Linncean Society. ; 55 



The members elected into the council :— 



John Abernethy, Esq. ; Charles Babbage, Esq. M A • Cant 

 Francis Beaufort, R.N. ; Robert Brown, Esq. ; John George Chill 

 dren, Esq.; Charles Hatchett, Esq.; A. B. Lambert? Esq.; 

 WiMiam Viscount Lowther; George Pearson, M.D ; William 

 rrout, M.D. 



The following were elected officers of the Society :— 



President, Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. ; Treasurer, D. Gilbert 

 nA\ ^^-^ Secretaries, J. F. W. Herschel, Esq. M.A., John G 

 Children, Esq. 



The Society then adjourned to dine together at the Crown and 

 Anchor lavern. 



Dec. 7.— A paper was read On the composition of James's 

 I'owder and of Pulvis Antimonialis; by J. Davy, M.D. F R.S. 



Dec. H.— On the relative powers of various metallic substances 

 regarded as conductors of electricity; by W. S Harris Esq • 

 communicated by John Knowles, Esq. F.R.S. ' ' 



. ^^.'^\?^-— O" ^" improved differential thermometer; by 

 A. Ritchie, M.A., Rector of the Academy of Tain: communicated 

 by Sir H. Davy, P.R.S. 



The Society then adjourned over the Christmas vacation, to 

 meet again on Thursday, Jan. 11, 1827. 



LINN^AN SOCIETY. 

 Dec. 19.— A. B. Lambert, Esq. in the Chair :— A vacancy for 

 ten Foreign Members was declared ; and a certificate was presented 

 recommending Charles Lucien Buonaparte, Prince of Musignano 

 author of several valuable works on American Ornithology, to fill 

 one of the vacancies. 



The continuation was read of Mr. W. S.MacLeay's " Remarks 

 on the comparative anatomy of certain Birds of Cuba, with a view to 

 their respective places in the system of Nature, or to their relations 

 with other animals." 



After insisting on the importance of studying Natural Arrange- 

 ment and Comparative Anatomy in connexion with each other, in 

 order to investigate, whilst examining particular organs, the place 

 held m nature by the animals to which they belong, Mr. MacLeay 

 proceeds to examine the principles of arrangement laid down by 

 Aristotle, with reference to the plan of studying the variation of 

 structure m different animals, in preference to classing them to- 

 gether according to an arbitrary division of organs. He then states, 

 that on the appearance of Mr. Vigors's View of Ornithology, he na- 

 turally became anxious to know whether the affinities therein stated 

 held good throughout, and on his arrival in Cuba he resolved to ex- 

 ^"""e anatomically those forms, which from being Extra. European 

 had hitherto been little studied. He prefaces his observations upon 

 them with some remarks on the affinities of Vertebrata, and the Com- 

 parative Anatomy of Birds in general. 



New Series. Vol. 1. No. 1. Ja«. 1827. K geological 



