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PROCEEDINGS

MANCHESTER

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

VOL. XXIII.

Session 1883-4.

MANCHESTER :

FEINTED BY T. SOWLEK AND CO., 24, CANNON STREET.

1884.

3 1_ I B R A R Y ■, ^

■'; . f, Ac. ad em/
wl ircleiicejf

NOTE.

The object which the Society have in view in publishing their
Proceedings is to give an immediate and succinct account of the
scientific and other business transacted at their meetings to the
members and the general public. The various communications
are supplied by the authors themselves, who are alone responsible
for the facts and reasonings contained therein.

INDEX.

Black W. G., M.D., F.E.Met.S.— Notes on the Meteorology and Hydro-
logy of the Suez Canal, p. 64.

BoTTOMLET James, B.A., D.Sc., F.C.S. — On the change produced in the
Motion of an Oscillating Eod by a heavy ring surrounding it, and
attached to it by elastic cords, p. 1. Note on Bouguer's Opti' al
Essay on the Gradation of Light, p. 46. On the Equations and
on some Properties of Projected Solids, p. 03. Note on a paper
read before the Society on October 2nd, 1SS3, concerning the
Motion of an Oscillating Eod, p. 128.

BoTD John.— On some Parasitic Mites, p. 79.

Beothers Alfred, F.E..A.S. — Description of the Woodbury typo and
Stannotype Processes, p. 71.

Clay Charles, M.D. — A Reminiscence of Dr. Dalton, p. 83.

Dreschfeld Professor, M.D. — On some Micro-organisms found to be
present in connection with certain diseases, p. 74.

Faraday Frederick J., P.L.S. — Pasteur and the Germ Theory, p. 88.

Gibson R. H.— On the Lurid Sunsets observed at Taranald, New
Zealand, p. 128.

Harley Eev. Egbert, M.A., F.E.S. — Remarks on Mr. Murphy's paper
" On the Quantification of the Predicate, and on the Interpretation
of Boole's Logical Symbols," p. 36.

Krattse Professor F. M. — Notice of the Geology of the Haddon District,
eight miles south-west of Ballaarat, Victoria, p. 57.

Mackeeeth Rev. Thomas, F.E.A.S , F.E.Met.S.— On the Effects of Solar
Eadiation in Atmospheric Vapour, p. 47. On the recent Coloured
Skies at Sunset and Sunrise, p. 52.

MuEPHT Joseph John. — On the Quantification of the Predicate, and on
the Interpretation of Boole's Logical Symbols, p. 33.

Ehodes James, M.E.CS. — On the Duality of Physical Forces, p. 4.

Eoscoe Professor H. E., Ph.D., LL.D., F.E.S., &c.. President. — On a new
variety of Halloysite from Maidenpek, Servia, p. 41. Eemarks on
the first volume of the collected Scientific Papers of Dr. Joule,
published by the Council of the Physical Society of London, p. 61.

SoHORLEMMER C, F.E.S. — On the leaves of Catha edulis, p. 3. On the
introduction of Coffee into Arabia, p. 55.

Ward H. Marshall, M.A. — On the Fungus of the Salmon Disease —
Sajprolegnia ferax, p. 29.

Ward Thomas.— On the Action of Water upon beds of Eock Salt, p. 5.

Waters Arthur Wm., F.G.S., F.L.S. — On a method of Mounting Elec-
trical Eesistances, p. 43.

Wilde Henet. — On Volcanic Dust from the Eruption of Krakatoa on
August 27th, 1883; and on some Glassy Lava from the great
Volcano of Kilauea in Hawaii, and known as " Pele's Hair," p. 40.

Meetings of the Physical and Mathematical Section. — Annual, p.
82; Ordinary, pp. 46, 82.

Meetings of the Microscopical and Natural History Section.'
Auniial, p. 77 ; Ordinary, pp. 72, 73, 74, 76.

Eeport of the Council, April, 1884, p. 115.

COERIGENDTJM.

Page 2, line 16, for: B= ' ?/wni, read B =

hi ' hlnuHi

PEOCEEDINGS

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

General Meeting, October 2nd, 1883.

H. E. RoscoE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., &c., President, in the

Chair.

Mr. Frederick James Faraday, of Levenshulrne, was
elected an Ordinary Member of the Society.

Ordinary Meeting, October 2nd, 1883.

H. E. RoscoE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.RS., &c.. President, in the

Chair.

" On the Change produced in the Motion of an Oscillating
Rod by a heavy Ring surrounding it, and attached to it by
elastic cords," by James Bottomley, B.A., D.Sc, F.C.S.

At a meeting of the Physical and Mathematical Section,
on January 16th, Dr. Joule brought under the notice of
the members a method which he had devised for damping
the small oscillations of a telescope, or any other heavy mass
which it is desirable to keep as steady as possible. The
arrangement consisted of a heavy ring surrounding the
vibrating mass, and attached to it by extensible strings.
In this paper the author considers the action of one of these
Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIII.— No. 1— Session 1883-4.

rings in modifying the motion of a I'od suspended from a
fixed beam by two cords of slight elasticit}'. in being the
mass of the rod and mi the mass of the ring, \^ the modulus
of elasticity of the cords supporting the rod, L the length of
each cord, X the modulus of elasticity of the cords connecting
the rod with the ring, I the un stretched length of each of
these cords, then x and Xi denoting the displacements from
their positions of rest, of the axis of the rod, and the centre
of the ring, the following equations of motion are obtained :

^ _ 2\ 2\

From these equations b}' elimination an equation is obtained
of the form

^^+A^ + Bx = 0 (1)

dt^ df ^ '

. 2AV X \m\

■where A = - f + 7 + -, — )

m\h I Lnii/

Lil
Assuming x = Cef^^

Differentiating four times, and twice, substituting in
equation ( I ) and dividing by a common factor we obtain

yu* + /A + B = 0.

On examination all the roots of this equation prove to be
imaginar}'-. Substituting trigonometrical functions for the
impossible exponentials, an equation is obtained of the
following form

X = Fcospt + Qcosqt + Rsmjit + Ssin^^,

yfhevep^^-^-^^ -B and q=^~ + ^-^-B.

The parameters P, Q, K, S, are determined by reference to
the initial conditions, and V being the initial velocity of the
rod we get the following equation :

_ V (q^sinpt - 2i*s,mqt)

The remainder of the paper is taken up with a discussion of
this equation, and also of the case when there are n rings
symetrically disposed about the middle of the rod. The
subsidence of motion due to internal friction in elastic
solids has not been taken into account.

General Meeting, October 16th, 1883.

H. E. RoscoE, Ph.D., LL.R, F.R.S., &c., President, in the

Chair.

Mr. Harrj^ Baker, F.C.S., of Owens College, was elected an
Ordinary Member of the Society.

Ordinary Meeting, October 16th, 1883.

H. E. EoscoE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.E.S., &c., President, in the

Chair.

"On the leaves oiCatha edulis," byC. Schoelemmer, F.R.S.

In a paper which I read before the Society a few months
ago* I stated that the custom of drinking coffee was intro-
duced into Arabia only in the beginning of the fifteenth
century. Before this time the beverage made of leaves of
kat (Catha edulis) was used and is still in use, possessing
properties resembling those of strong green tea, only more
pleasing and agreeable. From this it appeared to me highly
probable that kat contained caffeine, which occurs in tea,
coffee, and some other plants, all of which are used as
stimulants.

Professor T. Thistleton Dyer, F.R.S., kindly supplied me
with fresh leaves of Catha, grown in Kew Gardens. Not a
trace of caffeine was found, while, to show its presence in
tea, a very few leaves are sufficient.

* Proceedings, April 3rd, 1883.

From the facts it appeared probable that the tea and cof-
fee grown at Kew would not contain it ; that, however, was
found not to be the case. Its presence could be easily-
detected in the leaves of Tea viridis and Co fee arabica.

Through the kindness of Professor Dyer, I have since
obtained two genuine samples of Kat, coming directly from
Aden, one being labelled " Kat Sabari," so called as coming
from Sabar, a mountain range in Yemen, and the other
" Kat Mactari Ashab," as it has long (ashab) leaves. I have
examined both carefully, without finding a trace of caffeine
or an alkaloid being related to it. It requires therefore further
researches in order to discover the active principle of Catha,

Dr. Schuster, F.RS., gave an account of Meteoric dust,
and exhibited some specimens found in Himalayan Snow.

" On the Duality of Physical Forces," by James Rhodes,
M.RC.S.

There are two Primary Forces in the Universe :

1st. Gravitative. Mechanical or weight producing force
causing condensation of matter.

2nd. Expansive force causes expansion of matter.

Thus, these forms of motion are distinct and opposite in
character in their actions on matter, the one to the other.

The consideration of the above question does not affect
the truth of Drs. Meyer and Joule's theory of the
mechanical equivalent of heat, but will show that the
Mechanical Gravitative, or Weisrht Force, is not converted
into heat, but that owing to the condensation of matter,
effected by 772 foot lbs. of this force, a given quantity of
expansive force is emitted as 1 degree of heat.

That a body, apparently at rest, still continues to act by
its weight, pressure, and condensation to eliminate heat from
matters towards the earth's centre. And also the action of
gravitative force acting on the sun's photosphere causes the
emission of light and transmission through space.

Ordinary Meeting, October 30th, 1883.

J. P. Joule, D.C.L., LL.D., F.KS., &c., Vice-President, in

the Chair.

" On the Action of Water upon beds of Rock Salt," by
Thomas Ward, Esq.

During the last century, but more especially within the
past few years, a number of interesting phenomena in
connection with the action of water on beds of salt have
presented themselves in the Salt Districts of Cheshire. I
propose in this paper to examine these phenomena, and to
show how fresh water acts upon rock salt, and to point
out the results of such action : —

The various beds of rock salt, in whatever geological
formation they exist, are clearly crystalline deposits from
the saturated brine of salt lakes. In the dry season, when
a salt lake, owing to the evaporation of a portion of the
water, becomes saturated brine, salt crystals form on the
bottom, under water, and continue to grow and increase as
long as the evaporation continues. This is well illustrated
in Lake Sambhur, and a number of similar lakes in Rajpu-
tana, also in salt lakes near the Caspian Sea, and in many
other parts of the world. As soon as the wet season arrives,
and the water from the brooks and rivers, bearing down
mud, enters into the lake, the beautiful sharp angles of the
crystals of salt become rounded off, and the fine mud enters
into all the interstices amongst the crystals, and forms an
amorphous mass of salt and clay, which is called rock salt.
In some portions of the mass, salt prevails, in others, mud.
Rock salt deposits var)^ from nearly pure salt, such as is
mined for trade purposes in Cheshire, and which was
evidently deposited when a longer period of dry seasons
Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIII.— No, 2.— Session 1883-4,

prevailed, to salt with clay in such a large proportion as
to make it doubtful whether to call it clay with salt inter-
mixed or salt with clay intermixed. This latter deposit
forms when seasons of excessive rainfall occur, or, if the
clay is purely local in the salt bed, it is formed in that
portion of the lake nearest the influx of the streams. I
show specimens of both kinds. A section of a thick deposit
of rock salt gives a good idea as to the greater or lesser
amount of rainfall, and of the comparative lengths of
periods of little rain and periods of excessive rain. The
marls immediately overlying the salt beds show the rainfall
to have been more than would allow the lake to become
saturated brine.

On the rock salt thus formed I propose to trace the
action of fresh water brought into contact with it, and to
indicate the results following from such contact. I will
examine the action of

(1) Water in a state of rest

(2) Water descending by gravitation and passing over
beds of salt in its course to a lower level.

(3) Water descending by gravitation to beds of salt
beloiv the surface of the earth, and reappearing as brine
springs at the surface, but at a higher level than the salt
beds.

(4) Natural water set in motion, or its motion accele-
rated, by artificial means, such o.s pumps.

(5) Water conveyed artificially to deep salt beds, and
then pumped wp again.

Under these heads, which, though apparently similar, are
really distinct, it will be possible to class all the phenomena
exhibited by the action of water on beds of rock salt.

I. — Water in a state of rest.
Water at times reaches a bed of salt, and can proceed no
further, but remains motionless. This is not a very frequent

occurrence, but happens either when there is an irruption
of water into a salt mine, which flow of water is stopped
before the mine is drowned out ; or, when water in greater
or lesser quantities finds its way down the shaft. The
water in these cases settles itself in the lowest portions of
the sole or floor of the mine, and remains there for many-
years. (The Sinkwerks of Ischl and neighbourhood are also
examples during the time the water is at rest, but as this
water is frequently conveyed to the chambers in the salt
artificially, and removed in the same manner, they belong
more properly to another section of my subject.) As soon
as the fresh water reaches the salt a process of solution
commences, and proceeds until the water is fully saturated —
that is, until it has taken up about 26 per cent of salt.*
The saturation point varies slightly according to the tem-
perature of the water, warm water dissolving slightly more
salt than cold. The specific gravity of brine having 2G per
cent of salt is 1'2. These numbers are nearly accurate, and
easily remembered, though roughly we may adopt the
Cheshire formula for saturated brine, viz. : 1 part salt, 3
parts water. In the process of solution the salt is dissolved
and the clay is left behind. The surface of the salt is very
irregular when the saturation is completed, the masses of
clay remaining standing up in ridges or isolated miniature
mounds more or less honeycombed. The moment saturation
is complete no further action upon the salt takes place, and
however long the same body of water remains no further
dissolution of salt will occur. If, however, as nearly always
must happen, the water slowly evaporates, the salt held in
solution recrystallizes upon the salt surface below water and
forms a most beautiful crj^stalline floor or pavement, the
crystals of which form perfect semi-transparent cubes,

* In becoming saturated, if it be deep enough to extend up the pillars
supporting the roof, it eats them away, and renders the mine insecure4
This was the case with Neumann's and Blackburne's mines, in Marston,
and to a slight extent with Gibson's mine, in Wincham.

varying in size chiefly according to the time they have been
forming. These cubes, though each perfect in itself, form
at all angles, and possess no symmetry of arrangement as
regards each other, as will be seen by the specimen I
produce, which is the growth of over 20 years. It is only
under water that the crystals form, for as soon as the
surface of the crystal appears above the brine it becomes
covered with a saline efflorescence. This efflorescence
generally takes the form and appearance of minute cauli-
flowers. In the Rajputana saline lakes, the surface upon
which the salt crystals form being mud — the salt crystals
being taken out every year — each crystal forms separately,
as will be seen in the specimens I produce from Pachbadra,
called " mud salt."

As rock salt if exposed to the weather dissolves, unless
great care is taken the crystals soon lose all their sharp
angles and form a rounded mass. To prevent this dissolving
of the angles it is weU to keep the rock salt either in a very
dry place or in a saturated solution of brine, it being a
common saying in Cheshire, that " the best place to keep
rock salt is in brine." I wish this fact to be borne in mind,
for it will explain the phenomenon of least solution of rock
salt taking place at the brine pumping stations of Cheshire ;
a fact which puzzles many, and which has led to the pro-
pounding of many curious and unscientific theories.

Saturated brine left perfectly motionless, but exposed to
the atmosphere, creeps by capillary attraction, and forms a
saline incrustation or efflorescence.

II. — Water descending hy gravitation and loassing over
beds of salt in its course to a lower level.

This is a case of water in motion passing from a higher to
a lower level, and on its way flowing over beds of salt.

In several parts of the world the beds of rock salt lie
upon the surface or stand out as hills exposed to the

weather. The most important of these are the rock salt
mountain of Cardona, in Spain, the Kohat rock salt in
North-west India, the Great Salt Range at Kalabagh, Usdum,
at the south of the Dead Sea, and in Transylvania numerous
beds exposed in the valleys of rivers and brooks in the
Carpathian mountains. In England all the beds of rock salt
lie at a considerable depth below the surface. In sinking
down to these beds, water-bearing strata are almost in-
variably met with, and when the shaft, passing through
the rock salt to the mine either in the lower portion of the
first salt bed or in the second bed, is not made perfectly
watertight, so as to prevent the upper waters reaching the
salt, the same action takes place as in the salt beds exposed
to the rains and moisture of the atmosphere.

In Kohat there is on an average a solution of two inches
of rock salt on the exposed surface annually. In the wet
season the rains channel and furrow the surface of the salt
bed and then run off in tiny streams of a saline nature to
the brooks and rivulets. The clay, always existing in rock
salt, prevents some portions from being eaten away, and
the salt presents not one even smooth surface as might be
supposed, but a channeled and columned or fluted surface
in parts, with here and there marly protuberances or ledges.
In Transylvania the solution of the salt by water percolating
through the thin layer of earth which in many parts covers
it causes landslips which leave the face of the rock salt
exposed. The quantity of salt dissolved by rain in these
exposed salt beds is not nearly so much as might be ex-
pected, for the rain runs down the face of the rock too
quickly to become saturated. At Cardona we are told that
the mountain loses only four feet in 100 years, or about
half an inch per annum. The eating or destroying force of
fresh water when directed continuously over a salt bed has
been taken advantage of at Varangeville, near Nancy, in
mining rock salt. A fine stream of fresh water is turned

upon the rock salt ; this soon cuts a small channel in the
salt, which widens and deepens to such an extent that large
blocks of salt easily become detached. Unfortunately for
the miners by this method, the water running too quickly
to become saturated passes away to the sole of the mine
and there completes its saturation, very frequently under-
mining the pillars left to support the roof of the mine and
causing great destruction.

In the Cheshire salt district enormous damage has been
caused by water passing from the upper strata over the sur-
face of the first salt bed and down the face of the salt ex-
posed in the shaft to the mine below. Nearly all the oldest
mines have been destroyed in this way. These mines were
in the upper bed of rock salt, which was discovered in 1670
but not worked for a number of years after this. In 1781
the lower bed of rock salt was discovered, and a year or
two after this mines were worked in the lower bed and
those in the upper bed gradually abandoned. The history
of the neighbourhood of Northwich from about 1750 to the
present time is a constant repetition of the falling in of old
mines. In almost every case known this was caused by
water. The sinking takes place near the shaft, which is
naturally the weakest place, and at first resembles a well
but continually enlarges in size till it is 50, 60, or even 100
feet in diameter. After this the sides crumble down till the
hole chokes at the bottom and a funnel or crater remains
which in time fills with water and becomes one of the
numerous pits in the neighbourhood of Northwich known
as rock pit holes. I have recently had several opportunities
of seeing the process in action. Water trickling down a
shaft in Wincham — still standing — has channeled the rock
salt so deeply that in parts it has the appearance of the
columns of a church or cathedral. The cavities or flutings
are in many places several feet deep, and the shaft, instead
of being 4 to 5 feet in diameter, is from 12 to 15 feet. In

one part there is a bed of marl wliich remains as a pro-
tuberance all around the shaft. Above and below — but
especially below — the salt is much eaten away. The water
is now prevented from running down, consequently the
dissolving action is suspended and the shaft remains to
show the cause of the destruction of so many other shafts.*
Another shaft (Piatt's Hill) recently collapsed. Just prior
to falling in, it was inspected and the rock salt was found
to be eaten away to a distance of from 30 to 40 feet from
the centre of the shaft, and a huge cavern or cavity, many
feet high, was left. This soon collapsed, and now, although
men were employed for several months filling in earth to
keep the hole choked and to prevent it drawing in a
neighbouring tramway, it still keeps sinking, showing that
solution by water is yet going on. About 200 yards from
Piatt's Hill — in a district called Dunkirk — another shaft
collapsed nearly two years ago. This was a brine shaft.
The fresh water found access to the rock salt and dissolved
it, leaving a huge cavity. The shaft sank suddenly, taking
in the surface and burying the pump trees, &c. I have just
finished lining with bricks, set in cement, a portion of a
shaft in which fresh water had commenced to attack the
rock salt. Here the shaft being new and the water small in
quantity, the damage has been but slight. So needful is it
to prevent the water running over the rock salt and causing
serious damage, that owners of salt mines which have not
been worked for more than 20 years are yet obliged to pump
up weekly, or at longer intervals, the water caught in
reservoirs placed in the shaft for this purpose. The old
mines being abandoned and the shafts timbered across and
filled in, were in process of time forgotten. Solution by
water, however, has been going on and the rock salt has

* The marl mixed with the rock salt fell to the bottom of the shaft where
it forms a large heap, whilst the partly saturated water formed pools on the
floor of the mine in which beautiful salt crystals are now forming.

been eaten away around the shaft and huge cavities formed.
Two instances of collapse from this cause in the immediate
neighbourhood of Piatt's Hill mine have occurred within
the last 14 years. The last one, about 5 years since, is the
most extensive subsidence of its kind known near North wich.
The existence of an old mine on the spot had been quite
forgotten. The greatest enemy the miner of rock salt has
to contend with is the fresh water. It is dangerous whether
in small or large quantities. At times it has burst in in
large quantities and drowned out the miners, destroying the
mine. This was frequently the case in the early days of
salt mining, but has not been common of late. As, however,
it does not spring from the solution of the salt, there is no
need to refer further to it.

III. — Water descending hy gravitation to beds of salt helovj
the surface of the earth and reapi:)earing as brine
springs at the surface, but at cc higher level than
the salt beds.

This is by far the most common form of water acting
upon beds of salt, inasmuch as the greater number of salt
deposits lie at considerable depths below the surface of the
ground. It is not however every bed of salt that is acted
upon by water, nor does the water act upon every portion
of a salt bed. The marls which invariably accompany rock
salt are very frequently water-tight, and then we have what
the Cheshire miners call a " dry rock head." In Cheshire
the first bed of rock salt is almost always reached by the
water, whilst the second bed, separated by about 80 feet of
very hard marl (commonly called "stone") from the first
bed, the water never reaches.

Brine springs, or saline springs, are common in most parts
of the world, and almost invariably indicate the presence of
beds of salt not far off. There are however in Germany and
in India very weak brine springs which most probably de-

rive their salinity from rocks and earths containing salt
intermixed but not in the form of rock salt strata. The
more nearly saturated a salt spring is, the more certain is it
that the bed of salt is very near. In most cases salt springs
were known for ages before the rock salt beds from which
they originated were discovered. In England salt was
manufactured from the springs by the Romans, whilst the
first rock salt was only discovered in 1G70. In Germany
numerous springs were known and worked from the earliest
times, whilst it is only in the present century that the chief
beds of salt have been found by boring. At Lilneberg, in
Hanover, a spring of brine nearly saturated had been
known for ages, as also at Halle, in Saxony : both are men-
tioned as the best in Germany, in Vol. I. of Philosophical
Transactions, 1665-1666 ; yet it is only within the last few
years that the rock salt has been discovered at these places.
In almost every country we have the same report made.
In America brine springs were known long before the salt
beds were discovered. Along the Carpathian mountains,
from Roumania to Poland and Hungary, rock salt is used in
preference to white salt, indicating in the first place that
the beds of salt lie near, as a rule, to the surface, and that
brine springs were not so numerous and strong as to be
worth the trouble of evaporating when salt could be got so
easily out of mines. However, generally speaking, salt
springs preceded salt mines, and almost all the towns whose
names indicate connection with salt, such as the ' Wiches '
in England : Droiiiuich, 'Naniiv ich, M.iddleivich, 'Norihwich :
in Germany, the various towns with Sah, Sulz, and Hall,
as Salzwedel, Salza, Sulz, Hall, 'Reichenhall, &c., were con-
nected with salt springs. The great majority of natural
brine springs are weak or not nearly saturated. Scarcely
one fully saturated brine spring flowing away naturally is
or has been known to exist. Those in England on the
average, as far as can be learnt, were stronger than most

of the continental ones, though in no case fully saturated.
A casual remark made in the letter of Adam Martindale, in
which he describes the discovery of rock salt in Cheshire
in 1670, viz. : "a rock of natural salt, from which issues
a vigorous sharp brine, beyond any of the springs made
use of in our salt works," shows that the natural springs
were not fully saturated. This is borne out by a recent
analysis of springs at Nantwich, none of which are fully
saturated. It would be easy to give a list of scores of
springs in Germany varying from 1 per cent upwards,
the bulk being 7 to 12 per cent.* Now, as the strength
of a brine spring indicates the amount of action upon the
salt bed from which it derives its saline matter, and this
too-ether with the quantity of water discharged by it, the
amount of salt abstracted, we have as it were certain
standards to measure the natural action of water upon salt
beds. As but few salt springs are fully saturated, so few
run very copiously. It may be taken as an axiom that the
more copious the spring is, the less salt is there in it. The
strongest springs do not always reach the surface or do but
gently ooze over it. The old Northwlch spring is described
early in the 17th century in Camden's Britannia as " a most
plentiful and deepe brine pitte." Again, Camden, speaking
of Middlewich and Northwich, says, " Brine or salt water
is drawn out of pittes." At Nantwich, Dr. Jackson, in 1688,
says, "In two places within our township the springs break
up so in the meadows as to fret away not only the grass
but part of the earth, which lies like a breach, at least half
a foot or more lower than the turf of the meadows and hath
a salt liquor oozing as it were out of the mud but very
gently." Dr. Brownrigg, in 1748, says in his Treatise on
"The Art of Making Common Salt," p. 95, "The salt springs

* Quenstedt, in " Klar und Walir," p. 24-0, says " However vawch boasted
of the springs of North Germany may be, they have not saturated brine,
only a single one on the Liineberg Heath, in Hanover, is nearly saturated."

in England and other countries are most of them wells or
pits of different depths, in some of which the brine stagnates
and never rises to the top, but flows out at the top of other
wells when it is not drawn out for use." From an exami-
nation of Karsten's "Lehrbuch der Salinenkunde," a most
valuable treatise, it may be concluded that natural brine
springs are rarely saturated, and that saturated ■ springs
rarely run to waste or flow copiously. I am confirmed in
this by a friend, a Deputy Salt Commissioner of India, who
has visited nearly all the salt districts of Europe as well as
India.* It will be evident from the facts given that nature's
operations on subterranean salt beds are not of a violent
character, but quiet and gradaal; hence it is that we so very
rarely are able to trace the wasting away of the salt beds
by subsidences on the surface. After a lengthened and
careful research I have not met with any clear and dis-
tinct evidence of any surface subsidence caused by
natural brine springs. Undoubtedly there is waste by
the water but it is so small and so gradual that
in a lifetime it is not perceptible. Were there any
perceptible waste shown by the surface subsiding it
must have been mentioned in some of the various works
treating on salt.*f* I here may mention that Ormerod, and
after him several other geologists, have attributed the for-
mation of the Cheshire meres to the action of fresh water
on the underlying beds of salt, and the escape of the brine
springs into the streams. This is merely a hypothesis
which other geologists dispute. I think the thing possible,
but I doubt very much its probability. However, I will
not discuss the matter here. Again, in Kohat, on the

* He says, " I do not know of a single case of a saturated brine spi'ing
running to waste, and I never saw or heard of such a thing in the trip I
took through Europe expressly to vist all the salt sources." — R. M. Adam.

t R. M. Adam says, " In reply to your enquiry I have to say that I have
never seen or heard of brine springs wMch flow into rivers or into the sea
causing subsidence of the land."

