Captain G. R. Elwes (Dorset) laid upon the table a paper on the rainfall in Dorset, which had been compiled by a member of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, Mr. Eaton, from records kept in the county of Dorset during the last forty years. It was a most careful and exhaustive piece of work, and was illustrated by maps and diagrams. Mr. Eaton wished to have the paper submitted to that conference of delegates with the view of eliciting remarks upon it.

The Chairman said that Mr. Eaton was an old friend of his, and he had much pleasure in testifying to the excellence of his work. One of the maps of Dorset was shaded so as to show the proportionate amount of the rainfall, the other the varying elevation of the land, and, as might have been expected, there was a fair amount of parallelism between the two. Mr. Eaton's work was an admirable example of the way in which the rainfall of a county should be worked out, a labour especially requiring much patience and perseverance. He wished they could have such memoirs for every county.

Mr. Sowerbutts remarked upon the difficulty of discussing Mr. Eaton's paper in the absence of copies of it, and Professor Meldola said that there was not much to discuss, as the paper had been brought forward simply as an example of the way in which such work should be done. Professor Merivale asked whether it would be possible to obtain copies of Mr. Eaton's paper, and Captain Elwes said that he would do his best to get copies for any gentlemen who would give in their names.

Mr. Hopkinson stated that twenty years ago he began to record the rainfall of Hertfordshire with about twenty observers, and he had since done his best to add to their number, with the result that there were now about forty. The report which he had published last year contained the monthly returns from forty observers in Hertfordshire. He had obtained about thirty daily records, which were worked up and analysed but not published. In the Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society much space was devoted to meteorological work and to phenology, and he hoped that the Societies in other counties would work similarly at these subjects. He trusted also that delegates would preserve any early meteorological records they might discover.

Mr. De Rance, in illustration of the increasing usefulness of local societies, mentioned the fact that two Committees of the British Association, of which for many years he had been secretary-that on Coast Erosion, and that investigating the Circulation of Underground Watershad just ceased to exist in consequence of the admirable way in which their work had been taken up by the Corresponding Societies.

His Honour Deemster Gill mentioned that the subject of Coast Erosion had been taken up by a Committee of the Legislature of the Isle of Man, of which he was a member, but their investigations were not yet complete. But they had found that for some twenty miles on the west, the northwest, and the north, erosion had been going on to a very large extent, the evidence showing a destruction of land of about twenty acres to the mile within the last fifty or sixty years. The whole of the information would be sent to the proper Department when the investigation was concluded. Deemster Gill added, in reply to a question, that the portion of the coast mentioned was not rocky but sandy.

The Chairman remarked that the meteorology of the Isle of Man was being looked after by Mr. A. W. Moore, and Deemster Gill added that all that was necessary was being done there in that department.

Mr. Sowerbutts asked whether it was desirable that the Manchester Society should collect the results of observations at the observatories, and forward them to the Meteorological Society, and the Chairman replied that it was just one of the things wanted. Mr. Sowerbutts added that, though there were several observatories whose observations were hardly worth having, there was a thoroughly efficient one in the Park, under the Whitworth Trustees, another at St. Bede's, and a third at the Manchester Waterworks.

Captain Elwes hoped that it might be possible to induce local scientific societies to co-operate for the discovery of flint implements, and the formulation of results. He wished that they would make this branch of investigation a more special feature of their work than it was at present.

Mr. Osmund W. Jeffs, Secretary to the British Association Committee for the Collection and Preservation of Geological Photographs, stated that it had been proposed by the Committee, and adopted by the Council of the British Association, that the photographs collected, should be placed in the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street. The first part of the collection, consisting of 800 photographs, had already been deposited there, and the rest would be handed over as soon as possible. As, however, a great many parts of the British Isles were still unrepresented, it was proposed that they should go on collecting. From some of the eastern counties no photographs whatever had been sent, and on that very day he had been promised some from that neighbourhood. He hoped, therefore, that the delegates would remember that they were still collecting, and would mention the fact to their respective societies.

Mr. De Rance, after complimenting Mr. Jeffs on the results he had achieved, remarked that it would be a good thing if each society would issue a circular, and send it to other local societies, so that all might know what photographs had been taken in each locality, and were available, and, on the other hand, in what districts photographers were most needed.

Mr. Sowerbutts dwelt on the very valuable results already attained by Mr. Jeffs, and proposed a hearty vote of thanks to him for his exertions. This vote was seconded by His Honour Deemster Gill. After a few words in support of it from the Chairman it was carried unanimously. Mr. Jeffs, in acknowledgment of the vote of thanks, said that they were due rather to the Geological Photographs Committee than to himself personally, and that the work could not have been carried out as it had been but for the active co-operation of a great number of the local societies.

