PROCEEDINGS FOR 189(5 LXVII 



geometric shape of a section of Saturn's ring, if the surface were such as 

 to show a concave outline of the shadow. Mr. llarve}- showed that the 

 section must be either lenticuhir or elliptical. 



" Notes on Steel making " were read by Dr. E. A. Meredith, who had 

 had an opportunity of investigating the Doherty process at Sarnia. The 

 advantages of this method over the Bessemer system were clearly shown. 

 The successful introduction of the new process was regarded as hera^lding 

 the incoming of a great industry into Canada. 



" A histor}' of the Greenwich Nautical Almanac " was the sultject of 

 a paper by Mr. Thos. Lindsay, who read the introductor}- chapter, in 

 which were outlined the advances which had been made in science since 

 1767, the date of the institution of the almanac. 



Mr. T. S. H. Shearman, of Brantford, presented a paper on the 

 " Oblique Cassegrain Telescope," and described his experiments with this 

 method of constructing instruments made as long ago as 1878. Althou«-h 

 it has since been made to appear that the method was in use in Europe 

 prior to the date named, Mr. Shearman had no information on this point 

 when he devised his experiments. 



A paper on •' Earthquakes and Volcanic Phenomena " was read by 

 Mr. A. Elvins, Avho sought to trace these phenomena directly to their 

 source by illustrations derived from the necessary etfects of solar heat. 



Mr. David E. Hadden, of Alta, Iowa, contributed an exhaustive 

 paper on solar observations, to which he appended a daily record for the 

 period of (1890-95) five years, during which he was engaged in reportino- 

 to the Iowa Weather Service Bureau. 



Mr. Arthur Harvey read some notes on the " Behaviour of Minerals 

 at very high Temperatures," and described the results of several experi- 

 ments with a Barton electrical furnace, which, it was stated, reproduced 

 in some measure the conditions to which aerolites are exposed on entering 

 the atmosphere of the earth. 



The text of the address to the legislative assembl}^ by the Hon. Dr. 

 Eoss, minister of education and honorary president of the society, on 

 moving for a grant to assist in the suitable recejitionof the British Associa- 

 tion at Toronto in 1897, was, by permission, published in the Transactions 

 of the society, which appointed a special committee with instructions to 

 aid in every possible manner the work of the general committee having 

 in charge the arrangements in respect of the visit of the association. 



" Auroral Displays" formed the subject of a paper by Mr. J. Van 

 Sommer, who brought to bear on the question of the origin of aurorse 

 the results of some experiments with vacuum-tubes conducted in the 

 laboratory of Toronto University. 



Notes on auroral observations were received from Eight Eev. .J. A. 

 Newnham, D.D., Bishop of Moosenee, a corresponding member of the 

 society, who, in his far northern station, has specially tine opportunities 