Afghanistan frontier, there are large "pot holes" of a crater

shape in the rock salt district, and these have been

attributed to the solution of the underground salt.* One

great difficulty that occurs to me is that the meres in

Cheshire and the " pot holes " in Kohat are all completed

works. There are no meres and pot holes as far as I can

learn now forming naturally. I say " naturally," for I shall

soon have to speak of artificial meres and " pot holes " also,

though not in Kohat, being formed at the present time.

An attempt was made recently before a Committee of the

House of Commons, and in a paper read before the British

Association by a well-known geologist, to prove that the

great subsidences occurring in some parts of Cheshire are

caused by fresh water reaching the salt beds, becoming

saturated, and escaping in springs. This was an attempt to

demonstrate that nature is progressing by leaps and bounds

at the present time, after having through previous historic

ages lain practically dormant, although there can have been

no alteration whatever in the real agent or in its action

during the whole period.

It is not difficult to understand why natural brine springs
should as a rule be weak, or if strong not copious. The
same rule applies to a brine spring as to any other spring.
The source which causes the outflow must be at a higher
level than the outflow itself In the case of brine the
source must be higher in proportion to the salt content
of the spring. The specific gravity of saturated brine as
compared with fresh water is as 12 to 10; consequently
it needs a column of 12 feet of water to balance a column
of 10 feet of brine. That is supposing, of course, that
we had an inverted perfect syphon, and not reckoning
friction. However, we never have a perfect syphon, and

* As these " pot holes " are formed in a district where the rock salt is
at the surface and crops out, and where the di'ainage of the water forms
springs at a lower level, they properly belong to the preceding section.

the friction is generally very great. Fresh water in
passing through the earth to a bed of salt does not
usually make its way direct. Most beds of salt are
overlain by beds of impermeable marls, though here
and there occur water bearing and permeable strata.
Naturally these latter strata become waterlogged, and
when the fresh water reaches the salt and becomes
saturated, before it can issue as a spring at the surface, it
has to pass through the waterlogged strata, and so becomes
weakened and mixed with fresh water. If every particle
of fresh water that would naturally find its way to and
pass over the salt bed did so, and then went on its way and
passed out at a spring, there would be great waste; but
owing to the specific gravity of brine being greater than
that of water there is constantly a body of brine on and
near the salt bed, whilst the water flowing down and then
out of the spring flows over the top of this brine. Fresh
water does not mix quickly with brine unless there is rapid
motion equivalent to stirring up. Nothing is more common
in the salt districts than after heavy rain to run the "fresh,"
as it is called, off* the brine reservoirs. As then the whole
of the fresh water does not reach the rock salt, but the
greater portion of it mingles with the upper layer of brine
and flows off", having only partially diff*used itself with the
lower layer, there is no violent action and wasting of the rock
salt, and consequently no perceptible result on the surface
indicating destruction of salt below. After a careful exami-
nation of all the evidence attainable as regards England I
cannot find one clear instance of any waste of salt, causing
subsidence, by the natural brine springs of the districts.
Three cases were recently mentioned before the Committee
appointed by the House of Commons on the Cheshire Salt
Districts Compensation Bill, The first was in 1533, near
Combermere Abbey; the second in 1657, near Bickley, in
Cheshire; the third in 17 13, at Weaver Hall, near Winsford,

ia Cheshire. The first was " a pease of a hill having trees
on hit." Tliis formed a "pitte" which in Leland's time had
yet "salt water, but much filth is faullen into it." This
was clearly but a small pit, of which no trace now remains.
The one at Bickley was a hole "30 yards over." The brine
was at some depth, as it was drawn out " with a pitcher
tied to a cart rope." This choked up and is not known
now. The third, at Weaver Hall, began by a hole of 2
yards in diameter and 12 feet deep at the utmost. When
the sides crumbled down and formed a slope, " the chasm
became nine yards in diameter yet not so many feet deep,
and full of salt water." As these holes were similar in their
nature to many that have fallen in of late years, since brine
pumping has so largely increased, and as although they are
not close to salt manufacturing districts, yet two were not
far from Nantwich, the great salt place of the middle ages,
and one near to Winsford and Middlewich, we may conclude
that salt manufacturing may have had as much to do with
them as simple brine springs. However, if we allow them
to have been the result of the brine springs naturally
flowing into the streams, we are only strengthened in our
assertion that natural springs rarely cause any subsidence
perceptible in a generation. In the space of about 250
years, from 1533 to 1780, only these three instances are
recorded. From 1750 downwards rock salt mines have
collapsed as before mentioned : but of the cause of these
sinkings or fallings in there has never been any doubt.
After 1780 there can equally be no doubt that the sinkings
which began to show themselves were directly connected
with our next cause, viz. : —

IV. — Water existing naturally but set in motion, or its
motion accelerated, by artificial means, such as
pumps.

Under this head we shall meet with the most remarkable

effects of water upon beds of salt. It has been seen that
nature, when left to herself in dealing with salt beds, rarely
if ever produces violent results. If we suppose the state of
aifairs to be such as mentioned under our last head, viz.,
water percolating through overlying earths and reaching
beds of salt, there becomiDg saturated or partly saturated,
and finally reaching the surface again in more or less
saturated brine springs, we shall have the position of things
when man comes upon the stage. He, not finding the
springs to flow copiously enough, proceeds to raise the water
artificially. In the earliest days, when the manufacture of
salt was very small, the brine was reached out of the well
or pit made round the small spring that formerly ran away
into the neighbouring brook or river, by means of buckets.
As the manufacture increased other springs were sought out,
and if none existed naturally, shallow pits or wells were dug
as at Northwich. Soon pumps were used, first worked by
hand, then by windmills, as we see on old maps; and
finally by steam engines. As soon as man commenced to
take away more water than naturally ran away in springs,
the action of the subterranean water was quickened, and the
state of quietude that naturally existed became disturbed.
The fresh water that travelled slowly over the saturated
brine overlying the bed of rock salt, now mixed with it and
became stronger, the water being more agitated. In almost
all salt districts, and especially those of Cheshire — to which
I shall confine myself as affording the best possible ex-
amples,— the brine or salty water permeated all the over-
lying strata and was met with very near the surface
whenever the marls, &c., were broken. In fact, brine could
be obtained almost anywhere by sinking to a little depth.
Dr. Lister, in 1683, says "Sink on either side of the river,
you will scarce miss of brine." Brownrigg, in 1744, says, when
" the brine is so weak that it can no longer be wrought to
profit, they then sink pits in other likely places, and seldom

fail of meeting with strong brine." In 1769, in a "Description
of England and Wales," it says, "the pits seldom exceed
four yards in depth, and are never more than seven." In
Holland's " General View of the Agriculture of Cheshire,"
published in 1808, we have an excellent description of the
brine sj)rings : he says, "At Nantwich the brine is met with
about ten or twelve yards from the surface." At Winsford
it was necessary to sink 55 to GO yards to reach brine, but
when found "it has its level 12 yards from the surface."
At North wich the level of the brine was "about 20 yards
from the surface." In 1865, Mr. John Thompson, of North-
wich, an authority on the subject, wrote, "Fifty years ago
I weU remember the brine springs, when at rest, more than
thirty yards higher than they now are, when at rest. I know
also that the lowering of the brine head has been gradual
but constant, year by year, with some variations, arising, no
doubt, from the larger or smaller quantity used." Coming
down to the present time the brine is very low, being in
Winsford and North wich nearly at the level of the rock salt
bed, and many of the shafts are nearly exhausted. It is
quite evident that the enormous supply of brine that had
accumulated during countless ages and which filled up
nearly the whole of the Cheshire salt basins has been
pumped down, and brine is now being consumed as fast
as produced, whilst many pans are not worked owing to its
scarcity. I will now try to trace the course of a drop or a
stream of fresh water from its first origin as rain till it
comes up the brine pump as brine. It may be pretty safely
taken for granted that, speaking generally, the rainfall
supplies the fresh water. (In the Northwich district, as
I shall point out, there is another way by which fresh water
reaches the salt bed.) The rain percolating through and
amongst the overlying strata at last reaches the bed of
rock salt. Judging from the strata immediately overlying
the salt — most part of them impermeable marls — it would

seem that much of the water must reach the salt bed
at what may be called its subterranean outcrop, or the
edges of the salt. No sooner does water reach the
salt bed than it proceeds to dissolve the salt, and as
the various brine pumping centres keep up a constant
and rather rapid motion in the brine, all the particles
of water come into contact with the salt or become
diffused with the particles that have been in contact, so
that by the time the water approaches the pumping centres
it has become fully saturated, and ceases to cause any fur-
ther solution of salt. The constant removal of the saturated
brine and its replacement by what was fresli water at the
commencement causes a destruction of the surface of the
salt, and consequently a lowering of the whole bed of salt.
This lowering does not occur equally over the whole surface,
but the streams run in channels which they have dissolved
out for themselves, exactly as the rains draining off the sur-
face of the land form rivulets, brooks, &c. These channels
gradually get wider and deeper. The overlying earths fol-
low the decreasing salt bed, and the surface of the ground
conforms to the surface of the salt. Thus we have all over
the salt district hollows or synclinals. These sinking por-
tions develop most rapidly in the neighbourhood of streams,
for the flexure of the marls and earths, in following the
wasting salt surface, causes cracks and rifts, down which the
fresh water finds its way and accelerates the action going
on below. In time the land sinks below the level of the
river, and the fields immediately adjacent become covered
with water, and large lakes form, like the Upper and Lower
Flashes at Winsford, and the Top of the Brook at North-
wich, which cover more than 200 acres of land, and have
formed within the last 60 years. In places where there are

no streams the natural surface drainage is interfered with
and small lakes form, as at Billinge Green and Winnington,
near Northwich, and what is called the Ocean, near Winsford.
Again, where the marls are thick and tenacious, they
remain suspended for a long time, whilst the water is
surely and rapidly eating away the underlying rock
salt. At last the cavity becomes too large for the marls
to bear the overlying earths up, and they fall, taking
in a large area of ground, and leaving large holes,
like the Marton Hole, that fell in in 1871 (of which I
gave an explanation in "Nature" in Feb., 1872), and
another in the same district on Bark House Farm, in Sep.,
1879.* ]n the Northwich salt district some portions are
literally honeycombed with old rock salt mines; when the
fresh water in its course to the pumping centres passes over
the layer of rock salt forming the roof of the mine, in course
of time it eats the whole away, and the upper earths fall
into the old mine, leaving an enormous crater-like pit, as
may be seen in Wincham, near Piatt's Hill old mine, and
several other places in the immediate neighbourhood.
When the brine stream in its course comes to the shaft
of an old mine it runs down it and fills the mine. All
over the Dunkirk district of Northwich, and in Marston,
there are pits of this description full of brine. When these
enormous reservoirs, covering at least 80 acres in the above
districts, are nearly pumped out, it frequently happens that
the streams above find a way down into them and cause
great destruction, as is the case in Marston, where a lake of
at least twelve acres has been formed in this way during

* A large number of small holes 9 or 10ft. in diameter, andf rem a few-
feet to 10 or 12 in depth, have fallen in near Northwich, taking in
roads, river banks, and parts of fields.

the last ten years ; and in the Dunkirk district of North-
wich, the scene of the great subsidence of 1880, when the
water not only found its way into the old Dunkirk mines,
but broke into the salt mine called Piatt's Hill (which was
being worked) by a weak place in the dividing wall of salt,
and flooded the mine, over fifteen acres in extent, causing
enormous destruction on the surface in the immediate
neighbourhood. The ground is still rapidly sinking in both
these districts, and the area of the lakes is increasing daily.
If there are any buildings on the sinking ground they soon
present fissures and cracks, and literally fall to pieces. The
amount of property destroyed in this way is enormous. It
would make my paper far too long to point out all the
ruin and destniction caused in the salt districts by the
solution of the salt and its pumping up in the form of brine
for its manufacture into white salt.

In Germany, when the brine is not strong enough, i.e. not
fully saturated, boreholes are put down to the salt, by
which means the brine becomes of full strength. As most
of the German salt works are on a very small scale com-
pared with those in England, and scattered over an enor-
mous area, instead of being concentrated in one or two spots,
as in Cheshire, the results of brine pumping have not shown
themselves on a very extensive scale. In Cheshire salt had
been made for ages before any visible subsidences occurred ;
but when about 1780 the manufacture increased, then visible
subsidence manifested itself, and in direct proportion as the
manufacture has increased so has the sinking, till now it
extends over an area of several square miles.

V. — Water conveyed artificially to deep scdt beds and then
pumped up again. .

Of late years, owing to beds of salt being discovered

having no brine on them, i.e. that the rainfall had never
reached, a new method of obtaining brine has been resorted
to. A borehole is made to and into the bed of salt, and
lined with tubing to prevent the earths falling in. The
lower tubes are perforated. Inside this tube is placed
another of smaller diameter. Fresh water is poured into
the annular space between the tubes and jBnds its way to
the salt, which it immediately dissolves, and so becomes
saturated brine. This brine rises up the inner tube in the
proportion of 10 feet to every 12 feet of fresh water between
the tubes. The pumps are put down the inner tube and
the brine pumped up for manufacture. This plan is a very
modern one, and only carried out in a few districts, though
it is being resorted to more largely every day. In parts of
Wurtemburg, where the rock salt lies deep and there is
no natural brine, the method has been used longest. In
describing this plan of getting the salt Quenstedt says,
" Klar & Wahr," p. 243 — " Our boreholes are decidedly the
cheapest, but they are a species of Robber Mine, where the fresh
water at great depths eats away the salt where it can the most
easily reach it. Subterranean cavities must originate which
will become dangerous." Near Nancy, in France, this sys-
tem has been pursued for some time, and at Middlesborough
Messrs. Bell Brothers have been extracting salt during the
past year in this way from a depth of over 1,200 feet. In
April last Mr. T. H. Bell read a paper before the Cleveland
Institution of Engineers, describing this method of getting
or mining salt. In the discussion which arose one of the
most interesting questions was as to the probability of the
land sinking owing to the abstraction of the salt by the
water. It was stated that at or near Nancy, a sinking had
taken place, the shaft collapsing. Now, it is quite certain

that water acting as we have seen it does must inevitably
eat away or dissolve the rock salt in the immediate vicinity
of the pipe first, and as the pumping goes on and the salt
is abstracted, either the water will eat away the surface of
the salt on the line of junction between the salt and the
overlying marls, and thus lower slowly but surely an
extensive surface of salt, or it will form round the pipe
itself a large and deep cavity, which will enlarge itself con-
tinuously * I am inclined to think that both results will
occur, for the pressure of a column of 1,200 feet of water
will force the water into every cranny and crevice amongst
the marls, and, as in Cheshire, the surface of the salt is sure
to be dissolved. Again, as the fresh water will issue from
the boreholes, the salt in the immediate neighbourhood is
sure to be dissolved, as the suction up the inner pipe will
cause a strong current downwards and bring the water into
contact with the surroundino- salt. No more danojerous
method of mining salt can be resorted to, for the cavity
thus made will be in time more extensive and deep than
any ordinary mine, and the overlying earths will be desti-
tute of all support, such as pillars give to mines. As this
system has hitherto been only used where small quantities of
salt are made, and but for a limited period of time, it is not
safe to argue that as but little subsidence has yet occurred
little will occur in the future. In Germany, Quenstedt,
after speaking of the danger, consoled himself by saying,
"In Wurtemburg, owing to the thickness of the overlying
Muschelkalk, the danger is very small." In Middlesborough
they say — "Owing to the thickness of the overlying sand-
stone the danger is but small." It is to be hoped if the

* Where there is much marl in the rock salt it will fall to the bottom
of tha cavity formed by the water and choke the blast-holes in the
pipes, as it did in Marshall's brine shaft in Dunkirk. This is a con-
tingency Middlesboro' may expect, as there is much marl in the salt.

manufacture goes on that this trust in the sandstone m ay-
pro ve safe, but as it is not solid sandstone, but, according
to the section given by Mr. Bell, sandstone with layers of
marl at intervals, it is not well to put too great trust in it.
The longer the pumping continues — if any large quantity
of salt is abstracted — the more dangerous and destructive
will the subsidence be when it does occur.

Although this method of mining by water let down a
pipe is comparatively modern, yet the action of water on
salt beds has been taken advantage of in Austria in the
Salzkammergut for obtaining the salt. I give an epitome
of what Dr. Schleiden says in his work, Das Salz. Referring
to Aussee, he says " the peculiar nature of this salt mountain
demands a special method of working it. It is not advan-
tageous to search for and hew out the scattered small
masses of rock salt, therefore they get the salt by so-called
Sinkwerks (or artificial salt lakes in salt mines). They
make large chambers in the mountain and allow them to fill
with natural water or convey it to them artificially. It
remains until it is saturated. The bottom of the chamber
is not thoroughly dissolved because the saturated brine
which rests upon it can take up no more salt. The side walls
are attacked by the water, and this attack is encouraged, and
the salt is rapidly dissolved in the roof as soon as the water
touches it, but this is not usually allowed or else the roof
would soon fall into the pit. The brine thus formed in
these ' sinkwerks ' is led by pipes to the salt works,"

A similar method is employed at Diirrenberg, in Saxony,
where the rock salt is much mixed with clay; but very
elaborate precautions are taken to prevent mischief arising
from this method of mining rock salt by fresh water.

At North wich it has not been found necessary to put

water down artificially, for, owing to the numerous mines
and subsidences of land, the ground is rifted and fractured,
and no sooner has the brine pumper exhausted one of the
old mines, or even only partially exhausted it, than the
water from the overlying brooks or pits finds its way down
and fills up the cavity once more. These downrushes of
fresh water are doing a vast amount of damage, and in the
course of a few years a large portion of the districts known
as Dunkirk and Marston, in the proximity of these reservoirs,
will be completely destroyed and under water. »

I have only attempted to generalise the vast body of facts
bearing upon the subject of this paper, but I think it must
be clear that fresh water is always destructive to rock salt
whenever it comes in contact with it ; but that, except the
beds of salt lie above the general level of the country and
its drainage system, and are exposed either as mountains, or
as partial outcrops in valleys, no destruction perceptible
occurs, and in the cases of rock salt thus occurring the waste
is comparatively small and harmless. On the other hand,
whenever man, either by utilising the natural springs, or
sinking fresh shafts to the underlying brine and causing
a more rapid circulation of the underground waters that
reach the salt beds, or where there is no natural brine —
pouring down water upon the salt bed and pumping it up
as saturated brine — interferes with the operations of nature,
waste is more rapid and surface damage increases in the
direct ratio in which man accelerates the ordinary natural
operations. Where man only utilises the amount of brine
running to waste in springs his operations produce no
visible surface effects ; it is only when he causes a purely
artificial state of affairs that mischief follows. Having in
a former paper traced the growth of the surface damage side

by side with the growth of the salt manufacture in Cheshire,
I will here make no further reference to the matter, but will
conclude by pointing out that the growing demand for brine
will inevitably lead to the destruction of much surface pro-
perty in all salt districts of any extent, and this action of
fresh water upon beds of salt will ere long call for some
regulation by the State.

,,».^^V^MUAA4^^

5 B R A R Y ,

Ordinary Meeting, November 27th, 1883.

H. E, KoscoE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.RS.,, &e., President,
in the Chair.

The President stated that among other institutions that
had come under the notice of the Commissioners for en-
quiring into the state of Technical Education, was the
Industrial Society of Mulhouse, and he gave from official
sources some account of the organization and work of the
Society. •

"On the Fungus of the Salmon Disease — Saprolegiiia
ferax," by H. Marshall Ward, M.A., Fellow of Christ
College, Cambridge.

We are informed, in the 21st Annual Report of H.M.
Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries, that since its first appear-
ance in 1877 in certain rivers flowing into the Sol way Firth
the disease above named has extended rapidly and widely,
and in 1880 appeared in North Wales. Salmon aftected by
the disease show signs of languor, feed badly, and, when
severely-diseased, die. The external signs of the disease are
greyish discolorations of the skin on the head, jaws, fins,
and other parts of the body. These ash-coloured patches
often extend over considerable areas, and the skin affected
may be rubbed off", and bleeding sores be exposed, causing
great uneasiness and irritability to the fish.

The papyraceous, ash-coloured mass of tlie grey patches
consists in the main of the fungus to be described. This is
Proceedixgs— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIII.— ISTo. 3 — SEi?sioN 1883-4.

reproduced very rapidly, and may be cultivated on the
bodies of ordinary flies. The specimens I have examined
were thus cultivated from masses supplied through the
kindness of Mr. Murray of the British Museum. My object
being to describe the fungus and its life history, and not
to discuss the question of its relation to the disease itself,
as my results confirm those published by Prof Huxley in
a recent number of the Quart. Journ. Microscop. Soc, I
may pass over my disappointment at being unable to show
specimens of diseased salmon at this time of the year.

Contact of the diseased salmon with a dead fly in fresh
water for 24 hours or less results in infection of the latter,
and very fine silky filaments are soon observed to shoot
forth in all directions from the body of the fly into the
water. If proper precautions are taken, the silky filaments
soon form multitudes of reproductive bodies, by which new
flies may be infected.

The filaments radiating out from the body of the fly are
thin tubes with very delicate cellulose walls and coarsely
granular watery protoplasm. They branch both outside
and inside the matrix, thus extending the fungus, somewhat
as a bamboo is spread beneath the surface of the earth by
means of stolons, and a fig-tree, outside, by means of aerial
roots.

After attaining a certain degree of development, the end
of an external branch swells up into a club-shaped body,
which becomes separated off" by a septum from the rest of
the tube : the protoplasm in this club-shaped " zoo-sporan-
gium" then becomes cut up into numerous minute " zoo-
spores," which remain for a short time closely packed in the
case like small shot in a cartridge. Suddenly, however, the

end of the club-sliaped " zoo-sporangium" bursts, and these
"zoo-spores" pass rapidly out into the surrounding water,
each as a pear-shaped mass of protoplasm, rapidly moving
by means of two cilia at the end.

After a short time — often within 10 to 15 minutes — this
active "zoos2:)ore" becomes quiescent, loses its cilia, rounds
off into a sphere, and develops a delicate membrane : it
remains thus resting for some hours. It then opens by a
minute pore, and its protoplasmic contents pass out again
as a "zoospore" — but this time of a different shape, resem-
bling a kidney, and with two cilia at the side. Other dif-
ferences in detail also exist.

In this second active stage the "zoospore" moves abovit
for a time, and then once more comes to rest. It then ger-
minates, i.e., throws out a delicate tube, into which its con-
tents pass. If this occurs on the fly's exterior, the tube
enters the body, feeds on the matters there, and grows into
a new fungus plant.

Besides this mode of rapid asexual multiplication, how-
ever, this fungus exhibits a totally different form of repro-
duction.

Certain lateral branchlets swell up into bodies, each
resembling a grape attached by a short stalk : the proto-
plasm inside any one of these becomes arranged into rela-
tively large spheres, or into one large sphere. These spheres
are the eggs of the organism — corresponding to the eggs of
an animal — and are termed " oospheres." The membrane of
the grape-like structure containing them (" oosporangium")
becomes thick and firm and peculiarly marked. Each of
these eggs becomes later surrounded by a firm resistent
membrane and is then termed an "oospore": these "oospores"

persist for weeks and months in the rotting matrix, and so
provide for reproduction under circumstances fatal to the
more delicate ''zoospores."

I have succeeded in obtaining by cultivation a very fine
crop of these " oospores " or eggs, and they appear to have
ripened normally without fertilisation. They are not com-
mon, and the opportunity of seeing actual specimens of
them has seemed of sufficient importance to warrant my
bringing the matter forward here.

Besides drawings and diagrams, I have specimens under
the microscope of all the stages of this fungus — a most
interesting member of a highly important group.

Ordinary Meeting, December 11th, 1883.
Balfour Stewart, LL.D., F.II.S., in the Chair.

"On the Quantification of the Predicate, and on the
Interpretation of Boole's Logical Symbols," by Joseph John
Murphy. Communicated by the Rev. Robert Harley,
M.A., F.R.S.

If a student, after hearing his first lecture on crystal-
lography and the geometry of polyhedra, were to say to his
teacher, "You have not made it clear to me whether the
cube is derived from the octohedron or the octohedron from
the cube"; this would not be a stupid question, but it
would show a puzzled state of the understa,nding ; and of
course the reply would be, " Whichever you please ; either
form may be equally well regarded as the fundamental
and the other derived from it."

The question of the "quantification of the predicate,"
which was raised by Sir William Hamilton of Edinburgh,
seems to admit of a somewhat similar reply.

