XIX. 
THE APPLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY TO METEOROLOGY. 
By Arthur W. Clayden, M.A., F.G.S., F.C.S., F.B.Met.Soc. 
Read at St. Albans , 23 rd March , 1891.* 
Ih treating of the relation between Photography and Meteorology 
I do not intend to discuss anything like the whole subject. It 
would be easy to say a great deal upon the advantages of studying 
meteorological science in the interests of photographic art. Much 
more again could be said of the invaluable assistance which has 
been given to meteorology by the photographic registration of the 
movements of meteorological instruments. But to neither of these 
sections of our subject do I purpose to allude. I wish to treat of 
the assistance which photography can give to meteorology in the 
future rather than of what it has done for it in the past. 
No doubt it is generally known what is meant by a British 
Association Committee. One was appointed last year in order to 
take up the question of Meteorological Photography. Its Chairman 
is Mr. G. J. Symons, F.B.S., and its other members are Professor 
Meldola, F.R.S., your own President, and myself. Mr. Hopkinson 
may fairly be called the founder of this Committee, for he suggested 
its formation, having been impressed by the value of the work done 
by a similar body whose aim is geological,! and it is by his invita¬ 
tion that I find myself saddled with the duties of Secretary. I 
wish some one else could have been found to take up this work, for 
I am very conscious that I can only give to the undertaking a small 
part of the time which it fully deserves. 
Our instructions are, in the first place, to collect photographs of 
meteorological phenomena. Such a collection would form an in¬ 
valuable record of phenomena which are sometimes so transient 
that only a few persons may witness them, and often so rare that 
a long life of keen observation may be passed without seeing them. 
The collection would be deposited in some convenient centre where 
it would be accessible to all who might wish to consult it either for 
purposes of research, or with an object of secondary importance, 
namely, to obtain the means of teaching others. 
Clearly such a collection cannot be made by the unaided efforts 
of the Committee, for its members cannot be everywhere; there¬ 
fore they appeal to Photographic Societies, Field Clubs, and 
photographers generally, asking them for the help which is 
essential to success. The difficulty is to make it quite clear what 
sort of things are wanted. First and foremost stands the fact that 
although each photograph in itself would have some value, that 
value would be vastly increased if we knew something of the 
circumstances under which it was taken. 
* The Introduction to a Lecture illustrated by photographs of meteorological 
phenomena shown by the oxy-hydrogen lantern. 
f See ‘ Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Soc.,’ Yol. YI, p. 49. 
