48 



FOURTH ORDINARY MEETING. 



Royal Institution, 30th November, 1857. 



THOMAS INMAN, Esq., M.D., President, in the Chair. 



The following were elected Ordinary Members : — 

 Robert Henry Hall, Esq. 

 William Henry Grimmer, Esq. 



The Resignations of Messrs. George Holt, jun., H. V. 

 Rudd, and the Rev. P. Haines, Hoylake, were accepted. 



Dr. Retslag took exception to the title of his paper as 

 referred to in the last vol. of the Society's "Proceedings," 

 taken from official documents ; and to the biief report, 

 which, he thought, did not con-ectly signify the natui-e of 

 the communication.* 



Professor T. C. Archer exhibited one of Messrs. Wessel 

 and Kukla's patent gas stoves, the construction of which 

 is exceedingly simple, and its merits considerable. f * 



* Dr. Retslag subsequently supplied the Secretary with a copy of his letter in 

 the Liverpool Albion, dated May 6th, 1857, from which it appeared that the correct 

 title of this paper was, " On the political philosophers of the 16th and 17th 

 centuries ;" and not, as reported, " On the political philosophy of the philoso- 

 phers of the 16th and 17th centuries." The paper in question was a portion 

 of" an introduction to an essay " upon that subject, in which the author seeks " to 

 trace the gradual change in the public mind of Europe, and the effect of this change 

 upon arts, sciences, and politics, particularly since the beginning of the 14th century 

 by preparation of the more materialistic views of modern times, in which nature and 

 things material are no longer regarded as opposed and hostile to Spirit and God, 

 but are his incarnation and one of his principal revelations." The Society is not 

 responsible for, nor identified with, the individual sentiments of members which 

 appear in print. — Editor. 



•)• The Secretary has tested one of these little stoves by using it exclusively since 

 Christmas last in his study, a room 18 by 15 feet, and 12 feet high, containing 3240 

 cubic feet of air, and freely ventilated by chimney, window, and two doors, one 

 opening into the hall, and the other into a large passage leading to the garden. The 

 means have also been present, through a large aquarium, of keeping the apartment 

 from becoming unduly dry. During these months he has found no inconvenience 

 from the stove, and much to commend in it. The atmosphere has never been un- 

 pleasant, has been comfortably heated by an expenditure of gas equal to three jets 