That question may thus be stated :— Whether is the
fundamental form of proposition the equation, " x and y are
identical :" or the predication, " x is y" without implying
that 2/ is a; ? The former is the reply given by Sir William
Hamilton; the latter, by Aristotle and logicians generally.

When we use notation instead of language, we write the

equation

x = y
and the predication

x<y

Procebdtnss— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIII.— No. 4.— Session 1883-4;

When we write an ordinary predication with the quantified

predicate, we may express it in language by "oj is part of y "

and in notation by

x = y-p

where p is so much of y as is not x. Boole sometimes, and

Jevons always, express the same predication by

z = xy.

But though this is in form an equation, it does not in reality

quantify the predicate; it is only the translation of the

ordinary predication

x<y \

into a different and for some purposes preferable notation.

Sir "William Hamilton showed, though he was not the
first who discovered, that the propositions of the ordinary
logic admit of a twofold interpretation, in extension and in
comprehension. For instance, the proposition, " Man is an
animal," if interpreted in extension, will be " The class man
18 included in the class animal; " but if interpreted in com-
prehension it wiU be, "The attributes of the man include
the attributes of the animal." When we interpret in
extension, x and y mean things or classes of things, and the
copula means identity: — when we interpret in comprehension,
X and y mean attributes, and the copula means co-existence.

The foregoing appears to be self-evident; and it appears
to foUow, that when we interpret in extension, and assert
that "x is included in y," or, as Sir William Hamilton
expresses it, " all x is some y" we quantify the predicate,
and the appropriate notation is

x = y-p.
But when we interpret in comprehension, and assert that
" the attributes of x include those of y," or, as Mill expresses

it, "attribute a; is a mark of the attribute y," we do not
quantify the predicate, and the appropriate notation is
(retaining the form of an equation)

X = xy.
In the former of these two contrasted notations the
relation between the whole and the part is symbolized by
the addition and subtraction of terms ; in the second, the
co-existence of attributes is symbolized by the combination
of terms. They consequently show to the eye how the
attributes become more numerous as the class becomes
smaller. For instance, the following syllogism, " Man is an
animal; an animal is an organism; therefore man is an
organism " will be thus expressed in the two notations : —
x = y-p x = xy

y = z-y y = yx

x = z-q-p x — xyz = xz

These relations may be further illustrated by considering
the interpretation of Boole's operation of abstraction, or
logical division. Abstraction is the inverse of combination,
or logical multiplication, and it consists in removing part of
a definition.

Let us express the proposition "Man is the rational

animal " by

m = ra

To every multiplication correspond two divisions, which

here give

m , m

— = r and — = a
a r

whereof the meaning is that " Man without the animal

attributes is a being of pure reason," and " Man without

reason is a mere animal." These abstractions relate only

to the combiiiation of attributes, and have no interpretation
relating to the extent of classes; in other words, they can
be interpreted only in comprehension ; while addition and
subtraction, on the contrary, can be interpreted only in
extension.

The subject of the mutual relation of classes as to
inclusion and exclusion, total and partial, is of such vast
importance that it appears to be often believed to cover the
whole ground of logical science ; but this is by no means
the fact, even if we confine our view to elementary logic,
and exclude the logic of relative terms. There are proposi-
tions of the form

x = y-p

which can be interpreted in extension only, and have no

interpretation in comprehension; — such as "Lothian is part

of Scotland ; " or " hydrogen is a constituent of water."

These have all the most generally recognized properties of

propositions, and may enter into syllogisms, thus : — " Lothian

is part of Scotland; Scotland is part of Great Britain;

therefore Lothian is part of Great Britain." And there are

also propositions of the form

x = xy

which admit of interpretation in comprehension only, and
not in extension. To this class belong hypothetical pro-
positions, with the syllogisms formed from them, such as : —
" If he can discredit this witness, he will obtain a verdict ;
if he obtains a verdict, his position will be established;
therefore if he can discredit this witness, his position will
be established."

* Mr. Harley added the following remarks : —

Mr. Venn, in his Symbolic Logic, sets forth his view

of what is meant by the Quantification of the Predicate
thus : " Whereas the ordinary forms of proposition leave it
uncertain whether we are speaking of the whole predicate,
or part only, in afiirmation, and decide that we must be
speaking of the whole predicate in negation ; we thus leave
four possibilities unrecognised : that in fact we may think
the predicate, either as a whole or as a part, and must think
it as one of the two, in both affirmation and negation alike.
Moreover, since what exists in thought should be expressed
in words, a really complete scheme of propositions demands,
and is satisfied by, eight forms." This is a very clear and
succinct statement of what Hamilton calls the " thorouo-h-
going quantification of the predicate." But it may be
observed that many who accept Hamilton's principle refuse
to recognise the validity of one or more of his forms,
special objection being taken by some of his disciples to
the forms, ' Some x is not some y' and ' No cc is some y.'
But the essential point insisted upon by all quantifiers of
the predicate, is this, that the extent of each of the two
terms of a judgment is known, and should therefore be
expressed in language ; in other words, that to the predi-
cate, as well as to the subject, a quantitative sign should be
affixed, to indicate whether the whole, or part only, of the
term is meant. " Every notion," says Baynes, in his New
Analytic of Logical Forms, " holding the place of predicate
in a proposition must have a determinate quantity in
thought." The whole controversy turns on the question
whether this is so or not; for it will be admitted that in
Formal Logic what exists in thought should be expressed in
words. To me it seems that the quantification of the pre-
dicate is not a necessary law of thought, but merely a sym-
bolic convention, and not a very useful convention either.
A man may know that 'x is y,' and yet not know, perhaps
not have the means of determining, whether x is the whole,
or part only, of y. We may write 'aXixisy' in the form

'all 03 is some y' provided we understand ' some ' to mean
some at least, possibly all. But this is not to 'quantify the
predicate ' in the Hamiltonian sense.

Mr. Murphy appears to think that when we interpret a
proposition in extension, we necessarily quantify the pre-
dicate, and that it is only when we interpret it in compre-
hension that we do not quantify the predicate. He appears
also to hold that Boole's literal symbols represent not
classes but qualities of things, and that because Boole's
notation is thus to be interpreted intensively, therefore the
doctrine of the quantification of the predicate finds no place
in Boole's system. This is a view which I cannot adopt. I
admit that before we can quantify the predicate, we must
interpret in extension, for quantity relates to extent; it
says, how much, the whole or part only. But I do not
admit that when we interpret in extension we necessarily
quantify the predicate. We may write the proposition ' x
is y' in the form ' x is part of y,' if by ' part ' we under-
stand part at least, possibly the whole ; and we may express
the proposition symbolically by the equation, x=y—p, if it
be granted that o is a possible value oi p. But this is not
to quantify the predicate.

Boole expressly stipulates that his literal symbols, x^ y,
&c., shall stand for either classes or qualities of things ; in
other words, that they shall admit of interpretation either
in extension or in comprehension. Mr. Murphy appears to
limit them to the latter interpretation, while, curiously
enough, a recent writer on the Algebra of Logic (Miss Ladd,
now Mrs. Fabian Franklin) says of one of Boole's forms, " It
is suited only to a logic of extension, and it would be diffi-
cult to interpret it intensively" ("Studies in Logic," by
members of the John Hopkins University, p. 50). The
truth is that Boole's symbols may be interpreted either in
extension as classes, or in comprehension as quaKties, or
without reference to either classes or qualities, extension or

intension, as objects or 'units of thought,' this last being
tlie interpretation given by Professor Adamson in his article
on Logic in the new edition of the " Encyclopsedia Britan-
nica" (vol. xv., p. 801).

Boole writes the proposition, 'all x is y' in the form

x=^~ y, or x=vy, where - or -y is "an indefinite class sym-
bol," subject to the same fundamental law as the other
symbols, namely, v^=v. From this equation he deduces, by
the elimination of v, the equation x = xy, which is the form
in which Jevons always writes the universal affirmative

proposition. In general, the symbol - or v indicates that

all, some, or no7ie of the class to whose expression it is
affixed must be taken; but there are cases in which its
meaning is necessarily restricted. The subject is a very
large one, and I cannot discuss it here. Mr. Venn has sug-
gested that where the class is wholly indefinite, the symbol

- should be used; and that where it is partially defined, or

defined as meaning not none, v should be used.

The idea that Boole's system starts from the doctrine of
the quantification of the predicate, as Jevons affirmed, or
that it is in any way bound up with that doctrine, has been
effectually disposed of by Mr. Yenn. He says truly, " If the
wit of man had sought about for some expression which
should unequivocally and even ostentatiously reject this
unfortunate doctrine, what better could be found than

x = ~- y for such a purpose ? So far from quantifying the

predicate by specifying whether we take some only or all
of it, we select a form which startles the ordinary logician
by the uncustomary language in which it announces that it
does not at all mean to state whether some only, or all, or
even none, is to be taken." Mr, Venn, in his Symbolic

Logic, has discussed the Boolian method with a fulness and
ability that leave little or nothing to be desired.

Mr. Wilde exhibited some volcanic dust -which fell at
Batavia, to the depth of three inches, from the great erup-
tion of Krakatoa on August 27th last. Dr. Burghardt had
made a microscopic examination of the dust, and found it
to consist of augite and several minerals fused into glassy
and amorphous globules. Some of the larger globules were
highly magnetic and indicated the eruption of ultra basic
lavas from great depths below the earth's surface.

Mr. Wilde also exhibited some glassy lava from the great
volcano of Kilauea in Hawaii, and was known as " Pele's
Hair," — Pele being the name of the goddess of th e mountain.
The volcanic substance was abundantly produced by the
rapid passage of gases through the liquid lava, particles of
which were shot into the air, leaving glassy filaments behind
them.

For the specimen of filamentous lava shown, Mr. Wilde
was indebted to Mr. F. Melland, who had recently visited
the crater of the volcano of Kilauea.

General Meeting, January 8th, 1884.

H. E. RoscoE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.RS., &c.. President, in
the Chair.

Mr. Charles Hopkinson, Mr. Charles Herbert Hurst, Mr.
Arthur Smithells, B.Sc, Mr. Frederick Tertius Swanwick,
all of Owens College, Mr. Alexander Hodgkinson, B.Sc,
M.D., of Claremont, Higlier Broughton, and Mr, Leopold
Larmuth, of Owens College, were elected Ordinary Members
of the Society.

General Meeting, January 22nd, 1884.

H. E. RoscOE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., &c.. President, in
the Chair.

Rev. H. London, M.A., of High Leigh, Cheshire, was
elected an Ordinary Member of the Society.

Ordinary Meeting, January 22nd, 1884.

H. E. RoscoE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., &c., President, in
the Chair.

"On a New Variety of Halloysite from Maidenpek,
Servia," by H. E. Roscoe, LL.D., F.R.S., President.

This mineral, one of the few peculiar to Servia, was given
to me by Mr. James Taylor, lately a resident at Maidenpek.
Pkoceedikgs— Lit. & Pnii. Soc— Vol. XXIII.— No. 4.— Session 1883-4.

It is a very soft (h=2'o) whitish green non-crystalliiie
mineral, having a conchoidal waxy fracture. It is translu-
cent in thin films but opaque in mass, and adherent to the
tongue. Its specific gravity is 2 '07. On exposure to air
it loses a portion of its combined water, and becomes of
a dead white colour and more opaque. The greenish tint is
due to the presence of small quantities of copper oxide
(I'll per cent).

The following analyses show that this is a more highly
hydrated variety than most of the specimens of Halloysite
hitherto examined, and that it corresponds to the formula
AlA2Si02+5H,0.

Analysis of Halloysite from Maidenpek :

I. II. Meau.

AlA 32-81 32-58 32-69

SiOa 37-59 37-70 37-64

H,0 28-59 28-27 28-43

CuO 1-11 — 1-11

100-10 — 99-87

The calculated composition for the above formula is :

AlA 32-86

SiOa 38-37

HaO 28-77

100-00
A specimen of a similar mineral from the same locality
was found by Tietze to contain :

AlA(Fe203) 25-20

SiOa 44-96

H,0 29-50

99-66
Corresponding nearly with the formula AlaOsSSiOa + GHaO.
Showing a distinct difference in the relation of alumina to
silica from that existing in the specimen in question.

" On a Method of mounting Electrical Resistances," by
Arthur Wm. Waters, F.G.S., &c.

A short time ago I came to the conclusion that there was
a strong probability of the variations in the electrical
resistances of the human body, giving some indication as
to how various climatic changes affected different constitu-
tions. This idea foi'ced itself upon me in consequence of an
investigation concerning the changes of the body temperature,
as affected by meteorological conditions, having brought out
the interesting fact, that the average changes in the 5 to
6 p.m. clinical temperature of a sufficient number of invalids*
follows the curve of the absolute moisture or of the tem-
perature, both of which are very similar.

Dr. Stone's results, as published in "Nature," gave a
definite direction to the idea, and then, when considering
how I could carry out what I purposed, I saw that I must
first have an instrument by which measurements could be
I'apidly made and changes easily followed, and if possible,
the current should not be broken by altering the measure.

The ordinary resistance box with plugs cannot be used
sufficiently rapidly and is unsuitable. I, therefore, adopted
the plan of mounting the resistance reels on an ebonite disk,
with a metal axis (a) running at each end in brass supports
S. This support has a binding screw at the base and the
current is thus led away from the axis. Round the border
of this disk German silver flanges-f* or bosses are attached
and one of these {x) is connected by a stout strip of copper
to the axle. Between this and the next boss a resistance
coil of fine German silver wire wound double on a small
reel is attached, and between each of the other bosses a
similar coil is placed and the two ends severally soldered to

* The meastu-ements were made for the piu'pose by consumptive
people in Davos.

t These flanges overlap on each side and therefore present to the
spring a continuous siu-face the width of the disk.

the adjoining German silver projection. The disk is revolved
by means of a bone or ebonite handle b, and these bosses are
thus brought against a strong spring (sp) up which the
current is led. If the flange connected with the axle is
brought against this spring then there is practically no
resistance, but if any other Hange is against the spring then
the current must pass through one or more reels of resistance.
As figured it would go through two reels of 10 ohms each,
and if it went through all the reels we get a total of 100 ohms.
As arranged, one boss does not leave the spring until the
next is in contact.

The complete instrument consists of four such disks
similarly mounted and put into connexion, and on the first
disk the reels are 1 ohm, on the second 10, and on the other

two 100 and 1,000 respectively, so that they are read off
like a gas meter, and thus a resistance from 1 ohm to
11,110 ohms can be read directly, and by mounting the
commutator and the permanent arms of the Wheatstone
bridge on one board, we get a very compact instrument, and
have all the handles within easy reach for rapid change.
About 7 centimeters will be found ample for the diameter of
the disk, and the whole apparatus may be mounted on a
board about 45 centim. long and 10 centim. wide.

The arrangement of resistances is much the same as in
slide resistances, and the plan of arranging these in a circle
lias been used for medical purposes, but I am not aware of
the resistances themselves being made to revolve thoutrh I
have not had any opportunity of investigating all the plans
previousl}^ adopted. It seems to me, however, that in cases
where only amateur or imperfect workmanship is available,
that this will be found the simplest plan, and also, I think
that when compactness and rapidity of action are important
this form may often be found useful, and, therefore, describe
it although there is no new principle involved.

One such disk may also be used when a galvanic current
is being applied for medical purposes, in which case the
current is made to first pass through a high resistance of
several reels, and then without contact being broken the
resistance is brought down to null. In such cases it may
be found advisable to make the first resistance much lower
than the last.

PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SECTION.

January 15tli, 1884.

Alfred Brothers, F.R.A.S., in the Chair.

" Note on Bouguer's Optical Essay on the Gradation of
Light," by James Bottomley, B.A., D.Sc, F.C.S.

In several papers on colorimetry which I have read before
this Society, I have frequently had occasion to refer to the"
hypothesis, that as the length of an absorbing medium in-
creased according to the terms of an arithmetical progression,
the intensity of the light diminished according to the terms of
a geometrical progression. I had not then been able to trace
this hypothesis back farther than the writings of Sir John
Herschel, but had some grounds for supposing that it might
have been given earlier, and more especially by Bouguer.
Lately, after much enquiry, there has come into my hands
a small treatise entitled Essai d'Optique sur la gradation de
la lumiere, par M. Bouguer, professeur royal en Hydro-
graphie. Paris, 1729. From this work it appears that the
honour of having first enounced the hypothesis belongs to
Bouguer. In many otherwise excellent treatises on Physics
and Optics the subject of the absorption of light is either
neglected or scantily treated, and the claims of Bouguer
seem to have nearly passed out of recognition ; yet he may
assuredly claim herein a position correlative with that as-
signed to Snell, or Huygens, or Newton, in those depart-
ments of Optics of which they laid the foundations. The
treatise contains no experimental verification of the hypo-
thesis, nor any suggestions for carrying out such experi-
ments. He was aware that the subject afforded a vast field
for future enquiries, and with regard to his own work he
modestly states in the preface, C'est vrai que mes recherclies

sont pouss^es si pen loin qu'elles laissent encore une vaste
champ a tons ceux qui voudront perfectionner cette matiere.
Mais ne s9ait-on pas que les arts les plus simples ont eu
leurs difFerens ages, et que ce seroit comme dtoufFer dans le
berceau les ddoouvertes qu'on peut faire dans la suite, que
de mdpriser toutes les premieres tentatives, sous pretexte
que ce ne sont encore que de foibles commencemens ?

In the last section he has also considered the intensity of
light which has passed through a medium which is not of
the same density throughout. By geometrical reasoning he
arrives at the conclusion that the curve of intensity (the
gradulucique as he terms it) has this property ; its sub-
tangent multiplied by the density is equal to a constant.
Expressed in the language of the differential calculus this
gives rise to a differential equation similar to the one which
I obtained by a different method and gave last session in a
paper read before the Society, on the intensity of light
which has traversed a medium wherein the density is some
function of the distance traversed. Except in the considera-
tion of the intensity of light which has passed through the
atmosphere, Bouguer has made very little use of this highly
genera] theorem, for, says he, in most cases we do not know
what is the law of density. This may be so, but by assu-
ming the density to be some function of the distance, we
may deduce some interesting and valuable results.

"On the Effects of Solar Radiation in Atmospheric
Vapour," by the Rev. Thomas Mackereth, F.R.A.S.,
F.R.Met.Soc.

Two facts are well known and understood, viz. that solar
radiation is the cause of terrestrial evaporation, and that as
the vapour so produced in the air condenses and spreads as
cloud, the effects of solar radiation upon the surface of the
earth are impeded. And it is also well known that invisible
vapour from the effects of solar radiation is constantly

present in the air in the clearest and bluest skies. But it
is not known, as a fact, to what height this invisible vapour
attains in the air, for it is certainly present very far above
the highest ascents that aeronauts have made.

Much attention has, of late years, been given to the
observations and recording of the hours of sunshine. Of
course in such records the remaining hours of the day
represent the time during which the sun's disc was not
visible on account of the presence of cloud or thick vapour.
Still these records have not been turned to any useful
account, nor do they reveal any hitherto unknown law
arising from the shining of the sun.

Now there remains some unexplained cause for the
difference of the readings of two solar radiating thermo-
meters, one placed in vacuo, and the other exposed to the
direct action of the air in front of the sun, notwithstanding
the many theories or assumptions respecting it. It can
hardly be supposed that the decrease of solar radiation on
the surface of the earth is in con'^equence of the mere inability
of the solar radiating force to penetrate the cloud. It is
quite true, however, as has been noted, that in the presence
of cloud there is a decrement on the earth of direct solar
heat. But the question arises, what has become of the
apparently lost solar energy ? From our knowledge of the
effect of such force upon water it cannot be unreasonable to
assume that when the radiating solar force acts upon an inter-
vening cloud it will tend to its higher evaporation, and so
draw it upwards or disperse it into invisible vapour. This is
illustrated by the effect which a hot iron plate has upon
escaping steam. If a hot iron plate be placed amongst
escaping steam, it will be found that for a considerable
distance around the plate the steam is rendered invisible,
and being rendered hotter by the plate, it ascends higher in
the air than it otherwise would do, and re-appears as almost
invisible vapour a considerable distance from the plate.

This being so, it will happen that if the solar radiating force
become stronger at one time than another, at sucli periods
the deeper or higher, and rarer will become the amount of
the invisible vapour of the air. And this will be so, not-
withstanding the fact that atmospheric vapour is mostly
condensed and precipitated as rain.

Now it happens that the more the daylight has been free
from cloud or dense vapour as thick haze or fog, the greater
has been the difference of the reading between a solar
radiating thermometer exposed before the sun in free air and
one mounted in vacuo. That I might, as far as possible, be
satisfied, that this difference was due almost entirely to
skies free from cloud during the sun's presence, I observed
carefully the readings of the two thermometers on days
during which I was certain the sun's disc was never seen at
my station at all. And after a correction which I instituted
and applied to the readings of tlie thermometer in vacuo,
and which I deemed sufficient to account for the differ-
ence of temperature recorded by it in the presence of cloud,
I considered both thermometers as reading from a common
Zero. After this I found that the readings of the two
thermometers, the correction being applied, were closer
according to the kind of blueness of the sky through which
the sun shone. If the blue were tinged with a kind of grey,
and the more it was so tinged, tlie nearer the readings of the
two thermometers were to each other, and the bluer the sky
the wider were the readings apart. The durations of sun-
shine did not affect the difference to any great extent, unless
they were very short periods. Hence I arrived at the con-
clusion that the difference of the reading of the two ther-
mometers indicated an evaporating power of the sun upon
the cloud or vapour in the air, thereby causing it to become
rarer, and more and more invisible, and so to rise from the
lower to the higher regions of the atmosphere. As the air
thus became clearer solar radiation on the surface of the

earth became intensified and more direct, and this I have
called " direct sun-power."

This "direct sun-power" is very different from the difference
of the power of solar radiation in summer and in winter, in
latitudes of the middle of the temperate zones. For whilst
in our latitude the difference between the extreme summer
and winter mean temperatures amounts to about 90 per cent
of the winter temperature, the difference between the ex-
treme " direct sun-power " of summer and winter is 1,300
per cent of that of the winter.

The following table represents this " direct sun-power "
under assumed numbers between O'O and 36 '0. And these
numbers were assumed because in no case hitherto has the
difference of the readings of the two thermometers exceeded
36 deg. Fahr. The numbers therefore in the following table
represent the relative values of this " direct sun-power " for
the last five years reduced to their mean values for each
succeeding three months of the year.

1879.

1880.

1881.

1882.

1883.

January..."^
February..!'
March ... J

6-4

5-5

6-3

10-3

April 'i

May V

18-7

20-8

17-8

21-3

22*4

Juue )

July •)

August ... >

17-7

17-6

16-7

20-4

22-6

September )
October... "^

November >

4-7

3-4

5-3

6-5

7-0

December J

From the above table it will be seen that the solar ra-
diating " direct sun-power" was far the greatest throughout
the year 1883.

That this energy becomes potent according to the increase
of solar activity will appear if the values of the above table
be compared with the mean values in degrees of Fahr. of
ordinary solar radiation as registered by a black bulb ther-

mometer in vacuo. These values are oiven for the past five
yearSj and reduced to their means for eacli succeeding three
months of the year.

1879.

1880.

1881.

1882.1 1883.

January... "^

February >

63 9

64-7

54-3

61-2

65-1

March ...)

April ■)

May i

93-3

99-6

96-4

99'8

100-3

June J

July "J

August ... >

96-8

105-4

98-9

1029

106-3

September 3

October... "^
November >
December j

60-1

58-2

61-2

61-9

63-8

The past year of 1883 lias been remarkable for its mani-
festation of solar energy. Again and again within that time
sun-spots have been visible to the naked eye, to say nothing
of the far greater number that the telescope has revealed. And
that this solar activity has been gradually increasing to a
maximum is evident from the mean values presented in the
foregoing table. But that table bears testimony also to the
increase cf the power of the solar evaporation of cloud, and
thence of invisible vapour, into the higher regions of the air,
and which must have been greatest during the past year.

This will in some degree account for the heavy and con-
tinual fogs, and the excessive fall of rain during the last
three months of that year. For when the solar force is
minimised by the indirect action of the sun on the atmo-
sphere, which in our latitudes must take place in the latter
months of the year, the accumulated vapour, whether visible
or invisible, must fall to the earth and appear as fog or rain.

The following table represents the rainfall in inches for
for the last three months of each of the years named, and
each is placed under the mean annual temperature of
solar radiation for the year, and beneath the amount of each
is placed the ratio which it bears to the rainfall of that year.

1879.

1880.

1881.

1882.

1883.

78°-5

82°-0

77°-8

81°-5

84°0

inches

10-797

17-367

16-323

17-334,

17-773

ratio

•I'jO

•358

•279

•280

•342

Whilst this table does not bear testimony directly to cloud
evaporation, it still shows that the ratio of rainfall for the
last three months of the past year was excessive.

"On the Recent Coloured Skies at Sunset and Sunrise,"
by the Rev. Thomas Mackereth, F.R.A.S., F.R.Met.Soc.

If the air were deprived of all the vapour which arises
from water, it is almost a certainty that the various hues
seen in the sky would disappear. That water is a refractor
of light is well known, and the beauties arising therefrom
appear in the marvels of the rainbow. And what is vapour
derived from water but the particles of water expanded by
heat and rarefaction ? Hence, there is no reason why the re-
fractive power of water may not bo maintained by its vapour
with a difference proportionate to the dispersive power of
the vapour. This is illustrated by the prismatic appearance
at the edges of clouds when the light of the moon is freely
and fully poured forth through breaks amongst them, and
is incident upon the edges of those of different altitudes and
approximate to the path of the rays. Of course the colours
are pale and diffused in such a case, because the light of the
moon is pale, and the clouds not only refract but disperse
the force of the liffht.

