JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 9 
Mr. E. B. Biggar, of Toronto, gave a lecture on The Metric 
System of Weights and Measures. English measurements mostly 
taken from length of parts of the human body, such as foot, cubit, 
fathom, etc. The metric system was an outcome of the French 
revolutionary times. The metre was fixed at one millionth part of 
the distance from the Equator to the North Pole, being equa! to 
39.37 inches. Its great merit is simplicity, and is now in use by 
forty-four nations. The British people are very conservative, and 
because of not having adopted this system are losing much trade 
with such countries as those of South America where the system is 
in use. The use of this system would effect a saving of two or 
three years in a business man’s life in the matter of making 
calculations. 
FEBRUARY 13th, 1902. 
The regular meeting held, with Dr. Morgan in the chair. 
Applications for membership were received from thirty new 
members, twenty-nine being members of the Astronomical Society, 
which desired to become a Section of this Association. Voting was 
proceeded with at once, and they were all declared elected. 
The lecturer of the evening, Prof. Lang, of Toronto University, 
delivered an address on “Matter at Low Temperatures.” An 
historical account was given of the apparatus used for the liquefaction 
of what were formerly considered the permanent gases. Oné ex- 
periment showed carbonic acid gas converted into a solid, resembling 
snow, at a temperature of —78°C. This remained a solid for more 
than an hour before disappearing by evaporation. ‘The principle of 
solidification was explained to be that of rapid expansion, the gas 
being liberated from a cylinder under a pressure of about sixty 
atmospheres. Afterwards, by means of this solid carbonic acid and 
ether, a temperature of —-112°C was produced, by means of which 
a tube of mercury was solidified. The “Critical Point” of a gas 
was explained to be that point of temperature above which it was 
impossible to liquefy the gas, no matter how much pressure was 
applied. The fractional distillation of Air was also explained. 
