12 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [dec. 6, 
Scotland — a condition of things to which there is apparently 
nothing analogous on the East Coast. 
This influence is due to the great depth of the lochs and their 
exposure to summer heat, and does not appear to he entirely inde- 
pendent of the effects produced by the warm Atlantic water, which 
flows over the shallow ridge stretching from Can tyre to the Ayr- 
shire coast. Some of the preliminary results of these researches 
have been presented to the Society by Dr Mill, hut all the observa- 
tions are now in course of preparation for publication, and will 
furnish physicists and meteorologists with many much-needed data. 
I have already referred to the extra volume of the Society’s 
Transactions , containing the Ben Nevis Observatory observations, 
which will shortly be in the hands of the Fellows. Among meteor- 
ologists in all parts of the world there has long been a desire 
expressed to be furnished with copies of the Ben Nevis observa- 
tions, and as the Directors have no funds for the purpose, the 
Council have in the circumstances considered it a duty to under- 
take their publication. 
The Fellows are reminded that the Observatory buildings and 
the road thereto are the property of the Royal Society of Edin- 
burgh, that several donations from the Society’s funds were made 
towards covering the expenses of the preliminary observations 
before the erection of the permanent Observatory, and that the 
direction of the Observatory is largely in the hands of the repre- 
sentatives and Fellows of this Society. The Society has, therefore, 
a deep interest in all that concerns the welfare of this unique high- 
class Observatory. 
As you are aware, the Observatory was erected in the summer of 
1883, and formally opened by Mrs Cameron Campbell of Monzie, 
the proprietrix of the land, on 17th October ; immediately thereafter 
Mr Omond and two assistants went into residence, and the regular 
work of hourly observations began in the end of November; the 
Observatory was equipped with the best instruments that could be 
obtained, several of these being of a novel character, suited to the 
peculiar climate of the Observatory and to the new lines of observa- 
tion it was proposed to carry out. 
Ben Nevis was selected not merely as the highest mountain in 
