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Royal Society, November 30.—Anniversary Meeting.—The President delivered his annual address, in which he touched upon several points of interest. One of the first subjects to which he drew attention was the Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers, the printing of which proceeds satisfactorily. He remarked: “While the aid to be derived to scientific research from the index according to authors' names is fully recognised, there can be no doubt that the value of the Catalogue will be greatly enhanced by the fulfilment of the second part of the plan announced in the preface, namely, by the publication of an Alphabetical Index of Subjects. The preparation of such an “Index Rerum” as is contemplated, has been for some time a subject of anxious, as well as careful, consideration by the Library Committee, and they have at length arrived at what, they have reason to hope, will be a most satisfactory solution of the question through a communication with Professor Julius Victor Carus, of Leipsic, who they found would be willing himself to undertake the task. I am happy to announce that the Council, acting on the recommendation of the Library Committee, have entered into a very satisfactory arrangement with Professor Carus, who will be able to commence his labours in the ensuing spring. From the well-known scientific accomplishments of Professor Carus, and his extensive experience in the peculiar work to be performed, as well as the confidence which will be reposed in him by all acquainted with the nature of the undertaking and interested in its success, we may consider the Society most fortunate in securing his services”. The Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, superintended by a Committee of the Royal Society, was next referred to; it is stated to be making good progress. Concerning the great Melbourne telescope the President remarked: “Its performance since erection does not appear to have given the same satisfaction at Melbourne that it did at Dublin; but the defects complained of may arise partly from an imperfect knowledge of the principles of the instrument and inexperience intheuse of solarge a telescope, partly from experimental alterations made at Melbourne, and partly from atmospherical circumstances. Those who are acquainted with the difficulties which Sir J. F. W. Herschel experienced at the Cape, will not be surprised that they should be felt at Melbourne to a much greater extent, on account of the far greater size of the speculum. But I have no doubt that if the instrument be kept in its original condition and as carefully adjusted as it was at Dublin, it will perform as well in ordinary observing weather. The high impression of its power produced by the trials which were made of it when at Dublin, is maintained by a sketch of a portion of the Great Nebula near η Argus, made by M. Le Sueur during two nights in June last. Some change in this nebula from the time when it was described by Sir J. F. W. Herschel had been indicated by Mr. Powell and other observers, though with instruments so much inferior in power to his 20-foot reflector, that little reliance could be placed on them; however, here the evidences of change are indisputable. The peculiar opening in the nebula which Sir John Herschel has compared to a Lemniscate, is still very sharply marked, but its shape and magnitude have altered. Its northern extremity is opened out into a sort of estuary; one of the remarkable constrictions seen in 1834 has disappeared, and the other has shifted its place. Two stars which were then exactly on the edges ot the opening are now at some distance within the bright nebulosity; the nebula has become comparatively faint near η Argus. Another remarkable change is the formation of a V-shaped bay south and preceding the Lemniscate, whose edges are so bright that if it had then existed it could not have been overlooked in the 2O-foot reflector. Another feature, which, however, was perhaps not within reach of that telescope, is an oval which M. Le Sueur describes as ‘full of complicated dark markings and pretty bright nebular filaments’. The angular magnitude of the changes which have been observed, is so great as to suggest a strong probability that this nebula is much nearer to us than the stars which are seen along with it. It may be also noticed that M. Le Sueur saw nothing to make him believe in any development of stars in addition to those seen by Sir J. F. W. Herschel”. The Council of the Society believes that an attempt to encourage and aid spectroscopic researches is an object in full unison with the highest purpose of the Royal Society's existence; and they have, therefore, after most careful deliberation, resolved to act on this conviction. A telescope of the highest power that is conveniently available for spectroscopy and its kindred inquiries is being constructed, and will be entrusted to such persons as, in their opinion, are the most likely to use it to the best advantage for the extension of this branch of science; and, in the first instance, there can be but one opinion that the person so selected should be Mr. Huggins. The President said: “The execution of this project was much facilitated by the receipt of £1,300 from a bequest made to the Society by the late Mr. Oliveira; and in the beginning of the year proposals were received from the chief opticians of the time, of which that of Mr. Grubb was accepted last April. The conditions proposed were, that the object-glass of the telescope should be of 15-inches aperture, and not more than 15-feet focus, that the arrangements of its equatorial should be such that it could be easily worked by the observer without an assistant, and that the readings of its circles could be made without leaving the floor of the observatory. Mr. Grubb was fortunate enough to secure two discs which had been exhibited by Messrs. Chance at the French Exhibition. They are of first-rate transparency, and as the construction which has been adopted admits of the lenses being cemented, this object-glass will transmit an unusual portion of light. The respective indices of the glasses were determined by making facets on their edges it an angle of 60″, and observing spectral lines through the prisms thus formed with a spectroscope of such magnitude as to admit of their being placed on its table. The distinctness with which even faint lines are