Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 145.djvu/6

Rh 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 communications. 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 Apartments of the Royal Society, by order of the President and Council, and published in the Philosophical Transactions, has been discontinued. The Government, on the recommendation of the President and Council, has established at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, under the superintendence of the Astronomer Royal, a Magnetical 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.