242 
small, and said that the Aeronautical Society was engaged in 
repeating the experiments with the Whirling Machine. 
Prof. CLERK MAXWELL mentioned that when the Ballistic 
Pendulum was used, there was a difficulty in accurately ob- 
taining the initial velocity of the shot fired, but in other expe- 
riments, viz. those of Mr Bashforth, the shot was fired through 
frames with cotton threads; these were far better, as then 
variation in the initial velocity of the shot was avoided. 
Some further conversation took place in which Mr Stuart, 
Prof. Clerk Maxwell, and Mr Potter took part. 
Nov. 27, 1871. 
The PRESIDENT (PRoFEssoR HUMPHRY) in the Chair. 
New Fellows elected : 
B. E. Hammonp, M.A. Trinity College. 
W. A. Brattey, M.A. Downing College. 
Communications made to the Society : 
(1) On the Solution of Electrical Problems by the 
Transformation of Conjugate Functions. By Prof. 
CrerkK Maxweu., F.R.S. 
The general problem in electricity is to determine a function 
which shall have given values at the various surfaces which 
bound a region of space, and which shall satisfy Laplace’s par- 
tial differential equation at every point within this region. 