If, therefore, the light of the sun should fall so obliquely
upon cloud or vapour that the refrangibility could be seen,
there would necessarily appear more or less of the prismatic
colours, but of course dispersed according to the density or
rarity of the vapour, or to the extent and direction of its
presence and diffusion.

In the middle of the afternoon of Nov. 29th last year, the
sky being apparently very clear, I went to my transit in-
strument to ascertain the time from the meridian passage
of the star Alpha Aquil?e. But imagine my surprise when
the star utterly failed to appear in what seemed a clear blue
sky. I carefully examined all the adjustments of the in-
strument and my reckonings, and found all quite correct;
and my clock is never moi'e than a very few seconds in
error. As the sky appeared unusually blue I stepped out of
the observatory to see the whole sky, and to ascertain, if
possible, the cause of the non-appearance of the star. I
then found that over and in the neighbourhood of my meri-
dian the sky was almost an indigo blue, and immediately
from it to the south west it was tiuo;ed with ""reen. As the
sun went down clouds gathered on the horizon, the sky
vapours became moi'e visible, and there could be distinctly
traced from behind the clouds where the sun had set up to
the zenith all the principal prismatic colours. This was the
finest display of all the colourings that have recently ap-
peared in the sk}^ I naturally attributed the blue and
green to the presence of an unusual amount of the vapour
of water in the higher regions of the sky. Of course we
are all aware what other causes have been assigned for this
unusual phenomenon.

If these colours arose from the refraction of the vapour
of water in the air, two things were requisite ; first, that
this vapour must, during these appearances, have been pre-
sent at a very unusual height in the atmosphere; and,
second, there must have been an excessive quantity present
relatively near the earth. That such was the case may ap-
pear from what has been shown in my paper " On the
Effects of Solar Radiation in Atmospheric "Vapour." That
all, or at any rate, the higher prismatic colours might be
visible, it was requisite that this vapour should extend to a
great height, and it is shown that this then was possible.

But as the phenomenon wore on the blue and green disap-
peared, and there remained only the deep red and a reflected
light rose colour. The red always appeared, as it usually
does, on the horizon, especially when much visible vapour
is present in the neighbourhood of the setting or the rising
sun. But every time these red and rose colours were visible
they seemed to spring up from behind a mass of cumulus
cloud in front of where the sun had set or was about to rise.
And when the sky over the cumulus was carefully ex-
amined a light vapour was quite discernible, which could
only be ascribed to the higher evaporation of the cumulus.
That this light vapour was over or above the cumulus, and
consequently higher than it in the sky, was obvious, and,
therefore, could only have originated in it. There seems no
room to doubt that this was the case ; and this evaporation
taking place in the greatest angle of refrangibility, the light
passing through it would be seen as various shades of red.
This red was nearly always reflected though much dispersed,
and rendered a beautiful rose colour by other light clouds in
the sky which happened to be Ijing in the line of the rays
that passed through the vapour from the cumulus. The blue
and the green would disappear as the otherwise invisible
vapour condensed and descended into the lower regions of
the air ; and this doubtless caused the continuous fogs that
prevailed more or less from the 7th of December. The red.
and yellow, and sometimes the light rose colour, are still
visible when the sky is not overspread with nimbus, and
when it is comparatively clear in the neighbourhood of the
rising and setting sun. This is easily accounted for if we
take into account the present high temperature, together
with the tremendous amount of visible vapour which pre-
vails, and the consequent great amount of cloud evaporation
that must be going on immediately above the lowest cloud
region of the atmosphere.

Corrigendum.
Page 2, line 16, for B=--j^^mmi read B:

JjI Lhnnii

Ordinary Meeting, February 5th, 1884.
Chaeles Bailey, F.L.S., in the Chair.
"On the Introduction of Coffee into Arabia," by C.

SCHORLEMMER, F.R.S.

In two papers, which I read on April 3rd and October
16th, before this Society, I mentioned that the custom of
drinking coffee originated with the Abyssinians, who culti-
vated the plant from time immemorial. In Arabia it was
not introduced until the early part of the fifteenth century ;
before this time the beverage made from the leaves of the
kat was generally used, and is still in use.

A few weeks ago I received a letter from Professor W. T,
Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S., in which he says: "Possibly the
inclosed extracts from an old book of the last century may
interest you."

"The point is that the introduction of the use of coffee
from Persia, in the 15th century, seems to have led to the
neo;lect of khat."

" Your interesting observation as to the abience of caffeine
in the latter, would perhaps show that the change from one
to the other had a physiological significance."

This appears very plausible. I hope to be able to obtain
a larger supply of khat, in order to find out its active
principle.

The extracts which Professor Dyer sent me are as follows :

A Historical Treatise of the Original of Coffee. London,
1732 (pp. 308—310).

Jem al Adin Abu Ahdallah, Mohammed Bensaid, sur-
nam'd Al Dhabhani (because he was a native of Dhahhan,

Peoceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Yol. XXIII.— No. 6.— Session 1883-4.

a small town of Arabia Fodix), being Mufti* of Aden, a
famous town, and part of the same country, about the
middle of the 9th age of the Hegirah, and of the loth of
our Lord, had occasion to make a voyage to Persia. During
his stay there, he found some of his countrymen who took
nseat^^rfe?^i!the coffcc, which, at first, lie took no great notice of; but at his
Arabia Fmiix. return to Aden, his health being impair'd, and calling to
mind the coSee, which he had seen taken in Persia, he took
some, in hopes it might do him good. Not only the Mufti's
health was restor'd by the use of it, but he soon became
sensible of the other properties of coffee ; particularly, that
it dissipates heaviness in the head, exhilarates the spirits,
and hinders sleep without indisposing one.

The Arabian author adds, that they found coffee so good,
that they entirely left off the use of another liquor, which
was in vogue at Aden, made of the leaves of a plant call'd
Cat, which cannot be supposed to be the TJie, because this
writer says nothing which might favour that opinion.

Since this was written, Mr. W. Elborne, of the Owens
College, called my attention to a paper by Mr. James Vaughan,
Civil and Port Surgeon at Aden, who states that some esti-
mate may be formed of the strong predilection which the
Arabs have still for kat, from the quantit}'- used in Aden
alone, which averages about 280 camel loads annually. He
adds that he is not aware that Kat is used in Aden in any
other way than for mastication ; from what he has heard,
however, he believes a decoction resembling tea is made from
the leaf by the Arabs in the Interior.f

Mr. Vaughan gives also some abstracts from de Lacy's
Ghrestomathie arahe, in which it is stated on the authority
of some Arabian authors, that coffee was not introduced into
Arabia by Mohamed Dhabhani, as it was generally stated,

* An order of Priests amongst tlie Mahometans, wliicli may be call'd
their Bishops.

t Pharm. Journ. Trans, xii., 26S (1852—1853).

but by the learned and godly Ali Shadeli ibn Omar. In
the days of Mohamed Dhabhani, Kat, which previous to that
time was used, had disappeared from Aden, " Then it was
that the Sheik advised those who had become his disciples
to try the drink made from the Boonn (coffee-berry), which
was found to produce the same effect as the Kdt, including
sleeplessness, and that it was attended with less expense and
trouble. The use of coffee has been kept up from that time
to the present."

As the custom of driaking coffee originated in Abyssinia,
it appears more probable that it was introduced into Arabia
from this country, and not from Persia.

My friend, Professor Theodores, has informed me that the
beverage made from the Boonn is called Kahlua. This word
is derived from Ikha, dislike or distaste, i.e. for eating and
sleeping.

Ordinary Meeting, February 19th, 1S84.

H. E. EoscoE, PI1.D., LL.D., F.RS., &c.. President,
in the Chair.

Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill, F.L.S., and Mr. J. A. Bennion,
F.R.A.S., were appointed Auditors of the Treasurer's
Accounts.

"Notice of the Geology of the Haddon District, eight
miles south west of Ballaarat, Victoria," by F. M. Krause,
Professor of Geology in the School of Mines, Ballaarat.
Communicated by the President.

The specimens of fossil fruit and wood, etc., from Haddon,
intended for transmission to Professor Roscoe, will be found
described in Baron von Mueller's Memoirs of the Geological

Survey of Victoria, copies of which are enclosed with the
specimens. The litho. plates give detail sections of a shaft
where fossils were obtained; but as this does not explain the
general structure of the country in which
the fossil-bearing pliocene beds occur, I
have prepared the subjoined geological
section from a survey recently made by
me. This will supplement the informa-
tion given in the printed memoirs.

a. Coarse, weU-rounded quartz pebble
drift containing gold in flat scales. The
gold is of inferior value (20 carat) to that
occuring in deposit 6 (23 carat), and the
grains are in many places discoloured by
a film of ferro-manganese. The deposit,
of Lower Pliocene age, is of small extent,
a mere outlier, or remnant, of a once wide-
spread marine drift.

6. Auriferous, waterworn-quartz-pebble
drift, in part cemented by iron sulphide
into a pyritous conglomerate. This is a
fluvial deposit in the bed of an old river
channel (or "Lead" as the Australian
miner terms it). In it occur the fruit of
spondylostrobus, pliyraatocaryon, pen-
teune, etc.

c. Sandy drift witli trunks, upwards of
3 feet in diameter, of sub-fossil cupressi-
nous conifer wood (possibly spondylo-
strobus), junks of lignite, and irregular
bands and patches of earthy brown coal.
The wood, as well as the xylocarps of
deposit h, are frequently partly or wholly
connected into pyrites, in which analysis
invariably detects the presence of gold.

This, together with the overlying shale bed cZ, may be
set down as a lacustrine or, at all events, a still-water
deposit, and is, no doubt, due to interception of the river
current by the lava flow.

d. Soft sandy shale full of myrtaceous leaf impressions.
These leaves have not yet been described.

The beds h, c, and d I have classed as middle pliocene.

e. Clay drift with angular and sub-angular quartz pebbles;
contains the lower jawbones and loose teeth of 'perameles
nasuta, identical, I believe, with that of the New South
Wales cave breccia, and closely allied to the living "long-nosed
bandicoot." This deposit is contemporaneous with the lava
flow, as it is found now overlying the basaltic rock, then
underlying it, and again abutting against it. I assign to
both the age of ii'pper pliocene.

f. Dolerite lava, 60 to 80 feet in thickness ; the upper
crust is vesicular, the main mass a granular rock rich in
specular iron, and containing olivine, spherosiderite, and
aragonite, but, as far as I have observed, no zeolites.

g. Soft, grey and yellow clay shales, slightly micaceous,
having joint and bedding planes coated with scaly chlorite.

These shales, alternating with coarse-grained ferruginous
sandstones, are of Lovjer Silurian age. They are traversed
by numerous quartz veins and lenticular patches of quartz,
but these are generally so thin and irregular that no mining
operations have hitherto been carried on to test their
auriferous character.

The removal of the gravel drift h has engaged the labour
of numerous large mining companies for years past. The
gravel drift, known by miners as " wash dirt," has yielded
as much as an ounce of gold to the ton of stuff*.

List of specimens transmitted to Prof. Roscoe, F.R.S., to
illustrate the geology of the Haddoii District, 8 miles south-
west of Ballaarat.

From deposit marhed b on section.

1. Xylocarps of spondylostrobus, penteune, &c.

From deposit c.

2. Sub-fossil wood; portion of the identical specimen
histologically examined by Baron v. Mueller, and depicted
on plate xx. of his Memoir.

3. Junk of sub-fossil wood.

From, deposit b.

4. Fossil-wood, partly converted into pyrite.

From deposit d.

5. Myrtaceous leaves in sandy shale.

From deposit b.

6. Auriferous quartz conglomerate cemented by iron sul-
phide.

From deposit g.

7. Lower Silurian clay shale.

8. Quartz vein in Lower Silurian shale.

From veins in Lovjer Silurian rocks in the neirjlibourhood
of Ballaarat.

9. Auriferous quartz in plumbaginous shale with pyrites.

10. Auriferous quarts with sphalerite and galena; shows
lithomarge (?) casing.

11. Aui'iferous arseno pyrites disseminated in quartz.

12. Coarse grains of native gold in quartz.

13. Filiform grains of native gold in milky quartz.

14. Native gold with galena, arsenopyrites, and chalco-
pyrite in quartz.

15. Native gold in limonite (transmuted pyrites) in quartz.

From deposit f.

16. Basalt, with aragonite, portion of the core of a diamond
drill.

Ordinary Meeting, March 4th, 1884.

H. E. RoscOE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.RS., &c., President, in
the Chair.

A paper was read " On the Production and Purification
of Gaseous Fuel for Industrial Purposes, with the results of
several large Applications of a System," by W. S. Suther-
land, Esq., of Birmingham. Communicated by Feancis
Nicholson, F.Z.S.

General Meeting, March 18th, 1884.

H. E. RoscoE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., &c.. President, in
the Chau".

Mr. J. B. Dancer, F.RA.S., was elected an Honorary
Member of the Society ; and Mr. Aid. Joseph Thompson an
Ordinary Member.

Ordinary Meeting, March 18th, 1884.

H. E. RoscoE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., &c., President, in
the Chair.

The President stated that he had much pleasure in lay-
ing on the table the first volume of the collected scientific
papers of their eminent member Dr. Joule. This volume of
667 closely printed pages, published at the cost and by the
Council of the Physical Society of London, the members of

Peoceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIII. — No. 7. — Session 1883-4

the Literary and Philosophical Society will welcome as a
fitting tribute to the life-long and far-reaching scientific
labours of their eminent townsman and friend. Wren's
great work of St. Paul's cathedral was said to be his fittest
monument, and so of this volume we may add "Si monu-
mentum queeris inspice," for it contains the whole of the
experimental work accomplished by Joule alone from his
first paper on an electro-magnetic engine, published in Stur-
geon's " Annals of Electricity," and dated January 8, 1838,
to the last of his researches summing up the most important
of his life's work, viz. " A new Determination of the Me-
chanical Equivalent of Heat," from the Philosophical Trans-
actions of the Royal Society exactly 40 years afterwards.
Between these two communications this volume contains
no less than 102 original papers, some long and some short,
and some of course of greater interest and importance than
others, but all exhibiting that clear insight into the phe-
nomena of nature, that original habit of thought, that power
of careful and exact experimentation, and withal that
modesty of style and expression, which characterise our
distinguished friend. Many of these papers, and some of
the most important of them, have been communicated to
this Society, and are simple reprints from our memoirs ; and
in this fact the Society has just ground for congratulation.
This volume ends most appropriately with a simple num-
ber— Joule's most accurate determination of the mechanical
equivalent of heat, viz., 772 "5 5. No words could be so
eloquent to those who can appreciate the value of these few
figures, and who understand the difficulty of their experi-
mental determination.

On the motion of the President, seconded by Professor
Reynolds, it was resolved that a letter of congratulation be
addressed to Dr. Joule on the publication of the first volume
of his Memoirs by the Physical Society of London.

" On the Equations and on some Properties of Projected
Solids," by James Bottomley, D.Sc, B.A., F.C.S. (abstract).

On a former occasion I brought before the Physical and
Mathematical Section of this Society a proposition in pro-
jection, in which it was shown how by the composition of
two projections, namely, of that of a line on a line, and of
that of a plane area on a plane area perpendicular to the
aforesaid line, we could derive from a solid three solids with
axes perpendicular to three planes and of variable volume ;
the variation being subject to the condition that the sum
of the three volumes is constant and equal to that of the
primitive soKd. I now propose to solve the following
problem, given the equation to the primitive solid to deduce
that of a derived solid.

Let tlie equation to the primitive solid refeiTed to three

rectangular areas be

F(x, y, z) = 0.

Let ABC be the pri-
mitive plane which is
fixed in the solid, and DE
m axis perpendicular to
bhis plane, and which may
be called the primitive
ixis. Let P be a point
situated on the intersec-
tions of the solid by a
plane parallel to the
primitive plane. Draw

PG perpendicular to the
plane x, y; on PG take a length LG so that

LG - PFcosy
7 being the inclination of the primitive axis to the axis of z.
Then L will be a point on the derived solid. Also we have

PF = PDcosDPF
DPF is the angle between PF and PD, PF is parallel to the
primitive axis, and its direction cosines will therefore be

cosa, cosj3, C0S7. Let a, h, c be the coordinates of the point
D. Then the direction cosines of the line DP will be
x — a y — h z — c

Td"' pd"' pd'

Therefore we have

{x — a)cosa + {y- 6)cos/3 + {z- c)cosy

Also we have

^ = KG

j/ = HG

z = PG
Let ^, 1], Z, denote the coordinates of the corresponding
points on the derived solid, then

^ = KG

7, = HG

^=LG = PDcosDPFcosy
Hence we obtain

l, = x

^=C0By[{x - a)cosa + {y - b)cosj3 + {z- cjcosyj
Hence the equation to the derived solid will be
4" (4 - a)cosa + (?7 - &)cos/3

<«• ■",

+ c

cos''y cosy

or if z be given as an explicit function of x and y

z = (p{x, y)
then the derived solid will be

^ = cosy({^ - a)cosa + (jj - 6)cos/3 - CCOSy) + cosV0(^, r})
The remainder of the paper consists of a proof by means
of these substituted coordinates of the relation

V, = cosVV
and so, of the equation

which was given in a previous paper, and a discussion of
some other properties of projected solids.

" Notes on the Meteorology and Hydrology of the Suez
Canal," by Dr. W. G. Black, F.KMet.S. Communicated by
Joseph Baxendell, F.R.A.S.

The observations of the meteorology of the stations on
the line of the Suez Canal were taken by the officers of the
Canal and Telegraph Departments of the Canal Company

for two years, from June, 1866, to June, 1868, and before
the opening of the canal to the waters and navigation.
The observations embraced those of the barometer, thermo-
meter, and hygrometer, and have been tabuhited out by
months, and the means and ranges made out of each set for
the three stations of Port Said, Ismailia, and Suez.

At Port Said the mean barometer was 29'94in., and its
range for the period only 'SSin. ; the mean thermometer was
68°-9 F., but the range was as much as 26° F., from 82°-l in
July to 5Q°-o in February. The mean hygrometer was 71,
with a small range of only 3 in consequence of tiie vicinity
of the sea.

At Ismailia the mean barometer was 29'92in., with a like
small range of only "S^in., from the absence of storms ; the
mean thermometer was the same, or 68°'9 F., but with a
higher range of 28°, from its inland situation and drier air,
from 82°'o in July to 54°'5 in February. The mean hygro-
meter was here lower at 68°, but with a higher range of 19,
from 58 in June to 77 in December, which is probably due
to the presence of the neighbouring desert.

At Suez the mean barometer was only 29'95in., with a
like small range of only -Slin. ; the mean thermometer was
at 69"o, somewhat higher than that at the other stations,
from being further south and surrounded with hills, and
with a high range of 27, from 83°1 in July to oa^'S in
February. The mean hygrometer was a,t 64, or much less
than at the other stations, with a still higher range of 23,
from 49 in May to 72 in December, due to the neighbouring
desert and its clear sky and dry air.

On summarising the tables for the estimation of the
general climate of the canal and district, the mean barometer
was found highest in the winter months of November
(3006in.), December (30-04in.), January (3007in.), and Feb-
ruary (SOlOin.), and lowest in the summer months of July
(29"76in.) and August (29-78in.), owing to the variation in the
positions of the zones of high and low pressure over Egypt in
the winter and summer isobaric lines. The mean thermometer
at all the stations was highest in the summer months of

July (82°-8) and August (81°-3), and lowest in the winter
months of December (57°"3), January (56°-3), and February
(55°"4), contingent with Egypt lying within the zones of
80°— 90° in the summer, and of 50°— 60° in the winter iso-
thermal lines. The mean hygrometer at all the stations
was highest in the winter months of November (71), De-
cember (74), January (73), and February (70), and lowest
in the summer months of May (GO'S), June (60-7), and July
(60), which is probably due to the presence or absence of
the winter rains or Nile floods over the Eastern flats of the
delta. There would appear to be no records of the amounts
of the winds, or of the quantities of the rainfall, or the spe-
cific gravities or temperatures of the waters of the lakes in
the district of the canal, which would all have been of great
scientific interest in considering the conditions of the cli-
mates before and after the opening of the Suez Canal for
navigation.

It seems stated that N. winds prevail generally over all
the others in the district, blowing from the Mediterranean
sea ; but at Port Said the winds incline frequently to the
W., or even S.W. ones are observable in the winter, coming
from across the delta of Egypt. At Ismailia the prevailing
winds are N. and N.N.E., and in the spring they blow some-
times from the S.W. ; but in the summer the direction lies
invariably from N.N.W. to N.N.E., and are called the Ete-
sian winds. At Suez the conditions of the winds are like
those of Ismailia, with, in addition, some sea breezes from
the direction of Suez bay. It is also generally stated that
the rains are more frequent now than they were before the
canal works were begun, and thick fogs are very often now
encountered on the lakes, as dense as any in London or
Paris.

"Notes on the Hydrology of the Suez Canal for 1871-2."

The following remarks on the nature of the waters of the

Suez Canal, as they are afiected by physical or climatal

conditions, are prepared from five sets of observations taken

in five voyages through it during the months of February,

March, April, October and November. They refer to then-
specific gravities and temperature, and also to that of the
air on board ship at the time, and the direction of the wind
at the time prevailing. These particulars have been drawn
out in diagrams showing their state for nearly every mile
or so of the route through, and they thus bring out special
curves of increasing or diminishing density and temperature
of the canal water, from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
Also the whole set of records have been summarised both
horizontally by voyage for the totals and means, and per-
pendicularly for nearly every mile for the same, and general
means have been calculated for the entire set added to-
gether.

For the voyage in February, the results are mean specific
gravity of canal water 1*0416, temperature of water mean
60°'9 F., temperature of air on board, maximum 67°'3, mini-
mum 60°% mean 63°-8. Winds, S.W. and N. (On land,
M.T. 55"-^, Hy. 70.)

For March, the water shows a specific gravity mean
1*0408, temperature mean, 65° F,, temperature of air and
direction of winds not recorded, but were probably prevailing
from N.E. and N.W. (On land, M.T, 63°-2, Hy. 66-6.)

For April, the canal water had a mean specific gravity of
1"0434 and mean temperature of 70°'l F., no record of air
or winds, which were probably N., N.W., W. (On land,
M.T. 65-8, H. 63.)

For October, the water showed a mean specific gravity of
1'0345, and mean temperature of 76°, whilst that of the air
on board was maximum 77°, minimum 71°, mean 74°, and
the winds were from N.E. and N.W. (On land, M.T. 72°-4,
Hy. Q6-6.)

For November, the water had a mean specific gravity of
1"0392, and a mean temperature of 69°; no record of air or
winds, which were probably N.W., N., S. (On land, M.T.
64°-5, Hy. 71.)

The general totals and means comprise 15 days' sailing,
450 miles, 150 observations, specific gravity 1'0399, tempera-
ture of canal water, Q8°-2 F., temperature of air on deck,
68°-9 F., on land, M.T. 69°-12, Hy. 68.

These may usefully be compared with the general means
of observations on the outside seas, the Mediterranean and
Red Seas.

The Mediterranean shows a mean specific gravity in its
eastern basin of 1'029 — 30, and a mean temperature of
63° — Q6° F., or less than those of the canal; and the air at
Port Said, on land, has a mean temperature of 68°'9, or
about the same as that of the canal.

The Red Sea is stated to have a mean specific gravity in
Suez Bay of 1'027, or less than that of the canal water, a,nd
a mean temperature of 71°, or higher than the same; and
the air at Suez, on land, has a mean temperature of 6 9° "5,
or somewhat higher than that of the canal.

The mean temperature at Ismailia, on land, appears to be
68°'9 F., or about the same as that of the canal.

These points tend to show that the warmth of water and
air of the canal probably come from the Red Sea, and not
from the land nor from the Mediterranean Sea, and that this
is borne along its waters by various currents and tides from
the south to the north end.

The mean density of the canal water exceeds that of the
outside seas at either end by 1'039 to 1*027, and the cause of
this increase has been generally believed to be due to the
increased evaporation of the water of the canal by the in-
creased sun's heat and dryness of the air of the country.

Now the highest mean density of the canal water was
found in April, 1-0434, coincident with moist N.W. winds
from the Mediterranean, and low mean humidity of 63 from
the absence of Nile floods over the eastern delta.

The lowest mean density was seen in October, 1"0345,
coincident with dry N.E. winds, higher mean humidity of
67 from moisture of the air by the Nile floods being out
over the flats of the adjacent country.

According to scales of mean temperatures on land the
greatest density from evaporation ought to occur in July,
which has a mean temperature at the stations of 82°*8 F.,
and the least density to be found in February, with its
mean temperature of 55°"4 on land. On the contrary, the

highest mean temperature of the canal water was found in
October, 76°, coincident with mean temperature of air of
74° on the ship, and of 72° for the month on land, which
were both below the other.

This point further shows that the canal water probably
derives its heat, as before mentioned, from the Red Sea,
where the temperature of the water in its middle region of
18°20' N.L. rises to 80°, and at the southern end to 84° in
10° — 12° N.L., and not from the land air.

The lowest mean temperature of the water was found in
February, 60°'9 F., coincident with temperature of the air
on the ship of 63°'S at the time, and of mean temperature
of the air on land for the month of o5°'5. This, again, cor-
roborates the previous paragraph, and shows that the warm
current from the south warms also the ship and the air
over the canal, and affords an explanation of the now dense
fogs that prevail over the lakes and channels of the canal
in the autumn months, when the land air is becoming cooler
than the canal air.

In comparing density with temperature of the canal water
and air, we find that the greatest mean density, 1"0434 in
April, does not coincide with the greatest temperature of
water, 76° in October, nor of air, 74° then. On the other
hand the least mean density tabulated does correspond with
these factors, 1 •034.5 in October, which again shows that
the variations in density of the canal waters do not depend
on rising and falling of temperatures of water or air.

