XV111. ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



3. The Council of the Physico-Economical Society (Der Vorstand 

 der Physikalisch Gesellschaft) Konisberg i. Pr., offer a prize 

 of 4,000 marks (£200), for "a work which brings to light 

 either the province of vegetable or animal electricity or funda- 

 mentally new phenomena, or furnishing essentially new con- 

 clusions touching the physical cause of organic electricity or 

 its significance for life generally or for definite functions." 

 The essay may be printed or written in German, French, 

 English, or Italian, and must reach the Council before 31st 

 December 1900, and must in no case be published prior to 

 30th September, 1898. The author may remain anonymous 

 by giving a title to his paper and enclosing his name and 

 address in an envelope. In case no essay is deemed of sufficient 

 merit, two lesser prizes of 500 marks (<£25) will be awarded 

 to the worthiest works. The result will be announced at the 

 General Meeting of the Society, 6th June, 1901. 



THE FOLLOWING PAPERS WERE READ I 



1. "Water-spouts on the Coast of New South Wales," by H. C. 

 Russell, b.a., c.m.g., f.r.s. 



The paper dealt chiefly with the group of twenty water-spouts 

 seen at Eden, on May 16th. It was shewn that one of these 

 water-spouts was 5,000 feet high, as measured with a theodolite. 

 The longest off Sydney Heads was 400 feet ; here the greater 

 number observed are even less than 400 feet. It was shewn that 

 water-spouts always form under massive rain clouds, and that they 

 seldom, if ever, last for an hour. The author endeavoured to 

 prove that the water did not go up the centre of the spout, but 

 followed spirally the outside of it, and that the quantity of salt 

 water going up cannot be so much as supposed, because there is 

 no instance on record where salt rain fell after a water-spout. 

 For the observation of water-spouts Mr. Russell is indebted chiefly 

 to Mr. Crichton, Mining Engineer, Eden ; to Dr. A. W. Morgan, 

 Pambula; to Mr. Newton, Pilot, Eden; and to Mr. Francis, 

 Signal Master, Sydney. 