seen through 12 inches of the glass is a most satisfactory proof of its purity and clearness. From these Professor Stokes computed the curves for the lenses, and his numbers were almost identical with those which Mr. Grubb had obtained. I may mention that some fears had been entertained that the equality of curvature in the adjacent surfaces might call up a ghost, if the lenses were used uncemented, and that this has been tried and no such effect was visible. Subsequently a rather novel addition has been made, bearing upon the radiation of heat from the stars. An object-glass intercepts so much of the heat-rays that, to economise the infinitesimal effect which is expected, a metallic mirror is more promising. The equatorial is, therefore, at the suggestion of Mr. De la Rue, provided with the means of changing the 15-inch achromatic for an 18-inch reflector; and this has been accomplished by means notable for their facility and their safety. The instrument will be ready for trial in December of the present year”. The rest of the address referred to the recent dredging expedition. The President then proceeded to the award of the Medals. The Copley Medal was awarded to M. Victor Regnault for the second volume of his “Relation des Expériences pour déterminer les lois et les données physiques necessaries au calcul des Machines à Feu”, including his elaborate investigations on the Specific Heat of Gases and Vapours, and various papers on the Elastic Force of Vapours. The President remarked that the name of M. Victor Regnault had been associated for the last quarter of a century with the most refined and delicate experimental inquiries connected with the measurement of heat. The amount of labour involved in his researches upon the specific heat of simple and compound bodies, upon the dilatation of gases and vapours, upon the comparison of the air-thermometer with the mercurial thermometer, upon the elastic force of aqueous vapour, upon the determination of the density of gases, and upon hygrometry, must excite the astonishment of all who could estimate the difficulty of the problems attacked, the precision of the results attained, and the fundamental character of the data which he had determined. The Council has awarded a Royal Medal to Sir Thomas Maclear, Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope, for his measurement there of an arc of the meridian. The President reminded his audience that our sole knowledge of the figure of the southern hemisphere rested on the arc of the meridian measured by La Caille, and now remeasured and extended by Maclear. The original measurement, notwithstanding the well-known ability of the great astronomer under whose superintendence it was executed, had not commanded confidence, Maclear's arc has an amplitude nearly four times as great as that of La Caille, and is, on this account, as well as on account of the greater accuracy in detail, far more deserving of confidence. The degree which is derived from it is 1,133 feet shorter than that of La Caille; and as La Caille's is 1,051 longer than that given by the spheroid, which, according to Airy, represents the average of northern arcs, it is evidently a near approximation to the truth. This is even more distinctly shown by the close agreement of the latitudes computed from the geodetic measurements with those given by the sector—that of the north extremity being 0.4 in defect, that of the south extremity 0.5 in excess.—A Royal Medal has been awarded to Dr. Augustus Matthiessen, F.R.S., for his researches on the electrical and other physical properties of metals and their alloys. The President remarked that these researches embraced the determinations of the specific gravities, the expansion due to heat, the thermo-electric properties, the electric conducting-power, and the effects of temperature upon the electric conducting-power. Dr. Matthiessen's investigation of the electric conducting-power of commercial copper had resulted in very great improvement of the conducting power of the copper wire used in submarine telegraphy. Closely connected with this branch of his researches were the investigations which Dr. Matthiessen carried out for the Electrical Standard Committee of the British Association, of which he was one of the most active members. The resistance-coils issued by that Committee, which had been very generally adopted as standard instruments, were all constructed of an alloy of platinum and tin, which, after a long series of experiments, Dr. Matthiessen recommended as specially fitted for that purpose. Under the auspices of the British Association, Dr. Matthiessen undertook, a few years ago, the investigation of the chemical constitution of cast-iron, and of the influence exerted upon the physical properties of that metal by the several other elements which generally occur in association with it. He had lately elaborated a method of producing pure iron, which promised to be fruitful in interesting and important results in the hands of himself and the other chemists with whom he has been associated in this inquiry. Dr. Matthiessen's researches published in the Philosophical Transactions, on the action of oxidising agents upon organic bases and on the chemical constitution of narcotics (the latter investigation having been conducted in conjunction with Professor G. C. Foster), furnished proofs of the success of his labours in organic chemistry. His researches were distinguished as well for their diversity as for their uniformly complete and trustworthy character.—The following officers are elected for the ensuing year:— President: Sir Edward Sabine, L.L.D.; Treasurer: W. Allen Miller, M.D., LL.D. Secretaries: W. Sharpey, M.D., LL.D.; and G. Gabriel Stokes, LL.D. Foreign Secretary: Professor W. Hallows Miller, LL.D. The other members of the Council are: Frederick Currie, M.A.; Warren De la Rue, Ph. D.; Sir P. de M. Grey Egerton, Bart.; Professor W. H. Flower, F.R.C.S. Eng.; William Huggins; J. Gwyn Jeffreys; John Marshall, F.R.C.S. Eng.; Augustus Matthiessen, Ph.D.; Captain Henry Richards, R.N.; the Marquis of Salisbury, M.A.; C. W. Siemens; John Simon, F.R.C.S.; Archibald Smith, M.A.; Professor H. I. Stephen Smith, M.A.; Professor John Tyndall, LL.D.; and Professor Alexander W. Williamson, Ph.D.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 1, 144–149 (1869). https://doi.org/10.1038/001144b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/001144b0