110 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
the Advancement of Science now just closed, for the committee appointed 
in 1865 only reported on the state of the Meteorological Department of the 
Board of Trade. 
The Report of the Commission just mentioned has also appeared, and has 
been noticed in our columns ; but, as it goes at some length into the subject 
of Meteorology and the condition of the Meteorological Office, it may,, be 
allowable to refer again to its contents. The commissioners for the most 
part content themselves with reproducing the opinions of some of the gentle- 
men who have given evidence before them. In their remarks on the evidence, 
however, they say (p. 25) : — 
“With respect to meteorology, we are of opinion that the operations of 
the Meteorological Office have been attended with great advantage to science 
and to the country. The subject of Meteorology is a very vast one, and any 
scheme for its proper cultivation or extension must comprise — (1) arrange- 
ments for observing and registering meteorological facts ; (2) arrangements 
for the reduction, discussion, and publication of the observations; (3) re- 
searches undertaken for the purpose of discovering the physical causes of the 
phenomena observed. The resources placed at the disposal of the com- 
mittee are inadequate to cover the whole of this wide field ; and, having 
due regard to all the circumstances of the case, we believe that in selecting 
parts of it, as the objects of their special attention, they have been guided 
by a sound discretion. 
“We are also disposed to consider that although, as we have already said, 
the Meteorological Committee occupies an anomalous position, no other 
form of organisation could advantageously have been adopted under the 
actual conditions. We think, however, that if, as we shall hereinafter re- 
commend, a Ministry of Science should be established, the head of the 
Meteorological Office should be made responsible to the minister.” 
The Commissioners further comment upon the views held by Professor 
Balfour Stewart and others, to the effect that climatological inquiries 
should be left to the efforts of local societies aided by Government ; and 
while acknowledging the usefulness of the results already yielded by such 
systems in the United Kingdom — e.g. that of Mr. Glaisher and that of the 
Sc ttish Meteorological Society — they express their opinion that any grants 
in aid should be made on a systematic principle, which could best be 
effected by making them subject to the control of a minister. 
MICROSCOPY. 
Microscopical Papers for the Quarter . — The following articles have ap- 
peared in the “Monthly Microscopical Journal” for October, November, 
and December : — 
On Cephalosiphon and a New Infusorion. By Dr. C. T. Hudson, LL.D. — 
Recent Progress of our Knowledge of the Ciliate Infusoria. By G. J. 
Allman, M.D., P.R.S. — Extracts from Mr. H. E. Fripp’s Translation 
of Professor Abbe's Paper on the Microscope. — On a New Melicerta. 
By C. T. Hudson, LL.D., F.R.M.S. — On the Identical Characters of 
