"The series of Meteorological corrections for periodic and non-periodic variations, for all parts of the world, mostly due to the untiring industry of Professor Dove, is an addition which will surely be appreciated by those who know how difficult access to the original tables is for most meteorologists. A few tables have been added to Dove's collection, computed by Glaisher, Captain Lefroy, and by myself. Most of the tables refer to temperature, only two to moisture. Two tables of Barometrical corrections have been placed in the Hypsometrical series, where they were needed, until they can be joined by others to make a set in this series, which still awaits new contributions, especially for these two last departments."

2. On the Heating of the Atmosphere by Contact with the Earth's Surface; by Prof. HENNESSY, (Proc. Brit. Assoc.. Ath., No. 1616).-The temperature of the atmosphere depends principally on the heat which it receives from the sun and on what it loses by radiation. A portion of the solar heat is absorbed in passing through the air, while another portion. penetrates to the earth's surface. The ground becomes thus heated, and the lower strata of the atmosphere acquire the greater part of their heat from contact with the warmed surface. It is admitted that the mode in which the air becomes heated by contact with the ground must be a kind of circulation analogous to that seen in the movements of a heated mass of liquid, such as boiling water. When studying the vertical movements of the atmosphere, with reference to which Prof. Hennessy had made a communication to the Association last year, he had been led to consider the connexion between such movements and the influence of the heated ground. In order to experimentally study the question, thermometers were suspended at different heights above the ground, and under different circumstances of exposure to the influence of the supposed currents. Observations were made every minute, and sometimes every half minute, during short intervals, about the middle of the month of May, on days when the sky was clear, and during which there was consequently a great deal of solar radiation. In general the thermometers exhibited fluctuations of temperature, the intensity of which diminished the more they were protected from the influence of circulating currents in the air. The greatest fluctuations were presented by thermometers with blackened bulbs exposed in the sun. This arose from the circumstance that the blackened bulbs, by acquiring a high temperature, became themselves disturbing agents in the calorific conditions of the surrounding air. Eviidence of similar phenomena appears to be presented by the curves of temperature obtained by the aid of photographical registration at the Radcliff Observatory in Oxford. Attention has been called by Mr. Johnson to a remarkable serration in the temperature curves during the day. This serration is found only when there is a considerable amount of solar radiation, it disappears during sunless and cloudy weather. While it is explained by referring it to the influence of the solar heat upon the ground, and the consequent circulation of small atmospheric currents, it affords a very satisfactory confirmation of the trustworthiness of the photographical method of registration.

3. On the Decrease of Temperature over Elevated Ground; by Prof. HENNESSY, (Proc. Brit. Assoc., Ath., No. 1616).—He showed that the

decrease of temperature in ascending through the atmosphere depended not only on height above the sea level, but also upon the absolute height above the nearest surface of solid land. In this way the decrease of temperature over plains, mountains, and plateaus, would be necessarily very different, and we cannot immediately infer the state of the phenomena in the two latter instances from what may exist in the former. Some of the results of observations made on some of the hills and mountains of Ireland during the Ordnance Survey, as contained in the volume recently published by Col. James, were referred to as illustrations of these general views.

Admiral FITZROY thought that one circumstance was too much overlooked by Prof. Hennessy in these researches, namely, that along with these ascending currents the whole body of the air was carried along by horizontal currents, so that it could not be assumed that it was the very same air which gave some of the indications which afforded the others. Again, it had been clearly shown that a thermometer placed upon the ground, or close to it, frequently fell 17° or 18° below one placed a few feet or inches above it, while somewhat higher up still, the indications of the thermometer again fell, thus clearly indicating a spot at which there was a maximum temperature. As to the latter part of what he stated, it was so commonly observed that if you placed a thermometer in the lower window of a house, and another in the window immediately above it, in nine cases out of ten you would find the latter indicate a lower temperature than the former. Prof. STEVELLY said that, besides what Admiral FitzRoy had pointed out, there were two other circumstances of much importance to be attended to in such observations as Prof. Hennessy had been making. First, that evaporation was going on more or less rapidly according to the circumstances of the locality where the observations were conducted. Secondly, that the air, when having,-either gradually, as in some cases, or abruptly, as in others,-to ascend in its course very elevated ground, was compelled to contract in volume, become condensed, and yet in some cases part with a portion of its vapor, and thus form the cloud which we so often saw capping the hills, as well as giving origin to the high winds and storms which so frequently prevailed there. Dr. TYNDALL said that he had just returned from Switzerland, where, on the tops of Monte Rosa, and even of Mont Blanc, he had a full opportunity of witnessing these phenomena on a scale of grandeur truly sublime. The snow in these regions was naturally as dry as dust, and he had frequently an opportunity of witnessing columns of it whirled up to an immense height by the ascending currents of air, into regions where it was soon dissipated, or melted and dispersed into vapor. It was also to be observed that the sun's heat had a power of penetrating water and other screens, such as the clouds formed, far surpassing that possessed by heat derived from less intensely ignited or heated sources, as for instance, from bodies heated red hot, or from vessels filled with hot water and the like. Hence, the sun's rays, though they penetrated the clouds and the earth, yet there they totally lost their former powers, and when radiated back possessed no such power as before of penetrating clouds or other screens, and thus the earth and its atmosphere became a kind of trap for the solar rays.

