end of the six weeks, therefore, the party might be ready to embark, taking their instruments away with them; and a second set of instruments might then take their place for the instruction of a party for a second Observatory. All the arrangements contemplated in my letter* to Professor Owen of January 1st, 1859, are complete, so far as the Kew Observatory, Mr. Adie, and myself are concerned; and we are ready to receive and send away the first party to their destination, whether it might be British Columbia or Shanghai, as soon as the Government pleases." (Signed) "EDWARD SABINE." The interval elapsed since the last meeting of the Association has not been wanting in affording proofs of the high interest taken in the subject of these observations in other countries. Foremost in expressions of willing cooperation are the leaders of public opinion on such subjects in the United States. By a communication from Dr. Bache (Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey) to General Sabine, dated June 1, it appears that he is ready to enter con amore into our plans, and that he has his instruments all ready at the Joint Smithsonian and Coast Survey Magnetic Observatory at Washington, and desires only to be informed what course of action shall be here determined on, to afford his ready and powerful cooperation. And by a subsequent communication of the 12th ultimo, he further reports the readiness of President Barnard, of the University of Oxford, Mississippi, to undertake, or cause to be undertaken, a series of concerted observations, provided a formal request (of course duly authorized) from General Sabine be made to that institution to such effect, such a report being necessary to obtain the requisite appropriation of funds from the Board of Trustees. The officers also of the American Association for the Advancement of Science have, we understand, been instructed by that body in their meeting at Springfield, to express to the officers of the British Association their interest in these magnetic proceedings. Senhor Da Silva, successor to Senhor Pegado in the direction of the Meteorological Observatory at Lisbon, has expressed his wish to join in the system of magnetic observation to be undertaken in England, an object which he considers might be accomplished provided the British Government would interest itself with the Portuguese in favour of the undertaking, and suggesting that in that event a Portuguese officer might be instructed at Kew in the use of the instruments. The project for the establishment of a Magnetic Observatory on the Eastern Sea-bord of the United States, and the determination of the Canadian Legislature to maintain the Toronto Observatory in full efficiency, are noticed in Colonel Sabine's letter already referred to; and in the event of a British establishment at Vancouver's Island being procured in addition to Shanghai or Pekin, would complete, in conjunction with the existing Russian Observatories, and with one which might very possibly be established by the University of Kasan in lat. 55° 45′ N., under the able direction of Professor Bolzani (who has expressed his desire to procure self-recording magnetic instruments similar to those of Kew, and to adopt the proposed system of observations), a chain of stations in considerable north latitude, which would surround the Pole, and afford a connected series of most valuable observations. Though not in immediate connexion with the direct object of this Report, your Committee cannot refuse themselves the mention, as matters of Magnetic progress since the last meeting of the Association, of the completion of Mr. *This is the letter above alluded to as forming part of the Minutes of Council of Decemer 17, 1858. Welsh's Magnetic Survey of Scotland, as having led to important conclusions as to the nature of the changes which have taken place in the magnetic system of the British Isles since 1837,-changes corroborated by a series of determinations at several stations along the South-western and Southern coasts of England, obtained by General Sabine himself in the course of the current year, since the re-establishment of his health has permitted his invaluable services to become once more available to science. In concluding this Report, your Committee cannot but observe that all the reasons which weighed with them in recommending, jointly with the Committee appointed by the Royal Society, the Resolutions adopted by the General Committee of the British Association at their meeting of last year, for the establishment of Observatories for an additional period of five years at the stations named in their last Report, appear to them to remain in full force; and that even supposing the idea of a station on the Falkland Isles, and even Newfoundland, to be relinquished, they would continue to urge, as fitting objects for recommendation to Government, those of Vancouver's Island and Shanghai. While nothing has occurred to weaken the general reasons adduced in that Report, they appear to have, in one respect, gained some degree of additional weight from the reappearance, during the present year, of the Solar Spots in great abundance, accompanied with exhibitions of auroral phenomena, and of an unusually hot and dry season-all in conformity with the law of periodicity alluded to in it as connecting, in some at present hidden and problematic manner, these phenomena with the magnetic disturbances. (For the joint Committees) J. F. W. HERschel. Postscript.