Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/281

 ' Feb. 4.—Sir W. Petty discoursed on the instrument he produced at the last meeting.

' Feb. 18.—Ordered that Sir Wm Petty bring in a scheme of experiments to be made relating to land carriages.

' March 30.—Some discourse passed concerning the keeping of a Diary of the weather, which was looked upon by Sir Wm Petty as very difficult to perform, so as to make it useful and instructive, without a great apparatus of barometers, thermometers, hygroscopes, instruments for telling the point of the wind, the force of the wind, the quantity of rain that falls, the times of the sun's shining and being overcast. As to the common thermometers of spirits and hygroscopes of bat, beards, wooden planks, etc., hitherto invented, it was objected that they loose their quantity by keeping, and that they are not constant standards, and if we made new ones every year, we can make no estimate of the weather in relation to what was observed last year by others.

' March 17.—Sir Wm Petty produced a paper of experiments relating to land carriages. These are registered.

' March 24.—Sir Wm Petty produced an engine for trying experiments relating to land carriages, and discoursed of some experiments he had made therewith in order to the answering some of the Queries he had formerly proposed. The instrument was a solid parallelopiped of 5 inches thick; and 50 inches long, weighing 99 oz., being so ordered that it may be put on wheels, either one sott or two sotts, of equal or unequal diameters; or it may be laid on a sled, or to be drawn on four or two dragging wheels, or on the full flat. Ordered that the Experiment be tried before the Company, though the particulars may be registered. Wednesday next appointed to begin those experiments at Sir Wm Petty' s house.

' June 9.—Sir Wm Petty produced a paper containing a scheme of Experiments for examining Mineral Waters. These are registered.

' June 29.—Mr. King read an accurate and ingenious account of Clonuff waters, to the experiments Sir Wm Petty proposed to be tryed on mineral water.

' July 7.—Sir Wm Petty gave an account of a commodious