Accounts of the Kew Committee of the British Association from September 4, 1861 to October 1, 1862.

£760 1 6

182 2 6

17th September, 1862.

R. HUTTON.

Kharkof; Professors Clausius and Wartmann, of Geneva; Captain Belavenetz, Russian Navy; and Captain Skariatine, Russian Marines.

A reference to the annexed financial statement will show that, although the expenditure has exceeded the income, the Observatory has been conducted with the utmost regard to economy; and the Committee recommend that for the ensuing year a sum of £600 should be granted, which, with other amounts to be received, will, it is expected, meet the necessary requirements. JOHN P. GASSIOT,

Kew Observatory,
Sept. 29th, 1862.

Chairman.

Report of the Parliamentary Committee to the Meeting of the British Association at Cambridge, October 1862.

The Parliamentary Committee have the honour to report as follows::The Bishop of Oxford, in furtherance of the resolution adopted at Liverpool in 1854, must be deemed to have vacated his seat in this Committee, but we recommend that he should be re-elected.

Your Committee have also to report that Mr. James Heywood has not found it necessary to call upon them to interfere in the matter referred to them at Manchester by the General Committee.

WROTTESLEY, Chairman.

Sept. 14, 1862.

RECOMMENDATIONS ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL COMMITTEE AT THE CAMBRIDGE MEETING IN OCTOBER 1862.

[When Committees are appointed, the Member first named is regarded as the Secretary of the Committee, except there be a specific nomination.]

Involving Grants of Money.

That the sum of £600 be placed at the disposal of the Council, for maintaining the Establishment of Kew Observatory.

That the sum of £100 be placed at the disposal of the Council, for the purpose of making an addition to the out-buildings at Kew Observatory, to receive the Photoheliograph, now in the hands of Mr. De la Rue.

That the cooperation of the Royal Society be requested for the purpose of completing and proving the instruments devised for obtaining Photographic registration of the physical aspect of the Sun.

That the Committee, consisting of Professor Williamson, Professor Wheatstone, Professor W. Thomson, Professor W. H. Miller, Dr. A. Matthiessen, and Mr. Fleeming Jenkin, appointed at the Manchester Meeting, be requested to continue their Report on Standards of Electrical Resistance, and to extend it to other Electrical Standards; and that Dr. Esselbach, Sir C. Bright, Professor Maxwell, Mr. C. W. Siemens, and Mr. Balfour Stewart be added to the Committee; and that the sum of £100 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That the Committee to report upon Standards of Electrical Resistance, be

authorized to distribute gratuitously provisional Standards of Electrical Resistance, should it appear to them advantageous to do so; and that the sum of £50 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That as all the Balloon Observations hitherto made under the authority of the British Association (owing to unavoidable circumstances) have been confined to the autumnal period of the year, these operations should be repeated at other periods of the year, especially during the east winds of spring, with a view to test the normal character of the observations already made;

That Colonel Sykes, Professor Airy, Lord Wrottesley, Sir D. Brewster, Sir J. Herschel, Dr. Lloyd, Admiral FitzRoy, Dr. Lee, Dr. Robinson, Mr. Gassiot, Mr. Glaisher, Dr. Tyndall, Mr. Fairbairn, and Dr. W. A. Miller be a Balloon Committee; and that the sum of £200 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That the sum of £70 be placed at the disposal of the Balloon Committee, to meet the deficiency in the Grant of £200 made at Manchester.

That a sum not exceeding £25, the amount of expenses necessarily incurred by Mr. Glaisher in the prosecution of the Balloon experiments, be repaid to him.

That the Committee on Luminous Meteors and Aerolites, consisting of Mr. Glaisher, Mr. R. P. Greg, Mr. E. W. Brayley, and Mr. Alexander Herschel, be reappointed; and that the sum of £20 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Mr. Fleeming Jenkin be requested to continue his Report on ThermoElectrical Experiments; and that the sum of £15 (being the balance of the Grant made to him last year) be placed at his disposal for the purpose.

