Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/206

Rh tached to them. M. Prevost had little acquaintance with the more refined resources of modern analysis ; and his researches on many- important branches of experimental and philosophical inquiry were consequently limited to reasonings which could be carried on by the most simple algebraical or geometrical processes. But notwith- standing the restrictions which were thus imposed on his progress, the range of his philosophical researches was unusually extensive and various, and his discoveries on heat must always be considered as constituting a most important epoch in a branch of science which has recently received so extraordinary a developement in the hands of Fourier, Forbes, Melloni, and other philosophers.

The Treasurer read the following statement relative to the finances of the Society :

The Disbursements of the Society may be classed under two heads :

1 . Those which are ordinary ; and

2. Those which are extraordinary, and not likely to recur.

1 . The ordinary disbursements may be stated in the following

manner : —

Salaries £525

Lighting 40

Coals 30

Taxes and Parish Rates 50

Charwoman 30

Postage 20

Fire Insurance „. 22

Miscellaneous 200

£917

The annual expense of printing the Philosophical Transactions has been, on an average of the last five ^'"ears, £850, without including the charge for stitching and for advertisements ; viz.

For Printing £466=^

For Paper 142

For Engraving 242

£850

The expenses attending their publication vary, of course, very much according to the number of pages, the quantity of Engravings, and the nature of the Papers included in each volume.

2. Besides the ordinary disbursements, the Society has recently borne the expenses of the Catalogue, for which Mr. Panizzi has al-

Printing. Paper, Engraving.
 * 1839 £466 1 6 £170 £243 19

1838 361 19 3 56 5 146 18 6

1837 590 19 11 153 4 328 2 3

1836 340 10 6 207 4 397 12 3

1835 534 3 6 67 7 6 87 6