78 
Minutes of 
on the late Voyage of the Beagle round the coasts of Australia, 
from Captain Stokes, together with a short sketch of that ex¬ 
pedition from the Sydney Herald , Feb. 10, 1842. —Also, a 
highly interesting description of the Antarctic Continent by 
Mr. Robertson, H.M.S. Terror . — Mr. Lempriere, of Port 
Arthur, communicated Nos. 3 and 4 of his series of papers on 
the Penal Settlements of Tasmania, with a summary of the 
Meteorological Observations at Port Arthur for 1842; and 
directions were given to request similar returns from Mr. R. 
Gunn, and Mr. Friend of George Town. 
Extracts were then read of a Tetter from Sir John IJerscliel, 
(2nd Nov. 1842) expressing his satisfaction “ more especially 
for the very valuable series of Meteorological and Tide Obser¬ 
vations set on foot by Sir John Franklin at Port Arthur, and 
conducted by Mr. Lempriere in a manner which does him the 
greatest credit.” Sir J. Herschel adds in another part, “In 
the Report of the Commission for the Restoration of the losf 
Standards of Weight and Measure, of which I was a member,! 
got introduced a clause or two,—first, for providing all the 
Colonies with authentic copies of the legal standards; second, 
for providing for their periodical comparison with the Parlia¬ 
mentary standard through the medium of an itinerant set, to 
be kept constantly circulating from Colony to Colony, and 
returning home for verification; third, for legalising these as 
the only standards for the adjustment of Colonial weights and 
measures/* 
A letter from Colonel Sabine, 23rd Nov. 1842, noticed the 
variations of temperature as affecting the magnetic observations 
now in progress; mentioning a curious species of iron lately 
found in Russia, which increases its magnetism with the tem¬ 
perature, and is used by the Russian observers in the construc¬ 
tion of their magnetic needles, on the principle of com¬ 
pensation. 
A communication from Dr. Richardson (17th Sept. 1842) 
alluded to the connection between the Aurora and the Magnetic 
disturbances as first observed in the early Polar Expeditions 
of Sir John Franklin and his associates.—Letters were laid on 
the table from the Secretaries of the Linnean and Geological 
Societies of London, acknowledging the receipt of the Journal 
of the Tasmanian Society, No. 2; also, from the President 
of the Launceston Mechanics’ Institute, and from the Secre¬ 
tary of the Hobart Town Mechanics’ Institute, acknowledging 
the first volume of the Society’s Journal.—The remarks upon 
the progress of Australian Science made by the President 
of the Geological Society of London, in his address of 18th 
February, 1842, were laid before the Society. 
A list of the papers to be published in the next number of 
the Journal was then submitted to the Society; after which 
an introductory paper on the Aborigines of Tasmania was read 
bv Mr. Gregson, 
