of the Council of the Association, communicated for the information of the Council, certain resolutions which had been adopted by the President and Council of the Royal Society, bearing on the same question; and after a full consideration of these resolutions, and of the opinions expressed in the letters of the individual Members of the General Committee of the Association, the Council adopted the following Minute, viz.-"That the Council concur generally in the course of proceeding which has been taken on this subject by the Royal Society, as now explained to them by the President of that Society." This Minute was communicated by order to the Royal Society, and the Resolutions have been since transmitted by Lord Wrottesley to Lord Palmerston, as having been adopted by the President and Council of the Royal Society and concurred in by the Council of the British Association. b. The recommendation, that "the application to Government for an Expedition to complete our knowledge of the Tides be renewed," was referred by the Council to the Committee of 1851, by whom the previous application had been made. The Committee consisted of the Rev. Dr. Whewell, the Earl of Rosse, Sir John Herschel, and the Astronomer Royal. No report has yet been received by the Council of the Committee's consequent proceedings. c. The recommendation, that "the Application made to Government in September 1852, concerning the great Southern Telescope, be renewed," was communicated by the Council to the President and Council of the Royal Society, by whom the steps were taken in 1852 to promote this important object, and a hope was expressed on the part of the Association that the President and Council of the Royal Society would renew their efforts to carry out an object of so much interest to astronomy. The Council have not been informed of any subsequent proceedings. d. The General Committee having directed that "a Memorial should be presented to the Admiralty praying for the publication in a simple, uniform, and complete shape, tabular and descriptive, of the results of the trials of steam-ships employed in the public service," the Council referred to the President of the Section of Mechanical Science, with whom the request for this publication had originated, for the information required to enable the Council to proceed in drawing up the desired Memorial. The information was supplied, and a document, drawn up in more limited terms than the recommendation, and stating fully the data required and the purpose to which it was proposed to apply them, was transmitted to the Secretary of the Admiralty, who replied that the Lords Commissioners did not think it would be proper for them to give information in regard to vessels belonging to private companies. This reply was communicated to the President of the Mechanical Section and a Committee acting with him on the registration of ships' tonnage, by whom the subject will be again brought under the consideration of the Association at this Meeting. e. The deputation appointed to wait on Her Majesty's Secretary for Foreign Affairs to "urge the desirableness of sending out an annual expedition to the Niger, as proposed by Dr. Baikie," have informed the Council that they have had an interview with Lord Clarendon, and have presented a Memorial which was very favourably received, and that the expedition has since been appointed, and has proceeded to the Niger under Dr. Baikie's direction. II. At the Glasgow Meeting of the British Association, a Committee was appointed by the General Committee to consider a proposition which had been submitted to them for making a catalogue of the Philosophical Papers contained in the various Scientific Transactions and Journals of all countries. The Report of this Committee was made at the Cheltenham Meeting, and was communicated by direction of the Council to the President and Council of the Royal Society, whose cooperation in this important undertaking was requested. The original Committee appointed by the Association, with the addition of two Members named by the Council of the Royal Society, were requested to give the subject a second and more full consideration. Their Report was presented to the Council of the Royal Society in June last, and was ordered to be printed and 250 copies to be sent to the British Association, for distribution amongst the Members of the General Committee at the Dublin Meeting, with a view to obtain the thorough concurrence and cooperation of the two Societies in the plan which shall be ultimately adopted for carrying out a work which promises to be of very considerable advantage to the cultivators of science in all countries. III. The Council congratulate the General Committee on the publication which has taken place in the current year of the Meteorological Observations made by the Officers of the Irish Trigonometrical Survey at Mountjoy Barracks, near Dublin. It will be remembered that at the Southampton Meeting of the Association in the year 1846, a Committee was appointed to communicate with the Master-General of the Ordnance relative to the publication of these valuable observations, and that in January 1847, the Marquis of Anglesey, then holding the office of Master-General of the Ordnance, expressed to the Committee his readiness to meet the wishes of the British Association if the Treasury could be induced to grant the necessary funds, for which the Ordnance had not and could not make any provision. In consequence of this communication, the