XXX11. ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



The certificates of three candidates were read for the 

 third time, of one for the second time, and of five for the 

 first time. 



The following gentlemen were duly elected ordinary 

 members of the Society, viz.: — 



Bignold, Hugh Baron, Barrister-at-Law ; Chambers, 



Wentworth Court, Elizabeth-street. 

 Dampney, Gerald F., Fellow of the Society of Chemical 



Industry; "Doonbah," Hunter's Hill, 

 Hyde, Ellis, Analyst ; 27 York-street. 

 Thirty-three volumes, 191 parts, 24 reports, 7 pamphlets 

 and 8 maps, total 263, received as donations since the last 

 meeting, were laid upon the table and acknowledged. 



Prof. Liversidge gave notice of motion that Rule xxvin. 

 be altered to read as follows : — 



" Meetings of the Council of Management may take 

 place on the last Wednesday in every month or on such 

 other days as the Council may determine." 



THE FOLLOWING PAPER WAS READ: 



" Provisional Determination of Astronomical Refraction, 

 from observations made with the Meridian Circle 

 instrument of the Sydney Observatory," by C. J. 

 Merfield, f.r.a.s., Mitglieder der Astronomischen 

 Gesellschaft. 

 This paper gives the results of an investigation into 

 astronomical refraction, deduced from some five hundred 

 and fifty observations of forty fundamental stars taken 

 with the meridian circle of the Sydney Observatory during 

 the month of July 1905. The author fully explains the 

 methods adopted in dealing with the observed data, show- 

 ing its advantages and otherwise. Two examples of the 

 adopted forms used in the reduction are given, by which 

 the simplicity of the method is well illustrated. After 

 completing the discussion of the data, the results are formed 



