PROCEEDINGS 
OP THE 
HERTFORDSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
Ordinary Meeting, 20th November, 1883, at Watford. 
Professor Attpield, Ph.D., F.R.S., F.C.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 
Mr. Frederick Fisher, M.R.C.S., King’s Langley, was elected a 
Member of the Society. 
Mr. John P. Bickersteth, Grove Mill House, Watford; Mr. 
Stephen Camp, High Street, Watford; and Mr. T. Mark Hovell, 
F.R.C.S., Boreham Holt, Elstree, were proposed as Members. 
The following Lecture was delivered :— 
“ On Meteorology and some Connected Subjects.” By G. J. 
Symons, F.R.S., Sec. R.Met.Soc. 
Mr. Symons commenced his lecture by referring to the know¬ 
ledge of meteorological phenomena which existed in remote ages. 
There was, he said, a prevailing notion amongst some people that 
meteorology was in its infancy, but he did not think that it was 
quite so young as was often imagined; and he quoted passages 
from Scripture with reference to the movements of the wind, the 
running of rivers into the sea, and the formation of snow, and 
further enlarged upon hooks by Aristotle and others of early date 
having reference to meteorology. 
After alluding to the circular movements of the wind, Mr. Symons 
exhibited a new pattern of electrical thermometer made by Casella, 
of Holborn. It was a Six’s pattern thermometer, with indices* 
which could be set by a magnet to any required limits of tempera¬ 
ture, high or low, and when those points were reached, contact was 
made and a hell rung—thus for the regulation of temperatures in 
hospital wards, in public buildings, greenhouses, and even as a fire 
alarm, the instrument was very useful, and being hermetically sealed, 
it was not liable to deteriorate. He then touched upon the subject 
of ball lightning, and said that many extraordinary tales had been 
related respecting it, and not a few believed them to be imagina¬ 
tions. Some years ago a singular case occurred in Bedfordshire ; 
vol. in .—part iy. 
