1869.] 



President's At/dress. 



103 



Committee, and they have at length arrived at what, they have reason to 

 hope, will be a most satisfactory solution of the question, through a com- 

 munication with Professor Julius Victor Carus, of Leipsic, who they found 

 would be willing himself to undertake the task. I am happy to announce 

 that the Council, acting on the recommendation of the Library Committee, 

 have entered into a very satisfactory arrangement with Professor Carus, 

 who will be able to commence his labours in the ensuing spring. From 

 the well-known scientific accomplishment of Professor Carus, and his 

 extensive experience in the peculiar work to be performed, as well as the 

 confidence which will be reposed in him by all acquainted with the nature 

 of the undertaking and interested in its success, we may consider the So- 

 ciety most fortunate in securing his services. 



The Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, superintended 

 by a Committee of the Royal Society, is making good progress, under the 

 able direction of Mr. Robert Scott, towards the fulfilment of the objects 

 for which it was constituted. In respect to the Meteorology of the United 

 Kingdom, the seven observatories distributed over its surface and maintained 

 at the public expense are all in thoroughly good working order, transmitting 

 their self-recorded results monthly to the central establishment, where they 

 undergo a careful revision before their final acceptance. The first publi- 

 cation of the numerical results, which will be complete for each of the 

 seven observatories for the year 1869, will take place towards the end of 

 the first quarter of 1870, and similarly in subsequent years, and will be 

 followed at brief intervals by graphical representations illustrating the 

 phenomena of the weather at times of its most important disturbances. 



The other departments of the office show also a healthy activity. As 

 regards Ocean Meteorology, the Committee have been enabled to increase 

 their staff, and so to accelerate materially the investigations alluded to in 

 my address of last year ; while the collection of new observations of a high 

 character is also going on steadily. The system of Weather Telegraphy is 

 making solid advances. The Drum Signal is now hoisted at upwards of 

 100 British Stations, and intelligence of atmospheric disturbances felt on 

 our shores is transmitted to the coasts of the continent from Norway to 

 Spain. The results of the transmission of such news to Hamburg have 

 been especially satisfactory. 



The extension of telegraphic communication to the north of Scotland has 

 enabled the Committee to adopt Wick as an observing-station, while the 

 Norwegian authorities have resolved to make use of the direct cable laid 

 down last summer between Scotland and their coast, to exchange informa- 

 tion daily with the office in London. Hitherto the reports from Norway 

 have always reached us via Paris, whereby delays were occasioned. 



The attention of the Committee has also been directed to instituting 

 discussions of the statistics of our weather. The results already obtained 

 in this field lead us to hope that the practical value of such inquiries will 

 soon be manifested. 



