216 



Tne following Gentleman was elected an Ordinary Fel- 

 low : — 



Sir John Maxwell of Poloc, Bart. 



The following Donations to the Library were announced : — 



Journal of Agriculture, and Transactions of the Highland and 



Agricultural Society of Scotland. No. 43. N. S. 8vo. — 



From the Society, 

 Medico-Chirurgical Transactions. Published by the Royal Medical 



and Chirurgical Society of London. Vol. XXXVI. 8vo. — 



From the Society. 

 Memoires de TAcademie Imperiale des Sciences do St Petersbourg. 



Sciences. Mathematiques et Physiques. Tome V., 5 & 6 



Liv. 4to. — From the Academy » 

 Astronomische Beobachtungen auf der Kbniglichen Universitats 



Sternwarte in Konigsberg. Angestellt und herausgegeben 



von Dr A. L. Busche. 25te Abtheilung. Pol. — From the 



Observatory, 



Monday, IQth January 1854. 

 Sir T. M. BRISBANE, Bart., President, in the Chair. 

 The following Communication was read : — 

 What is Coal ? By Dr Fleming. 



Dr Fleming, after stating the circumstances which led him to 

 bring before the Royal Society the consideration of this question, 

 pointed out the distinction between a mineral species and a rock, a 

 circumstance which had been greatly overlooked in recent discus- 

 sions on the subject. He considered coal as a rock, and capable of 

 being traced, in its origin and history, from peat at the beginning 

 of the series, to blind coal or anthracite at the termination. 



He illustrated the character of peat in reference to the vegetables 

 from which it was derived — the changes of a mineralizing nature 

 which it had undergone — and the strata of sand, clay, and marl 

 with which it is usually associated. He likewise pointed out the 

 character of the lustrous streak and conch oidal fracture in speci- 

 mens exhibited. 



