Royal Society of London. 267 
of electricity on different chemical compounds, most of 
which it decomposed. 
On the Ist December, the society celebrated its anniver- 
sary at their apartments in Somerset-place.—Afterwards the ~ 
society proceeded to the choice of the council and officers 
for the ensuing year; when, on examining the ballots, it 
appeared that the following gentlemen were elected of the 
council : 
Of the old council—The Right Honourable Sir Joseph 
Banks, Bart. K. B.; Mr. John Abernethy ; sir Charles Bladen, 
knt. ; Hen. Cavendish, esq.; Edward Whitaker Gray, M.D.; 
right honourable Charles Greville ; William Marsden, esq. 5 
reverend Nevil Maskelyne, D. D. ; George earl of Morton; 
William Hyde Wollaston, M. D. ; Fhomas Young, M. D. 
Of the new council—Right honourable Charles Abbott ; 
John Heaviside, esq. ; honourable Frederick North ; sir John 
S. Aubyn, bart. ;_ right honourable sir William Scott, knt. ; 
Francis lord Seaforth ; Charles Shaw Lefevre, esq. ; George 
viscount Valentia; Roger Wilbraham, esq. ; C. Wilkins, esq. 
_ And the officers were—The Right Honourable Sir Joseph 
Banks, Bart. K. B. President ; William Marsden, esq. trea- 
surer; Edward Whitaker Gray, M.D. and William Hyde 
Wollaston, M. D. secretaries. 
The Copleyan medal being adjudged to T. A. Knight, esq. 
for his numerous discoveries in vegetable physiology, the 
Right Hon. President pronounced a most able and animated 
discourse on the valuable philosophical inquiries of that 
gentleman :—with all that refined taste and elevated elo- 
quence for which he is particularly distinguished, he 
proceeded to take a philosophical view of the interesting ex- 
periments and discoveries of Mr. Knight ; of his researches 
and observations on the alburnous juice of plants, in its 
ascent elaborating the buds and leaves, and in its descent 
forming wood ; and of his discovery of the natural decay of 
apple-trees, and of the grafts which decline and become un- 
productive at the same time with the parent stock *. The 
experiments 
* This fact has been doubted by several practical horticulturists ; but Mr. 
Knight supperts it, both by experiments, and by reference to historical facts. 
bs 
