305 
of Edinburgh, Session 1870 - 71 . 
and important subject of ozone, which, after being carried on for 
some time in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden last year,* had to 
be discontinued on account of the want of apparatus and instru¬ 
ments which those who instituted them had no means of paying 
for.f 
I certainly do not wish, however, that the grant of L.1000, 
which is at the disposal of the Royal Society of London, should 
be split up, so that a part of it may be administered to a Scotch 
Society, if the London Royal Society think that they can apply 
it all usefully in England. All that I contend for is, that when 
parliamentary grants are voted for aiding scientific researches 
throughout the United Kingdom, it is not a judicious arrangement 
for the object in view to place these grants at the exclusive dis¬ 
posal of a society in London, when there are societies in Scotland 
and in Ireland competent to be intrusted with the duty. A com¬ 
mittee of the Royal Society of London are also intrusted with 
the administration of the still larger parliamentary grant of 
L. 10,000 a year for meteorological purposes,—a considerable part 
of which grant is devoted to the obtaining of meteorological re¬ 
turns from Scotland, and of establishing self-recording instru¬ 
ments in Scotland, besides upholding other stations. Our own 
Royal Society has from time to time done a good deal to pro¬ 
mote meteorology in Scotland,—Sir David Brewster, Sir Thomas 
M. Brisbane, and Principal Forbes, having been distinguished 
meteorologists, and published largely in our Transactions. There 
is also a society in Scotland specially devoted to that science, 
which is allowed to be doing useful work. Yet neither society has 
any voice in the administration of that large grant of L.10,000 a 
year. 
Whilst as regards the interests of science it seems more expe- 
* See an account of these experiments in the “ Journal of the Scottish 
Meterological Society for January 1869. 
t The test papers for ozone indications are affected by the varying force of 
wind, as also by the varying humidity of the atmosphere, insomuch that at 
several Observatories ozone observations have been discontinued. When I 
was at Kome last winter, Padre Secchi told me he had ceased to take notice 
of ozone for these reasons, not having been able to devise any method for 
eliminating the effects of wind and moisture. The object of the experiments 
in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden was to construct an apparatus which should 
allow only dry air to reach the test papers, and in certain quantities. 
