;7S 



NA TURE 



[February 17, 1898 



times to pace to and fro, always, however, keeping the eyes 

 directed towards the firmam^t in quest of meteors." 



Our medallist has recently published in the Observatory an 

 instructive and opportune series of papers on the great showers 

 of Leonids which may reasonably be expected in the next year 

 or two. This subject is here discussed with characteristic 

 wealth of knowledge and experience. He commences with the 

 remark : " It may be safely said that in the month of November 

 during the next few years, all astronomers and a large majority 

 of the general public will become meteoric observers, for the 

 phenomena presented will be of an exceptional kind and of a 

 character to interest every one." 



We all echo these words. I think I am justified in adding 

 that much of the recently awakened interest in the subject has 

 been due to the worthy example Mr. Denning has himself given 

 us. Which of us would not be proud to emulate his single- 

 hearted and enthusiastic devotion to the discovery of truth in 

 this beautiful department of astronomy ? 



It is a matter of great regret to every one here assembled 

 that our medallist, whom we greatly wish to honour, is not now 

 present to accept in person our award. We regret this all the 

 more when we learn that ill-health is the cause of his absence. 

 We all join in a hearty wish for his speedy recovery, and in 

 tjie hope that he may shortly be able to resume those observ- 

 ations which we receive with such interest and pleasure. We 

 desire to assure him not only of our appreciation of his admir- 

 able work, hut of the high esteem which we entertain for the 

 spirit in which that work has been conducted. 



On your behalf, therefore, I now hand the Gold Medal of the 

 Royal Astronomical Society to our Secretary, to be by him 

 transmitted to Mr. W. F. Denning in recognition of the valu- 

 able services to our science he has rendered, especially in the 

 department of meteoric astronomy. 



HISTORY AND OBJECTS OF THE PHYSICAL 

 SOCIETY} 



T PROPOSE on this occasion to begin with a few words on 

 the history and objects of our Society, and afterwards to 

 glance briefly at the principal events of physical interest which 

 have occurred during the past year. 



The Physical Society was founded in 1874, and owed its 

 origin mainly to the initiative of the late Prof. Guthrie. From 

 the first years of its existence up to the present time it has in- 

 cluded among its members nearly all the leading physicists of 

 the United Kingdom. 



In the early days our meetings were, by permission of the 

 Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, held in the 

 Physics lecture-room of the Royal College of Science at three 

 o'clock on Saturday afternoons, members being allowed the 

 free use of the laboratory apparatus for the illustration of their 

 papers. The proceedings were at that time rather less formal 

 than is customary at present. The papers were rarely, "if ever , 

 "referred" before being read; often, indeed, they were read 

 long before they were actually written, while a large propor- 

 tion of the communications were of a purely oral character, and 

 rtever intended for publication at all, except perhaps in the 

 short notes which the reporter sent to the scientific journals. 

 Special prominence was given to experimental demonstrations 

 illustrative not only of original researches, but also of such work 

 carried on outside the Society as happened to be attracting 

 attention at the time. . . . 



Under the somewhat lax regime which then prevailed, it 

 necessarily happened that the communications made to the 

 Society were not always of a very high order of merit. . . . But 

 from the very beginning the Council has always been careful 

 not to print in the Proceedings anything that was not of sound 

 scientific value, and while the number of important papers that 

 have been published through the medium of the Physical Society 

 is large, very little of doubtful quality has found a place in the 

 journal. 



The first material change in our routine took place in the 

 year 1889, when the day and hour of meeting were altered 

 from Saturday afternoon at three to Friday at five o'clock. . . . 

 I may here mention that the Council has more than once con- 

 sidered whether it might not be expedient to hold our meetings 

 in the evening. Many, no doubt, would consider this prefer- 



1 Presidential Address to the Physical Society. (Abstract.) February 11. 

 By Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S. 



NO. 1477, VOL. 57] 



able, but the balance of convenience appears to be clearly in 

 favour of the afternoon. ... 



