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Ordinary Meeting, April 6th, 1869. 
E. W. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 
Mr. A. Brothers and Mr. J. S. Kipping were appointed 
Auditors of the Treasurer’s Accounts. 
Thomas Alcock, M.D., was elected a Member of the 
Council, in place of the Rev, William Gaskell, M.A., elected 
a Vice-President. 
Professor Edward Frankland, Ph.D., F.R.S., fee., was 
elected an Honorary Member of the Society. 
Dr. Joule, F.R.S., gave an account of his endeavours to 
improve the instrument known as the dip circle , which, 
notwithstanding what had been done by Lloyd and others, 
was not comparable in delicacy to the declinometer. The 
ordinary mode of causing the axis of the needle to roll on 
agate planes first claimed attention. He found it possible to 
obtain a steel cylinder of beautiful accuracy as follows : — 
A steel wire, stretched by a weight hanging from one 
extremity, being heated to redness, draws out a certain 
length, and in so doing becomes perfectly straight. The 
wire is then divided into pieces each about two inches 
long, which are ground true and then polished by rolling 
them against one another. If the operation has been care- 
fully conducted, one wire laid across two others will roll 
Proceedings — Lit. & Phil. Society.— Vol. VIII — Ho. 14.— Session, 1868-9. 
