ii. Proceedings. [October 5th, 1920. 



London, 1920), published by The Ray Society, purchased; 

 " The Chemists' Year-Booh, 1920," Vols. 1 and 2 (i6mo., Lon- 

 don, &c, 1920), presented by the Editors; and several volumes 

 of poems presented by the Royal Academy of Sciences, 

 Amsterdam. 



The President referred sympathetically to the loss the 

 Society had sustained by the death of Sir William Mather, 

 P.C., Mem.Inst.CE., on September 18th. Sir William Mather 

 had been an Ordinary Member of the Society since 1864 ; and 

 the Meeting Resolved that a message, expressing the Society's 

 sincere sympathy at their loss, be communicated to the relatives 

 of the late member. 



The President also announced that : — 



(1) Professor C. A. Edwards, D.Sc, had been appointed to 

 the Chair of Metallurgy in the University College of Swansea, 

 and would therefore be unable to attend further meetings. The 



, Council had therefore invited Professor T. H. Pear, M.A., B.Sc, 

 to be Acting Honorary Secretary, and in the event of Professor 

 Edwards' resignation, Professor Pear would be nominated by 

 the Council as his successor. 



(2) The "Appeal Fund" then stood at a total of ^1,337 14s. 6d., 

 and the Council hoped that members who had not already 

 subscribed would see their way shortly to do so. 



(3) Certain redecoration in the hall and staircases, and in the 

 lavatories, had been authorised and carried out during the 

 vacation. 



Dr. A. E. Oxley, M.A., read a paper entitled " Recent Re- 

 searches in Magnetism." 



After dealing briefly with the nature of ferro-magnetism, 

 paramagnetism, and diamagnetism, the lecturer went on to 

 consider the characteristic variations of these properties over 

 a range of temperature varying from that of liquid air to 

 300 C. Practically all substances show a change of magnetic 

 property when crystallisation takes place and in the case of 

 certain diamagnetic substances, definite hysteresis loops, with 

 respect to temperature, have been obtained. These loops are 

 similar to those shown by Nickel-steels which are ferro- 

 magnetic. 



These experimental results were interpreted in terms of the 

 electron theory of magnetism, and finally extended, through 

 Tyndall's work on the deportment of crystals in a magnetic 

 field, to interpret the nature of crystal structure and the spacial 

 distribution of electrons within the atom. The atomic con- 

 figuration so deduced is similar to that of the cubical atom 

 developed by Lewis and Langmuir and is distinct from that 