Council appointed a deputation to solicit from the Treasury that a grant for the purpose should be placed at the disposal of the Master-General, and were informed in reply, through the Secretary of the Ordnance, under date May 31, 1847, that the Treasury would be prepared to include the expense of the publication in the estimate to be laid before Parliament in 1848. The Council were also favoured with a letter from the Marquis of Anglesey, dated July 10, 1848, stating that "he had directed the publication of the Mountjoy Observations to be carried into effect with as little delay as possible." The publication having now taken place, it has appeared to the Council desirable that the part taken by the British Association in recommending and in procuring the funds for this valuable contribution to the Meteorology of the British Islands should be thus fully stated; because it has happened (no doubt accidentally) that no notice of any of these circumstances appears in the Preface or in the Introduction of the publication itself. IV. The Council have been informed that circumstances will deprive the Dublin Meeting of the attendance of Edward J. Cooper, Esq., who was named as one of the Vice-Presidents for the Meeting; and with the concurrence of the Local Committee in Dublin, they recommend to the General Committee that the name of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland should be substituted for that of Mr. Cooper. V. The Council have received letters of invitation to the Association to hold its Meeting in 1858 in Manchester, from The General Purposes' Committee of the City Council. The Board of Directors of the Athenæum. The Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. The Botanical and Horticultural Society. The Natural History Society. The Photographic Society. The Principal and Professors of Owens College. VI. The Council has this day received letters of invitation to the Association to hold its Meeting in 1858 in Leeds, from— The Mechanics' Institution and Literary Society. The School of Practical Art. VII. The Council have also this day been informed of an invitation to be presented from the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle-on-Tyne and the Fine Arts Society of the North of England, to hold an early meeting at Newcastle. VII. The General Committee will receive full information, in the subjoined Report from the Kew Committee, of the proceedings of that establishment during the past year; and the Council are persuaded that the General Committee will see with pleasure the evidences of the still increasing public utility of that institution, and of the credit thereby accruing to the British Association. Report of the Kew Committee of the British Association for the Since the last Meeting of the British Association, the works necessary for lighting the Observatory with gas have been executed at a cost of £250, which has been defrayed by a Grant from the Wollaston Fund by the President and Council of the Royal Society. Soon after the last Meeting of the Association, the Board of Works commenced the external repairs of the Observatory. These were completed in November last. The Chairman having represented to the Chief Commissioner of Works the necessity for considerable repairs to the interior of the Building, the Board of Works agreed to execute such repairs as soon as the necessary funds should be voted by Parliament. The Committee understand that the requisite vote has been passed, and that the works will be proceeded with in the course of the present summer. The following memorandum relative to the re-establishment of self-recording magnetic instruments at the Kew Observatory was submitted to the Committee by General Sabine on July 22, 1856: "1. The decennial period in the solar magnetic variations, and its coincidence with a similar period in the frequency and amount of the solar spots, appear to be highly deserving of attention in an observatory established, as Kew is, for physical researches. "2. There is reason to suppose that the permanency and regularity in the occurrence of the decennial period in the magnetic variations, and its coincidence with the periodic variation of the solar spots, might be effectually and satisfactorily tested by observations of both classes of phenomena at the alternate periods of maximum and minimum, say for example, in 1857 and 1858 as the anticipated period of maximum, and in 1863 and 1864 as the anticipated period of minimum, and so forth. "3. The apparatus constructing under the superintendence of Mr. De la Rue will, it is hoped, fully meet the requirements of the research in respect to the solar spots. "4. Since the time when the magnetic self-recording instruments belonging to the Kew Observatory were constructed under the direction of Mr. Ronalds, very considerable improvements have been made in the art of Pho tography, and the six months' trial which was made by Mr. Welsh of Mr. Ronalds' instruments, has led in several other respects to suggestions for im provements which could not but be expected to be required in instruments of so novel a kind, while at the same time the six months' trial referred to has placed beyond doubt the sufficiency of a properly conducted research by means of self-recording instruments for the examination of the solar magnetic variations." The Committee authorized Mr. Welsh to proceed with the construction of the instruments, which have now been completed at an expense not exceeding £250, this sum being