According to the tables of hygrometrical observation the
greatest density of the canal water ought to be in July,
when the land air was at 8 2" -8 mean temperature, and low-
est humidity at 60 on land ; and the lowest mean density
ought to occur in December, when the land air temperature
was at 57"'3, and the highest humidity at 74*3 on land.

The correspondence of the greatest density of the water,
1'0434 in April, with the low humidity of 63 in April on

land, would point to a great source of the desiccation of the
canal, as also the fact that a higher humidity of G7'G occurs
in October, with the lesser density then of the water of
10345.

In the absence of observations for the remaining seven
months of the year, and of sufficient records of the winds,
rains, and currents on the canal, it would be premature to
attempt to define the real causes of the alterations in the
condition of the canal water at different periods of the year.

It may, however, be surmised that there does not appear
to be any correspondence between the climate of the land and
that of the canal which passes through it, and that the latter
rather influences the former, and (tarries additional heat and
moisture to be radiated and dissipated through the other in
the vicinity.

The Sweet or Nile Water Canal also runs alongside the salt
water one, but there are no records, as yet, of temperatures
or specific gravities, or whether they are different at dif-
ferent times of the year, as those of the other are shown to
be. There is no doubt but it would bring additional river
water and air moisture to the line of the canal, and react
more or less upon the latter according as the periods of the
flooding or ebbing of the river Nile would fill it more or
less with fresh water.

It should also be repeated that the variations in the den-
sity of the canal waters do not appear to be dependent on
the variations of temperature in the outside seas, as in that
ease they would be highest in summer and lowest in
winter. On the other hand, they are of higher degree of
density in the spring months, and lower in the autumn
months, so that it is likely that the cause may probably
have to be sought for in the physical conditions of the canal
itself, irrespective of the climate of the isthmus of Suez or
of that of the adjacent seas.

Ordinary Meeting, April Ist, 1884.

H. E. ROSCOE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.RS., &c., President,
in the Chair.

Mr. Brothers, F.RA.S., described the Woodburytype
and Stannotype processes. He said that Mr. Woodbury's
first idea was to produce pliotographs in gelatine relief to
imitate porcelain relief pictures, but he found that by using
a low relief the image could be pressed into soft metal, and
from the impressed image prints on paper could be obtained
in gelatine combined with pigment of any colour. Pictures
of this kind could be made so closely imitating ordinary
silver prints that it was difficult to detect the difference.
Owing to the difficulty of obtaining plates witli perfectly
flat surfaces and the great pressure required to produce the
impression in metal, the size of the Woodburytype picture
was limited. It occurred to Mr. Woodbury that a gelatine
negative having sufficient relief could itself be printed from,
but as the use of fluid gelatine for the prints would soften
the negative, it was necessary to protect the surface, and
for this purpose he covers the negative with thin sheets of
tinfoil, which is passed between indiarubber rollers, which
cause the thin metal to take the impression of the negative
completely, and the glass plate (which is of the ordinary
thickness) bearing the negative covered with tinfoil could
now be used as the ordinary Woodburytype plate, and
printed from in the same way. Mr. Brothers showed
some of the original Woodburytype prints, and from a metal
plate showed the method of printing — the plate being a
portrait of Mr. Woodbury. A Stannotype plate was also
shown and prints side by side, with silver prints from the
same negative.
Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIII.— No. 8.— Session 1883-4.

MICEOSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION.

October 8tli. 1883.

J. Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.LS., President of the
Section, in the Chair.

Mr. Henry Hyde, of 2, Ellesmere Street, Regent Road,
Salford, was elected an Associate of the Section.

Mr. Chad WICK exhibited slides of Halecium — Halecinum
and Bugula turbinata, both mounted with the tentacles
fully extended, and explained the method of preparation,
Kleinenberg's picric acid solution being used for the first,
and absolute alcohol for the second.

Mr. C. Bailey exhibited specimens of Naias Major all
collected by Mr. Arthur Bennett, at Hickling Broad East,
Norfolk. Also living specimens of Caulinia alaganensis.
Poll., and Chara (coronata) Brannii, Gmel., from the
neighbourhood of Reddish.

November 5th, 1883.

J. Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S., President of the
Section, in the Chair.

Mr. Hyde exhibited specimens of Typha AngustifoHa
and Typha Latifolia, found growing together in a pond
near Shrewsbury.

Also Strawberry flowers gathered during the week, in a
garden near Sale, where nearly the whole bed was in flower.

Mr. Melvill exhibited specimens of the curious Beetle
Mormolyce Phyllodes (Hagenback), from Java, and read
the description given in the Rev. J. G. Wood's "Insects
Abroad."

Mr. Rogers exhibited a number of Plants collected by
his son, Mr. Leo Rogers, on the track of the Canadian
Pacific Railway, between Winnipeg and the Rocky
Mountains.

December 3rd, 1883.

J. Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S., President of the Section,
in the Chair.

Mr. Rogers mentioned that he had been making enquiries
as to the prevalence of earth worms in North America from
his son, Mr. Leo Rogers, who had travelled from Winnipeg
to the Rocky Mountains, and seen large tracts of country
ploughed up, and from naturalists and farmers working near
the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and they all con-
curred in the statement that the common earthworm was
not met with in Manitoba and the North West territories.

Mr. Hyde remarked that crushed laurel leaves were not
so rapidly fatal to grasshoppers as to wasps, bees, spiders,
and beetles. He found that whilst the latter insects died
in from two to three minutes, grasshoppers would remain
alive for three days in the bottle. He also noticed that
insects killed in this way died with the proboscis extended.

Mr. Brothers exhibited a Photograph of the Great
Nebula in Orion, taken by Mr. Common, of Ealing, in 87
minutes, with a thirty feet telescope. Also a Photograph
of a portion of the Sun's surface, taken at Meudon in
October, 1877, by Professor Janssen.

January 14th, 1884.

Mark Stirrup, Esq., Treasurer of the Section, in the

Chair.

Alexander Hodgkinson, B.Sc, M.D., of Claremont,
Bury New Road, ?ligher Broughton, and Charles Herbert
Hurst, Assistant Lecturer in Zoology at Owens College,
were elected Associates of the Section.

Mr. Hyde exhibited a specimen of the Lancelet Amphi-
oxus or Branchiostoma Lanceolatum, from the Mediter-
ranean. It belongs to the Fourth sub-class of fishes, i.e.,
the Leptocardii, which is represented by a single family
Cirrostomi and a single genus Branchiostoma.

Prof Dreschfeld gave a demonstration of some Micro-
organisms found to be present in connection with certain
diseases.

In the course of his remarks, Dr. Dreschfeld said that
these organisms were vegetable, and belonged to the Class
Schizomycetes. They were divisible into four Groups,
Micrococci, Bacteria, Bacilli, and Spirilla. The Micrococci
were little rounded organisms consisting of simple pro-
toplasm, found singly or in pairs, or linked together to
form chains, or in masses. When in a free state they
showed distinct movement. They all stained readily with
aniline dyes. They had been found in cases of Pneumonia
and Erysipelas, and were believed to have been met with
in Diphtheria. The Bacteria were small rod-shaped organ-
isms, which in some states had been observed by Dallinger
to have flagella at each end. They had not been found fre-
quently in connection with disease, but had been observed

by Pasteur in Chicken Cholera. The Bacilli were also rod-
shaped, but longer than the Bacteria, and showed more
signs of organization. Their life-history had been observed :
First, the rod broke up into spores, kept together by pro-
toplasm ; the spores were very difficult to kill. When culti-
vated in a favourable medium, the spore elongated into a
thread which divided into segments, each of which broke
up again into spores which grew into fresh Bacilli. The
Bacilli were very variable in their action under the different
staining processes, and owing to this some of them could
readily be detected by their taking a different stain to the
containing medium. They had been found in cases of
Splenic fever, Consumption, Typhoid fever, Glanders, Lep-
rosy, and Cholera. The Spirilla were wavy thread-like
organisms showing flagella in some states, and not staining
readily. They had been found in the saliva, round the
teeth, and in the ear.

With reference to the connection of these organisms with
disease. Dr. Dreschfeld said that in order to be justified in
concluding that the organism was the cause of the disease
it must fulfil several conditions : — 1st. It must always be
present with the disease. 2nd. It must be present from
the very first. 3rd. It must be capable of cultivation in a
suitable medium. 4th. The cultivated organism must pro-
duce the original disease when inoculated into an animal
of the same species as that from which it was derived. For
obvious reasons it was exceedingly difficult to conduct
experiments of this nature, but it had been done in the
cases of Chicken Cholera and Splenic fever. Dr. Dreschfeld
exhibited preparations showing the Micrococci of Erysipelas,
the Bacteria of Chicken Cholera, the Bacilli of Splenic fever,
Consumption, and Leprosy, and others of the micro-organ-
isms which he had described.

February 11th, 1884.

Alfred Brothers, F.RA.S., Vice-President of the Section,
in the Chair.

Mr. Hyde described a method of preparing for educa-
tional purposes the various parts of trees, and exhibited
preparations of the sycamore, beech, and oak mounted in
this way.

Mr. Rogers exhibited specimens of Amblystegum Por-
phyrrhizum, Lin., collected on the sandhills at Southport in
1875. It is a continental species, this being the first occa-
sion on which it has been found in England.

(Dn the suggestion of Mr. Brothers it was resolved that
the next meeting should be a working evening, and devoted
to investigating some of the contents of the cabinets belong-
ing to the Section.

March 10th, 1884.

J. Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S., President of the
Section, in the Chair.

Messrs. J. Boyd and Theodore Sington' were nominated
by the President to audit the accounts of the Section.

Mr. Brothers exhibited two Photographs of Histological
preparations, taken by him in the Physiological Laboratory
of the Owens College, by the Electric Light, one with a
Zeiss, the other with a Smith and Beck objective.

On the motion of Mr. Rogers, seconded by Mr. Barratt,
it was resolved —

That Mr. Brothers be requested to ascertain whether
and when Dr. Gamgee would permit the members of the
Section to visit and inspect the Physiological Laboratory.

Annual Meeting, April 7th, 1884.

J. Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S., President of the Section,
in the Chair.

Secretary s Report for the Session 1883-4.

The Section has held 7 meetings, and the Council 3, during
the Session. The average atendance has been 9,

During the past year one Member, Mr. Wilfred Becker,
and two Associates, Messrs. Lionel Adams and Dr. Hartog,
have resigned. Dr. Hartog's resignation, which has deprived
the Section of an able and active member, was consequent
upon his appointment to a Professorship at one of the Queen's
Colleges in Ireland. During the same period 8 new Mem-
bers, Mr. H. H. Howorth, Dr. Hodgkinson, B.Sc, and Mr. C.
H. Hurst, and one Associate, Mr. H. Hyde, have been elected,
making our present number 33 Members and 9 Associates.

The Session has been one of unusual quietude both in the
attendance at the meetings and the number and importance
of the communications. Of the 14? communications (as
against 19 last Session) which have been made, Professor
Dreshfeld's demonstration of " Some Micro-organisms found
to be present in connection with certain diseases," and Mr.
Boyd's " On some parasitic mites," are the most important.

A supplementary meeting of the Section has been arranged

for the 25th inst., to enable certain further communications

to be made.

RoBT. E. CuNLiFFE, Hon. Sec.

Manchester, 7th April, 1884.

The Hon. Secy, reported that Dr. Gamgee was willing
that the members of the Section should visit and inspect
the Physiological Laboratory of the Owens College, and
that he was in correspondence with him as to a date. It
was resolved that the Hon. Sec. should fix a date and notify
it to the members in the usual way.

On the motion of the President, seconded by Dr.TATHAM,
it was resolved : That the meetings of the Section be held
in future on Tuesday instead of Monday as heretofore, the
dates to be fixed so as not to clash with the meetings of the
Parent Society, and the Physical and Mathematical Section^

The monographs on the Fauna and Flora of the Bay of
Naples, published to date, presented by Mr. Darbishire,
having been laid on the table, it was resolved : That the
thanks of the Section be given to Mr. Darbishire thej-efor.

The following were elected officers for the ensuing ses-
sion, 1884-5:—

fwsiknt.

THOS. ALCOCK, M.D.

t-'$xzmhmis.

J. COSMO MELVILL, M.A., F.L.S.

A. MILNES MAESHALL, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S.

A. BEOTHEES, F.E.A.S.

%XZKSmtX.
MAEK STIEEUP, F.G.S.

3^cxtUx^.

J. F. W. TATHAM, M.D.

(SLoxxncxl

CHAS. BAILEY, F.L.S.

JOHN BOYD.

EOBT. E. CUNLIFFE.

E. D. DAEBISHIEE, F.G.S.

W. BOYD DAWKINS, F.E.S., F.G.S.

THOS. EOGEES.

THEODOEE SINGTON.

W. C. WILLIAMSON, F.E.S.

Mr, J. Boyd gave a demonstration of some parasitic mites.
Confining liis remarks to those belonging to the family of
tlie Acarea, which are found on man and domesticated
animals, and cause the diseases known as Itch, Mange, and
Scab. Mr. Boyd explained that these mites belonged to the
genera Sarcoptes, Dermatodectes or Psoroptes, Symbiotes,
and Demodex.

On man a species of Sarcoptes and of Demodex are found,
the former nausing the itch, the latter inhabiting the seba-
ceous and hair follicles, causing the unsightly marks in the
skin of the face, popularly called "black-heads."

On the horse and the sheep a species of Sarcoptes is found,
and on the horse, ox, and sheep Dermatodectes affecting the
body, and Symbiotes principally confined to the legs, pro-
ducing the diseases known as Mange and Scab.

The dog is subject to two forms of Mange, one caused by
a Sarcoptes, the other by the Demodex, wliich appears to
be transferable from man to the dog.

The cat, goat, and pig are subject to the attacks of a
species of Sarcoptes.

Mr. Boyd gave descriptions of the two sexes and larvae of
these various mites, and of their ravages on the different
animals ujion which they are respectively parasitic, drawing
special attention to the serious loss to sheep-owners caused
by the "Scab" disease induced by the Dermatodectes, and
illustrated his remarks with large diagrams of several of the
species, and a number of mounted specimens, which he
exhibited under the microscope.

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List of Members and Associates, April 7th, 1884.

Alcock, Thomas, M.D.
Bailey, Charles, F.L.S,
Babkatt, Walter Edward,
Barrow, John.
Baxendell, Joseph, F.R.A.S.
BicKHAM, Spencer H., Jun.
BiRLEY, Thomas Hornby.
Boyd, John.
Brogden, Henry.
Brothers, Alfred, F.R.A.S.
Cottam, Samuel.
Coward, Edward.
Coward, Thomas.
CuNLiEFE, Robert Ellis.
Dale, John, F.C.S.
Dancer, Jno. Benjamin, F.R.A.S.
Dent, Hastings Charles.
Daebishire, R. D., B.A., F.G.S.
Dawkins, W. Boyd, F.R.S., F.G.S.
Deane, W. K.

'.mhtxs.

IIiGGiN, James, F.C.S.
Hodgkinson, Alex., B.Sc, M.D.
Hurst, Charles Herbert.
Howorth, Henry Hotle.
Marshall, A. Milnes, M.A., D.Sc.,

F.L.S. , Prof, of Zoology, Owens

College.
Melvill, J. Cosmo, M.A., F.L.S.
Moore, Samuel.
Morgan, J. E., M.D.
Nicholson, Francis, F.Z.S
Sidebotham, Joseph, F.R.A.S.,

F.L.S.
Smith, Robert Angus, Ph.D.,

LL.D., F.R.S., F.C.S.
Williamson, Wm. Crawford,

F.R.S., Prof. Nat. Hist., Owens

College.
Wright, William Cort.

CPNiiPFE, Peter.
Hyde, Henry.
Peecival, James.
QuiNN, Edward Paul.
Rogers, Thomas.

Stirrup, Mark, F.G.S.
SiNGTON, Theodore.
Tatham, John F. W., M.D.
Ward, Edward.
Young, Sydney.

PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SECTION.

January 29th, 1884.

Alfked Brothers, F.RA.S., in the Chair.

A letter from Mr. Baxendell was read, giving an account
of spectroscopic observations made during the recent re-
markable sunsets, and also stating that grains of magnetic
iron were to be found in the sands at Southport very near
the level of low water. *

Annual Meeting, March 11th, 1884.

Alfred Brothers, F.R.A.S., in the Chair.

The Treasurer's Accounts for the past year were presented
and passed, and the following gentlemen were elected
officers of the Section for the ensuing year : —

fustb^nt.

J. p. joule, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., F.C.S., &c.

®ia-fMsiknts.

JOSEPH BAXENDELL, F.K.A.S.
ALFRED BROTHERS, F.R.A.S.

J. A. BENNION, M.A., F.R.A.S.

%xmmxn,

JAMES BOTTOMLEY, D.Sc, B.A., F.C.S.

General Meeting, April IStli, 1884.

Chakles Bailey, F.L.S., in the Chair.

Mr. Samuel Okell, of Grange Road, Bowdon, and Professor
Daniel John Leech, M.D., were elected Ordinary Members
of the Society.

Ordinary Meeting, April 15th, 1884.
Charles Bailey, F.L.S., in the Chair.

"A Reminiscence of Dr. Dalton," by Chas. Clay, M.D.

I think, but am not quite certain, that it was in the year
1816 or 1817, I was an apprentice to Kinder Wood,
Surgeon, 51, King Street, Manchester. About that time the
Marsden School of Medicine began its operations, of which
my master had the Midwifery Class jointly with Mr.
Partington. Jordan and Bluntstone on Anatomy, Dalton on
Chemistry, Fawdington on Surgery, Davies on Botany, and
some others. I mention this as it has often been stated
that the Pine Street School of Medicine was the first in
Manchester, which is not correct.

Among other Lectures I was advised by my master to
attend the Lectures on Chemistry, by Dalton, which I did.
The course consisted of ten Lectures, which were to be
extended afterwards. I thus became a pupil to Dalton.
At that time he was busy experimenting on gases, and he
asked my master if he could suggest any plan by which he
could obtain some of the gases of the coal pits, more
especially what was usually called fire damp. Mr. Wood
replied, he had a friend in Oldham whose pits were un-
usually troubled with fire damp and had had many serious

PROCEBDiNas — Lit. & Phil. Soo.— Vol. XXIII. — No. 9. — Session 1883-4.

explosions ; and if Dr. Dalton was very anxious he would
try, but how ? The Dr. then suggested some bottles filled
with water, then taken into the mine and emptied, and
when emptied well corked. Mr. Wood said he thought he
would send his apprentice to his friend with bottles and
instructions, and he felt sure it would be attended to
correctly. / was then ashed and willingly volunteered to
go.

Four wine bottles which the Dr. thought sufficient were
got and a wine basket that just held them, with a piece of
sealing-wax in my pocket and four tightly fitting corks
greased at the ends, to be inserted. I started for Oldham with
the note. Mr. Wood drove me as far as Hollinwood ; from
thence I walked to Oldham and with some difficulty found
the gentleman, who was just starting on a journey. After
reading the note he smiled, and asked me to get into his
gig. He drove right to the pits, explained the matter fully
to his manager and left me in his care. The underlooker
was then signalled from the pit, and soon after made his
appearance, black enough from head to foot. Careful in-
structions were given to him on taking the basket. I
interfered and said I had come to see the matter myself,
and therefore wished to go into the pit. The manager
smiled and asked me if I had ever been in a coal pit, I
said no, but I was ready to go. So in the end we prepared
to start; I was placed in the tub with the underlooker, who
went with me one leg in the tub and the other outside, to
guard the descent as there were no conducting rods. On
progressing downwards I felt a curious sensation as though
I should be sick, and I sensibly felt I was descending
rapidly on looking at the sides of the pit, but when the
light failed the motion appeared reversed, as though I was
going upwards. In a few seconds more I felt the elasticity
of the rope, which felt as though it elongated and contracted
alternately, and which produced something like sea sick-

ness; on the tub reaching the floor of the mine I got out
and was surrounded by about half a dozen black faced
mortals, full of curiosity as to what I could want there.
What had the bottles in them? Was it gin? My conductor
replied, " nobhut water " ; loud laughter followed, "Neaw,
lads," says the conductor, "look handy; two of you go with
me and this lad as far as we can with candles and then
stop for orders."

The conductor took the basket preceded by one of the
men. I followed, and a man followed me ; in this order we
marched along the mine. I felt the iron rails beneath
my feet. After proceeding for a considerable distance I
heard a noise like thunder, and enquired what it was. The
conductor said only the wagons. Now, said he, stand close
to the wall. I had no sooner done so when four wagons of
coal were pushed past by lads. We then proceeded as before;
at last we got to a point that the conductor called out.
Halt, and put out all candles but one that was put into a
lump of clay and fasten'd on the wall of the passage.

" Now go on carefully," Soon after we came to a turn
and enter'd another drift, where we had to creep in a bent
position. My breathing at this time became difficult, I
felt great oppression about my chest, and the perspiration
was profuse all over my body. The conductor called out to
me, " Heaw dost feel, lad ?" I said, "Not very well !" "Con
theaw manage a bit further ?" I replied, " I think I can."
We then proceeded, but in a short time we stopped. The
conductor declared it was not safe to go further, " Neaw,
lad," said he, " get done what theaw has to do." He gave
me the basket, I felt for the bottles, took one and gave a
cork to one of the party, and having emptied the water out
gave the bottle to be corked well, instructing him to force it
in well, and so on with the other three bottles, which when
finished, I said I was ready to return, the bottles being put
mouths downwards into the basket.

We then began to retrace Our steps, and eveiy few seconds
I felt a sensible relief in my breathing. Turning from the
narrow drift into the main track, we progressed more rapidly,
until I could see a glimmer of light at a distance. It was
the candle we had left, and by the time we arrived at it, I
felt no difficulty at all in my breathing. I now asked the men
to stay a few minutes. One held the candle and I took the
piece of sealing wax out of my pocket, melted it at the
candle — having first cut the cork off level — smeared it over
with the wax. We then proceeded and soon arrived at the
bottom of the shaft. Five or six miners, now full of curiosity,
crowded round. One said "That's a queer go, bringing
water and taking nowt back." " Aye," said another, " and
corking nowt down, as if it would jump out." These remarks
were cut short by my conductor telling me to get into the
tub, basket and all. The signal given, we mounted and left
our curiosity mongers no wiser.

The same sensations accompanied me up as on the way
down, and when we emerged from the pit's mouth the sun was
shining brilliantly, and the more so it appeared from being
in the dark regions for some hour and a half; the daylight
was to me a pleasurable surprise and delight. I experienced
a similar sight in after years on emerging from the Peak
Cavern in Derbyshire, after a long visit in its interior, on
rounding the angle of a rock and coming suddenly to where
the light came streaming in. But to my narrative : the
underlooker gave an account to the banksman, who
remarked that I should make a collier in time, then sent a
lad with me to carry the basket and show me the way to
Manchester Street in Oldham. Having arrived there, I
looked about me to see if there was any way of riding to
Manchester; seeing none, I trudged along homewards. After
I had gone a mile or so, I saw a stand coach with the horse's
head towards Manchester standing at a public house door.
I went in and asked the driver if he would give me a lift to
Manchester. He asked me in return " If I saw any green

in his eye!" After he had perpetrated his joke, he told me
he would take me for five shillings. I said I had no five
shillings to spend, but if he would take me and the basket
to 51, King St., Manchester, I would give him half a crown.
After some demur he said, " Well, get in " ; and off' we set,
and a weary ride I got. He stopped at almost every public
house either to drink or let his horse drink. In two hours
I landed safely in King Street. Mr. Wood was delighted
and laughed heartily at my account, paid the man his two
shillings and sixpence, and sent me to wash and refresh
myself When that was done, I was sent to George Street
with my bottles. The Doctor received me very kindly, and
the quiet twinkle of his eye showed his satisfaction, which
was greatly increased when he learned the particulars of my
travels. He eyed the bottles with great satisfaction, he
looked at the corks closely sealed and seemed puzzled. I
asked him what he was going to do with them. "Well," he
said, " I am thinking how I am to get the corks out without
mixing it, more or less, with the atmosphere. I want to put
the air into that receiver on the shelf of that pneumatic
trough." I said, " I think I could do it." He looked at me
and said, " How ? " I said, " File the bottle neck round, and
then a smart tap under the water I think will do it." He
said, "Capital, thou shalt try." He gave me some coppers to
fetch a file, and I soon filed a bottle neck round, then held
it under the shelf of the pneumatic trough, a gentle tap
with the handle of a knife and the air bubbles very speedily
rose into the receiver. The other bottles were beheaded,
and very soon I took leave of the Doctor, who was apparently
well pleased, and on parting said, if there was anything in
his lectures which I did not understand, he wished me not
to hesitate but ask him and he would always willingly
assist me, and he was as good as his word; in fact, he
showed me many little kindnesses afterwards, and so ends
my small reminiscence of Dr. Dalton.

" Pasteur and the Germ Theory," by Frederick J.
Faraday, F,L.S.

1. — I have been encouraged by Dr. Angus Smith to
present to you a resume of some of the most remarkable
results of the experimental development of what is known
as the germ theory. In carrying into effect this idea
it will not be expected that I should restrict my
attention to Pasteur's work. There have been many
able workers besides Pasteur in this field of biological in-
vestigation. But the work done by Pasteur is so original
and important that he may well be regarded as the great
leader of the school; and such other work as it may be
desirable to refer to, can be most conveniently dealt with as
bearing upon his researches. I have no new microbe to show
you, nor have I succeeded in demonstrating the mutual con-
vertibility of any known species. I have, however, given
considerable attention to the literature of the subject, and
it has appeared to my kind sponsor, as a member of this
Society, that a special presentation of such of the facts as
have grouped themselves together in my mind, and of some
of the thoughts which have been spontaneously evolved from
those groupings, might not be without utility. It may
provoke what may be considered at the present juncture as
a timely discussion, which may bring into clear outline the
frontier points of one of the most profound and practical
series of inquiries which have ever fascinated scientific men
or exercised the human intellect. It is very probable that
the paper may take a more philosophical turn than wiU be
in keeping with the exact scientific character of the papers
which the Society is in the habit of receiving. In extenua-
tion I must plead that the Society is known as the Literary
and Philosophical Society, and that according to the interesting
centenary volume lately published by it, it has from time to
time received even purely speculative communications. To
follow the example of men like Percival and White may
appear not entirely reprehensible.