Mr. J. B. Murdoch (Glasgow) thought that in too many of their investigations Scotland was excluded. He might mention as an example the British Association Committee for recording the position, &c., of the Erratic Blocks of England, Wales, and Ireland.

Mr. De Rance stated that the Erratic Blocks Committee was formed many years before the meetings of the delegates of the Corresponding Societies began to take place. Any Scottish member of the British Association might have brought the matter before the General Committee and proposed the extension of the work to Scotland.

Some remarks were made by Mr. Sowerbutts and Mr. G. P. Hughes on Scotland as a nursery of boulders, and the Chairman said that his impression was that many years ago some one suggested the inclusion of Scotland in the labours of the Erratic Blocks Committee, and was answered by a speaker who stated that the Royal Society of Edinburgh was already at work on the subject, and that it would be unwise to

trespass upon its territory. For his own part he was always pleased to co-operate with his Scottish friends, and had done so on the question of rainfall, and it would appear that in this Erratic Blocks Committee the exclusion of Scotland was the result of deference to her susceptibilities.

Mr. Murdoch replied that it was quite true that for many years a Boulder Committee had existed in Scotland, but the work had been entirely under the control and direction of Mr. Milne Home, who was now dead, and who, for some time before his death, had been unable to get about the country. Mr. Milne Home's Committee had issued eight yearly reports, which were very valuable, as many of the boulders were not only tabulated, but figured. But for some time the work had been practically at a standstill.

The Chairman remarked that in that case it was certainly desirable that steps should be taken to have Scotland included.

Deemster Gill said that the boulders of the Isle of Man were being noted by the Society to which he belonged, but not, he thought, by any extraneous body.

Professor Merivale remarked that for some time they had been discussing matters connected with Section C. He wished, before the meeting ended, to say a few words on Flameless Explosives (Section G). The North of England Institute of Mining Engineers had been continuing their experiments, and had published one report. They were still going on with their labours, and another report would be published shortly. He had nothing to say then as to the results of their experiments.

The Chairman supposed that the Conference was, as usual, in favour of an application to the General Committee for a grant of 30l. to enable the Corresponding Societies Committee to carry on its work.

Professor Meldola moved that an application for a grant of 301. should be made, remarking that the amount named was only just sufficient to cover their expenses. The proposition was seconded by Mr. Hopkinson and carried unanimously.

SECOND CONFERENCE, SEPTEMBER 17, 1895.

The Corresponding Societies Committee was represented by Dr. Garson (in the chair), Mr. Hopkinson, Mr. Symons, and Mr. T. V. Holmes (Secretary).

Dr. Garson said that Mr. Symons could not take the chair, as he was then at the meeting of the Committee of Recommendations. It was usual at their Second Conference to consider the recommendations from the various Sections respecting work in which it was thought the Corresponding Societies might usefully co-operate. He would therefore, in the first place, call upon the representative of Section A.

SECTION A.

Mr. White Wallis stated that Mr. Symons, who had been chosen the representative of Section A, had asked him to attend the Conference in his stead. It had been resolved that the Committees for investigating Earth Tremors and Seismological Phenomena in Japan should be merged into one with the title of 'Committee for Seismological Observations.' Its members would be Mr. G. J. Symons, chairman; Mr. C. Davison and Mr. J. Milne, secretaries; Lord Kelvin, Professor W. C. Adams, Mr. C. H. Bottomley, Sir F. J. Bramwell, Professor G. H. Darwin, Mr. Horace Darwin, Mr. G. F. Deacon, Professor J. A. Ewing, Professor A. H. Green, Professor G. C. Knott, Professor G. A. Lebour, Professor R. Meldola,

Professor J. Perry, Professor J. H. Poynting, and Dr. I. Roberts. A grant of 807. had been made to this Committee. The Committee for the application of Photography to Meteorology had been re-appointed with a grant of 157., and the Underground Temperature Committee had been re-appointed without a grant. They were aware that the observatory of Professor Milne in Japan had been destroyed by fire, and that he now had an observatory in the Isle of Wight, hence the merging of the Committee for Seismological Observations with that for the observation of Earth Tremors. It was hoped that Professor Milne, who was particularly clever in designing inexpensive apparatus, might be able to produce suitable apparatus at a small cost for taking seismological observations, which might be widely distributed over the country, and be largely used by members of local scientific societies. With regard to the Meteorological Photographs Committee, no special work for the Corresponding Societies had been suggested by the Committee, who were simply anxious to obtain photographs of lightning, rainbows, halos, &c. The Committee was just then arranging for synchronous photographs of clouds. Near Exeter they had a straight base line about a quarter of a mile long. Photographie observatories had been erected at each end, and there was a signalling apparatus between the two points, so that photographs of passing clouds might be obtained from both observatories simultaneously. Work of this kind, however, would hardly be taken up warmly by those societies which were mainly natural history societies, though he hoped it would commend itself to those more devoted to engineering, geology, and meteorology.

