1917-18. j 
Meetings of the Society. 
288 
SEVENTH ORDINARY MEETING. 
Monday , June 3, 1918. 
Dr John Horne, F.R.S., F.G.S., President, in the Chair. 
The following Communications were read : — 
1. The Formation of the Germ-band in the Egg of the Holly Tortrix Moth ( Eudemis noevana). 
By Miss L. H. Huie, F. E.S. Communicated by Dr J. H. Ashworth, F.R.S. {With Lantern 
Illustrations . ) 
2. Studies in Clocks and Time-keeping. No. 2. Tables of the Circular Error. By Professor 
R. A. Sampson, F.R.S. 
3. The Sound-Waves and other Air- Waves of the East London Explosion of January 19, 1917. 
By Dr Charles Davison. Communicated by the General Secretary. 
4. The Quadratic Relations between the Determinants of a 4-by-8 Array. By Sir Thomas 
Muir, F.R.S. 
Dr Alex. C. Miller signed the Roll, and ivas duly admitted a Fellow of the Society. 
FIRST SPECIAL MEETING. 
Monday , July 8, 1918. 
Dr John Horne, F.R.S., F.G.S., President, in the Chair. 
The following Prizes were presented : — 
1. The Keith Prize for the Biennial Period 1915-1917 to Robert C. Mossman for his work 
on the Meteorology of the Antarctic Regions, which, beginning with the important series of 
observations made by him during the voyage of the Scotia (1902-1904), has continued to the 
present time, and includes his recent paper “On a See-Saw of Barometric Pressure, Temperature, 
and Wind Velocity between the Weddell Sea and the Ross Sea,” published in the Proceedings of 
the Society. 
Mr Robert C. Mossman early turned his attention to the study of Meteorology, and from 
1886 to 1900 was in charge of the principal meteorological station in Edinburgh. This work, 
which was purely voluntary on his part, led him to the serious study of the Meteorology of Edin- 
burgh, the results of which are embodied in an important Memoir published in our Transactions. 
The establishment of the Ben Nevis Observatory gave him frequent opportunities of adding to his 
experience as an observer of meteorological data and investigator into the connected problems. 
Many papers were contributed by him, not only to the Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal 
Society of Edinburgh, but also to the Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society. Supplementary 
observations by Mr Mossman in Glen Nevis led to the discovery of interesting occurrences of what 
is known as the Fohn wind. An account of these observations is given in one of the Ben Nevis 
volumes published by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This continuous and varied training in 
meteorological observation under all kinds of difficulties pre-eminently fitted Mr .Mossman for 
undertaking the meteorology on board of the Scotia during the years 1902-1904. After the Scotia 
reached latitudes farther south than 30° S., the necessary meteorological observations of 
pressure, temperature, humidity, wind, and cloud were taken hourly through the whole day of 
twenty-four hours. Such a labour demanded singular devotion as well as clear-headed organisation 
on the part of its enthusiastic director. Following up this important work, Mr Mossman organised 
the Scottish Observatory in the South Orkneys ; and when this was taken over by the Argentine 
Meteorological Office he was asked to remain as Superintendent. The Observations form Vol. XVI 
of the Annals of this office. Further experience of Polar conditions was subsequently gained 
in two voyages to the Greenland Sea, and new light was thrown on the physical processes 
governing the summer isotherms in this area. During his stay in the Argentine as head of one of 
the Meteorological Sections Mr Mossman has accumulated a vast array of meteorological facts, 
and has gained an almost unique knowledge of the meteorological conditions of the Southern 
Oceans. Many of these results are embodied in Vol. XVII of the Argentine Annals , of which he 
was entrusted with the preparation. It is specially in connection with this line of work that the 
Council of the Royal Societv of Edinburgh have found in Mr Mossman a worthy recipient of the 
Keith Prize. 
2. The Neill Prize for the Biennial Period 1915-1917 to Professor W. H. Lang, F.R.S., for his 
paper, in conjunction with Dr R. Kidston, F.R.S., on Rhynia Gwynne-Vaugliani, Kidston and 
Lang, published in the Transactions of the Society, and for his previous investigations on 
Pteridophytes and Oycads. 