2, — It is now a couple of centuries since Leeuwenhoek
communicated to the Royal Society an account of what was
apparently the first discovery of bacteria. In a letter to
Nature Professor Cohn, a few months ago, called the
attention of the scientific world to the fact that towards the
close of 1083, Leeuwenhoek announced the discovery of
active microscopic organisms, including bacilli, bacteriums,
and vibrions. 'J'he Dutch microscopist discovered them in
the white substance adhering to his teeth, and bearing in
mind the important part which thermal conditions have
plaj^ed, or have been supposed to play in recent experiments
on the sterilisation of "culture" infusions and the "attenu-
ation" of microbes, it is worth while to note that, failing on
a subsequent occasion to perceive the movements of bacteria
in the same substance, he assumed that they had been killed
by the hot coffee which he had taken at breakfast. The
discovery not only gave a new vitality to the discussions on
spontaneous generation, both sides finding therein arguments
in favour of their special opinions, but also suggested ideas
as to the propagation of contagious diseases and the nature
of infection. In the papers communicated to the Hoyal
Society during the last quarter of the 17th and the 1st
quarter of the 18th centuries we find most of the ideas which
are still the leading ideas of micro-biologists. With refer-
ence to generation in general it is argued that the animalcule
is the germ furnished only by the male, and that the
female merely supplies the nidus requisite for its develop-
ment. Springing from this hypothesis we have the
suggestion that the nidus affects or modifies the germ, which
I take to imply that, given the germ, the nidus in which it
is implanted determines the species evolved therefrom.
Experiments were made with rain water, mineral water,
infusions of pepper-corns, bay-berries, oats, barley, and
wheat, and the scum collected from these infusions was
discovered to be masses of organisms. Round and elongated

pulsating bodies with transparent ends and opaque centres
were observed. The possibility of disease being carried
from person to person by sheets, towels, handkerchiefs,
gloves, &c., in consequence of minute organisms having
obtained a lodgment thereon, is referred to as an inference
from the fact that the minute organism of itch can live out-
side the body for two or three days. The existence of
globular and elliptical micro-organisms in water, wine,
brandy, vinegar, beer, spittle, and urine is mentioned, with
the occasional, though rare appearance of spots therein and
central constriction ; and the tendency of certain species to
seek the top of the liquor apparently " for the sake of the
air" is also mentioned. Small-pox is compared to fermen-
tation, and it is suggested that it may be propagated through
the air, "a bad disposition of the air" being favourable to
its reappearance. It is suggested that the "variolous pus"
when inoculated finds in the body "the native congenial
variolous seeds," and ferments with them. This appears
to be an inversion of the common modern doctrine which
regards the inoculated matter as containing the germ and the
animal body as producing the special fluid or milieu for its
development ; but it is perhaps in accordance with the ideas
of Bdchamp, the "native congenial variolous seeds" being
possibly the micro-zymes of that inquirer.

3. — These earliest speculative results of Leeuwenhoek's
important discoveries cover the whole range of the latest
investigations into the nature, life-history, and action of
microbes. The problems then started still occupy the minds
of scientific men, and it may even be said that no absolute
answer has yet been given to any of them. Though Dr. Tyndall
has said that the doctrine of spontaneous generation is dead,
the advocates of that doctrine are prepared to maintain that
the question has only been moved a stage further back. It
is quite certain that the extreme members of the evolutionary
school would not admit that it has been finally demonstrated

that inorganic matter does not contain *' the promise and
potency of all terrestial life"; indeed this is the doctrine
enunciated by Tyndall himself at Belfast ; and it is equally
certain that even many of those who do deny that orgatj -
isms capable of reproducing their species are ever evolved
from absolutely unorganised matter, nevertheless do not
consider the presence of any specific atmospheric or other
germ as necessary for the reproduction of any given species.
There is a domain which still invites the experimentalist,
who may succeed in harmonising apparently antagonistic
ideas. A very large and important amount of work has
been done in showing the analogies between fermentation
and disease, and in discovering apparently specific patho-
genic microbes or ferments. Indeed, in recent years the
multiplication of specific microbes has become almost em-
barrassing. But though strong evidence has unquestionably
been adduced tliat, at least in certain cases, the characteris-
tic microbe is the originator of the disease, or is capable
of conveying it, the very multiplication of microbes is
reviving the question as to whether these organisms
are the causes or merely the accompaniments (in the sense
in which the vulture is the accompaniment of carrion), or
even the products of disease. The recognition of these facts
does not imply any depreciation of the practical value
or the significance of the work which has been done during
the last thirty years, but helps us to a clearer view of its
bearing and scope.

4. — In considering the development of the germ theory we
may pass almost directly from Leeuwen-hoek and his con-
temporaries to Pasteur, As a matter of history we must
not ol course overlook the observations of Cagniard La Tour
and Schwann, based upon an observation of Leeuwenhoek,
and really establishing the vegetable nature of yeast. But
it is to Pasteur that we are indebted for definite progress in
establishing or refuting the ideas which sprang immediately

from Leeuwenhoek's discovery. The work of the Germans,
and even of the French, apart from Pasteur, has been mainly
in the filling up of details. Extremely important have
been many of those details. The discovery of the micro-
organism of anthrax by Rayer and Davaine ; the subsequent
discovery by Koch of the spores into which the anthrax
filaments break up; Koch's discovery of the bacillus of
tuberculosis ; and, lastly, the same ardent investigator's latest
discoveries bearing upon the nature and etiology of cholera,
are all alike, not only important confirmations of previously-
existing ideas, but in themselves elucidatory and sug-
gestive. The Germans, too, have been most important
critics, a natural consequence of their close attention to
details; and Koch's criticisms of Pasteur's work may be
perused with the greatest advantage by all who are in-
terested in the subject, or are practically engaged in medical
or surgical work. Some regret may be felt at a certain
want of respect for the great Frenchman which seems to
pervade the illustrious German's remarks. The true lover
of science is little impressed, however, by the temporary
acrimony of rival investigators, but is thankful for their
mutual watchfulness. Pasteur remains the central figure
in connection with the modern development of the germ
theory; the discoveries and criticisms of the greatest of
his contemporaries in the same sphere of investigation
are, after all, of the nature of side-lights upon his work.

5. — This is not the place in which to offer any opinion on
theistic questions. But it is strictly within the scope of a
scientific paper to recognise facts having a direct bearing
upon the subject under consideration. It is a fact that
Pasteur must be added to the list of "spiritualist" grands
initiateurs enumerated b}'' Naville. We may take cogni-
sance of Pasteur's religious beliefs as resulting in an attitude
of mind and a selective influence which have undoubtedly
been the primary conditions of his peculiar success. Per-

haps the most general expression of the scientific conse-
quence of his beliefs will be to say that they have made of
him in even an unusually strict sense an inductive rather
than a deductive inquirer. He has approached natural
phenomena, in the most absolute sense of the words, with
the simplicity and teachableness of a pupil. When the
French Ministry of Agriculture commissioned him in 18G5
to study the diseases of the silk-worm, Pasteur, as he declares
in the preface to his "Etudes sur la Maladie des Vers a
Sole," had never even seen a silk- worm. He mentioned
this fact as a reason for declining the commission. " It is all
the better" said Dumas, "that you know nothing about
the subject; you will liave no ideas upon it except those
which result from your own observations." The determin-
ing mental conditions in Pasteur's work have been, firstly, a
profound sense of the gulf between organic and inorganic
matter, and, secondly, what may be most accurately de-
scribed as a Christian sense of duty to his neighbours. Tlie
first was expressed in his discovery of what he calls molecu-
lar dissymmetry, resulting in his formulation of the law that
while all inorganic compounds can be superposed, all organic
compounds are characterised by what he has graphically
symbolised as right and left-handedness. Starting from this
basis, the same fundamental principle guided him into a
strong opposition of the doctrine of spontaneous generation,
and into the famous researches on fermentation which have
afforded the sure foundation of the modern developments of
the germ theory, of the study of the etiology and rational
treatment of zymotic diseases, of antiseptic surgery, and of
sanitary science in general. Nor is the second principle less
deserving of recognition as a cause of Pasteur's science.
Dumas's description of the misery resulting to the rural
population of France from the silk-worm disease induced
him to undertake those researches on ijehrine and flacherie
which resulted in further important confirmations and eluci-

dations of the germ theory; his researches on the " maladies"
of beer were undertaken with the avowed hope that the
impoverishment of France, consequent on the war of 1870,
might be alleviated by the establishment of a great national
brewing industry, rivalling that of Germany; in the interests
of the ruined stock farmers of France, and with the same
patriotic motive, he turned his attention to fowl cholera and
anthrax; and not less have his later researches on every
zymotic disease on which he has been able to lay his hands,
and on hydrophobia, been inspired by a philanthropic desire
to minister to the happiness of mankind.

6. — In studying the work of one of the greatest and most
successful investigators of this century, it is of scientific
importance to recognise all the conditions which have con-
tributed to the attainment of such remarkable results ; and
the facts noted in the last paragraph really force themselves
upon the attention of the student of Pasteur's writings. It
is the more desirable that attention should be given to these
facts because erroneous impressions concerning Pasteur may
retard the progress of science by weakening the influence of
his utterances, and the confidence which they merit. There
is a danger that the animated scenes in the French Academic
des Sciences which have occasionally been reported, the tone
of some of Koch's criticisms, the charges of dogmatism which
have been levelled against Pasteur, and still more the mis-
leading statements of those whose judgments are weakened
by a more or less morbid and ignorant sentimentality re-
specting the lower animals, may give rise to misconceptions
of the character of Pasteur. It is worth while, therefore, to
say that no reader of Pasteur's own works can rise from
their perusal without a strong consciousness that Pasteur is,
in an exceptional degree, a single-minded and earnest man.

7. — The foregoing brief resume of the course of Pasteur's
investigations indicates the inquiries into which the accu-
mulated mass of work done in connection with the develop-

ment of the germ theory now resolves itself. Starting with
Leeuwenhoek's discovery of micro-organisms, Cagniard
La Tour and Schwann's discovery that the globules of yeast
are living plants capable of indefinite multiplication in
suitable media, and Pasteur's demonstration that fermenta-
tion in general is necessarily associated with the presence
of living organisms, we have opened up a series of most
profound inquiries into the relations between chemical force
and aflanities in general and that undefined something
which may be provisionally called vital force. From
speculations as to the influence of vital force on the chemistry
of nature in general, concerning which vastly wider views
are now presented than were dreamt of in the pre-Pasteurian
period, we naturally pass to inquiries as to the influence of
chemical conditions upon the special forms and the special
attributes of particular forms of organized life. From such
inquiries we proceed to inquiries as to the origin and nature
of microbes themselves, and the phenomena of their patho-
logical relations.

8. — With the overthrow of Liebig's motion or contact
theory of fermentation, and the substitution of Pasteur's
demonstrations that fermentation is a vital process, our
view of the influence of the unknown force, vitality, in the
chemistry of nature, has become so vastly extended that it
may almost be said that chemical changes are dependent
upon life. Death itself is life. The tendency is to the
conclusion that no other foims of force could exert
a sustained influence in rearranging the elements of
matter. The changes possible in consequence of mere
thermal or electrical conditions are so strictly limited that
it may be said that without vitality certain forms and com-
binations of matter must have been eternal. Chemical
afiinity alone must have resulted in absolute stability.
Wc may conceive the possibility of heat from an external
source breaking up any matter, even living matter; but it

is the tendency of Pasteur's work to show that without
such external action and without life a few given forms
must have remained for ever unchanged. We have long
been familiar with the notion that life alone can build up
organic combinations. The vegetable takes up the inorganic
element and elaborates it into food for the more complex
tissues of the animal; Pasteur's teaching brings us to the
conclusion that for the reverse process life is still necessary.
Without the action of micro-organisms, dead organic matter
would accumulate and be at least as permanent as the
rocks. Pasteur's researches tend to banish from the universe
such a process as purely chemical decay. It is the function
of anaerobies to split up organic tissues into simpler com-
binations, and we are indebted to the aerobics for the
resolution of these simpler combinations into inorganic
forms. It seems almost as though chemical affinity acted
under the direction and control of life, and the fact that
man in the laboratory is able to produce artificial compounds
can scarcely be regarded as an exception to this rule. The
opinions based on Pasteur's suggestion in 1862, that the
production of nitrates in the soil is the work of a living
organism, have been much strengthened and extended by
such papers as that by Mr. R, Warington, on the value of
microbes to the agriculturist, read at the meeting of the
Brit. Assn., at Southport, last year. Not less remarkable
is Dr. Angus Smith's discovery of the giving off of hydrogen
from water as a consequence of the presence of microbes,
and as constituting even a test of their activity. A brief
r^sum4 of Dr. Smith's observations on this point appeared
in the Manchester Guardian, of January 28. Dr. Smith's
own account, which will form part of his forthcoming report
as Inspector under the Rivers Pollution Commission, will
be looked forward to with the greatest interest, and all will
anticipate with keen expectation Dr. Smith's further
researches based on a discovery which seems so full of

suggestiveness. Dr. Smith nnds that from very pure spring
water up to the most foul sewage hydrogen is given off,
and that in each case its quantity is strictly proportionate
to the activity of the microbe life present. Nitrates are
found in rain water, but have been attributed by Obin and
Muntz to electrical action, and to the presence of minute
crystals in the atmosphere.* Considered from Pasteur's
standpoint it will be seen that such phenomena may vastly
extend our idea of the part played by life throughout the
universe. The philosophical result of Pasteur's teaching
may be perhaps best expressed by his answer to the famous
question of Liebig, repeated by M. Bouillaud in the Academy
of Sciences, as to what are the ferments of ferments ? " If,"
says Liebig, " the fungus or mushroom be the cause of the
destruction of the oak — if the animalcule be the cause of
the putrefaction of a dead elephant ; what then is the cause
of putrefaction after death of the fungus ? what is the cause
of the putrefaction and decay of the dead animalcule ?
They also ferment, decay, and putrefy, and finally disappear
entii'ely, just as do the mighty tree and the gigantic animal ;
and the final products are the same in all." " Dead aerobics,"
replies M. Pasteur, "become the prey of new aerobics of
difterent species or of their own species. Though a mass
of germs becomes in its turn a mass of organic matter
susceptible to putrefaction and combustion, those germs,
nevertheless, represent life in its eternal form ; for life is
the germ, and the germ is life."

9. — A consideration of the new views as to the influence
of the microbe in the chemistry of the universe naturally
leads to a consideration of the possible influence of chemical
conditions upon the microbe. This is the old question of the
influence of tlie environment upon the form of the organism,
or, as we may say, in perhaps a deeper philosophical sense,
upon its life. This branch of the enquiry has an important

* If any reliance can be placed on spectrum analysis, alcohol is present
in the tails of comets.

bearing upon the pathological problems involved. One of
the things which most strike the student of Pasteur's work
and that of his followers is the remarkable variety of condi-
tions under which microbe life is apparently carried on.
Here again it seems as though life was the dominant force
in the universe which moulded almost any conceivable con-
ditions to its use. " You have discovered," said Dumas to
Pasteur, "a third order of beings in animated nature —
creatures who can live either with or without free oxygen."
Following up the experiments of Pasteur demonstrating the
existence of life outside the conditions which mankind had
come to regard as essential to life, and resulting in his classi-
fication of germs as anaerobies and aerobics, we have had a
most astonishing series of observations. Semper has called
attention to the fact that far higher forms of life, than we
assume the micro-organisms to be, actually do live under
gaseous conditions which would be fatal to the higher verte-
brata, and that the capability of breathing assumed poison-
ous gases varies greatly in different animals. The mere
inference by Pasteur that each form of fermentation has its
peculiar ferment implies the existence of life under a most
extraordinary variety of chemical conditions. Dr. Miquel
has cultivated a bacterium which has the singular power of
transforming sulphur into sulphuretted hydrogen and which
apparently lives and prospers in a milieu charged with
sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The same experimentalist is
sure of at least one bacillus whicli lives and multiplies in
solutions heated to a temperature of from 70 to 72 deg. C,
or 15 degrees above the temperature assigned by Cohn as
the limit beyond which, though spores may retain latent the
power of germinating, no actual growth or multiplication by
scissiparity or spore production can take place. Van
Tieghem professes to have carried the limit within which
vegetation is possible up to 74 deg. C. We have further the
experiments of the lamented Frank Hatton on the cultiva-

tion of bacteria in the presence of various gases supposed to
be inimical to life, showing that bacteria can live and thrive
in the presence of carbonic oxide, cyanogen, sulphurous
anhydride, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, carbonic anhydride, and
coal gas. Bacteria were also cultivated by the same inquirer
in solutions containing large quantities of salicylic acid,
strychnine, morphine, narcotine, and brucine. In all these
cases the presence of the bacteria affected in a greater or less
degree the chemical results ; the decomposition of cyanogen,
for instance, was " assisted " by the bacteria.

10. — In all these cases it is far from unreasonable to
assume that the particular media acted upon may have, in
their turns, an influence upon the germs themselves. And
although with that strong tendency to see things simply as
they are and to avoid generalising, which is, in a peculiar
degree, the quality of Pasteur, the author of the modern
theory of fermentation has refused to recognise the hypo-
thesis of Von Nageli, Buchner, and of Dr. William Roberts, as
to the con vertibility of the different species of micro-organisms,
he does not expressly deny its possibility, and has, indeed,
together with his immediate disciples, demonstrated by many
suggestive and remarkable experiments the existence of a
certain amount of variability, or adaptability, in microbes.
But provisionally, at least, Pasteur rests upon the recognition
of a special ferment for each particular kind of fermentation,
and what is, in his view, another way of saying the same
thing, a special microbe for each zymotic disease ; and the
variability which he admits is simply a variability of vigour.
With him, moreover, vigour and youth appear to be con-
vertible terms, and it is important in following the course of
his researches to retain this idea. " Do I deny absolutely the
polymorphism of 3Iycoderma aceti 1 " says Pasteur in his
" Etudes sur la Biere;" " on the contrary, I have endeavoured
many times to establish it. I have sought chiefly for
physiological polymorphism, that is, whether Mycoderma

100

aceti was not, for instance, the aerobic mucor of a ferment
differing from it physiologically, say of the lactic ferment,
whose analogies of form with the Mycoderma aceti are
sometimes striking. I have not found anything hitherto.
What I deny, with reference to this Mycoderma, are the
polymorphisms admitted by M. Bechamp and other authors,
which, in my judgment, rest upon erroneous and incomplete
observations." Dr. Miquel, whose remarkable book on " Les
Organismes Vivants de 1' Atmosphere," containing the record
of his experiments at the Montsouris Observatory, is full of
interest, gives his testimony on the same side. " The theory
of the evolution of species," he says, " can derive little profit
from this class of experiments if they are conducted witli
the necessary rigour." After an enormous number of experi-
ments he has found that the different species of microbes
maintain their ha.bits and their individuality unchanged for
months and years. "Of 80,000 experiments," adds Dr. Miquel
elsewhere, "not one has contradicted the aflBrmations of M.
Pasteur, while many are in complete opposition to the
statements published by some of his too zealous or inexperi-
enced followers." Klein, as well as Koch, has also been forced
to the conclusion that no satisfactory proof of the truth of
Von Nageli's fascinating hypothesis of the "sporting" of
saprophytes, or in other words, of the conversion of patho-
genic bacteria into harmless saprophytes, and the reduction
of the latter into the former, has yet been adduced, and he
has published a series of experiments tending to show that
Buchner was mistaken in supposing that he had established
the convertibility of Bacillus suhtilis and Bacillus anthra-
cis, and offering an explanation of the phenomena on which
Buchner's conclusion was based.

11. — Nevertheless it must be admitted that the successive
outbreaks and disappearances of epidemics, and the observa-
tions of Pasteur and others on the adaptability of microbes
to different environments, and on the attenuation and

101

cultivation of their vigour as ferments, cause Von Nageli's
hypothesis to have an inherent probabiHty. Not that the
idea that there is a struggle for existence between rival
microbes, enunciated by Pasteur in his "Etudes sur la Biere,"
assumed by Klein to be the explanation of Buclmer's
supposed evolution of the anthrax bacillus from the hay
bacillus (both forms being supposed to have inadvertently
obtained admission to Buchner's culture solutions), and
referred to by Miquel as the explanation of the varying
proportions of germs in his cultures, may not also explain
the occurrence of epidemics. If we assume the absolute
inconvertibility of all species of microbes, epidemics might
still be explained as the consequence of the occurrence of
temporary conditions more favourable to the development
of noxious than of harmless species. But this would really
force us logically to the conclusion that all zymotic
diseases have specifically existed as long as life itself.
On the other hand we must be careful to distinguish be-
tween variability of species and what Pasteur means by
variability of vigour. Pasteur's idea is perhaps most
clearly conveyed by the use of the terms young and old
germs, or we may perhaps better grasp the idea by using
the terras tame and savage germs. Thus, let us take the
remarkable observation of Pasteur concerning the difi*erence
in the proportion of fermentation accomplished in brewing,
to weight of organism, in the presence or absence of free
oxygen. In shallow vessels in which the ferment easily
obtains free oxygen, 1 kilogramme of ferment will correspond
to 5 or 6 kilogrammes only of decomposed sugar; while in
deep vats, in which the free oxygen is speedily exhausted,
and the access of fresh supplies is prevented by the layer
of carbonic acid formed above the vats, a kilogramme
of ferment corresponds to 70, 80, 100, and even 150
kilogrammes of sugar decomposed. It is as though the
ferment in the presence of free oxygen lived the quiet and

102

easy life of civilization, brought up a large family, and
destroyed or consumed no more than was necessary for
the support of the community; while the ferment thrust
into the recesses of the vat and forced to tear oxygen
from the material around him, figuratively speaking, cuts
down a tree in order to cook a dinner, and destroys a
forest in order to obtain a little breathing space. As the
savage may acquire strength and ferocity by his mode of
life, so it may be inferred that the germ actually acquires
virulence by exercise in its anaerobic mode of life. The
question is, does this virulence become fixed by heredity,
in any case, in such a way as to amount to the establishment
of a new species, with peculiar attributes which will enable
it, not only to tear oxygen as a saprophyte from dead organic
matter, but as a parasite from living tissues. For it must
be borne in mind that, so far as reliable experiment has yet
gone, the process absolutely stops at this point. The trans-
formation of the harmless saprophyte into the deadly animal
disease has not yet been conclusively shown.

12. — Modern scientific ideas and discoveries do not so much
displace old ideas as spring from them. There is usually a
certain basis of experience for the old ideas, and experience
is really a basis of fact, which must be true. Hence it is
natural that inquirers into the variability of germs and their
pathogenic relations should turn to oxygen as being likely
to play an important part in this connection. The influence
of oxygen as a purifier of water attracted the attention of Dr.
Angus Smith long before Pasteur's attenuation experiments.
As he himself has explained, this was a natural consequence
of the ideas of the older chemists as to the influence of
oxygen as the active agent of decay. Again, the value of
ventilation and fresh air in cases of consumption was insisted
upon by medical men long before Koch's discovery of the
Bacillus tuberculosis. From the beginning of his inquiries
Pasteur has been strongly disposed to regard oxygen as an

103

attenuating agent, or, in other words, as an agent for re-
ducing the parasitic virulence of germs. For it may be
suggested that the ability or habit of a ferment to tear highly
complex organic compounds to pieces, so to speak, in order
to procure the oxygen which, under other circumstances, it
would obtain in tlie free state, is a kind of parasitic quality.
Philosophically the anaerobic which feeds upon dead organic
matter may be considered as an intermediate between the in-
nocent aerobic saprophyte and the deadly anaerobic parasite
which feeds upon the living tissues or fluids. Therefore the
question presents itself whether the presence of free oxygen
and the proportion in which it is present with other gases,
may be regarded as having really an educational influence
upon the innocent saprophyte. In an early report on
graveyards Mr. David Chadwick mentions a case of a man
having been struck dead by a single puff of air from a
long-closed vault in which the dead had been interred,
whereas no such accidents happen in country churchyards.
Again, Dr. Angus Smith has called our attention to the fact
that the emanations from moving waters like the Clyde,
open to the free air, though they may cause sickness, do not
cause fevers ; whereas the emanations from covered sewers,
where the atmosphere will have a very different character
to that over the Clyde, and from closed tombs and vaults,
do cause fevers, and, as in the case mentioned above, even
sudden death. But surely we cannot assume that the spe-
cific germs of typhoid, say, deliberately remain in the sewer
and shun the river; or that specific agents of decay enter
the vault beneath the city church and shun the country
churchyard. We can scarcely draw a line beyond which no
disease germ will venture to go. After all, therefore, the
difference between the typhoid germ in the sewer and the
germs in the river, the ferments in the country churchyard
and those in the unventilated vault, is one of virulence ; in
other words, the river germ is an attenuated germ, and the

104

reason why it produces nausea, let us say, only, and not
fever, is because it is not strong enough to overcome the
vital force of the person attacked. Undoubtedly there are
various degrees of virulence. Apart even from Pasteur's
wonderful "vaccine" experiments we know that there are
mild and severe fevers, various degrees of diarrhoea, of which
Asiatic cholera (according to Jules Guerin and Sir William
Hunter) may be the most virulent form, and various degrees
of small-pox. In the Board of Health reports on the cholera
epidemic of 1848-9 it is stated that distinct warning of its
approach was given in every European city by the prevalence
of intermittent fever, dysentery, and especially diarrhoea;
and reports on subsequent epidemics have so fully confirmed
this observation that it may be taken as an axiom that
cholera is always preceded by epidemic diarrhoea. To a cer-
tain extent we may therefore provisionally regard the nature
of the gases in which microbes find themselves, in compari-
son with what I will call the standard of pure air, as deter-
mining the degree of parasitic virulence. In a paper read
at the meeting of the British Association at Southampton, I
ventured to suggest that the development of the tubercle
bacillus as a deadly parasite might be due, so to speak, to
its imprisonment in lungs inefiiciently aerated, either in
consequence of hereditary structure inducing weak breathing
habits, the habitual breathing of air containing less than the
healthy proportion of oxygen, or the choking of the air
passages through catarrh or the inhaling of dust. Miquel
points out that the proportion of "young" microbes is ex-
ceptionally large in sewers, where old or exhausted microbes
are rare.