The Chairman hoped that delegates would make special note of the work just described.

The Rev. J. O. Bevan asked if anything was known of the meteorological work formerly done at Stonyhurst by Father Perry. He believed similar work was still being done there, and would like to know if there had been any communication between the authorities at Stonyhurst and the Meteorological Photographs Committee. If meteorological work was still carried on at Stonyhurst, it was important that the Committee should know what was being done there.

Mr. Sowerbutts knew that the work done by Father Perry was still being carried on at Stonyhurst, and that the Father in charge was a highly trained scientific man. He was afraid that town societies could never do anything in noting earth tremors on account of the tremors caused by passing trains, waggons, &c. He did not know any spot within seven miles of Manchester where a recording instrument might safely be placed, unless it were at the bottom of a coal mine.

The Rev. J. O. Bevan believed that these superficial tremors were of short duration and would not affect the observations made with any properly constructed meteorological instrument. Had they any connection, he asked, with the Observatories at Greenwich and at Kew?

Mr. White Wallis said that the Committee were certainly in communication with both Kew and Greenwich, and he would note the suggestion that they should communicate with Stonyhurst. As regards the supposed difficulty of making observations on earth tremors in towns he might say that modern instruments were practically unaffected by passing vibrations from railway trains, &c. A tremor of such short duration was not represented on these instruments. They had one in a cellar, but though the vibration of a passing train was felt in the house, it was not recorded by the instrument. Darwin's bifilar pendulum was somewhat expensive Professor Milne accomplished the same result in a much simpler way.

The Chairman pointed out that the delegates might understand from what had been said that the whole cost of the needful apparatus would not necessarily exceed from 201. to 251., including the erection of a suitable column on which to place it.

SECTION C.

Mr. A. S. Reid, representing Section C, remarked that Mr. Osmund Jeffs, Secretary to the Geological Photographs Committee, had wished to resign, but had been persuaded to retain the post for another year, Mr. W. W. Watts having consented to act as co-secretary during that time, and afterwards to become sole secretary. Mr. Jeffs, however, would always be glad to forward any photographs which may reach him. The Committee had at one time thought of bringing their work to a conclusion, but had lately felt that it would not be judicious to do so. The Erratic Blocks Committee had altered their title so as to include Scotland, and had added some Scottish geologists to their list of members. answer to the Chairman, who asked in what way the Corresponding Societies could assist the Geological Photographs Committee, Mr. Reid replied that the best plan was for persons interested to write to Mr. Jeffs for information. The Committee were sending out a new circular containing instructions as to the best methods of using the camera, and the best kind of camera to use, together with an abstract of the opinions collected on those subjects.

In

Mr. Sowerbutts wished delegates to remember that platinotype photographs were the best to send, as those printed by the bromide process often faded very rapidly, while platinotype prints would not.

Mr. Murdoch had been glad to learn that Scotland was now included in the sphere of the Erratic Blocks Committee, and hoped that the Earth Tremors Committee, which was still a purely English Committee, would also be modified so as to comprise Scotland.

The Chairman remarked that these and other Committees were composed of members of the British Association who were chosen on account of their special work and quite irrespective of their nationality or place of residence. In some cases there were observers only in England. But, whatever its title, every Committee was anxious to get information from whatever quarter it was obtainable.

Mr. Hopkinson said that as regards the Erratic Blocks Committee, the reason for the exclusion of Scotland was the fact that a similar Committee for Scotland already existed in Edinburgh. In other cases it was simply an oversight. He was glad that the Geological Photographs Committee continued to exist, as there would always be a reason for its existence, one of its chief objects being to obtain photographs of temporary sections. Mr. Reid remarked that the Committee did not wish to cease to exist, but they hoped the work would be taken up and carried on at the Jermyn Street Museum.

Mr. M. B. Slater thought that an exchange of local geological photographs among the various Corresponding Societies would be a good thing. Mr. Sowerbutts approved of Mr. Slater's suggestion, and was sure that the Manchester Geographical Society would gladly exchange photographs any other societies. They were then receiving some very handsome geological photographs from the Carpathian Society.

with

The Chairman remarked that the Geological and Geographical Societies would be most likely to welcome an exchange of geological photographs.