4. Death of Gen. Sir William Reid, R. E.-Late advices from England bring us the sad intelligence of the death of this eminent man, which took place at his residence in London on the 31st of October. His departure is a loss, not merely to the country in whose service his life was spent, but to the world. His modest, unobtrusive worth, his unfaltering courage, his untiring industry, his disinterested efforts to promote the welfare of his fellow-men, and his valuable contributions to our knowledge of the winds, all demand more than a passing notice of his death.

Sir William Reid was born at Kinglassie in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1791, and was the eldest son of the Rev. James Reid, a clergyman of the Scotch Church. He was educated at the Military Academy at Woolwich, England, and entered the British army in 1809 as an engineer, and served during the last four years of the Peninsula war, under the Duke of Wellington. He was actively engaged at the seige of Ciudad Rodrigo and St. Sebastian's. In the sanguinary assault upon the latter fortress, he headed one of the storming parties, was wounded by a musket ball, and fell, covered with blood, which streamed from his mouth and nostrils. He was supposed to be dead, but, on removing from his neck a black silk handkerchief (which, by advice of a medical friend, he had unwillingly assumed, instead of the stiff military stock), it was found pressed into the wound; and on using a little force to withdraw it, the ball came out with it, not a thread of the handkerchief having been severed. The removal of the handkerchief revived him, but the surgeons, on examination pronounced the wound mortal. Contrary to their expectations, he recovered. He was wounded four times during this war, and had three horses shot under him.

After the conclusion of the peace with France, he served on the coast of America, under Gen. Lambert, until the conclusion of the war here, when he rejoined the Duke of Wellington in Belgium, in 1815. In 1816 he served in the expedition against Algiers; was Adjutant of the corps of sappers for some years after the peace. Afterward, as a Major of engineers, he was employed in restoring the government buildings ruined in the destructive hurricane which devastated Barbadoes in 1831. While so employed, curiosity led him "to search everywhere for accounts of previous hurricanes, in the hope of learning something of their causes and mode of action, but in the West Indian histories he could find little beyond details of the losses in lives and property, and no attempt to furnish data whereby the true character or the actual courses of these storms might be investigated." While thus engaged, the first of the meteorological papers of our lamented countryman, Wm. C. Redfield, met his eye, being that published in the American Journal of Science in 1831. This he says, "was the first paper he had met with which appeared to convey any just opinion on the subject of hurricanes," and, strongly impressed that Mr. Redfield's views were correct, he determined to verify them "by carefully charting the observations made at different points." He soon became satisfied of the rotative character and determinate progress of the gales and hurricanes of the North Atlantic, as maintained by Mr. Redfield. In 1838, having been able to devote more attention to these inquiries, he published his first paper on hurricanes in the second volume of "Professional Papers of the Royal Engineers," and soon after having prepared

SECOND SERIES, VOL. XXVII, No. 79.-JAN., 1859.

himself by a careful analysis of various hurricanes, he published his valuuable work entitled "An attempt to Develope the Law of Storms by means of Facts, arranged according to place and time." Of this, three editions have appeared. Some years later (1849) he published a second work entitled "The Progress of the Development of the Law of Storms and of the Variable Winds, with the practical application of the subject to Navigation." By these labors, with those of Redfield, Piddington and Thorn, his principal co-workers, the power of knowledge has conquered even the hurricane, and the intelligent mariner, warned by indications of the barometer, and those of the early winds of the coming storm, may securely watch its approach, and avoid, in almost all cases, its dangerous vortex, and thus sail on unharmed by the gale-even while skillfully using its outer winds to expedite his voyage.

