16 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [dec. 6, 
An application to the Government Grant Committee of the 
Boyal Society of London for aid towards the expenses of the 
Observatory has likewise been unsuccessful. 
The refusal of assistance by the London Committees may be 
partly due to the fact that there are many claims on the funds 
which they administer, but it appears also to be very largely due 
to a want of proper knowledge of what has been done, and what 
may be reasonably expected to be done by the Observatory, there 
being no observatory in these islands that can compete with the 
Ben Nevis Observatory for the accuracy and intrinsic value of the 
hourly observations ; and absolutely no pair of stations anywhere 
in the world that can be named alongside the Observatory and the 
station at Fort William, as contributing data in furtherance of our 
knowledge of storms and the science of weather generally. 
The Directors have given much time and thought to the affairs 
of the Observatory during the past four years, and to many of them 
it has been a cause of considerable personal expenditure, for the 
expenses connected with frequent visits made to Ben Nevis for the 
selection of the site, during the building and equipment of the 
Observatory, and its subsequent inspections, have in no case been 
charged against the Observatory funds, but have been borne by the 
individual Directors. Not only so, but it has happened more than 
once that some one of the Directors has placed considerable sums 
to the credit of the Observatory in the bank, to enable the work to 
go on without an hiatus. 
The time has now arrived when it is necessary to place the 
Observatory on some permanent footing, but before another appeal 
is made to the public, the Council of this Society has resolved to 
urge the claims of the Observatory on the consideration of the 
Government, and to ask for a substantial donation towards the 
annual expenses. In this, I feel sure, the Council will have the 
support, not only of the Fellows of the learned Societies of Scotland, 
but of the general public. 
In the infancy of science it was possible, with simple and inex- 
pensive appliances, to discover important facts which were lying as 
it were on the surface, but no discoveries can now be expected 
except by rising high above the surface, as in the case of Ben Nevis, 
or descending far below it, as in the case of the exploration of our 
