Page images
PDF
EPUB

for the admission thereto, for purposes of reference and study, of men of letters and science, on orders given by Fellows of the three Societies*.

4. The Societies to be allowed the use of the Hall which it is proposed to construct in the West Wing of Burlington House, at such times as it may not be required by the Senate of the University of London, it being distinctly understood that this permission is to be so exercised as not in any way to interfere with the convenience of the University.

5. The Collection of Portraits belonging to the Royal Society to be hung on the walls of the proposed Hall, and to be open to the inspection of the public under such regulations as may be convenient, and subject especially to the proviso in the preceding clause.

6. That the adoption of this temporary arrangement shall not in any respect be held to weaken the claim of the Royal Society to permanent accommodation.

(Signed)

To the President of the Royal Society.

I have the honour, &c.,

JAMES WILSON.

The President having stated to the Meeting the circumstances under which the offer of Burlington House had been made to the Royal Society by Her Majesty's Government, Sir Benjamin Brodie, Bart., V.P., proposed the following Resolution :

"That the Council be authorized to accept and carry out the proposal of the Government as to the occupation of Burlington House, on the understanding that the Hall, which it is proposed to construct in the West Wing, and which is to contain the Portraits belonging to the Royal Society, shall be placed in the custody of the Royal

*The President stated, that he had intimated to the Secretary of the Treasury that, in his opinion, the Council would understand the third condition in the foregoing letter as implying the mutual access to the three libraries by the Fellows of the three Societies for the purposes of reference and study, but not as altering in any respect the ownership or custody of the several Libraries; and that in future, as heretofore, the loan of the books of any of the three libraries should be confined to the Fellows of that Society to which they belong. The President further stated, that Mr. Wilson assented to the above explanation of the minute, so far as it relates to the formation of a common library.

Society, subject to the free use of it by the Senate of the University of London at all times at which it may be required for their Examinations and Public Meetings."

The Resolution having been seconded by Mr. Bell, was put from the Chair, and carried. The Society then adjourned.

June 5, 1856.

The LORD WROTTESLEY. President, in the Chair.

The Annual General Meeting for the Election of Fellows was held this day.

Sir George Back, Capt. R.N., and John Gwynn Jeffreys, Esq., were, with the consent of the Meeting, appointed Scrutators to assist the Secretaries in examining the lists.

The votes of the Fellows present having been collected, the following gentlemen were declared duly elected :

John Hutton Balfour, M.D.
Edward W. Binney, Esq.
Sir John Bowring.
Sir John Fox Burgoyne, Bart.
Philip Henry Gosse, Esq.
Robert Harkness, Esq.
Cæsar Henry Hawkins, Esq.
Manuel John Johnson, Esq.

John Carrick Moore, Esq.
Henry Minchin Noad, Esq.
Edmund Potter, Esq.

Rev. T. Romney Robinson, D.D.
Henry Hyde Salter, M.D.
Archibald Smith, Esq.

Capt. Thomas A. B. Spratt, R.N.

On the motion of Dr. Miller, seconded by Dr. Stenhouse, the thanks of the Meeting were given to the Scrutators, and the Society then adjourned.

June 12, 1856.

The LORD WROTTESLEY, President, in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were admitted into the Society :-
Sir John Fox Burgoyne, Bart.

Philip Henry Gosse, Esq.

Archibald Smith, Esq.

The following communications were read :—

I. "On the Construction of the Imperial Standard Pound, and its copies of Platinum; and on the comparison of the Imperial Standard Pound with the Kilogramme des Archives." By W. H. MILLER, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Mineralogy in the University of Cambridge.—Part II. Received June 7, 1856.

(Abstract.)

The Quartz Weight

The hardness of quartz, its capability of taking a high polish, the absence of any hygroscopic properties, and its indestructibility at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere by any chemical agent except hydrofluoric acid, are such valuable qualities in a substance used for the construction of weights, that Professor Steinheil adopted it as the material for a copy of the kilogramme. The only objection to the use of a weight made of quartz is, that on account of the large amount of air displaced, the barometer and thermometer must be observed with extreme care during its comparison with a weight made of any ordinary metal. The Committee commissioned Mr. Barrow to construct a weight of quartz sufficiently near to 7000 grs. to admit of readily deducing the pound from it. Its form is that of a cube of about 2.2 inches, having its edges and angles rounded.

Its apparent weight in air is intermediate between that of a pound of platinum and a pound of brass, approaching more nearly to the latter than to the former.

Six series of weighings in water gave for the absolute weights of water displaced by it at 18° C.

[blocks in formation]

Denoting the quartz weight by Q, and the new Imperial Standard Pound by I, the comparisons of Q with I in air, reduced to a vacuum, gave

[blocks in formation]

Thirty secondary standards, of gun-metal protected by amalgamgilding, were constructed by Mr. Barrow. The densities of these were determined by weighing them in air and in water, and their absolute weights by comparison either with I or with T+D.

Values of the densities at the freezing-point in terms of the maxi

mum density of water, absolute weights in terms of I, and apparent weights, at Somerset House in air of the temperature

65-66 Fahrenheit, under the pressure of 29.75 inches of mercury at the freezing-point of water (t = 18°.7 C., b = 755-64), or in air for which 10+ log A = 7·07835, in terms of the commercial pound W of the same density as the lost standard troy pound.

[blocks in formation]

II. "On the Determination of Unknown Functions which are involved under Definite Integrals." By J. GOMES DE SOUZA, Professor of Mathematics in the Military Academy of Rio Janeiro. Communicated by Professor STOKES,

Sec. R.S.

The author, after referring to a previous memoir on the same subject, presented by him to the French Academy, proposes to himself

« PreviousContinue »