141 
PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 
Annual Meeting, March 3 1st, 1874. 
Alfred Brothers, F.R.A.S., President of the Section, in 
the Chair. 
The following gentlemen were elected Officers of the 
Section for the ensuing year : — 
ALFRED BROTHERS, F.R.A.S. 
E. W. BINNEY, F.R.S., F.G.S. 
JOSEPH BAXENDELL, F.R,A.S. 
a. V. VERNON, F.R.A.S., F.M.S. 
^xzunmtx, 
SAMUEL BROUGHTON. 
'‘The Meteorological Theory of Cometary Phenomena/’ 
by David Winstanley, Esq. 
On the 16th April, 1872, I had the honour of bringing 
under the notice of this Society the outline of a theory by 
which I showed, or endeavoured to show, that in the 
instance of bodies surrounded by abnormally voluminous 
atmospheres and subject to sudden and violent thermal 
changes, certain phenomena indistinguishable from the im- 
posing aspects frequently presented by comets must of 
necessity ensue as the ordinary phenomena of their meteor- 
ology. So far as I have seen no criticisms have been 
advanced disputing the correctness of this deduction. If, 
therefore, I am able to satisfy you that any particular 
