147 



A Paper, entitled, " Nouveau Systeme de Communication 

 Telegraphique, rendant impossible toute collision de trains 

 sur les chemins de fer," by Professor Baulet, of Perpignan, 

 communicated by William Eairbairn, Esq., LL.D., &c., was 

 read by Professor Roscoe. 



In this plan an insulated wire placed between the rails, 

 and divided in its middle, affords a connexion between the 

 instruments at the stations and others situated in the trains 

 themselves. The details of the arrangement could not be 

 understood without the drawings accompanying the Paper. 



Mr. DoDWELL, the Superintendent of the Magnetic Tele- 

 graph, described Mr. Clark's system, which is now in full 

 operation between London and Rugby, and which^ he 

 thought, left little further to be desired. 



SECTION FOE STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY. 

 November 19th, 1861. 



Dr. E. A. Smith, F.R.S., &c., read a Paper, entitled, 

 '' Examples of Relative and Absolute Law." 



The Author said that it was an easy thing to express the 

 most important laws that ought to rule absolute in society. 

 They were such as had been given in the words, ^' Love thy 

 neighbour as thyself, do justice, love mercy," but, when it 

 became needful to apply these laws to particular cases, ^ae 

 operations of the greatest minds were needed, and found 

 after all to be wanting. Quoting from a former Paper, he 

 said that even our ideas of property ceased to have influence 

 when our relation to property changed ; for example, when 

 millions of our fellow-creatures are dying at a distance, we 

 feel it scarcely right to consider that we have a right to any 

 luxury ; where they are dying in our own country, we feel 



