Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/148

Rh After describing the position of his house, and the nature of the instruments employed for observation, the writer gives his observa- tions of the barometer and thermometer on the 6th and 7th of Ja- nuary last, and proceeds to state, that on the 6th, at about ten minutes past ten o'clock p.m. violent squalls commenced, at first with intermissions of perfect calms, but gradually becoming more frequent, and being accompanied by the sound of strong and in- creasing whirlwinds. By eleven o'clock the wind was observ^ed to proceed from the East, and its velocity was estimated at forty miles an hour. Its violence then increased, and threatened to blow down the chimneys. At midnight it abated, at the same time shifting to the south or west. At two o'clock in the morning nearly two tons of lead were torn away by the wind from the west end platform on the house-top, and thrown down behind the house in a westerly di- rection. Some of the lower windows having been left a little open, the wind thus admitted into the house forced up and blew oiF the very heavy hatch- door of the roof, which was covered with lead. The whole house rocked terribly, and even the stone floor of the half- sunk kitchen story heaved as if shaken by an earthquake : the slates from the roof were blown in every direction, some being car- ried to a prodigious distance. During the greater part of the night the rain fell in tremendous torrents. In the interval from two to half-past three in the morning, the barometer sunk very nearly an inch and a half, and reached its greatest depression. But the tem- pest continued till about four o'clock, when it began gradually to subside. Extensive devastation occurred among the trees ; some that were blown down raising two or three tons of clay soil with the roots. Several trees thus thrown down fell with their tops to the W.N.W.

The writer concludes from these and other observations, that the first and squally part of the storm began from the E.S.E., and blew from S. by W. at about midnight ; and that most injury was done to the slating and roof when the wind was not far from the south. It then gradually veered to the west, till noon, and reached the N.W, point by eight o'clock in the evening of the same day.

Captain Arthur Conolly and Lieut. -Colonel William Reid, C.B., R.E., were balloted for, and duly elected into the Society.

A paper was read, entitled, " An Account of the Processes em- ployed in Photogenic Drawing," in a letter to S. Hunter Christie, Esq., Sec. R.S. By H. Fox Talbot, Esq., F.R.S.

The subject, Mr. Talbot observes, naturally di\ddes itself into two heads, — the preparation of the paper, and the means of fixing the design.

In order to make what may be called ordinary Photogenic paper, the author selects, in the first place, paper of a good firm quality and smooth surface ; and thinks that none answers better than su-