APPJ:.\1)|X V CLXXXT 



iribution of time-signals from tlie Observatory to the many Departmental 

 Government Buildings. One was illustrated by showing that the E. M. 

 F. induced on breaking a circuit containing self-induction was sufficient 

 to actuate tlie armature of a polar relay. The other pertained to the 

 anomaly that when only one dial is in a circuit, instead of the normal 

 ten in series, adding equivalent resistance to the former does not make 

 it work proprly, as theoretically one would expect. 



5. Annual Meeting. 



6. " Gravity/' by Dr. Otto Klotz. 



Dr. Klotz, after giving Clairaut's Theorem as the basic formula for 

 the figure of the earth, connecting gravity and ellipticity of the earth, 

 i-eferred to modern gravity work on the earth, illustrated by diagrams 

 on the screen, making special mention of the work in India. He then, 

 by exhibition of the complete half-seconds pendulum apparatus used 

 by him, explained how relative gravity was determined, and gave results 

 obtained from his work, including a derivation of the ellipticity. 



7. " The Minor Planets," by Joseph Pope, C.M.G. 



This lecture gave a brief history of the simple observations made 

 by the early nations of history which led to a knowledge of the motions 

 of the moon, the fixed stars and the planets. After the discovery of the 

 larger planets, Bode's law gave the hint which led to the search for 

 another planet and the subsequent discovery of the asteroids. The 

 theories which have been advanced to account for the presence of so 

 many small bodies were discussed. 



8. " The Occiirrence of - ;uul e in Investigations,'" by Di'. W. F. 

 King, C.M.G. 



Dr. King gave a short account of the history of the problem of 

 fining ji. By means of examples taken from almost every branch of 

 mathematical science, he showed that the ratio appeared in formulae 

 connecting linear measurements with space measurements and that e 

 occurred where processes or forces of a cumulative nature were going on : 

 occasionally l)oth ~ and z oc, uned infoniuilae in a somewhat siirprising 

 way. The ratio also occurred in the case oL' approximate formulœ. 



9. "Recent Progress in Astronomy and Allied Sciences," by Otto 

 Klotz, LL.D. 



The vast extent of the fields of modern science made a lengthy 

 discussion of any particular part of this subject impossible. The keynote 

 of recent progress was greater accuracy, better instrumental equipment 

 and more attention to apparent discordances. Dr. Klotz then made 

 special reference to the latest developments along the following lines: 

 finding parallax of fixed stars; the motion of stars in line of sight; the 

 distribution of stars throughout space; the absorption of the shorter 



