Physics 543 



since the death of Henry, but their importance would appear 

 to justify a more vigorous treatment of the subject. 



Of a less technical and more strictly scientific character is 

 the reprint in the Report for 1890 of Professor Sylvanus P. 

 Thompson's presentation of Koenig's researches on " The 

 Physical Basis of Musical Harmony and Timbre." This is 

 the address made by Professor" Thompson on the occasion of 

 Doctor Rudolph Koenig's exhibition before the London Phys- 

 ical Society of the experimental demonstration and illustration 

 of his theory of harmony. Professor Thompson proved him- 

 self to be a charming interpreter and exponent of one of the 

 most accomplished experimentalists and profound students of 

 acoustics of the present generation. Few have done as much 

 as he to advance the science of acoustics, and this paper, 

 which embodies his advance beyond, and departure from, 

 the theory of Von Helmholtz, is a most valuable contribution 

 to science. 



A NUMBER of the publications of the Institution are purely 

 metrological in their character. Among these might, indeed, 

 be included the extensive " reduction tables," begun under the 

 direction of Professor A. Guyot, and continued in various 

 revisions and additions, under other editors, up to the pres- 

 ent time. They are mostly meteorological in character, and 

 doubtless will receive more extensive consideration under 

 that head. They have been of inestimable value to physi- 

 cists, however, and in their original issue and maintenance 

 the Institution aptly illustrated one of its most important 

 functions. 



The early interest felt in systems of measurement is shown 

 in a paper by Professor Guyot, in the third annual Report 



