Dec 



1886] 



NA TURE 



115 



disturbance was unclertaken by General Strachey, and is ready. 

 Prof. Judd undertook geology ; the materials are ready, and 

 though the actual report is not yet written, the writing would 

 take but very little time. Mr. Scott undertook to collect infor- 

 mation as to floating pumice ; but as it has been found that the 

 Krakata"b pumice does not possess distinctive features whereby it 

 could be recognised, and therefore the origin of the pumice that 

 ships have encountered at a distance from Krakatab remains 

 unknown, little trustworthy information could be obtained under 

 this head, and the report has been handed over to Prof. Judd to 

 embody with the geology. The heaviest part of the report, that 

 relating to sunsets and atmospheric phenomena, has been pre- 

 pared by the Hon. Rollo Russell and Prof. Archibald, the two 

 Fellows of the Royal Meteorological Society who have been 

 mentioned as having been added to the Committee, and is ready, 

 with the exception of a little revision, and it remains only to 

 prepare an introduction, index, &c. The whole report may 

 therefore be regarded as all but complete in manuscript, and 

 it will be for the new Council to deal with it. 



The Circumpolar Committee have now brought their labours 

 to a close, the report on the observations taken by Capt. Dawson 

 at Fort Rae being printed and published. The reports of 

 the expeditions undertaken by Austria, the United States of 

 America, Germany, and Holland are, I understand, complete, 

 and those by France and Russia are in a forward state. Before 

 the accounts of the observations taken at different stations by 

 the observers of different nations shall have been for some time 

 before the public, it would be premature to expect general con- 

 clusions to be deduced from this great undertaking. 



Very satisfactory progress has been made during the past year 

 with the publication of the Report of the Challni^^er Expedition. 

 The volumes already published and in the Society's Library now 

 .amount to sixteen on Zoology, and three introductory on other 

 subjects. Others are in a very forward state, and it is expected 

 that the whole will be published very nearly within the time 

 mentioned by the Committee, probably at the end of the next 

 financial year. 



As mentioned in the Presidential Address last year, advantage 

 has been taken of the British occupation' of Egypt to make some 

 explorations by way of boring in the Delta of the Nile, to the 

 results of which geologists attach great importance. The War 

 Department has allowed some of the staff of the Royal Engineers, 

 when their services were not otherwise required, to take part in 

 the operations, and has lent the boring apparatus, and the Royal 

 Society voted the sum of 350/. out of its own Donation Fund to 

 defray the cost of labour and other incidental expenses. It was 

 contemplated originally to make a chain of borings, but the 

 depth to which it has been found necessary to proceed in order to 

 get through the ordinary deposit has turned out to be so great 

 that it was thought better, instead of attempting many, to try 

 and get if possible dow.n to rock, or to something else which 

 might afford evidence that what could be referred to alluvium 

 from the Nile or drifted sand had really been got through. 

 A deep boring has accordingly been made at Zagazig, under 

 the direction of Capt. Dickenson, R. E. This has now been 

 carried to a depth of 190 feet 6 inches below the surface, or 

 164 feet 5 inches below the mean sea-level at Alexandria, and 

 yet nothing ha< been reached but sand and clay with small 

 pebbles. Prof. Judd is now engaged in the examination of the 

 matter brought up. A derangement of the boring apparatus 

 prevented for the present further progress, and the use of a 

 narrower pipe than any at hand would be required for carrying 

 the boring deeper. The Committee considered that it would be 

 more important to extend this boring, so as if possible to get 

 down to rock, or else to Miocene fossils, than to make a fresh 

 boring in a difl'erent place, and arrangements are being made 

 accordingly. The inquiry was deemed a proper one to be assisted 

 out of the Government Grant, and the sum of 200/. has been 

 voted from this source to supplement the Royal Society's grant 

 already mentioned. 



The ordinary meetings of the Society are well known, and 

 are frequently attended by strangers by permission of the Fellows 

 present ; and the papei-s brought before us are known to the world 

 through our publications. But a great deal of scientific work is 

 done of which the outside public knows nothing. There have 

 been tliirteen meetings c^f the Council during the year, and the 

 attendance at our council meetings is remarkably good. There 

 have been more than seventy meetings of committees and 

 sub-committees. 



