ii.. Proceedings. lUctober i8th, 1921. 



sented by Messrs. Adam Hilger, Ltd. ; Trayisactions and Pro- 

 ceedings of the New Zealand Institute, vol. lii, presented by I\Ir. 

 Edward Melland ; Grammar of Colloquial Tibetan, and English- 

 Tibetan Colloquial Dictionary, by C. A. Bell (i2mo, Calcutta, 

 1919 and 1920), presented by the Governor of Bengal in Council ; 

 CE^irres Completes de Christiaaii Huygens, T. XIII. (i. and ii.), 

 T. XIV. (4to, La Haye, 1916 and 1920), published and presented 

 by La Societe Hollandaise des Sciences ; and Terrestrial Mag- 

 netism {British [Terra-Nova] Antarctic Expedition, 1910 — 1913), 

 by C. Chree (4to, London, 1921), presented by the Captain 

 Scott Memorial Fund. 

 The Prt'Sident delivered his Inaugural Address, entitled 



"The Preservation of our Fauna." 



This address is printed in the Memoirs, 



Special Meeting, October 14th, 1921. 

 Mr. T. A. Coward, M.Sc, F.Z.S., F.E.S. {President), in the 



Chair. 

 Dr. Irving Langmuir, of the General Electric Company, 

 Schenectady, N.Y., U.S.A., delivered an Address entitled 



"Molecular Structure." 



The modern conception of the atom is that of a nucleus 

 surrounded by electrons, and all the chemical and physical 

 properties of the atom are due, in a large m_easure, to the 

 number of these electrons and the way in which they are 

 arranged around the nucleus. Dr. Langmuir indicated three 

 postulates, and explained in a number of cases how these 

 postulates accorded with the simple and well-known properties 

 of the atoms considered. He was able to show w^herein laj^ the 

 fundamental difference between organic chemical compounds 

 and inorganic compounds ; and he explained how the electrical 

 conductivity of certain substances in the molten state or in 

 solution could be accounted for, and why some elements are 

 gaseous and others solid under ordinary conditions. 



General Meeting, October i8th, 1921. 

 Mr. T. A. Coward, M.Sc, F.Z.S., F.E.S. {President), in the 



Chair. 

 The following were elected Ordinary Members of the Society : 



William Anderson, B.Sc. (Glasgow), Lecturer in Physics, The College 

 of Technology, Manchester. Capstone^ Mellor, Derbyshire. Frederick 

 Thomas Peirce, B.Sc. (Sydney), Physicist, The British Cotton Industry 

 Research Association, Shirley Institute, East Didsbury, Manchester. 



