34 Report, Sfc. 



Saturday, May Uth. 1867. 



The Twenty-fifth Meeting of the Society was held at Mr. Hay ward's 

 House. 



Mr. Farrar took the chair, owing to the unavoidable absence of 

 the President. 



Mitchell was elected a member of the Society. 



Davidson, Ayre, and Pelham were elected to vacant places in 

 the Committee. 



A. Drummond, Esq., was elected an honorary member of the 

 Society. 



Several alterations in the Rules of the Society were discussed 

 and adopted. 



Saturday, May 18th, 1867. 



The Twenty-sixth Meeting of the Society was held at Mr. Farrar's 

 House. 



Everard, Mills, and Tetley were elected members of the 

 Society. 



The exhibitions were : — 



A nest found in the inside of a tree . . . . By Gustos. 



A case of shells, amongst others the Chinese window-shell (Placuna 

 Placenta) . . . . . . By Mk. Fakkar. 



Professor Wheatstone's Pseudoscope. 



A Polariscope and Crystals . . . , By G. Griffith, Esq. 



The President made some remarks, criticising the theory that 

 the remarkably low temperature of the beginning of the week was 

 due to the stream of meteors, which formed the magnificent star 

 shower of November, 1866, being at that time directly between 

 the earth and the sun. He gave the reasons which led him to 

 doubt the adequacy of the cause assigned by this theory, and con- 

 cluded by remarking that, whatever the value of his criticism, the 

 meteoric theory was disposed of by the announcement only a few 

 days before by Professor Adams, of the result of his calculations, 

 that the orbit of the meteors is not nearly circular, but a very 

 elongated orbit, like that of a comet, which the meteoric cloud 

 describes in the long period of thirty-three years, and that con- 

 sequently the meteors were not at the time supposed between us 

 and the sun. 



A short discussion on several points in Meteorology arose out 

 of the President's remarks. 