1.3. — But if we assume degrees of virulence from harmless
to deadly in one and the same species, we imply a
gradation from saprophyte to parasite, and from aerobic to
anaerobic. For even if attenuation by means of free oxygen
be regarded as the slow killing of the parasite, we can

105

scarcely assume that free oxygen has been always fatal to
the parent forms; for in that case how could we realise
the possibility of zymotic diseases having ever begun,
unless we trace them back to some time when poisonous
vapours enfolded the earth ? And, granted various stages
of vi.rulence from harmless to deadly in one and the same
species, how are we to define the difference of species ?
We may define species pathologically by the different
symptoms of the diseases with which they are associated,
and to some extent possibly by the forms of the microbes.
We may also classify microbes by the marked differences of
their own constitutions. For the susceptibility of these
organisms seems to differ in the most extraordinary fashion.
What is meat for one appears to be poison for another.
Thus, in his latest report on the cholera bacillus, Koch tells
us that the smallest proportion of acid is fatal to the life of
that organism, yet we know that other bacilli live and thrive
in strongly acid solutions. Ideas bearing upon these later
discoveries have long been current, witness Dr. Angus
Smith's remark in 1848, that a man might be capable of one
disease on one day and another disease on the following day.
Perhaps the peculiar susceptibilities of the microbes may be
developed and fixed as the peculiar virulence is developed
and fixed. The desirableness of further experiments on the
cultivation of organisms in various gases, and particularly on
the cultivation of the spores, is strongly suggested by these
considerations. It would also be worth while to test further
the specific consequences of the presence or absence of light.
1 4. — The presence or absence of oxygen is associated with
the question of spore formation. In this connection the
varying susceptibility or vigour of microbes, not only in
different animals, but in different milieux in the same
animal, must not be overlooked. Thus the virus of the
Maladie de Chabert, or Chai'hon symptomatique, formerly
supposed to be the same disease as anthrax, acts as a vaccine

106

if injected directly into the blood, while in solid tissues the
same culture produces fatal results, according to the
experiments of MM. Arloing, Cornevin, and Thomas. The
law which M. Paul Bert has deduced from such observations
is, that any condition which arrests the development of a
virus converts it into a vaccine, and this implies the
principle that specific microbes thrive better, or attain their
maximum virulence, in certain tissues or juices, and are
attenuated in others. Most remarkable series of observations
have been made with respect to the varying effects from
harmlessness to fatality of special microbes in different
animals. These have led Pasteur and his assistants, MM.
Chamberland and Roux, to the idea that differences of
temperature affect the vigour of the microbes, and thermal
conditions have been employed as a means of attenuation in
the production of protective cultures. Thus the usual
immunity of birds against anthrax inoculations is attributed
by Pasteur to the high temperature of their blood, and he
claims to have developed anthrax in the fowl by keeping its
body in cold water. We must not, however, overlook, nor
does Pasteur overlook, the possibility of the variation in the
susceptibility, or vigour, being not on the side of the microbe,
but on the side of the animal. Thus Koch claims to have
developed anthrax in birds in spite of their high temperature,
and he suggests that the fowl in Pasteur's experiment fell
a victim, not because of any change in the microbe, but
because the fowl's own vitality was lowered, weak animals
succumbing to ailments which in health they would success-
fully throw off. These views distinctly admit the idea of
a definite struggle for existence between the microbe and
the cells of the living animal. Pasteur's views as to the
influence of a few degrees more or less of heat on the
specific vitality of the microbe are, however, supported by
the experiments of Willems, and later of Arloing, Cornevin,
and Thomas on the development of inoculations in different

107

parts of the body. Thus inoculations in the tails of cattle
proved ineffective, but when the temperature was artificially
increased the specific disease developed. These ideas have
a bearing upon the greater or less success of vaccinations
according to the time of year when they are practised and
the surrounding conditions of temperature ; and also upon
the appearance of epidemics at particular seasons and in
particular years. Finally, with respect to the special
relations between the specific microbe and different tissues,
it may be mentioned that the special nidus of the virus of
rabies appears to be the nerve-centres.

15. — In regard to all these phenomena, the question of
spore formation cannot fail to attract attention, and the re-
lation between spore formation and the presence of oxygen
might prove a fruitful subject of inquiry. Klein's most in-
genious experiments on the cultivation of Bacillus anthracis
in gelatine pork tend to show that spores are not formed except
in the presence of free oxygen, and in opposition to Pasteur he
maintains that anthrax spores are never formed in the bodies
of animals. On the other hand Miquel's observations on
bacilli in general appear to agree to some extent with Pasteur's
opinions. He says: "We may experimentally induce the
formation of bacillus spores by depriving the bacilli of oxy-
gen, or in determining the slow death of the adult forms by
antiseptics, but evidently not by killing them rapidly, as
then all vital phenomena cease and spores cannot be formed.
The best way in which to obtain bacillus spores rapidly
appears to me to be by enclosing nutritive infusions charged
with filamentous bacilli in sealed tubes containing very little
air." There is much obscurity and contradiction on this point,
which may be due to all the conditions not having been duly
considered, and it seems to offer a most promising field for
investigation. Meanwhile the question arises whether the
so-called spores are really the terrible things we are inclined
to suppose them. There are some noteworthy phenomena con-

108

nected with spore formation, Pasteur maintains that anthrax
has been spread amongst cattle and sheep by the bringing
up of spores from buried carcases by earthworms, which is
opposed to the opinions of Koch and Klein that no spores are
ever formed in the bodies of animals. Again, Klein has found
that cultures of Bacillus anthracis which are fatal to rabbits
and guinea-pigs, whether forming spores or not, are only
fatal to mice when they are spore-forming cultures. In
considering all these various results we must bear in mind
that there are several modes in which the life of the higher
organism may be destroyed. The phenomenon may be simply
a strusfffle for existence between the microbes and the vital
cells of the animal body, in which the strongest survives,
death resulting from the destruction of the function of the
parts invaded, the loss of nutriment, or their absolute change
into another form of life, morbid growths or microbe life
resulting from a dissolution of the tie which holds the cells
too'ether as a community; or the products of the fermentive
action of the microbes may be poisonous, or may be poison-
ous in the particular channels in which they are produced;
or finally, as Dr. Cameron has suggested, the fatal result may
be due merely to the mechanical obstruction offered by mil-
lions of microbes blocking up the capillary circulation.
Vastly extended threads of mycelium growth would, of
course, have such a mechanical effect. Now, from the vitality
of spores, the fact that they resist destruction up to 110° C.
of heat, and that they seem to retain their specific life for
indefinite period,?, it is possible that we may be too much
disposed to malign them. Of the two modes of reproduc-
tion, the multiplication by scissiparity and the multipli-
cation by spores, may not the former be, at least in some
cases, the true disease form ? Spores, if cultivated in suitable
infusions, will apparently reproduce the Bacillus anthracis
of the parent cultures, and inoculations with such cultures
will kill with typical anthrax. But have we sure evidence

109

that inoculation with pure spores would be fiital ? Klein's
mice experiments already referred to seem to show this. It
is conceivable, however, that spores may require a suitable
dead medium for their development, and that only the living
organism, when developed, is able to contend as a parasite
with the living cells of the animal body. It is at least a re-
markable fact that experiment and observation are more and
more tending to associate the communication of disease
with liquids and moisture in which the bacilli are developed,
rather than with atmospheric influences. Koch finds that
desiccation is speedily fatal to the cholera germ, and
we know that the communication of the disease is ap-
parently associated peculiarly with the washing of infected
linen. The statement of Miquel that he has entirely failed
to develop disease in rabbits or guinea-pigs by means of
germs collected from the atmosphere may have a bearing on
this question. Of course, as Miquel observes, failure with
rabbits and guinea-pigs would not necessarily imply failure
with human beings, on whom experiments have not been
tried. This does not aflect the question of septic germs in
hospitals. There may well be spores which, though unable
to develop in living and healthy tissues or fluids, may find
the suitable preliminary medium of culture in morbid secre-
tions or dying tissues, as in wounds or in accumulations in the
lungs or intestines when the bodily functions are disordered.
Thus the spores of the cholera bacillus may pass safely with
undissolved food through the acids of the stomach which
would destroy the bacillus, and subsequently develop in the
intestines. The general principle would be that a body in a
bad state of health affords the preliminary conditions of
nourishment necessary for the development of the vigorous
parasite.

16. — The consideration of the question of spores, of nuclei,
and of the granulations into which non-spore producing
bacillus threads crumble leads to the inquiry, whence come

110

all the varied forms of microbe life ? There is scarcely any,
if there is any fluid, in which these minute forms are not
present. Dr. Angus Smith tells us that even in very pure
spring water he finds them doing chemical work. They are
present in the saliva, apparently elaborating a specific alka-
loid ; they are traceable in every organic fiuid which has not
been sterilised by heat. Under the microscope they " come
'like shadows, so depart." Leeuwenhoek wondered that his
moutli should contain more living beings than there were
people in the States of Holland, and modern microscopic in-
vestigation is certainly giving a kind of basis to the fancies
of Rabelais and Swift. Are our failures to convert diff*erent
species of microbes, to establish jDhysiological polymorphism,
due to the circum.stance that we do not begin with the
original forms ? The essence of Darwinism is not that the
cat has been developed from the lion, or the tiger from either,
but that all have proceeded from some more primitive form.
Possibly Bacillus anthracis is not a " sport " from Bacillus
suhtilis, but both are parallel developments from some more
simple organism. There is a cei^tain fascination in the ideas
of Bechamp. According to B^champ it is from the granu-
lations, from certain apparently amorphous structures
observable in organic liquids under the microscope, that all
the forms of organised life are evolved, according to the
conditions of culture. Bechamp believes in the continued
existence of such microzymes in chalk and other geological
formations of the life of past geological epochs. The
rocks themselves include the germs of life. This seems to
be a reproduction of the idea of Buffbn respecting the exis-
tence of organic molecules, as Pasteur has pointed out ; and
Bechamp in fact admits that it is. As already remarked,
Pasteur does not absolutely refuse to admit the possibility
of such an hypothesis; all that he says is that the experi-
ments which are said to have proved its truth are unsatis-
factory, and that it is so far absolutely without proof, no

Ill

such evolution as that implied having been artificially
accomplished. The idea in Bechamp's mind is, however,
essentially different from the idea of spontaneous generation ;
Bechamp's granulations are latent germs to begin with, which
may, according to their special surroundings, be differentiated
into all the forms of life. In the egg they are subservient
to the special life-history of the animal and are differentiated
with organs resembling those of the parent structure. But
freed from that mysterious vital bond which holds the com-
munity of cells together, each micro-zyme falls away into an
independent existence and may become a bacterium, or
bacillus, or vibrion. Thus, the apparently dead body is not
dead, it is simply the bond of union and co-operation which
is broken, and the structure is resolved into its still living
molecules. Nothing, says Bechamp, is the prey of death ; all is
the prey of life. Such an hypothesis would of course explain
the appearance of microbes in organic fluids without the inter-
vention of germs from the atmosphere being invoked. To the
experiments of Pasteur showing the non-development of life
in solutions previously heated, if atmospheric germs are
rigorously excluded, Bechamp replies that the heat which
has sterilised the fluids has destroyed the micro-zymes.
Pasteur in reply has carefully introduced blood direct from
the living animal into purified tubes from which all atmo-
spheric germs were excluded, and still without developing
fermentation or life in such fluids. This almost seems like
a conclusive experiment, but Bechamp is not convinced, and
may indeed reply that a negative result proves nothing in
this case, as the conditions may not have been suitable for
the development of the special micro-zymes present ^- the
blood. On the other hand there are analogies are

worth noting, and which suggest that there may m

both sides. Bdchamp cites the fermentation of os ',

whose thick, ivory-like and unbroken shells exc
contends, all atmospheric life. In these cases, howc

112

micro-zymes do not appear to have become microbes. To
Pasteur's discovery of the corpuscles of 'pehrine in the eggs
of the silk-worm, he replies that eggs contain many micro-
zymes, and that the peculiar disease corpuscles are simply
micro-zymes which have inherited the bad tendency de-
veloped in the micro-zymes of the parent moth and chrysalis.
Without forming any decisive opinion on this mysterious
and profound question (for what can appear more astonish-
ing than the continued life of a parasite, not merely in the
body of the parent worms, but actually in the eggs laid by
the moths?) attention may be drawn to the analogy between
the remarkable variety in the susceptibilities of microbes
and the apparently specialised chemical work of different
ferments, and the specialised chemical elaborations of the
cells of different organs of the animal body. Are not many
diseases of the human system, for instance, apparently due
to the excessive activity of specialised secreting cells, or to
the development of similar power of chemical elaboration by
other cells ; to an apparent change of function, as though
secreting cells of a given order were working in the wrong
places ? And are not such phenomena analogous to the in-
troduction into the blood or tissues of disease microbes
endowed with special chemical activities of their own?

17. — In the course of this paper, mention has been made
of the education of microbes. The idea has a bearing upon
Pasteur's astonishing protective vaccination discoveries, and
seems to have a relation to the mysterious phenomenon of
heredity. The microbes of particular diseases, when passed
from animal to animal, increase in virulence; thus, as Pasteur
has shown, the microbe, which was originally powerless to
kill a guinea-pig a week old, but which killed a guinea-pig
a day old, has been nursed into a breed capable of killing a
sheep. Yet there is apparently no specific change in the
successive generations of bacilli ; we must assume that the
chemical constitution of their bodies remains unchanged,

113

that they are essentially identical in structure ; the only
change is in the vigour of their life, developed hereditarily.
What is vigour, what is life, what is heredity ? When we
turn now to the animals in whom the zymotic diseases do
not recur, and to the phenomena of protective vaccination,
may we not assume that some educational influence of the
same kind is exerted upon the living cells of the animal
body ? The microbe which kills the unvaccinated animal
is the same, in all respects, as the microbe which fails to kill
the vaccinated animal ; the difference is in the cells of the
animal attacked. When it is suggested, as in the case of
small-pox for instance, that the vaccination has used up
some material, only rarely elaborated, in the body, and
necessary for the development of the microbe, are we not guilty
of as crude an attempt to represent the fact, as was the old
notion of a material caloric ? May we not with more philo-
sophy regard the phenomenon as some mysterious educational
influence, in the one case, as well as in the other. Regard-
ing the contest between the microbe and the living cells of
the body as a struggle for existence, may we not assume
that resisting vigour is developed in the one, as attacking
vigour is developed in the other ? Miquel records a most
remarkable instance which he says " seemed to show that
bacteria are endowed with instinctive movements." A
bacillus making a circular movement was arrested by a mass
of germs. It vigorously attacked the mass and by rapid
backward and forward pushes, attacking now right, and
now left, cleared a cul-de-sac, which it finally developed
into a complete canal; then it appeared to rest from its efforts.
Miquel was utterly astonished by the "address" with which
the bacillus thus disengaged itself from the vicious circle in
which it found itself engaged. Is there anything more
wonderful in this, than in the apparently instinctive move-
ments observed by Darwin in the tips of the radicles of
plants, the apparently muscular memory to which Romanes

114

calls attention as the real import of the phrase that " practice
makes perfect"? Smokers, for instance, know that they
have overcome the nausea of the first mild cigar, and edu-
cated the cells of which they consist into the enjoyment
even .of strong Havanas. It would seem as though in nature
no experience fails to leave its impress and its influence.
When we consider how minute is the germ, even of the most
intelligent vertebrate, which reproduces not only the specific
form and structure of the parent, but its instincts and —
excepting perhaps man^the influence of the experience of
its ancestors, it cannot seem too wonderful to suppose that
the protective influence of vaccines may be due to the oper-
ation of the same mysterious principle, and that the
discoverer of the physical cause of protective vaccination
will discover the nature of memory and heredity. Such
a problem may well be insoluble, and the scientific man,
like the Athenians of old, may have to content himself
simply with the recognition of the existence of the unknown;
but there is no more reason for discrediting the facts of
protective vaccination because they are beyond explanation,
than there would be for discrediting the facts of memory,
heredity, or life itself Reasoning from analogy, there is a,n
inherent probability in protective vaccination. Reduced to
its ultimate expression, animated nature would appear to
consist of Bufibn's organic molecules plus the principle of
organic memory, as inorganic nature is inert matter lolufi the
principle of motion.

j--^*t^-l»A^.i.

J L I E R A R Y ,

115

Annual General Meeting, April 29th, 1884.

H. E. RoscoE, Ph.D., LL.D., F.RS., &c., President,
in the Chair.

Mr. Alfred J. King, of Manchester, was elected an Ordinary
Member of the Society.

Annual Report of the Council, April, 1884.

The Treasurer reports that the expenditure of the Society
still gains slightly upon the receipts, and obliges your
Council to exercise a rigid economy in all the expending
departments. The increase in the number of new members
added to the roll during the past session has been a step in
the right direction, and the Council earnestly recommends
a still further extension of the membership as the best
means of placing the finances in a healthy condition. The
publication of the centenary volume would have been a great
drain upon the funds but for the generous gifts af a few
friends whose names appear in the balance sheet, and for
which the Society hereby expresses its hearty thanks.
These donations were offered in the hope that they would
lead to a more extended effort to enlarge the present build-
ing as a permanent memorial of the completion of a hundred
years of the Society's labours.

The present seems an opportune time for your Council to
earnestly commend this movement to the generous con-
sideration of the members, and through them to the outside
friends of the Society. Many of our fellow-citizens are
scarcely aware how important,- nay how essential, it is to
the public welfare to have a centre of the most advanced

Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIII.— No. 10.— Session 1883-4.

116

culture in our midst, — an institution which takes the stu-
dent after leaving school and the university, and encourages
him to make use of the learning acquired in them in the
formation of original ideas, and in the extension of the
domains of knowledge.

A little more than a hundred years ago the Society was
founded by men who worthil}^ represented the public spirit
of the town. Its 1st volume of memoirs was published in
1785, and was dedicated to the King; its twenty -ninth
volume is now in the press, as is also the twenty-third
volume of the " Proceedings " of the Society. These works
are prized by cultivated men, both at home and abroad, as
the repositories of some of the most important discoveries of
the century which the Society has survived. A large
library has in the meantime been formed, containing books,
many of which are rare, and all necessary to the literature
of science. The conversations, which form an important
part of the proceedings of the Society, have resulted in
permanent benefits, not only to the city and to the district,
but to mankind in general. All this, including the acquisi-
tion of its house and the artistic treasures which it contains,
has been accomplished by the members without adventitious
aid, and at the cost of a comparatively small sum.

Societies like our own may be considered as educational
establishments of the highest grade, in which students,
having passed the condition of pupilage, afterwards advance
by their own power. It may be confidently asserted that
without the aid of societies which have sprung up in modern
times with aims kindred to our own, science would have held
a position at this day similar to that which it occupied three
hundred years ago. A scientific society is always useful
wherever located, but in a University city it must be doubly
necessary, for there will be collected the largest number of
men who have chosen intellectual pursuits as their chief
business in life.

117

In order that the Manchester Literary and Pliilosophical
Society may preserve its ancient traditions and enable it to
continue and extend its sphere of usefulness as representing
original research, both literary and scientific, your Council
considers that it has become necessary to take the requisite
steps for the proper arrangement of our unique library, now
one of the most valuable collections of scientific reference
in the kingdom ; and also for enlarging its accommodation.
For this purpose our present historic home is quite in-
adequate; we possess, however, freehold land at the rear
of the premises upon which a suitable library and general
meeting room can be erected, but the Society is without
funds applicable for building purposes.

The principal result which the Society will be able to
show in future years of the work which it has accomplished,
will be established by its " Memoirs." The publication of
such volumes is regarded by the Council as of the highest
importance, and it is greatly to be regretted that more funds
have not been at their disposal to issue more frequent
volumes, and to produce them in a form more worthy of
the Society, and of the city of whose intellectual life it forms
a part.

No public appeal for pecuniary aid has ever been made
by the Society during the century of its existence, but to
carry out the objects here set forth the sum of at least £5,000
will be needed from the members and their friends. Your
Council confidently appeals to all who realise the supreme
importance of maintaining the Society in a condition of
efficiency as a focus of scientific and literary activity, and
who, being proud of its past history, feel the obligation
strong to do what in them lies to make its present influence
at least comparable with that which in past times it has
exerted.

The President, Dr. Roscoe, is now engaged in a prelimi-
nary canvass of the members, which up to the present has

resulted in the following promises, this list also including

the donations already received : —

£ s. d.

The President 250 0 0

Dr. Wm. Charles Henry 200 0 0

Miss Henry 50 0 0

Mr. Oliver Heywood 100 0 0

Mr. Charles J. Heywood 100 0 0

Mr. W. H. JohQson 100 0 0

Dr. J. P. Joule 50 0 0

Mr. Andrew Knowles 100 0 0

Mr. James Parlane 10 0 0

Mr. Henry D. Pochin 100 0 0

Dr. Wm. Roberts 50 0 0

Dr. Edward Schunck 100 0 0

Dr. R. Angus Smith 50 0 0

Mr. Henry Wilde 100 0 0

Dr. James Young 50 0 0

The Treasurer 10 0 0

Mr. Baxendell 10 0 0

Dr. James Bottomley 5 5 0

Mr. Joseph Sidebotham 50 0 0

Mr. J. Ramsbottom 50 0 0

Mr. R. E. Cunliffe 10 0 0

Mr. Edward Lund 21 0 0

Mr. F. J. Faraday 5 5 0

I'he following papers and communications were read at
the Ordinary and Sectional Meetings of the Society during
the Session: —

October 2nd, 1883. — "On the Change produced in the Motion
of an Oscillating Rod by a heavy Ring surrounding it, and attached
to it by elastic cords," by James Bottomley, B.A., D.Sc, F.C.S.

October IQth, 1883. — " On the leaves of Catlm edulis," by C.
Schorlemmer, F.R.S.

" On the Duality of Physical Forces," by James Rhodes, M.R.C.S.

119

October 30th, 1883. — " On the Action of Water upon beds ot
Rock Salt," by Thomas Ward, Esq.

November 27 th, 1883. — "On the Fungus of the Salmon Disease —
Saprolegnia ferax" by H. Marshall Ward, M.A., Fellow of Christ
College, Cambridge.

December Wth, 1883. — "On the Quantification of the Predicate,
and on the Interpretation of Boole's Logical Symbols," by Joseph
John Murphy. Communicated by the Rev. Robert Harley, M.A.,
F.R.S.

January lith, 1884, — "On some Micro-organisms found to be
present in connection with certain diseases," by Professor Dresch-
feld.

January 15th, 1884, — " Note on Bouguer's Optical Essay on the
gradation of Light," by James Bottomley, B.A., D.Sc, F.C.S.

" On the Effects of Solar Radiation in Atmospheric Vapour," by
the Rev. Thomas Mackereth, F.R.A.S., F.R.Met.S.

" On the Recent Coloured Skies at Sunset and Sunrise," by the
Rev. Thomas Mackereth, F.R.A.S., F.R.Met.S,

January 22nd, 1884. — "On a New Variety of Halloysite from
Maidenpek, Servia," by H. E. Roscoe, LL.D., F.R.S., President.

" On a Method of Mounting Electrical Resistances," by Arthur
Wm, Waters, F,G.S., &c.

" On the Introduction of Coffee into Arabia," by C. Schorlemmer
F.R.S.

February 19th, 1884. — "Notice of the Geology of the Haddon
District, eight miles south-west of Ballaarat, Victoria," by F. M.
Krause, Professor of Geology in the School of Mines, Ballaarat.
Communicated by the President.

March ith, 1884. — " On the Production and Purification of
Gaseous Fuel for Industrial Purposes, with the results of several
large Applications of a system," by W. S. Sutherland, Esq., of
Birmingham. Communicated by Francis Nicholson, F.L.S.

March 18th, 1884. — " On the Equations and on some Properties
of Projected Solids," by James Bottomley, B.A., D.Sc, F.C.S.

"Notes on the Meteorology and Hydrology of the Suez Canal,"
by Dr. W. G. Black, F.R,Met.S. Communicated by Joseph
Baxendell, F.R.A.S.

120

April 1st, 1884. — "Note on the Stanuotype, with a Practical
Demonstration," by Alfred Brothers, RR.A.S.

April 7th, 1884. — " On some Parasitic Mites," by J. Boyd, Esq.

April 15th, 1884. — " On Pasteur and the Germ Theory," by
Frederick James Faraday, F.L.S.

"A Reminiscence of Dr. Dalton," by Charles Clay, M.D.

Several of these papers will appear in volume 8 of the
Society's Memoirs, which is now near completion. Volume
9, " A Centenary of Science in Manchester," by Dr. R. Angus
Smith, F.R.S., has been printed, and members who. have
not received a copy can obtain one on application at the
Society's Rooms.