There is further another task on which a great deal of gratui- 



tous and conscientious labour of the highest kind is bestowed. 

 I allude to the examination of papers with a view to advising 

 the Committee of Papers as to their publication. The past year 

 has shown no flagging in scientific activity in relation to papers 

 brought before us. 



Tiie preparation of the manuscript for another decade, 1874 

 to 1883, of the Royal Society's catalogue of scientific papers, is 

 now almost complete. This great work has been extremely use- 

 ful to men of science in enabling them at once to find where a 

 memoir on a particular subject, written by an author whose name 

 they know, as is usually the case, is to be found. To some ex- 

 tent it enables them also to find what has been written on a 

 particular subject, for there are usually one or two author.^, 

 whose names they know, who have made it a special study, and 

 on consulting their papers references are frequently found to the 

 writings of others who have written on the same subject. Never- 

 theless, it must be confessed that the value of the catalogue 

 would be greatly increa-ed if it could be accompanied by a key, 

 of tlie nature of an index rcruni. It was originally contem lated 

 that this should be added, but the magnitude of the undertaking 

 has hitherto prevented the Conimittee from attempting it. To 

 be well done it would require the long-continued labour of a 

 scientific staff representing different branches of science, and 

 they could not be expected to engage in so heavy a work without 

 adequate remuneration. 



A great deal of work has been done during the past year in 

 relation to the library. More than 5000 volumes have been 

 removed to other rooms to make space for the more important 

 works constantly accruing. A list of duplicates and deficiencies 

 has been printed and circulated among corresponding societies. 

 A shelf catalogue is in progress, and is about a third of the way 

 towards completion. Some work has also been done upon a 

 catalogue of miscellaneous literature. 



The electric lighting of the Society's apartments, which is now 

 complete, seems to have given general satisfaction. 



On August 31 of this year, our distinguished Foreign Member, 

 M. Chevreul, attained his hundredth year. Rarely indeed is it 

 given to any one to see. right through a century, more rarely still 

 to retain his powers to such an age, yet both, I am happy to say, 

 have been granted to M. Chevreul. In anticipation of this 

 event, preparations were made for its due celebration. I received 

 an invitation for our Fellows to assist at the celebration ; but 

 unfortunately it was at a time of year when most of us were 

 scattered, and moreover time did not permit of making it generally 

 known. I am afraid we had no representative at the actual 

 ceremonial, but I am sure that none the less our hearts were with 

 the veteran savant. 



This year has also witnessed the celebration of the 250th 

 anniversary of the University of Heidelberg. The Council had 

 appointed our Foreign Secretary as a deputation to represent the 

 Society on the occasion. Unfortunately when the time was close 

 at hand. Dr. Williamson was prevented by the condition of his 

 health from taking part in the celebration ; but acting on the 

 emergency on behalf of the Society, I requested our Fellow, 

 Sir Henry Roscoe, to take his place, which he was so good as 

 to do. 



In his Presidential Address last year. Prof. Huxley suggested 

 the idea, I may say expressed the hope, that the Royal Society 

 might associate itself in some special way with all English- 

 speaking men of science ; that it might recognise their work in 

 other ways than those afforded by the rare opportunities of 

 election to our foreign membership, or the award of those medals 

 which are open to persons of all nationalities alike. This sug- 

 gestion has been taken up in one of our colonies. We have 

 received a letter from the Royal Society of Victoria, referring 

 to this passage in the Address, and expressing a hope that in 

 some way means might be found for establishing some kind of 

 connection between our own oldest scientific Society and those of 

 the colonies. 



The Council have appointed a Committee to take this letter 

 into consideration, and try if they could devise some suitable plan 

 for carrying out the object sought. The Committee endeavoured 

 at first to frame a scheme which should not be confined to the 

 colonies and dependencies of the British Empire, but should 

 embrace all English-speaking communities. But closely con- 

 nected as we are with the United States by blond and language, 

 they are of course politically a foreign nation, and this fact threw 

 difficulties in the way of framing at once a more extended scheme, 

 so that the Committee confined themselves to the colonies and 

 dependencies of our own country, leaving the wider object for 