defrayed from the funds supplied by the Government Grant through the Council of the Royal Society, the instruments remaining at Kew at the disposition of the Council of the Royal Society. With the assistance of apparatus lent from General Sabine's department, the observatory is now possessed of the means of determining with great accuracy the various constants required in magnetic observation. Some alterations in the method of manipulation have, it is believed, added considerably to the accuracy of observation of the absolute value of the Magnetic Force. At the request of the Foreign Office, Magnetical and Meteorological Instruments have been prepared at the Observatory for Mr. Lyons M'Leod, Consul at Mozambique. Mr. M'Leod attended on several occasions in order to make himself acquainted with their manipulation. The following correspondence has taken place relative to an application from the Austrian Government to be supplied with Magnetical Instruments, to be employed in the scientific voyage undertaken by His Imperial Majesty's Frigate "Novara." (Copy.) 66 'Admiralty, 31st December, 1856. "DEAR GENERAL SABINE,-The Austrian Consul, Baron Rothschild, has written a pressing note to the Admiralty to ask where the enclosed list of instruments can be procured, and for any assistance we can give in ensuring their being the best. Will you be so good as to say what answer shall be sent? would it be too much to ask you to see that they are properly sent, and as nearly as you can, will you name the time the instruments could be ready? "Yours faithfully, (Signed) "JOHN WASHINGTON." "Memorandum of Instruments required by His Imperial Majesty's a. The Azimuth Compass. Frigate Novara. "b. The Unifilar Magnetometer. "c. Mr. Fox's apparatus for observing the magnetic force and inclination. "d. Mr. Barrow's Circle for observing the magnetic inclination. "To the apparatus b belongs also a peculiar apparatus for its erection and use on board ship. "For the further use of these instruments and for taking the observations made thereby, it is desired that they may be delivered with the indication of their respective constants, as the moment of inertia, the temperature, coefficients, &c. &c. "The Consulate-General will apply to the British Admiralty, who will, no doubt, kindly give the names of the makers who supply the British Admiralty, as it is desired that they be the same instruments as those on board Her Majesty's ships of war.' 99 "London, 29th December, 1856." (Copy.) "13, Ashley Place, London, January 7th, 1857. "SIR, I have received from Mr. James Yates a copy of the letter which you addressed to him on the 26th of last month, describing the scheme of the scientific voyage of circumnavigation about to be undertaken by His Imperial and Royal Majesty's Frigate Novara,' and requesting to be furnished with any suggestions which may assist you in carrying out the objects for which this voyage has been undertaken. I have deemed, therefore, that it may be agreeable to you to be informed, that in consequence of an application from Baron Rothschild to the British Admiralty, I have been requested to undertake, and have undertaken, to prepare the following instruments named in Baron Rothschild's letter for the magnetical observations to be made during the voyage, viz.— "1. A Standard Azimuth Compass for the Declination. "2. A Barrow's Inclinometer for the Inclination. "3. A Fox's apparatus with Gimbal Stand for Inclination and Magnetic Force at sea. "4. A Unifilar Magnetometer for observations of the Absolute Horizontal Magnetic Force on land. "These instruments will be examined and their constants determined at the Kew Observatory of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and will be ready by the end of February or beginning of March, together with instructions for the use of each of the instruments, and blank forms for the convenient record of the observations to be made with them. It is most desirable, however, that the physicist who is to be charged with the observations should have some previous practice with the instruments, and I would therefore beg leave to suggest that the gentleman who may be appointed to that duty should be directed to proceed in the first instance to London, so as to arrive there about the third week in February, and after having made himself familiar with the use of the instruments, should take them with him to Gibraltar, and there await the arrival of the Novara' on the passage from Trieste to Rio Janeiro. "I have the honour to remain, Sir, "P.S. Several of the instruments above mentioned will be ready by the end of the present month. Baron Rothschild's letter does not say anything about Marine Meteorological instruments. Should instruments of this description, such as are now furnished to the British Navy, be desired, they could be supplied by the Kew Observatory, and might accompany the magnetical instruments to Gibraltar." "Dr. Karl Scherzer, Vienna." The Magnetical Instruments for this Expedition have been prepared, and the Constants determined at the Observatory. Dr. Hochstätter, of Vienna, who has undertaken the superintendence of the Magnetical Observations to be made during the voyage, visited the Observatory in the end of February and beginning of March, to receive instructions in the use of the various instruments. A letter has been received by General Sabine from the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, expressing his thanks, as Chief Officer of the Austrian 1857. с |