GREENOCK PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



The Watt Anniversary Lecture this year was kindly undertaken 

 by Mr. James Riley, General Manager to the Steel Company of 

 Scotland, whose excellent lecture on the " Manufacture, Properties, 

 and Uses of Steel," was much appreciated, and has attracted attention 

 beyond the Society. The best thanks of the Society are due to Mr. 

 Riley, not only for his admirable lecture, but also for his handsome 

 gift of 250 printed copies of it for distribution to the members. 



The Society is also greatly indebted to Dr. Cameron, M.P., for 

 his highly interesting and instructive lecture ; and to Mr. T. I.. 

 Patterson, Vice-President, who so ably filled one of the vacancies on 

 very short notice. 



At the close of last Session a communication was received from 

 Dr. Hugh R. Mill, Edinburgh — Secretary of a Committee of the 

 British Association, appointed to investigate the seasonal variation of 

 temperature in lakes, rivers, and estuaries in the United Kingdom — 

 asking the co-operation of the Society in arranging for observations 

 in this district. As yet the Committee have only been able to 

 arrange with Mr. James Wilson, C.E., Superintendent of Waterworks, 

 who readily undertook to get a series of observations made at the 

 Gryfe Reservoir. 



During the Session the attention of the Committee was called to 

 the advisability of taking steps with the view of furthering the erection 

 of an international memorial to James Watt in his native town. On 

 the recommendation of the Committee, the Society appointed a 

 Special Committee to co-operate with the Local Committee, which 

 had been appointed in 1886 to erect a monument to our illustrious 

 townsman on the site of his birthplace. The local Committee 

 cordially agreed to this co-operation, and, at a joint-meeting held on 

 the 1 6th January, an Executive Committee of 30 members, selected 

 from the Joint-Committee, was appointed to carry out the above- 

 mentioned object. The heartiness with which the scheme has been 

 inaugurated seems to warrant the hope that it may be carried to a 

 successful issue. As has been already pointed out, the proposal does 



