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Ordinary Meeting, October 15th, 1878. 
J. P. Joule, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., &c., President, in the 
Chair. 
Mr. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., said that at a meeting of 
the Society held on the 1 4th day of November, 1876, he 
gave an account of a Eucalyptus globulus growing in 
his garden at Douglas in the Isle of Man. In that year 
(1876) it had grown 7ft. Sin. in height. In the following 
year 6ft. 8in., when it unfortunately lost its leading shoot 
by accident. Up to the 7th of this month it had grown 6ft. 
Thus in the three years it had reached 20ft. 4in. in height. 
The tree was planted in a sheltered situation close to the 
sea, and its foliage at the present time, notwithstanding the 
recent severe gales, presents a most luxuriant appearance 
and yields a pleasant odour. No manure has been supplied 
to the roots, which have grown in a soil formed of the 
debris of Manx schist. 
“ Relative Brightness of the Planets Venus and Mercury,” 
by James Nasmyth, C.E., F.R.A.S., Corresponding Member 
of the Society. 
On many occasions when observing Mercury and Venus 
separately in full daylight, I have always been impressed 
with the strikingly inferior brightness of Mercury as com- 
pared with Venus; and as such a condition is the very 
reverse of what might be expected by reason of Mercury 
being so much nearer to the sun than Venus, I awaited 
the rare event of a very close conjunction of these two 
planets that occurred on the 26th and 27th of September 
last. With the advantage of a perfectly clear sky I had 