But his meteorological labors, valuable as they have been, formed but a portion of his usefulness. In 1838 he received, unsolicited, the appointment of Governor of Bermuda. On his arrival there in 1839 he found agriculture far behind; corn and hay were imported; there was but little fruit; bitter citron trees grew everywhere; and in sight of the government house was a wide swamp. Col. Reid set the example of improvement. He grafted a sweet orange on a bitter citron tree, in front of the government house; it bore good fruit, and soon all the bitter trees were grafted. He drained the swamp, imported plows and other improved agricultural implements from New York, had plowing taught, gave prizes for the best productions, and in 1846 held a grand agricultural fete in a fine dry meadow field-the old swamp. In fact, he gave new spirit to the people, showed them how to work out their own prosperity, changed the face of the island, took great interest in promoting popular education, in diffusing temperance tracts, and so won the title of "the good Governor," by which he is still affectionately remembered in Bermuda. In one of the volumes of Dickens' Houseword Words, the praises of this "Model Governor" may be found set forth.

In 1846 he was transferred to the Windward West India Islands, comprising Barbadoes, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago and Trinidad. Here also, by his firm and beneficent conduct, he gained the confidence and good will of the entire population, and devoted himself, as he had done at Bermuda, to the welfare of his people and to their advancement in agriculture, education and temperance. He removed a judge who had used his power to oppress the people, and when the home government hesitated to give him their support in this, he promptly resigned his office, and returned to England in 1848. In 1849 he was appointed Commanding Engineer at Woolwich, and commanded the engineer officers and sappers and miners at the Great Industrial Exhibition; and on the resignation of Mr. Robert Stephenson, Col. Reid was requested by the Royal Commission to become, in his room, Chairman of the Executive Committee, in which capacity he served with unremitting attention. On the closing of his service for the Great Exhibition-for which he generously declined remuneration-he received the Order of Knighthood from the Queen, and in September, 1851, he received the unsought appointment of Governor of Malta-no idle appointment, for presages of The Russian struggle were even then flashing in the eastern sky, and the

government knew the value of the man they assigned to this most responsible post. During the eventful struggle which ensued on the banks of the Danube and in the Crimea, Malta was the chief point of embarkation of British troops. In February, 1854, Gov. Reid writes to a friend in this country, "I am preparing for the Russian storm-the first portion of 10,000 men from England having just now entered the harbor. I must in charity believe the Czar to be mad, thus to compel mankind to begin anew to destroy each other." He continued in this post until after the close of the Russian war, receiving meanwhile the promotion to General. Near the close of 1857, Lady Reid's health, which had suffered severely from the debilitating climates of the West Indies and Malta, forced her to return to England, and Gen. Reid, resigning his government, followed her as soon as a succession could arrive. Lady Reid lived but a short time after her return, and her husband has survived her but a few months. Gen. Reid had always greatly desired to make a friendly visit to the United States, but was never permitted that pleasure. Lady Reid, with two of her daughters, spent the summer of 1845 in this country, and those who had the pleasure of meeting her will not soon forget the charm of her vivacious and intelligent conversation. Gen. Reid has left no sons, but five daughters, two or three of whom are married to officers in the military and naval service of Great Britain.

We can hardly avoid noting here the remarkable fact that the spirit of this statesman and philosopher who had done so much to illustrate the path of the winds, should pass away, almost, as it were, on the wings of one of the most extensive, rapidly progressing and destructive ocean husricanes on record. First coming under notice at the Windward Islands about the 20th of October, it passed over Porto Rico, Hayti and the Bahamas; then recurving, its axis passed, on the 24th, nearly over Bermuda, where its violence was extraordinary; and thence for some days following, it pursued its course to the northeastward, almost or quite to the shores of Europe. No storm described by either Redfield or Reid seems to have had the enormous diameter of this. It was severely felt 700 miles eastward of Bermuda in the same latitude, while its western border grazed New York, affecting the barometer sensibly, and rolling in upon us the extraordinary tides of October 24 and 25.

5. Journal of the Royal Dublin Society. Vol. I. 441 pp. 8vo. Dublin, 1858. This first volume of the Journal of the Royal Dublin Society contains a variety of valuable papers-among which, there are Captain F. L. M'Clintock's Reminescences of Arctic Travel, with a geological map and descriptions of fossils, by Rev. S. Haughton; several papers on British, Australian and South Pacific Crustacea, by Dr. Kinahan; Observations on the Climate and Zoology of the Crimea, by Mr. William Carte.

6. Chimie appliqueé à la Viticulture et à l'Enologie, Leçons professées en 1856, par M. C. LADREY, Prof. de Chimie à la Faculté des Sciences de Dijon, etc. 640 pp. 16mo.-This is an important volume to all cultivators of the grape as well as to those who manufacture wine from the grape. Professor Ladrey is an able chemist, and has prepared a thorough work. It treats of the growth of the vine-chemical composition of the ashes-nature of the soil-wine growing countries-fertilizers-organic matters of the vine-of grapes, their kinds, etc.— fermentation, etc.-diseases of the vine, etc.