18 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vo.u. VI. 
various specimens of art. On resuming the chair he announced that 
Professor Cherriman would address the meeting. 
Professor Cherriman said the subject proposed for a brief discussion 
was one of more than common interest, as it professed to be the 
discovery of a new planetary law, by an American gentleman, Mr. David 
Kirkwood, of Pennsylvania. It was propounded by him in a letter to 
Professor Walker who seized upon it with enthusiasm, and read a 
demonstration of it before the American Society in 1849, being followed 
by Dr. Gould in the same track. These gentlemen and Professor Peirce 
spoke of it “as being the only discovery since Kepler’s time which at all 
approached to the character of his three physical laws; as affording 
striking evidence in support of Laplace’s nebular hypothesis, and as 
entitling Mr. Kirkwood to take rank beside Kepler as the discoverer of 
a great planetary harmony.” If this praise were not exaggerated it 
must follow that the new world had at last produced in the teacher of 
Pennsylvania, one of those giants of science whose birthdays are epochs 
in the history of the world. Professor Cherriman gave the statement of 
the law, or as it is called “ Kirkwood’s Analogy,” and explained at length 
the alleged new discovery, proving in a quiet and happy manner that it 
was entirely fallacious; and concluded by remarking on the singular 
fatality which had attended all attempts at the numerical verification of 
Laplace’s nebular hypothesis, instancing that of M. Comte, who had 
wasted much industry and skill in proving what turned out to be an 
identity or truism; while to this present attempt of Mr. Kirkwood’s 
could not even be awarded the small praise of numerical correctness. 
The Chairman very happily thanked the Professor for his elaborate 
treatise, and said they were glad to welcome among them a gentleman 
who had attained the highest honours at Cambridge, and they appreciated 
his kindness in coming forward on the present occasion. The chairman 
then called upon Dr. McCaul to fulfil a promise he had made. 
Dr. McCaul, amidst great applause, and after testifying to the extreme 
pleasure he had felt with the evening’s entertainment, said it was a matter 
of rejoicing to find so large an assemblage, as it gave a practical 
demonstration of the progress of the Society,a progress which, although 
the Society is but in its infancy, gives indication ofa vigorous manhood. 
He alluded to the previous addresses that had been delivered and said 
the subject to which he would briefly allude was the origin of our being 
able to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Itis a subject of national 
importance, and has been a matter of contention between England and 
France. In general it is believed that the origin of being able to 
ne 
