828 



Government of the United States the expression of the thanks of 

 the Royal Society for the steps taken to ascertain the fate of the 

 expedition under Sir John Franklin, F.R.S., and to afford relief if it 

 shall be necessary." 



June M, 1849. 

 The EARL OF ROSSE, President, in the Chair. 



His Lordship announced, that in accordance with the resolution 

 of the Society, requesting him to communicate the thanks of the 

 Society to the Government of the United States for the steps taken 

 by them to ascertain the fate of the Expedition under Sir John 

 Franklin, he had addressed the following letter to His Excellency 

 the American minister:— 



My dear Sir, 3 Connaught Place, June 8, 1849. 



I have the honour to inform you, that at the annual meeting of 

 the Royal Society, held the 7th inst., a communication was read 

 from Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, in which he apprised the So- 

 ciety that the American Government had nobly undertaken to send 

 an expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. Upon which a vote 

 of thanks was moved by Sir Charles Lemon, seconded by Lord 

 Northampton, and carried with the utmost enthusiasm, expressive 

 of the gratitude of the Royal Society to the American Government, 

 and of their deep sense of the kind and brotherly feeling which had 

 prompted so liberal an act of humanity. Allow me to assure you, 

 that it is peculiarly gratifying to me to have the honour of being 

 the humble instrument in conveying to you the thanks of the Royal 

 Society on this occasion, and permit me to express a hope that this 

 most generous act of the United States may, if possible, draw closer 

 the bonds of friendship between the two kindred nations. 



That the United States may continue to progress with the same ex- 

 traordinary rapidity in the arts of peace and civilization, and to hold 

 the same high place in the science and literature of the world, is I 

 am sure the anxious desire of the Royal Society. 



I have the honour to be. 

 My dear Sir, 

 Your most obedient humble Servant, 



RossE, P.R.S. 



The following papers were read : — 



1» " On Carbonate of Lime as an ingredient of Sea-water." By 

 John Davy, M.D., F.R.S. Lond, & Ed., Inspector-General of Army 

 Hospitals, &c. 



The manner in which limestone cliffs rising above deep water are 

 worn by the action of the sea, as it were by a weak acid, such as we 

 know it contains, viz. the carbonic — the manner, further, in which 

 the sand on low shores where the waves break, becomes consolidated, 

 converted into sandstone, by the deposition of carbonate of lime 