-The following Memorandum, drawn up and communicated by General Sabine, containing a synoptic statement of the proceedings taken in respect of Magnetic Surveys at the instance or through the intervention of the British Association, may, in the opinion of the Committee, be very properly appended to this Report. A Memorandum regarding Magnetic Surveys which have originated, or been promoted by the British Association for the Advancement of Science. August 19, 1859. 1. The first occurrence, it is believed, of a survey being undertaken for the express purpose of determining the positions and values of the isomagnetic lines of declination, dip, and force corresponding to a particular epoch over the whole face of a country or state, was the Magnetic Survey of the British Islands, executed in 1834-1838 by a committee of members of the British Association, acting upon an enlarged view of a suggestion brought before the Cambridge Meeting of the Association in 1833. The results of this Survey, in the determination of the isoclinal and isodynamic lines in Great Britain and Ireland corresponding to the epoch of January 1st, 1837, were published in a memoir in the Transactions of the British Association for 1838; and in the determination of the isogonic lines, in the Philsophical Transactions for 1849, Part II. 2. At the Newcastle Meeting of the Association in 1838, a resolution was passed recommending to Her Majesty's Government the equipment of a Naval Expedition for the purpose of making a Magnetic Survey in the Southeru portions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and particularly in the higher latitudes between the meridians of New Holland and Cape Horn. This recommendation, communicated to and concurred in by the Royal Society, gave rise to the voyage of Sir James Clark Ross to the Southern and Antarctic Regions in the years 1839-1843. The magnetical results, in the determination of the isomagnetic lines over a large portion of the southern hemisphere, were published in the Phil. Trans. for 1842, Art. II.; for 1843, Art. X.; and 1844, Art. VII.: and one part yet remains to be completed, comprehending the meridians between Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope; its publication having been deferred in consequence of the more pressing publications of the Colonial Observatories. 3. A proposition for a Magnetic Survey of the British Possessions in North America was brought before the British Association in a Report published in their Transactions for 1837, and having been subsequently submitted to the Committee of Physics of the Royal Society, received in 1841 the recommendation of the Royal Society to Her Majesty's Government. The Survey, having been authorized by the Treasury, was carried on in connexion with the Magnetic Observatory at Toronto in Canada, under the direction of the Superintendent of the Colonial Observatories, by Lieut. (since Colonel) Lefroy, R.A. The results in regard to the isoclinal and isodynamic lines have been published in the Phil. Trans. for 1846, Art. XVII. The declination observations have been reduced and coordinated with similar observations made in the succession of Arctic Voyages between 1818 and 1855, in memoir, now in preparation, which will include the British Possessions in North America and the countries which have been explored to the north of them. 4. The Survey of Sir James Ross in 1839-1844 having left a portion of the magnetic lines in the southern hemisphere undetermined between the meridians of O and 125° E., an application was made in 1844 to Her Majesty's Government by the Royal Society, to complete this remaining portion under the direction of the Superintendent of the Colonial Observatories. This was accomplished in 1845 by Lieut. (since Captain) T. E. L. Moore, R.N., and Lieut. (since Major) Henry Clerk, R.A., in a vessel hired by the Admiralty for the purpose, and despatched from the Cape of Good Hope. The results of this Survey were published in the Phil. Trans. for 1846, Art. XVIII. 5. At the Cambridge Meeting of the British Association in 1845, a recommendation was made to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, that a Magnetic Survey should be made of the Indian Seas in connexion with the Magnetic Observatory at Singapore. This recommendation was communicated to and concurred in by the Royal Society. The Survey, having been entrusted to Captain Elliot, of the Madras Engineers, was completed in 1849, and the results were published in a memoir by Captain Elliot in the Phil. Trans. for 1851, Art. XII. 6. A proposition for a Magnetic Survey of British India having been submitted to the British Association, in a Report printed in the Transactions for 1837, a scheme for the execution of such a Survey was submitted to the Court of Directors of the East India Company by Captain Elliot on his completion of the Survey of the Indian Seas; and having been referred to the Royal Society, received their warm approbation. The Court of Directors having approved the scheme suggested by Captain Elliot, that officer proceeded to India in 1852 for the purpose of carrying it into execution, but died shortly after his arrival at Madras, in August 1852, having but just commenced the operations of the Survey. 