There were also several guests and a number of ladies in attendance.

At the close of the opening addresses the two papers of Prof. R. H. Thurston of Ithaca, were presented and discussed: "On the Distribution of Internal Friction of Engines" and "On Variable Load, Internal Friction and Engine Speed and Work." These were presented together and received discussion by Messrs. Denton, Tabor, Woodbury, Schuhmann, Durfee, Crane, Mattes and Holloway.

The paper by Prof. Jas. E. Denton, entitled "On the Friction of Piston Packing Rings in Steam Cylinders " was so closely related to the foregoing two that by general consent it was presented before the debate on those of Prof. Thurston was closed, and Messrs. Schubmann, Thomas S. Crane, Mattes and W. E. Crane, spoke upon it.

SECOND SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16TH.

The session was called to order at 10 A.M. in the Hall of the Y. M. C. A. by Vice-President Woodbury. The first business was the

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.

The Council would present its Annual Report under the Rules. It has held seven meetings during the year, and the following is a summary of its action besides the usual routine labor in scrutinizing applications for membership and its other assigned duties. It has been directed that hereafter the annual catalogue of the Society contain the names of those whose membership has ceased during the year by resignation, by limitation or by other ways. It was decided that the membership badge and the convention badges in the junior grade be different from those worn by the members, and a design for such badge has been approved. The question of securing a house for the headquarters

of the Society in the upper part of New York City has been discussed, and arrangements were begun to occupy, jointly with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the historic mansion of S. F. B. Morse, at Nos. 3 and 5 West Twenty-second Street. The later negotiations miscarried, but the idea of a home for the Society has not been dropped.

Informal discussion has been held upon a project to have this Society join with the Mechanical Engineers of Great Britain, and the Iron and Steel Institute, in the meetings which those Societies are to hold in London and Paris in the summer of 1889. The following invitation has been received from Mr. E. N. Carbutt, President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers of Great Britain, and a rough draft is in hand of a projected programme of such a visit:

October 6th, 1888.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. DEAR SIR:

I am authorized to invite your Society to hold a week's meeting in London next year some time in May. We were given to understand that many of the leading American Engineers would visit Europe to see the Paris Exhibition of 1889. If your Society should accept the invitation it would be warmly welcomed by the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Iron and Steel Institute and my own Society, viz. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers of England, and others. Your treasurer, Mr. Wiley, will more fully explain to you our desire to welcome our brother Engineers of America.

The scheme is under advisement at the date of this report, and Messrs. Wiley and Hutton, the Treasurer and Secretary of the Society, are appointed a committee to make inquiries and get the views of the members as to accepting this invitation. The Council have accepted a most cordial invitation to hold the Spring Convention of 1889 in the City of Erie, Pa.

The losses by death since the last report in Volume IX. have been as follows:

The total membership in the Society at this time is distributed among the grades as follows:

Members....

Associates.

Juniors.

Add to this those reported below as joining at this time:

772

36

54

The Council would also present the report of its Tellers as follows:

The undersigned were appointed a Committee of the Council to act as tellers under Rule 13, to count and scrutinize the ballots cast for and against the candidates proposed for membership in the Society of Mechanical Engineers, and seeking election before the XVIIIth meeting of the Society in October, 1888.

They would report that they have met upon the designated days in the office of the Secretary and proceeded to the discharge of their duties.

They would certify for formal insertion in the records of the Society to the election of the appended named persons, to their respective grades, upon Lists Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, pink and yellow.

There were 374 votes cast in the ballot upon the pink list, of which 8 were thrown out because of informalities.

There were 368 votes cast upon the yellow ballot, of which 12 were thrown out because of informalities.