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191 2— L 3.] Meetings of the Society. 
On making the presentations the Chairman read the following notes on the work of the 
recipients of the prizes : — 
Gunning Yictoria Jubilee Prize. 
Some of Dr Collie’s earliest papers were published conjointly with Professor Letts in our 
Transactions , namely those of 1881 and 1882 — on the Salts of Tetrabenzyl-Phosphonium, and on 
the action of Sodium Phosphide on Haloid Ethers, and on the Salts of Tetrabenzyl-Phosphonium. 
In 1885 he began a long series of very important papers on Keten compounds and the estab- 
lishment of their connection with most of the well-known types of compounds naturally occurring. 
He also established the quadrivalence of oxygen in organic compounds, and we further owe to him 
an extremely ingenious space-formula for benzene, papers on Phosphines and Phosphonium com- 
pounds, and the demonstration of Synthesis by means of the silent electric discharges. 
He has been among the most active in investigating the rare gases, and his writings cover the 
Occurrence of Helium in Minerals, the Phosphorescence of Neon when shaken with Mercury, and 
the startling observation of the Occurrence of Helium and Neon in Hydrogen after sparking, which 
has proved a matter for division of opinion among chemists. This list does not exhaust Dr Collie’s 
activities ; he has written on Mineralogy, on a new form of Barometer, and on other subjects ; and 
as no account is now complete without mentioning a man’s recreations, we may mention that Dr 
Collie has done much mountain-climbing, including first ascents in the Alps, Himalayas, Canadian 
Rockies, and the Lofoten Islands. His accounts of these and other explorations are embodied in 
the journals of the Alpine Club, the Royal Geographical Society, and in his books. 
Makdougall-Brisbane Prize. 
In the series of papers on the mathematics of Mendelian heredity Dr Brownlee discusses in the 
first place the effect of different percentages in the parental stock on the correlation coefficient 
obtained between parent and offspring. He next shows that, if the correlation is calculated by 
applying Professor Pearson’s method of fourfold division to the figures got by Mendelian experi- 
ment, values comparable to those calculated by the product-moment method result. He further 
finds that, with exactly the same type of heredity, higher values of the correlation coefficient are 
obtained when more than two races mix. As Professor Pearson’s data for determining the law of 
ancestral heredity are very largely of this nature, and as they are claimed to be in harmony with 
the Mendelian law, grave doubt is thrown upon the legitimacy of the method by which his law has 
been investigated. Further, in two papers, Dr Brownlee shows how different types of Mendelian 
inheritance lead to a variety of curves. He gives methods of fitting statistics to these curves, 
adding a theorem regarding the moments of compound distributions. He has also analysed the 
whole of Dr Beddoe’s original survey of Hair and Eye-Colour in Britain and the West of Europe, 
and has shown that all Dr Beddoe’s observations can be explained on the basis of Mendelian 
inheritance. 
Other papers presented during the period have dealt with the application of statistical methods 
to problems of epidemiology and of the variation of immunity from age to age. 
At the request of the Council an Address was delivered : — 
On the Sun-Spot Period and its Terrestrial Relations. By Professor R. A. Sampson, M.A. , 
D. Sc. , F. R. S. , Astronomer Royal for Scotland. 
The following paper was read : — 
The Chsetognatha of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. By A. Pringle Jameson, 
B.Sc. Communicated by Dr W. S. Bruce. Trans., vol. xlix., Pt. IV. 
The following Candidate for Fellowship was balloted for, and declared duly elected: — Rev. 
James Marchant. 
