MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. Th 
The writer contended that dynamics was essentially an experi- 
mental and inductive science, and that little reliance could 
Be’ placed on the’ results of ‘deduction im it ’He’ argued 
that such an important problem as that involved in the 
Newtonian theory should never have been accepted as proved 
without experimental demonstration. After entering tully upon 
Newton’s theory and labours, Mr. Falkner stated that the 
accepted hypotheses assumed that the path of a body propelled 
in free space by an impulse, or travelling tangentially at uniform 
velocity, and attracted to a centre with a force varying inversely 
as the square of its distance from that centre, is an ellipse of 
which the attracting centre is in one focus (or a similar conic 
section), and an orbit similar to the planetary and cometary. This 
assumption he denied, and affirmed that the path of a body 
subject to an impulse, or its equivalent, moving in free space, and 
subject to any central force, is such a figure that the attracting 
point is in its centre, or at the intersection of its axes, The paper 
was listened to with interest, and after it had been read, 
Mr. M. Chapman contended that the matter was not one that 
could be dealt with by experiment, but must be dealt with by 
mathematical investigation. He could not believe in Mr, 
Falkner’s results for a single instant. 
The Chairman expressed a hope that Mr. Falkner would not 
upset the ‘‘ Nautical Almanack.” 
It was resolved, owing to the lateness of the hour, that the 
other papers should be taken as read. They were, ‘“‘ New Cuttle 
Fish,” by Mr. Kirk; ‘‘ List of Sertularians, collected in Wel- 
lington,” by Mr. Kirk; ‘“‘Capture of a Californian Salmon,” by 
Dr. Hector; ‘‘ Fossil Cetaceans,” by Dr. Hector; ‘“‘ New System 
of Telegraphic Weather Reports,” by Dr. Hector. 
A number of interesting exhibits were brought under the 
notice of members. Among them were specimens of New Zealand 
crows, showing abnormal colouring ; New Zealand sponges, pre- 
sented by Mr. J. A. Smith, of Napier; specimens of coal from 
Coal Creek; specimens of quartz from Landon’s Reef, Colling- 
wood Ranges; Welcome Mine, Reefton; Fiery Cross, and Just 
in Time Mines, Reefton; and Alpine Mine, Lyell; a certificate of 
the First Order of Merit awarded at the Melbourne Exhibition to 
the Colonial Museum for exhibits of flax and hemp; the silver 
seal for the Colony of New Zealand, defaced by Her Majesty in 
Council, and presented to the Museum by the Colonial Secretary. 
Dr. Hector said that some of the sponges would have a very 
considerable commercial value, as it had been ascertained that 
sponges could be propagated. 
SOU LELLAN.D ANSDLLY LE. 
ANNUAL MEETING, 
31st January.—J. T. Thomson, Esq., president, in the chair, 
The following annual report was read:—During the year 19 
new members were elected; the total membership is now 55, and 
of these one, Mr. George Joachim, is a life member. The Council 
considered it due to Mr. Joachim to elect him to life-membership 
for his handsome present of 18 vols. of the ‘Monthly Micro- 
scopical Journal.” These volumes are very elegantly bound, and 
