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for ascertaining the velocity of sound. 
make experiments on the velocity of sound ; and however ex- 
periments of this kind may have been neglected, it is hoped 
that the present Master General of the Ordnance, a near re- 
lation of the late scientific Captain Phipps, (afterwards Lord 
Mulgrave) will, for the purpose of perfecting a branch of 
science, no less curious than useful, order a series of experi- 
ments of this nature to be undertaken, not only in the inland 
parts of the kingdom, but also on different parts of the Coast/' 
He then mentions that the experiments should be made under 
different circumstances of the wind and weather, and at dif- 
ferent times of the 24 hours, and proceeds to enumerate the 
stations where the experiments should be made. He recom- 
mends that pocket chronometers should be used, “ which 
generally making five beats in two seconds, the velocity of 
sound could be determined to the fraction of a second ;’’ and 
concludes by saying, “ he has no doubt scientific foreigners 
would assist our countrymen in finding the time sound is 
travelling across that part of the Channel, where the shores 
are visible from each other." 
At Fort St. George (Madras) a morning and an evening 
gun are fired from the ramparts, as is customary in fortified 
places, the former at day light, and the latter at eight o’clock 
in the evening. At St. Thomas’s Mount, the artillery can- 
tonment, morning and evening guns are also fired, one at 
day light, and the other at sun set. The Madras Observa- 
tory, in latitude 13 0 4' 8 " north, is situated between these ; the 
distance of it from the Fort, about half its distance from the 
Mount, the Fort being to the N. E. of the Observatory, and 
the Mount to the S.W. In former years, as I have men- 
tioned before, experiments were made by me for ascertaining 