That the Committee, consisting of Professor Hennessy, Admiral FitzRoy, and Mr. Glaisher, be requested to continue their inquiries relative to the connexion of Vertical Movements of the Atmosphere with Storms; and that the sum of £20 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Dr. Matthiessen be requested to continue his Experiments on Alloys; and that the sum of £20 be placed at his disposal for the purpose.

That Dr. A. Dupré be requested to continue his Experiments upon the action of Reagents on Carbon under Pressure; and that the sum of £10 be placed at his disposal for the purpose.

That the Balance of Grant of £8 made at the Manchester Meeting to Mr. Alphonse Gages, of Dublin, be placed at the disposal of that gentleman.

That the Committee, consisting of Mr. R. H. Scott, Sir Richard Griffith, and the Rev. Prof. Haughton, be requested to complete their Report on the Chemical and Mineralogical Composition of the Granites of Donegal and the associated Rocks; and that the sum of £5 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Mr. H. C. Sorby and Mr. C. H. B. Hambly be a Committee to make Experiments on the Fusion and Slow Cooling of various Igneous Rocks; and that the sum of £30 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Professor Huxley and Sir Philip de Grey Egerton be a Committee to aid Mr. Molyneux in his Researches into the Characters and Distribution of the Organic Remains of the North Staffordshire Coal-field; and that the sum of £20 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Mr. Mallet be requested to conduct Experiments to ascertain the Temperatures of the Volcanic Craters of Vesuvius and of the Temperature and Issuing Velocity of the Steam evolved at the Mouths,-the Experiments, if possible, to be extended to other Volcanic Vents in the Mediterranean Basin; and that the sum of £100 be placed at his disposal for the purpose.

That a Committee, consisting of Dr. Cobbold and Mr. J. Lubbock, be requested to prosecute their Investigations respecting the Reproduction, Development, and Migration of the Entozoa; and that the sum of £25 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Professor Huxley and the Rev. Mr. Macbride be a Committee to conduct Experiments on the Artificial Fecundation of the Herring; and that the sum of £20 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, Mr. Joshua Alder, the Rev. A. M. Norman, and Mr. H. T. Mennell be a Committee for exploring the Doggerbank and other portions of the Sea-coast of Durham and Northumberland by means of the Dredge; and that the sum of £25 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, Professor Allman, Mr. John Leckenby, Professor Wyville Thomson, and the Rev. Thomas Hincks be a Committee for exploring the Coasts of Shetland by means of the Dredge; and that the sum of £50 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, Professor Allman, Professor Dickie, the Rev. Dr. Gordon, and Mr. Robert Dawson be a Committee for exploring the North-east Coast of Scotland by means of the Dredge; and that the sum of £25 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, Mr. Robert M'Andrew, Mr. G. C. Hyndman, Professor Allman, Dr. Kinahan, Dr. Collingwood, Dr. Edwards, Professor Greene, Rev. Thomas Hincks, Mr. R. D. Darbishire, and Dr. E. Perceval Wright be a Committee to superintend all the Dredging Committees of the Association; and that the sum of £10 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That the Committee, consisting of Dr. Edward Smith and Mr. Milner, be requested to continue their inquiries on the Influence of Prison Punishment and Dietary upon the Bodily Functions of Prisoners; and that the sum of £20 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Dr. Gibb be requested to inquire into the Physiological Effects of Bromide of Ammonium; and that the sum of £8 be placed at his disposal for the purpose.

