Summary Of News For December.

in Arundel-street , Strand , but better known as the once celebrated Crown and Anchor Tavern , was totally destroyed by fire , the servants , about twenty in number , escaping with great difficulty , with scarcely anything upon them but their hed clothes . The premises of the Illustrated News , and two or three tradesmen in the Strand , where also considerably damaged . On the 5 th , a destructive fire occurred on the premises of Mr . Heath , a builder in

Bishopsgate-street , which extended itself to ten houses in Bishopsgate-street , Acornstreet , and Skinner-street , the inhabitants of which being principally of the working classes , and uninsured , have lost nearly all thou- household property and clothes . On the 22 nd , a trial upon criminal information took place in the Court of Queen ' s Bench , for libel , against "Tlie Times" newspaper , in the case of the Queen v . Harrison , arising out of some remarks on the conduct of the Hon . Francis Scott , and other directors of the South Western Railway , which was described in the paper as dishonourable , and amounting to something like a swindle . The defendant was found guilty , but not called up for judgment .

PROVIDENT . The Conservative Land Society held its second annual meeting at Exeter Hall on the 12 th of December , Viscount Ranelagh presiding . Br . C . L . Gruneisen ( an old member of the Masonic Craft ) presented the report and statement of accounts , showing a balance in favour of the society for the financial year ending 29 th September , 1854 , of 4 , 909 / . 14 s . Id . The gross recepts of the second year exceeded those of the

first year by 27 , 187 / . 4 s . 2 d ., and the receipts of the last quarter of the second year far exceeded that of any previous quarter . The society has purchased twenty estates , which have been divided into 1 , 505 lots , of which 1 , 192 have been sold . The value of the various lots is 117 , 736 ? . 10 s ., and the value of those sold 94 , 456 / . 10 * ., leaving 313 lots unsold , of the estimated value of 23 . 280 / . The report was adopted ; the retiring directors re-elected ; ancl various votes of thanks passed , the noble Chairman bearing a strong testimony to the great exertions of our worthBr . Gruneisen in

y carrying out the business of the society . At a meeting of the proprietors in the Trafalgar Life Assurance Office on the 20 th , the resolutions of a former meeting for transferring the business to the Unity General Assurance Association , were unanimously confirmed .

SCIENTIFIC . The Royal Geographical Society has commenced its monthly meetings in the theatre of the United Service Institute , Scotland Yard , and a paper has been read by Dr . Rae upon the recent discoveries in the Arctic Regions , with the evidence that had been obtained of the probable fate of Sir John Franklin ancl his party . The paper was a repetition of the more interesting parts of the despatches and correspondence to which we alluded in our first number .

The institute of British Architects opened their session in Grosvenor Street , Grosvenor Square , in November , when Mr . Nelson , honorary secretary , read to the society a paper written by Mr . P . Hay , F . R . S ., of Edinburgh , on the application of the larmonic laws of nature in the orthography of architectural designs , illustrated by a Gothic elevation similar to that of the east end of Lincoln Cathedral . Mr . Hay entered into an explanation of harmonic progression founded on the multiples of the unitthe first series being 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 , aud 7 , and exhibited several scales of this progression

in rectangular figures , the proportion of whose horizontal sides to their vertical sides depended on the angle which their diagonals made with the latter in harmonic division . He also showed that the columnar arrangement of the portico of the temple of Theseus had been formed on the harmonic principle . To it , too , he referred the early works of the fraternity of Freemasons , and gave it as his opinion that such principle of harmony in construction had been one of the secrets of that Order . Tho 101 st session of the Society of Arts was commenced at the society ' s house in the Adelphi , on the 15 th November , by an inaugural address by Viscount Ebrington , president of the council for the ensuing year , in which he traced the progress of arts and