During the South Kensington epoch the Physical Society pub- 

 lished and presented to its members a number of valuable books, 

 including, among others, Prof. Everett's well-known treatise on 

 the C.G.S. system of units and the works of Wheatstone and 

 of Joule. It also issued twelve volumes of Proceedings, in which 

 were collected such of the communications to the Society as 

 had been approved for publication. By an arrangement with 

 the proprietors of the Philosophical Magazine the same papers 

 were also (as now) printed in that journal, being thus, to the 

 author's great advantage, assured of a wide circulation through- 

 out the scientific world. In the same period, notwithstanding 

 the small amount of the annual subscription paid by members 

 and of the composition fee for life membership, the Society's 

 income so far exceeded its expenditure that it was able to accu- 

 mulate and invest a capital of nearly 3000/'. 



When the Society entered upon its twenty-first year with a 

 position which, if somewhat unpretending, was well recognised 

 and firrnly established, it was felt that the time had come when, 

 in the interests of physical science, something more than had 

 been already achieved might fairly be demanded of it. British 

 physicists had long been at a serious disadvantage in that they 

 were without any means of readily ascertaining what was being 

 done by their fellow- workers in other countries ; with the multi- 

 plication of scientific literature the need of some periodical 

 digest similar in character to the German Beibldtter was becom- 

 ing year by year more urgent. To endeavour to meet this want 

 was a duty which clearly devolved upon the Physical Society, 

 and the Council anxiously considered the question whether the 

 publication of monthly abstracts of physical papers appearing 

 in foreign journals could be undertaken by ourselves. 



The only serious objection to the enterprise was of a financial 

 nature. The work, if it were to be carried out efficiently, would 

 certainly necessitate an annual expenditure exceeding by some 

 hundreds of pounds the total income of the Society. This 

 could only be met by raising the amount of the annual subscrip- 

 tion and composition fee, which, as I have mentioned, were un- 

 usually low. But it is a delicate and difficult matter to ask 

 existing members of a society for increased subscriptions unless 

 very excellent reasons can be shown for the demand. The 

 Council therefore determined that they would publish a series of 

 abstracts for one year at least before taking any steps to provide 

 additional income, defraying the cost from cash in hand and, if 

 need should arise, drawing upon the invested capital. In this 

 way it was hoped to convince members of the utility of the 

 undertaking which they were to be called upon to support. 



I need not remind you of the highly satisfactory result of the 

 experiment. The work of the able and assiduous body of 

 abstractors whose names appear on the cover of our Proceedings 

 was on all sides cordially approved, and at a special general 

 meeting, held in 1896, a resolution submitted to the Society for 

 increasing the subscription to two guineas per annum was 

 passed almost, if not quite, unanimously. The number of those 

 who in consequence of this increase have resigned their member- 

 ship has been unexpectedly small, while on the other hand 

 many of the life members have, in response to the invitation 

 issued to them, voluntarily contributed an additional fifteen 

 guineas to the funds of the Society, in recognition of the fact 

 that they are now in enjoyment of greater and more costly 

 advantages than were contemplated at the time when they paid 

 their very moderate composition fees. To such as have not yet 

 responded I venture to repeat the invitation. 



Although the abstracts were actually published for two years 

 before the increased subscriptions began to come in, the whole 

 cost was met out of uninvested cash, supplemented by grants 

 liberally made by the British Association and the Royal Society, 

 and it was never found necessary to draw anything at all from 

 the reserve fund. I wish to emphasise this fact because the 

 abundant caution properly exercised by the Council in entering 

 upon a new and uncertain enterprise appears to have led to 

 a very general impression that the Society had outrun ics means 

 and was on the verge of bankruptcy, whereas in truth it was 

 never in a more prosperous financial condition than it is at 

 present. 



On October 26, 1894, the Society met for the first time in 

 this room. Although the privileges so generously accorded to 

 us by the authorities at South Kensington were highly valued, 

 it was nevertheless deemed advisable that we should leave the 

 home of our youth and seek a footing in Burlington House, the 



