454 



A nniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



that he would have been able to be present at its delivery. It was 

 ultimately arranged that his fellow labourer at the Pasteur Institute, 

 Dr. Roux, should deliver the Croonian Lecture in his stead; and 

 several of the Fellows have heard his lucid account, first of the 

 discoveries of M. Pasteur in relation to diseases brought about by 

 microscopic organisms, and then further researches of his own in the 

 same field. 



In addressing the Fellows at the anniversary last year, I men- 

 tioned that Commandant Desforges had kindly offered to compare 

 that portion of Sir George Schuckburgh's scale, with reference to 

 which the length of the seconds pendulum had been determined by 

 Kater and Sabine, with the French standard metre ; and as the ratio 

 of this to the English standard yard was accurately known, the 

 length of the pendulum, as determined by these accurate observers, 

 would thus for the first time be brought into relation with the 

 English yard by direct comparison with accurately compared 

 measures of length. The comparison was shortly afterwards 

 executed, and the scale, which of course was very carefully packed 

 for its journey to Paris and back, has long since been replaced in the 

 apartments of the Society. This highly desirable comparison 

 occupied but a few days in its execution ; which affords one example 

 of the scientific advantages derivable, under an international agree- 

 ment, from the establishment of the Bureau des Poids et Mesures. 

 Our own country, which for some years held aloof from the Conven- 

 tion, forming the sole exception to the general agreement among 

 nations of importance, joined it some years ago ; and we thus have 

 the privilege of availing ourselves as occasion may arise of the 

 appliances at the office in Paris for such comparisons of measures of 

 length or weight. 



The services of Mr. Arthur Soper, as a special assistant, have 

 been retained during the past session, with advantage to the library. 

 He has completed the much-needed shelf catalogue, and the re- 

 arrangement of the books where necessary. In the course of this 

 work the volumes of a purely literary character have been collected 

 together, and a selection of the most valuable have been preserved in 

 a properly protected case. Of the remainder about 150 volumes (in 

 addition to those reported last year) have been presented to various 

 public libraries, and a slip catalogue of the volumes which are 

 retained, containing about 1,700 entries, has been prepared. 



The manuscripts (other than the originals of ordinary papers read 

 at the meetings) which have accrued to the Society since the publica- 

 tion of Mr. Halliwell's Catalogue have been collected from various 

 parts of the building into the Archives Room, with the object of pre- 

 paring a complete catalogue of the manuscripts at present in the 

 possession of the Society. 



