390 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. IMav, 



Article XIII. 



Proceedings of' Philosophical Societies. 



KOYAL SOCIETY. 



April 6.— W. C. Milne, Esq. the Rev. Dr. Nicol, and R. Keitli 

 Douglas, Esq. were respectively admitted Fellows of the Society; 

 and Mr. Weaver's name ordered to be inserted in its printed lists. 



A paper was read, entitled, " Observations made with an 

 Invariable Pendulum at Greenwich, and at Port Bowen in the 

 Arctic Circle ; by Lieut. H. Forster, RN. FRS." The ellipticity 



of the earth deduced from these observations is s^go-. 



April 13. — R. I. Murchison, Esq. Sec. GS. was admitted a 

 Fellow of the Society ; and the following papers were read : 



On the Diurnal Variation of the Needle at Port Bowen ; bv 

 Capt. W. E. Parry, RJV. FRS. and Lieut H. Forster, RN. FRS\ 



The diurnal variation of the needle at Port Bowen is stated to 

 be never less than 1°, and sometimes to amount to 7° or 8° : the 

 observers have recognized a determinate connexion between it 

 and the positions of the sun and moon. 



On the Dip of the Needle at different Latitudes between 

 Woolwich and Port Bowen; by Lieut. Forster. 



On the Magnetism imparted to Iron by Rotation, at Port 

 Bowen ; by the Same : with Remarks by S. H. Christie, Esq. 

 MA. FRS. 



April 20. — John Sharpe, Esq. was admitted a Fellow of the 

 Society ; and a paper was read, entitled, ** A Formula express- 

 ing the Decrement of the Law of Human Mortality." By 

 Thomas Young, MD. For. Sec. RS. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT ' 

 BRITAIN, AT THE FRIDAY-EVENING MEETINGS. 



April 7. — Mr. Faraday came forward in the lecture-room, and 

 advanced various experiments and arguments in opposition to a 

 generally received opinion, that all solid and fluid bodies in 

 vacuo, or surrounded by gaseous or vaporous mediums, give off, or 

 are surrounded by, a vapour of their own, whatever be their tem- 

 perature. His object was to show that a limit existed to this 

 production of vapour, and that by diminishing temperature and 

 those causes which favour the production of vapour, not merely 

 was the tension of the vapour diminished, but ultimately such a 

 state attained, that the previously formed vapour would be con- 

 densed, or if removed, no further portions would be produced. 

 He first stated Dr. Wollaston's proof of the finite extent of our 

 atmosphere ; and considering its state at the extreme limit, con- 

 cluded, that any change of circumstances by which the elastic 