7. In April 1853 a letter was addressed to the President of the Royal Society by the Prussian Minister, Chevalier Bunsen, recommending, by desire of His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Messrs. Schlagintweit, well known by their physical researches in the Eastern and Western Alps, as fitting suc cessors to Captain Elliot in the Magnetic Survey of India. In transmitting Chevalier Bunsen's letter to the Court of Directors, the Royal Society took occasion to express their strong opinion of the importance of completing this Survey, and their belief of the competency of the Messrs. Schlagintweit for such employment. These gentlemen, having been appointed accordingly by the Court of Directors, and supplied with the necessary instruments, in the use of which they were specially instructed at the Kew Observatory, sailed for India in 1855, and continued their observations through the years 1856, 1857, and 1858, during which they determined the magnetic elements at 69 stations in British India, including some stations north of the Himalayan chain. These observations have been prepared for publication by the Messrs. Schlagintweit, and the printing of the volume containing them is nearly completed. 8. Twenty years having elapsed since the former Survey of the British Islands (referred to in the first paragraph) was made, the British Association deemed that a sufficient interval had passed to make a repetition of the survey desirable, with a view to the investigation of the effects of the secular change which the magnetic lines are known to undergo. Accordingly, at the Cheltenham Meeting of the Association in 1857, the same gentlemen who had made the Survey of 1837, and who, as it happened, were all living, were requested to undertake a fresh Survey. This has been for the most part accomplished, and the observations in England, Scotland, and Ireland are now undergoing the process of reduction and coordination; and it is hoped that a part, if not the whole, will be completed in time to be included in the volume of the Transactions of the Association in 1859. EDWARD SABINE. b. The General Committee at Leeds having directed that application be made to the Sardinian Authorities for obtaining additional facilities to scientific men for pursuing their researches on the summits of the Alps, The President was requested to communicate thereupon with the Marquis d'Azeglio, the Sardinian Minister, and the Council have now the pleasure of communicating the following statement from Professor Owen as the result of that communication : "I wrote to his Excellency, the Marquis d'Azeglio, on the 3rd February; and on the 4th received an acknowledgement of my letter, with the assurance that the subject of it would be forwarded to the competent authorities at Turin, accompanied by a special recommendation from his Excellency. "On the 17th February, I was favoured by a letter from the Marquis d'Azeglio informing me that the Minister of the Interior had been occupied by the preparation of new regulations on the subject of the Guides at Chamouni; and that, in all probability, the new regulations, based upon a principle of wider liberty of action, would be rigorously enforced at the commencement of the summer of 1859; and that he had every reason to believe it would satisfy all the requirements of scientific travellers in the Piedmontese Alps. "I communicated this favourable reply to Professor Tyndall, and received the expression of his entire satisfaction in the result of the intervention of the British Association." 2. The Council has been informed by a letter from Dr. A. D. Bache to the General Secretary, that at the Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Springfield in August 1859, the officers were instructed to express to the British Association for the Advance ment of Science, the warm interest which is taken in the United States of America in the success of the measures proposed for the continuation of Magnetic Observatories. Subjoined is the official communication which has since been received : "To His Royal Highness THE PRINCE CONSORT, President, and to the other Officers of the British Association for the Promotion of Science. "In accordance with the request of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, its officers beg leave to communicate the following resolutions: Resolved,--That the American Association for the Advancement of "STEPHEN ALEXANDER, President. "Springfield, Mass., August 10, 1859." 3. The Council has been informed that a deputation has been appointed, and will attend at Aberdeen, to invite the British Association to hold its meeting for 1860 at Oxford, and that invitations will also be presented, for 1861 and following years, from Manchester, Cambridge, and Newcastle-uponTyne. 6. The following Report was received from the Kew Committee, and was ordered to be entered on the Minutes. Report of the Kew Committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1858-1859. It is with deep regret that the Committee have to report the decease of the late Superintendent of the Observatory, Mr. John Welsh, who died at Falmouth on the 12th of May, where he had removed for a short time for the recovery of his health. Mr. Welsh's position as a man of science was too well known to require any reference from the Committee, yet they may be permitted to refer to those aspects of it which have come more prominently under their view during the long and pleasant intercourse which has so unhappily come to an untimely termination. Mr. Welsh entered the Observatory on the 27th of August, 1850, as an assistant to Francis Ronalds, Esq., F.R.S., who for some years had superintended the management as the Honorary Director. Mr. Ronalds retired in 1852 to reside on the Continent, since which time, with the exception of a short interval, Mr. Welsh has been the Superintendent; and the present efficiency and recognized scientific standing of the Observatory may be assumed to be in a great measure due to the zeal and remarkable ability with which he discharged his duties: ingenious in devising new arrangements, laborious and persevering in their execution, he was eminently qualified |