years will yield a second Table ; and two such combined will form a ten- 

 year Table, more satisfactory than either of its two component parts, but 

 still open to correction by incorporation with subsequent periods of equal 

 duration. 



The other six observatories of the system established by the British 

 Government, viz. Aberdeen, Armagh, Falmouth, Glasgow, Stonyhurst, 

 and Valencia*, have received their instruments, which had been prepared 

 and verified at the Central Observatory (Kew), where also those who 

 were to work with them had received personal instruction in their use ; 

 and on the completion of these and all other needful arrangements, the 

 six observatories commenced on July 1, 1868, a continuous record corre- 

 sponding in all respects to that at Kew. The photograms and the tabu- 

 lations prepared from them at the several observatories are transmitted 

 monthly to Kew, where they undergo careful examination, and revision if 

 required ; and at the expiration of a second month they are sent, with 

 the records prepared at Kew itself, to the Meteorological Office, where, 

 under the direction of Mr. Scott, they are formed into Tables, and used 

 for all meteorological purposes for which they may be available. The 

 mode and extent in which the information thus obtained may be most 

 suitably communicated to the public are not yet fully determined, but are 

 receiving careful consideration. 



Table II. (which occupies the next 5 or 6 pages) exhibits the annual 

 variations at the three stations, analogous to the diurnal variations shown 

 in Table I. It is obvious that such Tables cannot but assist greatly in 

 studying the climatological phenomena in different localities ; but a dis- 

 cussion of them would be premature until a wider observational basis is 

 provided. 



* It was the purpose of the Committee, approved by the Board of Trade, that there 

 should have been an eighth meteorological station, viz. one in the north of Scotland. 

 In the first estimate sent to the Treasury by the Board of Trade, the necessary cost of 

 such a station was included ; but on the receipt of a letter from the Treasury to the 

 Board of Trade, June 5, 1867, stating that " in the estimates for the current year My 

 Lords are aware that they have proposed a less sum than had been estimated for, and 

 intend that the arrangements to be made by the Committee should be curtailed accord- 

 ingly," the meteorological station in the north of Scotland was in consequence curtailed. 



