A paper was also read, entitled, " On the Law which connects the 

 various Magneto -electric Phenomena lately discovered by Dr. Fara- 

 day." By the Rev. William Ritchie, LL.D. F.R.S. Professor of Na- 

 tural and Experimental Philosophy in the Royal Institution of Great 

 Britain, and Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in the 

 University of London. 



The general principle from which the author deduces the law in 

 question, is that of the equality of action and reaction. The appli- 

 cation of this principle to electro-magnetism, he thinks, may be thus 

 expressed : — since a current of voltaic electricity can, in certain cir- 

 cumstances, induce magnetism, magnets will, in similar circumstances, 

 induce similar voltaic currents. He gives an account of several expe- 

 riments in confirmation of the universality of this law. 



A paper was then read, entitled, " An Account of an extraordinary 

 Meteor seen at Malvern, November 12, 1832." Bv W. Addison, Esq. 

 F.L S. Communicated by W. G. Malon, M.D. V.P.R.S. 



The author beheld, from the Malvern Hills, a constant succession 

 of meteors, of various degrees of magnitude and brilliancy. The 

 smaller ones were like those commonly called shooting stars, and left 

 behind them, for a moment, a train of pale yellowish light. Others 

 were much more brilliant ; and notwithstanding the bright moonshine 

 threw a strong glare upon every object, they always commenced as a 

 small luminous point, rapidly increasing in size and splendour, shoot- 

 ing with great swiftness over a considerable arc, and then, suddenly 

 disappearing, left behind them a long train of very vivid white light, 

 which slowly changed into a pale yellow. The author witnessed this 

 scene for upwards of an hour, although it was still going on when he 

 left it. At one time he counted forty-eight of these meteors during- 

 the interval of five minutes. 



December 20, 1832. 

 FRANCIS BAILY, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



A paper was read, entitled, " On certain properties of Vapour." 

 By the Rev. Dionysius Lardner, LL.D. F.R.S. 



It has been generally supposed, that if a certain volume of aqueous 

 vapour, contained in a vessel that was incapable of transmitting heat, 

 were compressed by an exterior force into a space sufficiently small, 

 a part of it would be restored to the liquid state. The author con- 

 siders this assumption to be at variance with the doctrine of latent 

 heat, and inconsistent with the results deduced from the experiments 

 which have established that the absolute quantities of heat necessary 

 to convert a given weight of water into steam, under all pressures, 

 are sensibly equal. It follows, from this principle, that steam raised 

 from water, under any pressure whatever, admits of indefinite com- 

 pression and expansion, without returning to the liquid state. The 

 effect of its compression will be to evolve heat and raise the tempe- 

 rature ; that of its expansion, to absorb heat and lower the tempera- 

 ture : but in every state of density it will have exactly that tempera- 



