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1904.] Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins. 19 
In 1897, the Council was requested to assist the Board of Trade in drawing 
up Schedules for the establishment of the relations between the Metric and 
the Imperial Units of Weights and Measures. A Committee was appointed, 
which, after devoting much time and attention to the matter, drew up 
Schedules which were accepted by the Board of Trade and incorporated in 
the Orders of Council. 
A Coral Reef Committee has been in active existence for some years, and 
has directed the attempts to pierce, by boring, the atoll of Funafuti, towards. 
the expenses of which grants have been made by the Council. The results 
of the work have appeared in a large volume, giving a description of the 
whole core from the points of view of the naturalist and the chemist; and a 
list, with critical remarks, of the species of animals and plants collected. 
Soon after the reports were received of the appalling volcanic eruptions 
and the loss of life which took place in the West Indies in 1902, the Council 
received a letter from Mr. Chamberlain to ask 1f the Society would be willing 
to undertake an investigation of the phenomena connected with the eruptions. 
The Council, considering that such an investigation fell well within the 
scope of the objects of the Society, organized a small Commission of two 
experts, who left England for the scene of the eruption eleven days only 
after the receipt of Mr. Chamberlain’s letter; the expenses being met by a 
erant of £300 from the Government Grant Committee. Six weeks were 
spent in the Islands, including Martinique, by the Commission, which was. 
successful in securing results of great scientific interest. A preliminary 
report was published at the time, and a full report has since appeared in the 
“ Transactions.” 
Time forbids me to do more than mention the sucessive expeditions sent 
out by the Society, conjointly with the Royal Astronomical Society, for the 
observation of total solar eclipses; and the onerous work thrown upon the 
Society for several years in connection with the National Antarctic Expedi- 
tion, undertaken jointly with the Royal Geographical Society, which has 
this year returned home crowned with success as regards the latter; but the 
Society’s labours are not at an end, for the prolonged and responsible task 
of the discussion and publication of the scientific results of the Expedition is 
still before them. 
In addition to the numerous undertakings, of which some examples have: 
_ been given, in which the influence and work of the Society have been 
exercised for national or public objects, there are a number of other ways in 
which the Society makes its influence continually felt and of which the 
responsibilities are always with it. The Society is represented by the 
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