PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY 



November 15, 1888. 

 Professor G. G. STOKES, D.C.L., President, in the Chair. 



In pursuance of the Statutes, notice of the ensuing 1 Anniversary 

 Meeting was given from the Chair. 



Mr. John Bail, Sir James Cockle, Dr. Huggins, Dr. Rae, and 

 Mr. Symons were by ballot elected Auditors of the Treasurer's 

 accounts on the part of the Society. 



The Presents received were laid on the table, and thanks ordjied 

 for them. 



The following Papers were read : 



I. "Combustion in dried Oxygen." By H. BRERETOX BAKER, 

 M.A., Dulwioh College, late Scholar of Balliol College, 

 Oxford. Communicated by Professor H. B. DIXON, F.R.S. 

 Received July 4, 1888. 



(Abstract.) 



In 1884 some preliminary experiments, published in the ' Journal 

 of the Chemical Society,' convinced me that moisture exerted an 

 important influence on the combustion of carbon. Since that time 

 experiments have been made, not only with that element but with 

 several others, and the same influence seems to be exerted on the 

 combustion of some, while no such influence could be detected in the 

 case of other elements. It was discovered very early in the investiga- 

 tion that hydrogen, both free and combined, aided the union of carbon 

 with dried oxygen, and therefore for the new experiments on this and 

 other elements, special attention was devoted to their purification 

 from hydrogen. It was found that two of these elements, amorphous 

 phosphorus and boron, had, like carbon, a very great power of occlud- 

 ing hydrogen. To eliminate it some of the elements were heated in a 

 current of pure chlorine, while others were heated in sealed tubes 

 with the chlorides of the elements, special precautions being taken to 



VOL. XLV. B 



