LIT ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
different proportions. It was pointed out that the planet must have 
been, according to the nebular hypothesis. of about the same density as 
the parent nebula when the ring was thrown off; that the mass of the 
planet was about the one-thousandth of that of the nebula, and yet, in the 
process of condensation, the large and the small mass have kept even 
pace. 
# Auroral Displays” formed the subject of a paper by Mr. John A. 
Copland, minute descriptions being given of these phenomena, and also of 
disturbances noted at the telegraph wires during the occurrence of 
auroræ, 
The “ Form of the Aurora”? was discussed by Mr. J. Van Sommer, 
who reached the conclusion that the crown of the aurora follows a circle 
round the North pole, as it is never seen edgeways as if facing east or 
West. 
A lecture on “Colour” was given by Mr. G. F. Hull, B.A., in the 
lecture room of the Physical Department of the University of Toronto. 
This was the second of a series of popular lectures, illustrated by experi- 
ments, to which the public were invited. The apparatus of the depart- 
ment was kindly placed at the service of the society by Professor Loudon, 
FRS.C. Mr. Hull dealt lucidly with the notion of “the three primary 
colours,” and pointed out that, objectively, this was certainly a miscon- 
ception, though subjectively, it might possibly be right. 
+ Magnetic Stress ” was the subject of a paper by Mr, J. R. Collins, 
who introduced several experiments to prove that for short distances 
magnetism varied directly as the distance: Mr. Collins presented also 
several photographs of the magnetic lines of force, made by simply 
sprinkling iron filings upon sensitized paper covering a magnet, and 
then bringing the apparatus into the light. 
Two papers on * Meteorology ” were read by Mr. A. Elvins, who 
also reported having made observations of the spectrum of the lightning 
flash during a thunderstorm on the night of September 2nd, 1894. The 
unlooked for result was noted of the entire absence of bright lines ; the 
flash was seen in the spectroscope 40 times, and the spectrum was invari- 
ably continuous, from the extreme red to the extreme violet. Publica- 
tion of Mr. Elvins’s papers was deferred, it being his intention in the near 
future to group together in one general view the results of several years’ 
observation, together with a discussion of the various theories accounting 
for meteorological changes. It may be mentioned here, however, that 
Mr. Elvins has shown, referring to the subject of rainfall at Toronto, 
that there was an annual decrease between 1840 and 1870, while since 
the latter date there has been an average annual increase. This was 
held to be conclusive evidence that the cutting down of the forests is not, 
in Canada at least, the prime factor in the fluctuations of the rainfall 
curve. 