That Dr. Carpenter, Professor Huxley, and Mr. Rupert Jones, assisted by Mr. Parker, be a Committee to aid in the Construction of a Series of Models showing the External and Internal Structure of the Foraminifera; and that the sum of £25 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Professor Allman and Dr. E. P. Wright be a Committee to complete a Report on the Reproductive System of the Hydroida; and that the sum of £10 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Mr. Thomas Webster, the Right Honourable Joseph Napier, Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mr. W. Fairbairn, Mr. W. R. Grove, Mr. James Heywood, and General Sabine be reappointed, for the purpose of taking such steps as may appear expedient for rendering the Patent Law more efficient for the reward of the meritorious inventor and the advancement of practical science; and that the sum of £30 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That the Committee on Steamship Performance be reappointed, consisting of the Duke of Sutherland, The Earl of Gifford, M.P., The Earl of Caithness, Lord Dufferin, Mr. W. Fairbairn, Mr. J. Scott Russell, Admiral Paris, The Hon. Captain Egerton, R.N., The Hon. L. A. Ellis, M.P., Mr. J. E. McConnell, Mr. W. Smith, Professor J. Macquorn Rankine, Mr. James R. Napier, Mr. Richard Roberts; Mr. Henry Wright to be Honorary Secretary; and that the sum of £100 be placed at their disposal.

That a Committee, consisting of Messrs. W. Fairbairn, Joseph Whitworth, James Nasmyth, J. Scott Russell, John Anderson, and Sir W. G. Armstrong, be requested to cooperate with a Committee appointed by Section B, viz. Dr. Gladstone, Professor W. A. Miller, and Dr. Frankland, for the purpose of investigating the application of Gun Cotton to warlike purposes; and that the sum of £50 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That the Committee for Tidal Observations in the Humber, consisting of Mr. J. Oldham, Mr. J. F. Bateman, Mr. J. Scott Russell, and Mr. T. Thompson, be reappointed, to extend their observations to the Trent and the Yorkshire Ouse; and that the sum of £50 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That Sir John Rennie, Mr. John Scott Russell, and Mr. C. Vignoles (with power to add to their number), Mr. G. P. Bidder, Jun., as Secretary, be a Committee to inquire and report as to the effect upon the Tides in the Nene and the Ouse by the opening of the Outfalls below Wisbeach and Lynn to the Wash; and that the sum of £25 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

That the Committee for investigating the causes of Railway Accidents, consisting of Mr. W. Fairbairn, Mr. J. E. McConnell, and Mr. W. Smith, be reappointed; and that the sum of £25 be placed at their disposal for the purpose.

Applications for Reports and Researches not involving Grants

of Money.

That Mr. Johnstone Stoney be requested to continue his Report on Molecular Physics.

That Mr. James Cockle be requested to prepare a Report on the History of the Theory of Equations.

That a Committee be appointed for the purpose of carrying into effect the objects of the Report on Scientific Evidence in Courts of Law.

That Dr. Gray, Dr. Sclater, Mr. Alfred Newton, and Mr. Wallace be a Committee to report on the Acclimatization of Domestic Quadrupeds and Birds, and how they are affected by migration.

That Dr. Gray, Professor Babington, and Mr. Newbold be a Committee to report on the Plants of Ray's 'Synopsis Stirpium,' for the examination of the original Herbaria of Ray, Richardson, Buddle, Plukenet, and others.

That Dr. Collingwood, Mr. J. A. Turner, M.P., Mr. James Heywood, Mr. John Lubbock, Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, Mr. R. Patterson, Mr. P. P. Carpenter, and the Rev. H. H. Higgins be a Committee to inquire into the best mode of promoting the advancement of Science by means of the Mercantile Marine.

That Mr. Consul Swinhoe and Dr. Sclater be a Committee to report on the Zoology of the Island of Formosa.

That Dr. Edward Smith be requested to prepare for the next Meeting of the British Association a Report on the present state of our knowledge upon Nutrition, and especially its relation to Urea.

That the Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt, Right Hon. Joseph Napier, Mr. Tite, M.P., Professor Christison, Mr. J. Heywood, Mr. J. F. Bateman, Mr. T. Webster (with power to add to their number) be a Committee for the purpose of giving effect to the Report of the Committee on Technical and Scientific Evidence in Courts of Law.