[ iv ] 
upon any subject, either of Nature or Art, that comes before them. And therefore 
the thanks, which are frequently proposed from the Chair, to be given to the authors 
of such papers as are read at their accustomed meetings, or to the persons through 
whose hands they received them, are to be considered in no other light than as a 
matter of civility, in return for the respect shown to the Society by those communi- 
cations. The like also is to be said with regard to the several projects, inventions, 
and curiosities of various kinds, which are often exhibited to the Society ; the authors 
whereof, or those who exhibit them, frequently take the liberty to report and even to 
certify in the public newspapers, that they have met with the highest applause and 
approbation. And therefore it is hoped that no regard will hereafter be paid to such 
reports and public notices ; which in some instances have been too lightly credited, 
to the dishonour of the Society. 
The Meteorological Journal hitherto kept by the Assistant Secretary at the Apart- 
ments of the Royal Society, by order of the President and Council, and published in 
the Pliilosophical Transactions, has been discontinued. The Government, on the 
recommendation of the President and Council, has established at the Royal Obser- 
vatory at Greenwich, under the superintendence of the Astronomer Royal, a Magnet- 
ical and Meteorological Observatory, where observations are made on an extended 
scale, which are regularly published. These, which correspond with the grand 
scheme of observations now carrying out in different parts of the globe, supersede 
the necessity of a continuance of the observations made at the Apartments of the 
Royal Society, which could not be rendered so perfect as was desirable, on account 
of the imperfections of the locality and the multiplied duties of the observer. 
