io8 Proceedings. 



Ordinary Meeting, February 19th, 1895. 



Professor Osborne Reynolds, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., 

 Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The thanks of the members were voted to the donors of 

 the books upon the table. 



Reference was made to the death of the MARQUIS De 

 SAPORTA, one of the Society's honorary members. 



A communication from Mr. J. W. BLACK, of Edinburgh, 

 on the fall of soot and ash in a garden in George Square, 

 in that city, was read by one of the Secretaries. The 

 average fall during the year in which the observations were 

 made was JJ grains per square foot, per month. 



Professor ARTHUR SCHUSTER, F.R.S., opened a dis- 

 cussion on the new atmospheric constituent, argon, in 

 which Professor H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., Professor OSBORNE 

 REYNOLDS, F.R.S., Dr. J. Bottomley, F.C.S., and Professor 

 H. Lamb, F.R.S., took part, special reference being made to 

 the possibility of the new " element " filling a gap in 

 Mendeleeff'S periodic series. 



A conversation on the recent severe weather ensued, 

 during which a question as to whether birds suffer most 

 from hunger or thirst during prolonged frost arose. 

 Mr. F. Nicholson, F.Z.S., Mr. J. J. Ashworth, and 

 Mr. R. F. Gwyther, M.A., took part, and evidence was 

 given that thirst, rather than hunger, is the chief cause of 

 distress to birds under such circumstances. 



