of the best mode of carrying lines of communication across wide and deep valleys. The characteristics of the principal forms of viaduct either used or proposed for that purpose have been stated in the Report of 1858, formerly referred to. Since that time the practicability of stiffening suspension bridges by suitable bracing has been tested experimentally in the case of the great Niagara Falls Bridge, which is safely traversed by railway trains at a limited speed, although the system of stiffening is far from perfect. Another opportunity of testing the practical success of the same principle, applied in a more complete and systematic way, will soon be afforded by a projected bridge over the Thames near Vauxhall, designed by Mr. P. W. Barlow.

Two important improvements have of late years been made in the art of constructing iron arches. One is that of building them of wrought iron plates and bars instead of cast iron ribs and panelling. A fine example of a bridge of that kind is that over the Theiss at Szegedin, designed by M. Cézanne. (See Annales des Ponts et Chaussées, 1859.) The other, which is due to M. Mantion, consists in the introduction of three hinges into an iron arch-two at each springing-joint and one at the crown. The effect of these is to do away entirely with the strains (sometimes very severe) which would otherwise arise from the action of heat and cold on the arch, and to reduce to the least possible amount the strains produced by an unequal distribution of the load on the bridge (as when one-half of an arch has a heavy train on it while the other half is unloaded).

17. Shipbuilding.-The scientific and practical advancement of shipbuilding has of late been much promoted by the establishment of societies for its cultivation. The transactions of those societies contain much information and discussion upon subjects of high interest, not only to naval architects and men of science, but to the public in general, such as the question of the best mode of rendering ships shot-proof. That question can be settled by experiment alone, and it is almost certain that there will soon be sufficient data for that purpose.

A new light has been thrown on the subject of the stability of ships by the curious investigations of Mr. Froude, who starts from the unquestionable principle that a body floating in a mass of moving fluid, and moving along with the fluid, is acted on by the same forces, and must move in nearly the same manner, with the portion of fluid which it displaces; so that, for example, if a ship be rolling about passively in the trough of the sea, a plumb-line in that ship will tend to hang perpendicular to the surface of the wave instead of vertical. The practical conclusions at which he arrives are of much importance, and are corroborated by experience.

Recent experiments have tended to corroborate a view respecting the resistance of water to the motion of ships, to which a very brief allusion was made in the Report of 1858, viz., that when the ship is so formed as to divide the water smoothly, the only resistance that is practically important is that produced by friction-the friction being nearly the same as that of water flowing in iron pipes at high speeds. This conconclusion may at first appear paradoxical; but it will seem much less so when it is explained that the proper method of computing the resistance comprehends not only the force with which the friction directly opposes the motion of the ship, but the resistance that is indirectly caused by friction, through the heaping up of the water higher at the bow than at the stern.

MACHINES.

18. Steam Engines.-Some experiments lately made with a steamturbine of Mr. Gorman's (referred to in the Report of 1858) showed an efficiency about equal to that of an ordinary non-expansive high-pressure engine. An experiment of five hours' duration upon a marine engine with a cellular boiler, high-pressure, great expansion, and surface condensation, at which the President was lately present, gave a duty of 1,650,000 pounds, raised one foot by each pound of coal consumed. Recent experiments made in a ship of the United States navy have corroborated the principle which has for some time been generally admitted, that it is essential to economy in the expansive working of steam that the steam should be prevented from condensing in the cylinder, and that such condensation, if it proceeds unchecked, neutralizes the saving that would otherwise be obtained by expansion.

19. Railway Brakes have been lately the subject of a series of experiments by Mr. Fairbairn, with most important practical results (as to which, see Reports of the British Association, 1859). These results show the advantage of continuous brakes, by which all the wheels of a train can be acted on at once.

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

20. The President concluded by congratulating the Society on the energetic manner in which the engineers and manufacturers of Glasgow had come forward to support the proposed International Exhibition of 1862. In the department of engineering and mechanical arts alone, the space applied for from Glasgow amounted to no less than 16,000 square feet; and he understood that in other departments it was equally extensive. These facts promised well for the success of the Exhibition, and for the manner in which Glasgow would there be represented.

The Society voted its cordial thanks to the President for his address.

November 20, 1861.-ALEXANDER HARVEY, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair.

The Society met this evening for the sixtieth annual election of its Office-bearers.

