Roj/al Society. 211 



The author obtains formulae by which the ratio of the circum- 

 ference of a circle to its diameter may be computed with much 

 greater facility and expedition than by any of the ordinary methods. 



A paper was also in part read, entitled, " Inquiries respecting the 

 Constitution of Salts. Of Oxalates, Nitrates, Phosphates, Sulphates, 

 and Chlorides." By Thomas Graham, Esq., F.R.S.Ed., Professor of 

 Chemistry in the Andersonian University of Glasgow, &c. &c. Com- 

 municated hy Richard Phillips, Esq., F.R.S. 



A Report upon a Letter addressed by M. le Baron de Humboldt to 

 His Royal Highness the President of the Royal Society, and com- 

 municated by His Royal Highness to the Council, was also read. 



Nov. 30, 1836. Anniversary Proceedings. Having inserted the Ad- 

 dress of H. R. H. the President in our last number, p. 141, we now 

 complete our report of these proceedings. 



Extracts from the Report of the Proceedings of the Council si?ice the 

 last Anniversary . 



The Council, on the 3rd of March, adopted a Report, submitted 

 to them by the Committee whom they had appointed for considering 

 the communications from the Treasury and Excise Office, on the 

 subject of the construction of instruments and tables for ascertaining 

 the strength of spirits, in reference to the charge of duty thereon, and 

 ordered it to be transmitted to the Lords Commissioners of His 

 Majesty's Treasury ; who in acknowledging its receipt, were pleased 

 to express " their best thanks to H. R. H. the President, and to the 

 Society, for the obliging manner in which they had met the wishes 

 of the Board, and to the Committee for the attention they gave to 

 the subject, and for the valuable Report with which they had fur- 

 nished that Board." 



The Council, conformably with the recommendation of the Do- 

 nation Fund Committee, have granted £50 from that fund to Pro- 

 fessor Wheatstone, in aid of the experimental inquiry which he is 

 prosecuting on the measure of the velocity of Electricity when pass- 

 ing along a conducting wire. 



A letter from Baron Von Humboldt, addressed to H. R. H. the 

 President, relating to a proposal for the cooperation of the Royal So- 

 ciety in carrying on an extensive series of magnetical observations, 

 in various parts of the earth, having been communicated by H. R. H. 

 to the Council, it was referred to the Astronomer Royal and to 

 S. H. Christie, Esq., for their opinion thereupon. The Report of 

 these Gentlemen was ordered to be read to the Society and printed 

 in its proceedings j and a Committee has been appointed to consider 

 of the best means of carrying into effect the measures recommended in 

 that Report*. 



Mr. Monk Mason having, in a letter addressed to H. R. H. the 

 President, offered the Great Vauxhall Balloon for the use of the So- 

 ciety, a Committee was appointed to take this proposition into con- 

 sideration and to report thereupon to the Council. 



* A Translation of M. de Humboldt's letter will be found in our lait 

 volume, p. 42. — Edit. 



2 E2 



