[ 181 ] 
First Report on the Hourly Observations of the Thermometer 
at the Plymouth Dockyard , Lat.5 0° 21/ iV., Long. A) 0 TV . 
By Mr. W. S. Harris, F.R.S., fyc. 
At the meeting of the British Association in September, 1831, 
the Sub-committee of Mathematical and Physical Science 
deemed it advisable to recommend, that the Association 
should employ all the means in its power to procure a Re¬ 
gister of the Thermometer during every hour of the day and 
night, to be kept at some military or naval station in the South 
of England considering that the progress of meteorology 
materially depends on a thorough acquaintance with the pheno¬ 
mena of diurnal temperature. JSoon after this judicious recom¬ 
mendation, two registers were commenced at Devonport near 
Plymouth; one under the superintendence of the late Mr. Harvey, 
F.R.S., &c., the other under my own. The former was under¬ 
taken at the immediate request of the Association. The latter 
was offered to its notice more as an individual contribution; it 
had been already contemplated, and was suggested by a series 
of meteorological inquiries carried on at Plymouth for several 
successive years. In speaking of Mr. Harvey, it is impossible 
to withhold the expression of that just tribute of respect due to 
the memory of an individual whose talents so greatly contributed 
to advance him in the estimation of the scientific world. The 
Association has lost in Mr. Harvey a zealous and able member, 
whose natural powers were carefully and most industriously 
cultivated. Had he lived, our Reports would have doubtless 
been greatly enriched by the results of his labours on this occa¬ 
sion. His register, from the decline of his health, is however, 
not continued for a sufficient time to render it available to the 
purpose for which it was undertaken. I have, through the 
kindness of Mrs. Harvey, been put in possession of all the ob¬ 
servations received; these have been carefully discussed and 
compared f. So far as they go they are of consequence, although 
only noted for every two hours I, since they enable us to observe 
the influence of local circumstances on the indications of two 
similar thermometers placed within a short distance of each 
other. 
In order to obtain effectually such an hourly register as that 
* First Report , p. 49. 
f Mr. George Harvey lias very kindly assisted in the discussion of these ob¬ 
servations. 
Second Report , p. 574. 
d* 
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