Proceedings of the Royal Society for the month of April, 1882

A monthly meeting of the Society, the first of the present session, was held at the Museum, on Monday, April 17. Mr. Justin McC. Browne in the chair.
Mr. W. F. Ward, Government Analyst, who had previously been nominated by the Council, was balloted for, and declared unanimously elected as a Fellow of the Society. At 8 o'clock the members adjourned to the upper rooms of the Museum, when an exhibition of the telephone took place, at which a number of ladies were present by invitation. Mr. R. Henry, the superintendent of telegraphs, conducted the proceedings, and commenced by giving a lucid and interesting description of the construction and uses of the instrument. Communication was made with Pearson's Point, Mount Nelson, and Battery Point ; the extreme distance traversed being about 20 miles. The experiments were very successful, and afforded much gratification to those who witnessed them. Twelve telephones were employed on the occasion, by which means the various messages and replies were made audible to a number of persons simultaneously.