Proceeding.'^, &c., for 1887. 91 



Thursday, lith July, 1887. 



Present : tlie President, Professor Kernot (in the chair), and 

 40 members and associates. 



Professor W. Baldwin Spencer was duly elected by ballot a 

 member of the Society. 



The President congratulated the Society upon the nature of 

 the first business of the evening, which was the absorption into the 

 Koyal Society of the members of the late Microscopical Society, 

 who would now form Section D, as pro"VT.ded in Law LIU. 



Mr. Ellery moved the formal admission of 41 members of the 

 late Microscopical, as members of the Poyal Society, and 5 as 

 honorary members. Fourteen of them were already members of 

 the Poyal Society. The others will elect before the 1st January 

 next, whether they will be members or associates of the Poyal 

 Society. No entrance fee will be asked from any of them, as they 

 bring with them to the Poyal Society, their library, microscopes, 

 and other property. 



It was intended to hold a special meeting of the Council after 

 the conclusion of the business of the evening, at which the officers 

 of Section D would be appointed, 



Mr. C P. Blackett seconded the motion, and all the members 

 of the late Microscopical Society were then duly elected members 

 of the Poyal Society. 



Mr. Lucas moved the appointment, to effect a systematic 

 Biological Survey of Port Phillip, of a Committee of the following 

 gentlemen : — Mr. W. M. Bale, Pev. A. W. Cresswell, M.A., 

 Dr. McGillivray, Professor W. Baldwin Spencer, Mr. C. A. 

 Topp, M.A., LL.B., Mr. J. Bracebridge Wilson, M.A., and 

 Mr. Lucas, B.Sc, M.A. 



Mr. Ellery seconded the motion, but hoped the researches 

 of the Committee would not be restricted to Port Phillip Bay. 



The motion was carried. 



Professor Andrew then read his " Note on the Value of J, and 

 the Value of g." He said that the remarks he had to make on 

 the value of /, the mechanical equivalent of heat, were due to a 

 paragraph in " Notes on Popular Science," by Dr. J. E. Taylor, 

 P.G.S., which appeared in The Australasian, of 12th August, 1882, 

 which stated that Dr. Joule had re-determined the value of this 

 important physical constant, which was given as a 774"1 foot 

 pound per degree Fahrenheit for Manchester. He had accepted 

 the statement made so circumstantially, and quoted it in his 

 University classes. He had, however, failed to find any corrobo- 

 ration of Dr. Taylor's science letter in any of the scientific 

 journals. On the contrary, Professor Everett, in the last edition 

 of his Unity and Physical Constants, published at the end of last 

 year, gives 1878 as the date of Joule's latest experiment, and 



