24 
REPORT. 
ingenuity has been applied to practical objects ; and if an 
instance were wanted of the usefulness of philosophical 
enquiries, such an instance might be taken from the most 
recent of these communications, in which it has been shown, 
that by a very simple alteration in the usual methods of 
lighting houses by gas, the power of illumination may be 
doubled from the same supply. The Meeting will also 
duly appreciate the scientific zeal which has induced 
some of the members to unite, for the purpose of assisting 
the Royal Society of Edinburgh with materials for insti¬ 
tuting a comparison between the states of the atmosphere 
in different places at the same time. The observations have 
been made in the open air, not only in summer but in the 
severest season of winter, for every hour of the day and 
night, and have been conducted with great care and pre¬ 
cision. Papers and correspondence of increased variety and 
interest, as well on subjects of antiquarian enquiry as of 
natural history and experimental research *, have been read 
at the monthly meetings. But of all the communications 
with which the Society has been favoured, that which it was 
most gratifying to receive, was the account of hieroglyphical 
inscriptions deciphered by one of the Secretaries 1 2 of the 
Leeds Philosophical Society ; since, independently of the 
high degree of interest attached to an illustration of the 
greatest literary discovery that ever has been made, such a 
contribution strongly shows the cordiality with which the 
members of the scientific Institutions in different parts of 
1 See the List of Communications, page 33, 
2 William Osburn, Esq. F.R.S.L. 
