PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAX SOCIETY. 



1840. No. 45. 



November 19, 1840. 



The MARQUIS of NORTHAMPTON, President, in the Chair. 



Edward Kater, Esq., was balloted for, and duly elected a Fellow 

 of the Society. 



A paper was read, entitled. Supplement to a paper " On the Theo- 

 retical Explanation of an apparent new Polarity in Light by George 

 B. Airy, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., Astronomer Royal. 



In a paper published in the second part of the Philosophical 

 Transactions for 1840, the author explained, on the undulatory 

 theory of light, the phenomena observed by Sir David Brewster, 

 and apparently indicating a new polarity in light. That explanation 

 was founded on the assumption that the spectrum was viewed out of 

 focus ; an assumption which corresponded with the observation of 

 the author and of other persons. But the author having, since the 

 publication of that memoir, been assured by Sir David Brewster that 

 the phenomenon was most certainly observed with great distinct- 

 ness -when the spectrum was viewed so accurately in focus that 

 many of Frauenhofer's liner lines could be seen, he has continued the 

 theoretical investigation for that case, which had been omitted in 

 the former memoir, namely, when the spectrum is viewed in focus ; 

 and he has arrived at a result, which appears completely to recon- 

 cile the seemingly conflicting statements, and to dispel the obscurity 

 in which the subject had hitherto been enveloped. 



November 26, 1840. 



Sir JOHN BARROW, Bart., Vice-President, in the Chah-. 



The following gentlemen were, by ballot, elected Auditors of the 

 Treasurer's Accounts, on the part of the Society, viz. William 

 Thomas Brande, Esq. ; Richard Bright, M.D. ; William Henry 

 Fitton, M.D. ; Lieut. -Colonel William Henry Svkes; and the Rev. 

 Robert Willis, M.A. 



