340 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



conditions; and at a fitting opportunity the collection will be transferred 

 to a locality where it will be in competent hands and be readily accessible 

 to students and scholars. 



Arrangements have been made for the publication of the Eeports of 

 the naturalists sent to Eodriguez and Iverguelen Islands in a separate 

 quarto form, with illustrations ; and a grant of ,£100 from the Donation 

 Pund has been made in aid of the work. The botanical specimens 

 have been named, and are being distributed to the Herbaria of Kew, of 

 the British Museum, of the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, and others. A 

 complete set of the zoological collections will be deposited in the British 

 Museum, and the remainder distributed among the Museum of the 

 Eoyal College of Surgeons of London a^nd the Museums of Edinburgh, 

 Dublin, Oxford, and Cambridge. 



The Eeport on the results of the " Eclipse " Expedition has been drawn 

 up by Mr. Lockyer, and is far more satisfactory than could have been 

 anticipated, considering the unfavourable conditions which prevailed 

 during the whole of the time the observations were being made. It now 

 appears that the light which photographs the prominences does not come 

 from hydrogen, but most probably from calcium, while the photograph of 

 the corona with the prismatic camera shows that its chief light is derived 

 from the hydrogen. The complete account of the eclipse will appear in 

 our ' Proceedings ' very shortly. 



Eor the financial state of the Society I must refer you to the balance- 

 sheet prepared by our Treasurer now in your hands. It shows that 

 our resources have been increased by receipt of the Dircks bequest, 

 £878 12s. lOd. A fuTther increase will occur towards the end of the 

 year by the incoming of the £2000 Consols to which we are entitled under 

 the will of our late Eellow, E. C. Carrington. Besides these, an addi- 

 tion has been made to our Trust Eunds by the settlement of the long- 

 pending question of the Handley bequest. The amount ultimately 

 awarded to us was £6378 19s., the balance of which, after payment of 

 legacy duty and certain legal charges, has been invested, as may be seen 

 in our balance-sheet, in Eeduced 3-per-cent. Stock. 



The Donation Eund has been increased by the receipt of the £500 be- 

 queathed by our late Eellow, Sir Charles "Wheatstone, raising the total to 

 £6333 10s. 4:d. Additions to this fund are greatly to be desired : it is 

 applied, as you are aware, in aid of research ; and a very strict account 

 is kept of its expenditure. Were such a fund at all what it ought to 

 be, considering the amount of capital accumulating in this country, in 

 great part the direct outcome of scientific inquiry, we should have fewer 

 complaints of the insufficiency of means of encouragement for research. 



To Sir Charles Wheatstone we are further indebted for a valuable 

 collection of portraits of scientific men, including one of the devisor, 

 and one of Boyle (by Kneller), both in oil. Mrs. Selwyn' has presented 

 the negatives of the eleven years' series of photographs of the sun-spots 