Before proceeding to the election, the Society, agreeably to its rules, received from the Treasurer, Mr. Cockey, the following Abstract of his Account for the Session 1860-61:

By New Books and Binding,

Printing and Illustrating Transactions of the Society,

Salaries,

Printing Circulars, and Stationery,

15 0 0

34

3

£353 17 0

..£66 14 4

35 6 6

14 4 0

116 17 7

52 18 3

7 7 6

The Society appointed the following gentlemen to be its Officebearers for the

year 1861-62:

President.

PROFESSOR W. J. MACQUORN RANKINE, LL.D.

Vice-Presidents.

PROFESSOR HENRY DARWIN ROGERS, LL.D.
MR. ROBERT HART.

DR. FRANCIS H. THOMSON.
MR. EDMUND HUNT.

MR. JAMES R. NAPIER.

MR. RICHARD S. CUNLIFFE.
PROFESSOR GRANT.

MR. WILLIAM RAMSAY.

Council.

DR. ALLEN THOMSON.
MR. HUGH BARTHOLOMEW.
MR. GEORGE ANDERSON.

MR. WILLIAM EUING.

MR. WALTER M. NEILSON.
DR. THOMAS ANDERSON.

There were produced the plans of the alterations now being made in the buildings of Anderson's University, together with the plan of a proposed new hall for the better accommodation of the Philosophical Society.

The subject of the accommodation of the Society and its library was very fully considered, Dr. Bryce, Mr. Cockey, Professor Rogers, Mr. Walter M. Neilson, Mr. Walter Macfarlane, Mr. James Mackintosh, and others, taking part in the discussion. Mr. Neilson maintained that the greatest proportion of the members of the Society were in favour of removing the place of meeting to the west end of the city; and he gave notice of a motion for next meeting, that a committee be appointed to consider the propriety of looking out for better accommodation for the Society, in connection with other scientific Societies in the city.

December 4, 1861.-PROFESSOR W. J. MACQUORN RANKINE,
the President, in the Chair.

Mr. Matthew A. Muir, 20 Park Terrace, was elected a member of the Society.

MR. WALTER M. NEILSON moved, "That a committee be appointed to take into consideration the propriety of looking out for better accommodation for the Society, in connection with other scientific Societies in the city."

The motion having been duly seconded, MR. CRUM described the nature of the improvements which the Directors of the Andersonian Institution were willing to make for the accommodation of the Society, either in the new building now in progress or in the hall presently occupied by the Society. Several members spoke in support of the motion, others in favour of remaining for some time longer in the present hall, on condition of the requisite improvements being effected for the accommodation of the meetings and the safety of the library. It

was finally agreed unanimously that the motion do pass, with the addition, suggested by Mr. Crum, of the words "or otherwise;" and the following committee was accordingly appointed to "take into consideration the propriety of looking out for better accommodation for the Society, in connection with other scientific Societies in the city, or otherwise," viz., the President, Mr. Crum, Mr. James Young, Mr. Alexander Harvey, Dr. Bryce, Mr. Neilson, Convener; Mr. Keddie, Secretary.

Professor HENRY D. ROGERS communicated to the Society part of "An Inquiry into the Physical Causes and some of the Social Effects of the Abnormal Distribution of Temperature in North America." The Society voted thanks to Dr. Rogers for his discourse, and requested that it might be continued at a future meeting, to which he consented.

December 18, 1861.-PROFESSOR ROGERS, Vice-President,

in the Chair.

Mr. Andrew Watson, Etna Foundry, Lilybank Road; Mr. Andrew Coats, 2 La Belle Place; and Mr. Hugh Craufurd Smith, Southcroft, Shawfield, were elected members of the Society.

On Accidents by Fire from the prevailing use of Crinoline, and some Remarks on the Nature of certain Salts for rendering Light Fabrics less Inflammable. By DR. FRANCIS H. THOMSON.

As year follows year and month succeeds its predecessor our best feelings and emotions are aroused and excited by the harrowing accounts that many of our best and fairest are being daily deprived of life by fire; for, indeed, accidents arising from this cause seldom or ever take place without a fatal ending, even where little or no apparent damage has resulted, the terror and excitement is so great that many have lost their lives from this cause alone. To expatiate on the innumerable cases which have frightened the world from its propriety would be beyond the limits of the few remarks I am about to make, although, for the sake of illustration, I may mention a few, and then proceed to describe the means which may be taken to alleviate this terrible evil, almost as bad as the "suttee" of India, where females, to the extent of 600 or 700, were wont to destroy themselves yearly.

The Registrar-General thus remarks in one of his reports:-"The fires of Smithfield and the suttee fires of India have been extinguished, but the fires on our own hearths destroy hundreds and deform thousands