The number of Ordinary Members on the roll of the
Society on the 1st of April, 1883, was 138, and 11 new
members have been elected ; the losses have been : — resig-
nation 1, deaths 3, and one Ordinary Member elected an
Honorary Member. The number on the roll on the 1st
instant was therefore 144. The deceased members are Mr.
Henry Bowman, Mr. Edward Hunt, and Mr. Peter Spence.

Mr. Edward Hunt, F.C.S., was born at Hammersmith, in
the year 1830, and was 53 years of age at the time of his
death. He had been a member of the Literary and Philo-
sophical Society from January 27, 1857. He received his
early education at his father's school at Hammersmith, and
completed it by a course of study at the University College,
London, where he obtained a certificate of honour as the
result of his chemical studies. It was about the year 1850
that Mr. Hunt came to Manchester as an assistant to the
late Crace-Calvert. He afterwards accepted the position of
chemist in the Chemical Works of H. D. Pochin and Com-
pany, Salford. It was there while working in the labora-
tory with Mr. Pochin that the invention of bleaching rosin
by distillation was effected, and that was done by passing
through heated rosin superheated steam, by which means
a beautiful article of rosin of the finest straw-colour was

121

produced, suitable for use in the manufacture of fine pale
yellow soaps. That process was patented and afterwards
worked on a large scale.

Mr. Hunt subsequently became a partner with Mr. Pochin
and Mr. Barlow in the large Bleaching, Dyeing, and Finish-
ing Works at Stakehill, where, as well as at the Chemical
Works, Mr. Hunt's knowledge of manufacturing processes
rendered his advice and help of great value.

He was of a most genial disposition, making no enemies,
but attaching to himself very many friends, all of whom
deeply deplore his early death.

Mr. Peter Spence, J.P., F.C.S., was born at Brechin, For-
farshire, in 1806, and died 7th July, 1883. His forefathers
had for time immemorial occupied a farm on the Grampian
Hills.

Early in life, while apprenticed to a grocer in Perth, he
evinced great fondness lor chemical experiments, and as he
grew up his chemical propensity asserted itself more and
more strongly. Like many young Scotchmen of that gene-
ration he was an active member of a debating society. He
also wrote numerous poems. Some of these, having many
years afterwards and unknown to him been handed to the
Editor of the Athenaeum, were reviewed in very commenda-
tory terms. He for some time took a situation in the
Dundee Gas Works, and in 1834 commenced business in
London as a chemical manufacturer. His enterprise there,
however, not proving successful, he removed to a chemical
works at Burgh-by-Sands, near Carhsle, where, in 1845,
after a patient and protracted course of experiments, he
discovered his well-known process for the manufacture of
alum from the refuse shale of collieries and the waste
ammoniacal liquor of gas works. This process was destined
to so completely revolutionise the alum manufacture origi-
nally introduced by Sir Thomas Chaloner, from the Papal
Statesj in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that it had the

122

effect ultimately of closing the whole of the old Whitby and
Guisborough works.

Shortly after patenting the process, Mr. Spence selected
Manchester as a field for practical operations, his choice
being determined by the consideration that the raw materials
for the manufacture were there readily obtainable, whilst
the district as a centre of the dyeing and paper making
trades afforded a good market for the manufactured product.

Although for some years the process did not pay, and the
prejudice of the consumers of potash alum had to be over-
come, the Manchester Alum Works eventually became the
largest of the kind extant, and the source of the purest alum,
no other make being now used by the great Lancashire or
Clyde turkey-red dyers. In 1855 Mr. Spence built another
alum works at Goole, to supply the East Coast trade. As a
commercial result of the new process, and of the operations
of rival works which arose on the expiry of the patent, it
may be mentioned that alum is now selling at less than
half its former price.

For successive periods, extending over some 80 years, Mr.
Spence contracted for the gas liquor produced by the Man-
chester Corporation, amounting to some 5,000,000 galls,
per annum, and manufactured it into sulphate of ammonia.
He also for some years back converted into this valuable
fertilizer the gas liquor of the Birmingham Corporation,
amounting annually to 7,000,000 gallons.

About eight years ago, in conjunction with one of his
sons, Mr. Spence brought out, as an extremely cheap source
of soluble alumina, a compound made from Bauxite, termed
" aluminoferric." This article, produced in the form of large
blocks or slabs, was designed as a sizing agent for paper, and
precipitant of suspended and other foreign matters in im-
pure waters. Its action in the latter case depends on the
mordanting property of alumina a ad peroxide of iron, which
seize upon and rapidly carry down the whole of the me-

123

chanical and dissolved colouring impurities. The water,
though by this process rendered beautifully clear and
colourless, contains not a trace of any substance which was
not present in it before treatment. The process is already
extensively used both for the treatment of water supplies
for towns and manufactories, as well as for that of sewage
and other waste waters.

Mr. Spence continued in harness to his latest years, ex-
perimenting almost daily in his laboratory, patenting all
radically new improvements of his processes, and generally
"bearing fruit in old age." The number of the various
patents taken out by him nearly equalled that of the years
of his life.

As a citizen, Mr. Spence applied his extensive technical
knowledge to the solution of various sanitary problems
connected with life in towns. His well-known pamphlet
" Coal, Smoke, and Sewage " was the reprint of a paper read
before the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
over a quarter of a century ago, and had a very extensive
circulation. In this pamphlet the suggestion was made that
the sewers and house and factory chimneys of Manchester
should be connected with a colossal shaft 600 feet high, at
which elevation it was maintained that diffusion would
operate so powerfully as to prevent aU possibility of nui-
sance from the gases, to the population below.

Its leading principle — fuel chimney ventilation of sewers
— has been increasingly applied of late years in a variety of
forms. Mr. Spence himself permanently cured two dwel-
ling houses, in which he resided in succession, of sewer gas
exhalations, by simply connecting the drains below the
house with the back of the kitchen chimney by a piece of
cast-iron pipe. By adopting the principle of chimney venti-
lation, Mr. Waterhouse, who consulted Mr. Spence in pre-
paring his plans, secured a continuous supply of fresh air
for the various rooms of the Manchester Assize Courts.

124

Mr. Spence was the first practical cliemist to draw atten-
tion to the fallacy that to completely burn coal-smoke was
to purify the atmosphere of our manufacturing towns. He
made a series of examinations of the air in and around Man-
chester, and demonstrated that it contained practically as
much sulphurous acid on Sundays when the smoky factory
chimneys were stopped, and the house chimneys only were
going, as on ordinary days of the week.

About 14 years ago, on the occurrence of a railway accident
which appeared to confirm the general belief that intense
cold causes iron to fracture, Mr. Spence made a series of
comparative trials of the strength of iron at ordinary tem-
peratures and of the same when reduced to zero Fahr., and
in a paper read before the Manchester Literary and Philo-
sophical Society, he declared the result to be that cold in-
creases instead of decreases the strength of iron. Dr. Joule
showed at the same time that experiments which he had
undertaken led him practically to the same conclusion.

At the Exeter meeting of the British Association in 1869,
Mr. Spence having stated before the Chemical Section that
steam at 212° Fahr. could be made to raise the temp, of
saline solutions to their boiling point however high that
point might be, and that acetate of potash, for example,
could be readily raised by its means to a temp, of 886° Fahr.
his statement was received with incredulity ; but on his
demonstrating its correctness by actual experiment the
result appeared so anomalous that Professor Williamson
declined to accept it until he had himself examined the
thermometer. This being found in order, a little reflection
soon made it obvious to the Professor that the latent heat
evolved by the condensing steam had become sensible heat
measurable by the thermometer ! The phenomenon had been
familiar to Mr. Spence for many years in connection with his
process for dissolving alum on the large scale. The discovery^
as has been pointed out by Mr. Stanford, President of the

125

Glasgow Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, in the
March number of that Society's journal, is now receiving
industrial application.

Mr. Spence, as an ardent reformer, took great practical
interest in the recent movement for lessening the burdens
upon industry and trade by a reform in railway charges
based upon the principle of "equal rates for equal services."
He was an enthusiastic supporter of and contributor of
£1,000 to the Manchester Ship Canal scheme; and his
evidence before the Railway Rates Committee of the House
of Commons, in 1881-2, reprinted in pamphlet form under
the title, "How the Railway ComjDanies are Crippling
British industry and Destroying the Canals," greatly aided
the launching of that now popular proposal.

Mr. Spence's leading mental characteristic was his ten-
dency to regard all questions, moral and material, from the
standpoint of scientific principle ; and it will not be difficult
to understand how — sympathising as he earnestly did with
the lapsed masses in our large towns — his keen acumen
should have led him to the conviction that their material
condition is in the vast majority of cases the direct result of
their moral weakness; and that "total abstinence" for the
individual, and "local control," even to the extent of " entire
prohibition," for the community, is the true remedy for the
evil. He was, from its establishment a liberal supporter of
the U. K. Alliance for the total suppression of the liquor
traffic ; was at one time, " Grand Worthy Treasurer" of the
Order of Good Templars ; and recently, along with one of his
sons, initiated two great "Gospel Temperance" Missions in
Manchester, at which many thousands took the pledge.

His own practice as a teetotaler dated from the earliest
inception of the temperance movement ; and, commencing
life, as he did, with a consumptive constitution, he attributed
very much of the health he enjoyed throughout his 77 years
to his practice in this respect, as well as to his optimist

126

views of God's moral government of all things in favour of
those who obey his moral and physical laws.

Religiously, Mr. Spence was a Congregationalist, and an
ardent admirer of the preaching of Dr. MacLaren. For a
generation back Mr. Spence was the intimate friend of our
distinguished townsman Dr. Angus Smith.

To the last he retained the full vigour of his mental
faculties — characteristically cracking a joke on the day of
his death. He showed no evidence of organic disease, and
there is little doubt that he would now have been alive and
well but for the vital shock he received by the death of his
second wife.

The Council consider it desirable to continue the system
of electing Sectional Associates, and a resolution on the
subject will, as usual, be submitted to the Annual Meeting
for the approval of the membei's.

On the motion of the Eev. William Marshall, seconded
by Mr. John Boyd, the Report was unanimously adopted,
and ordered to be printed in the Society's Proceedings.

On the motion of Mr. Alfred Brothers, seconded by Mr.
Samuel Okell, it was resolved unanimously :

"That the system of electing Sectional Associates be
continued during the ensuing Session."

On the motion of Mr. Charles Bailey, seconded by Mr.
Samuel C. Trapp, it was resolved unanimously :

"That the members cordially approve of the movement
initiated by the President for raising a fund for extending
the accomodation of the Library and otherwise increasing
the resources of the Society, and request Dr. Roscoe to
continue the canvass in concert with the members of the
Council with powers to add to their number as a canvassing
Committee."

A letter from Professor O. Reynolds, tendering his
resignation of the ojSice of Honorary Secretary, having been

127

read, it was moved by Mr. Baxendell, seconded by Dr.
BoTTOMLEY, and resolved unanimously :

" That the Society accepts with regret Professor Reynolds'
resignation of the Secretaryship, and thanks him for the
services which he has rendered as a contributor to its
publications and for his endeavours to maintain for the
Society a position worthy of its past history."

The following gentlemen were elected officers of the
Society and members of the Council for the ensuing
year :—

WILLIAM CRAWFORD WILLIAMSON, F.R.S.

t-^xzsxhmts,

HENRY ENFIELD EOSCOE, B.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., F.C.S.

JAMES PRESCOTT JOULE, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., F.C.S.

ROBERT ANGUS SMITH, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., F.C.S.

OSBORNE REYNOLDS, M.A., F.R.S., Peofessoe of Engineeeing,

Owens CoLiEaE.

3tcxziKxm,

JOSEPH BAXENDELL, F.R.A.S.
JAMES BOTTOMLEY, B.A., D.Sc, F.C.S.

%xm^xxx£x.

CHARLES BAILEY, F.L.S.

"g'xhxmm,

FRANCIS NICHOLSON, F.Z.S.

®i^tx llmtrn's ot i\)t Council.

ROBERT DUKINFIELD DARBISHIRE, B.A., F.G.S.
BALFOUR STEWART, LL.D., F.R.S,

CARL SCHORLEMMER, F.R.S.
WILLIAM HENRY JOHNSON, B.So.

HENRY WILDE.
JAMES COSMO MELYILL, M.A., F.L.S.

128

Dr. E. ScHUNK communicated the following extract of a
letter from Mr. R. H. Gibson, of Taranaki, New Zealand,
dated 3lst January, 1884 : —

" I see it is asserted in the English newspapers and even,
I believe, in the scientific journals, that the probable cause
of the singular lurid light observable in the sky in both
hemispheres, is the volcanic dust ejected by the recent
volcanic disturbance in Java. If this be the case how do
you account for the fact, well known by us here, that for
many lueeks before that eruption this lurid glow was most
strikingly perceptible in New Zealand ? At any rate the
phenomenon was manifested most clearly in our southern
sky over Mount Egmont, close to which I live, and formed
a very beautiful appearance, especially as contrasted with
the snow-capped mountains. We are, from some cause or
other, having a most extraordinary season all over the
colony — the wettest and coldest summer known by the
oldest inhabitant — certainly for more than forty years, or
almost longer than the existence of the colony. Even for
England the season would be thought most inclement.
Here in New Zealand instead of bright, nearly cloudless
skies and a temperature of 75° to 80° in the shade at noon,
our normal heat in January and February, we are having
day after day tremendous rain, constant gales, and not in-
frequent thunder storms — the last being very rare in
summer."

Note on a paper read before the Society on October 2nd,
1883, concerning the motion of an oscillating rod, by James

BOTTOMLEY, D.SC, F.C.S.

In the paper, read on the above date, I discussed this
problem, to determine the motion of an oscillating rod
having a heavy ring surrounding it, and attached to it
by elastic cords.

The differential equation to be solved is one of the fourth

129

order. Four constants are introduced by integration. The
rod being supposed to start from a position of rest, with
given velocity, two of the constants vanish, and for the
determination of the other two we have only one equation ;
hence another equation is necessary. This second relation-
ship between the two constants is quite arbitrary, and the
form of the solution will depend upon what relationship we
choose. The physical interpretation of this arbitrary con-
nection of the two remaining constants is this, when we
set the rod in motion by an impulse we may conceive
any independent velocity to be simultaneously impressed
upon the ring. Hence the solution given in the paper refer-
red to is only one out of many possible solutions. If we
suppose the rod to start with velocity V from a position
of rest, and the ring to be initially at rest, the equation of
motion of the rod becomes

the letters having the same meaning as in the paper
referred to.

*'UIBRARV.|

MANCHESTER LITERARY AND^
Br. Charles Bailey, Treasurer, in account with the Society
_-_^________^_^___^^^ Statement of the Accounts

1883-4. 1883-4.

To Cash in hand, 1st April, 1883 fg ^^ "^^

To Members' Contributions :— ^

Arrears 1882-3, 8 Subscriptions at 42s ' ' ' ' ift 1 fi n

Old Members, 1883-4, 111 Subscriptions at 42s.. ■.■;:.■.■.■■ 233 2 0

New Members, „ 7 ,, 433 i| i| J

^Half ,, 21s 5 5 0

i-iiV Tir V " y Admission Fees at 42s 18 18 0

Old Members, 1884-5, 2 Subscriptions at 42s. , 4 4 n

New Member, „ 1 „ 433 ;;; 3 2 0

To One Associate's Library Subscription ' ^^q jj J ^^J J^

Physical and Mathematical Section 9 0 n

To Sectional Contributions for 1883-4

Physical and Mathematical Section

MicroscopicalandNaturalHistory Section "..".".".".'.'.'.""' 2 2 0

To Use of the Society's Rooms :— " 4 4 0

Manchester Geological Society to 31st Marcli, 1884 30 0 0

To Sale of the Society's Publications "' ^4 3 .

To Repayment of cost of Periodicals (Physical Section) '

To Natural History Fund : —

Dividends on £1,225, Great Western Ry. Co. Stock 59 17 7 59 13

To Bank Interest, less Bank postages 6 0 0 2 14

To Anonymous donation for 6 years' subscriptions to the"Pali"Text

oociecy 5 5 0

To Donations : —

Dr. J. P. Joule ka n n

Dr. H. E. Roscoe ^^ ^ ^

Dr. R.Angus Smith ''''''"^''''. fk

0 0

Mr. Henry Wilde ....'.': .■.■.■.■.■.■.■;■: ^^J J ^

Dr. James Young i:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::; '?S S S

300 0 0

£803 8 1 £486 12 11
18S4.-April 1. To Cash in Manchester and Salford Bank, Limited .£248 11 5

NoTE-The detailed accounts of the session 1883-4 (of which the above account U
abstract) are in course of audit by Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill and Mr. J A R^MMrn^^^"^* ''

:>HILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

ROM 1st April, 1SS3, to the 31st March, 1884, with a Comparative at-..

DK THE Session- 1882-1883. ^^'

1884-Marcli31. ^ 1883-4. 1882-3.

'^'chTefL'nt''."'".*:'.:" 12 12 2 ^ " '^ 1^2 1^2 l' ^

Insurance against Fire ^ ^l A ^ }l ?

PropertyTax 3 10 10 4 13 1

»^P^"^^'<^« ^^' ^ 32 14 8 315 0

Jy House Expenditnre :— „ o ^

Coals, Gas, Candles, and Water 18 8 6

Tea and Cofiee at Meetings 16 14 1

House Duty 6 7 6

Cleaning, Brushes, &c ^ " ^ 4. ^^ g 43 q 2

15 13

15 9

6 7

5 10

57 4

16 19

9 4

10 17

3y Administrative Charges : —

Wages of Keeper of Rooms 57 4 0

Postages and Carriage of Parcels .._. 14 2 0

Attendance on Sections and Societies 9 9 0

Stationery, Piinting Circulars, & Receipts 12 3 9

Distributing Memoirs 2 1 6 ^_ ^ ^ ^^ ^ ^

By Publishing : —

Printing Centenary Volume 213 12 0 ^.j- ■■■

Printing Memoirs '^ o a

Printing Proceedings 28 17 0 43 13 0

Wood Engraving and Lithographing 3 19 0 356

Editor of Memoirs and Proceedings 50 0 0 ^^ *^ ^ ,„,-,« „

296 8 0 17'2 17 9

By Library:— „ ,_ „

Binding Boots 19 17 8 ......

Books and Periodicals 2o 18 3 7 lb 1

Assistant in Library 11 0 0 ^,^2

Geological Record for the Year 1878 0 10 b

Palseontographical Society for the Years

1883 and 1884 2 2 0

Ray Society ditto ditto 2 2 0

Pali Text Society (6 years' subscriptions).. 550 ,„„^

66 4 11 ■ 17 6 7

By Natural History :— , „ ^ . ^ -.^ r.

Works on Natural History 18 18 4 9 16 9

Lithographing and Printing Plates of

Paper on Frog 29 15 0

Grant to Microscopical and Natural History

^^"^^^"^ 18 18 4 -— 89 11 9

By Balance 248 11 5 88 7 1

£803 8 1 £486 12 11

1883-4.

Compounders' Fund:- , ,..,-, x -.qq. £ s. d. ^ s. d.

Balance in favour of this Account, Aprillst, 1884 -i-io u u

Natural Eistory Fund :— ,.,,,-,000 --on

Balance in favour of this Account, April 1st, 1883 oo y li

Dividends received during Session 1883-4 oJ 17 7

115 7 6

Expenditure during Session 1883-4 •:■-■■•■ 18 18 4

Balance in favour of this Account, 31st March, 1884 90 y Z

General Fund : — nonn n i\

Donations during the Session 1883-4 t-oUU u u

Ordinary Receipts during the Session 1883-4 aoo o 0

Balance against this Account, 1st April, 1883 92 2 10

Expenditure during the Session 1883-4 •• 060 18 4

Balance in favour of General Fund, 31st March, 1884 fZii I Z 07 2 3

Cash at Bankers, 31st March, 1884 ^248 11

PROCEEDINaS

MANCHESTER

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

VOL. XXIV.

Session 1884-5.

MANCHESTER
Printed by T. Sowler and Co., 24, Oa.n.no.n Strket

1885.

I U S B R A R V , }

NOTE.

The object which the Society have in view in publishing their
Proceedings is to give an immediate and succinct account of the
scientific and other business transacted at their meetings to the
members and the general public. The various communications
are supplied by the authors themselves, who are alone resx^onsible
for the facts and reasonings contained therein.

INDEX.

Alcock Thomas, M.D.— On the growth of Everlasting Flowers in the
neighbourhood of Manchester, p. 52. On Lagena Crenata, p. 55.

Bailey Charles, F.L.S. — Notes on the Structure, the occurrence in
Lancashire, and the Source of Origin, of Naias graminea Del.
var. Delllei Magnus, p. 4. On the Caernarvonshire Station of
Hosa Wilsoni, Borrer, p. 20.

Baxendell Joseph, F.R.S., F.R.A.S. — Note on the Visibility of the
Moon during Total Lunar Eclipses, p. 4 . On the Reversion of
the Minima of the Double-period S^ariable Star, R Saglttce, p. 14.

Bottomley James, D.Sc, B.A., F.C.S. — Notes on the early history of
the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, p. 29. On
the Composition of Projections in Geometry of Two Dimensions,
p. 31.

Brothers Alfred, F.R.A.S. — The Pink Sun-Glow, p. 1. On a varia-
tion in the size of an image on the retina according to the dis-
tance of the back ground on which it is seen, p. 107.

Cockle Sir James, F.R.S., F.R.A.S., &c. — Note on Envelopes and
Singular Solutions, pp. 10, 23.

Dale Pi,. S., B.A. — Some novel phenomena of Chemical Action attend-
ing the efHux from a capillary tube, p. 25.

GwYTHER R. F., M.A. —On an Aurora seen September 13th, off
Rimouski, on the St. Lawrence, p. 3.

Kay Thoivus.— On making Sea Water Potable, p. 45.

London Rev. H., M.A. — On Unipolar Convolutes, p. 38.

Marshall Professor A. Milnes, M.D., D.Sc. — The Morphology of
the Sexual Organs of Hydra, p. 32.

Melvill J. Cosmo, M.A., F.L.S. — A proposed revision of the species
and varieties of the subgenus Cylinder (Montfort) of Conus (L),
p. 49.

Nicholson Francis, F.Z.S. — On the breeding of the Eeed Warbler,
acroceplialus arundinaceoiis, in Cheshire, p. 54.

E.OSCOE Professor Henry E., LL.D., F.R.S., &c. — On the Diamond-
bearing Rocks of South Africa, p. 5.

ScHUNCK Edward, Ph.D., F.E.S. — Account of the life of Dr. Robert
Angus Snaith, p. 97.

SiNGTON T. — On a Mineral deposit occurring at Windy Knoll, near
Castleton, p. 53.

Stirrup Mark, F.G.S. — On the nests of the Trap-door-nest Spider
Nemesia ccementaria (Latr.) from Cannes, p. 17. The Post-
Glacial Shell Beds at Uddevalla, Sweden, p. 58.

Waters Arthur Wm., F.CS. — On Peculiar Ice Forms, p. 65. Note
from Davos Dorfli, p. 69,

Williamson Professor W, C, LL.D., F.R.S., President. — On the
Eggs of the Duck-billed Platypus of Australia, p. 1.3. On the
double foliar fibro-vascular bundle supposed to exist in Sigillaria,
p. 19. On some undescribed tracks of Invertebrate animals from
the carboniferous rocks, and on some inorganic phenomena,
simulating plant remains, produced on tidal shores, p. 37.

Meetings ok the Mickoscupical anjj Natukal Histoky Section.
Annual, p. 109 ; Ordinary, pp. 17, 20, 43, 48, 54.

Eeport of the Council, April, 1885, p. 84.

CORRIGENDA.

Page '27, line 17, for Ferious Oxide read Ferrous Hydrate.
,, ,, 19, for Ferrous read Ferric.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

MANCHESTER

LITEEAEY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

Ordinary Meeting, October 7tli, 1884.

Professor VV. C. Williamson, F.R.S., President, in the

Chair.

It was announced that Mr. Henry Wilde had made a
donation of £400 to the Building Fund of the Society, in
addition to his donation of £100 towards the expenses of
the Centenary Volume.

On the motion of Mr. Charles Bailey, seconded by
Mr. Alfred Brothers, the thanks of the Society were
voted to Mr. Wilde for his very liberal donations.

"The Pink Sun-Glow," by Alfred Brothers, F.R.A.S.

In the Photographic News for September 12th, Mr. C.
Ray Woods writing from the Riffel, in Switzerland, where
he has been stationed for some months for the purpose
of photographing the Corona, says, "But the most interesting
sight to me . . . was the remarkable haze round the sun.
A pink glow extended for some twenty degrees around
the sun, and at the extremity of this glow was a vivid
and well defined red ring . . . On every clear day we have
had here this ])eculiar haze has been more or less apparent."
. In the English Mechanic, a few weeks since, a letter on
the same subject appeared, written, I think, from Canada,

Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIV.— No. 1.— Session 1884-5.

and gave very much the same description of this very-
curious phenomenon.

As this pink glow has attracted attention from places
widely separated, it may be of some interest if I state that
many times during the present year I have noticed the same
effect. As early as January I saw at mid-day the pink
tint extending to at least 15° or 20° from the sun. I saw
the same thing again from the East coast of Anglesea about
5 o'clock in the afternoon of the 5th July, and at the same
time some of the clouds near the pink part of the sky
showed the most beautiful nacreous tints, this effect lasting
for a few minutes only.

About the end of August, and lasting for at least an hour
after sunset, this pink tint was visible as a broad band of
liglit, bounded at right and left by a green tint exactly
complementary to the pink. Taking the place of the sun as
a centre this pink light had about the breadth of the
zodiacal light and extending in the same direction as
when that phenomenon is seen in the western sky. By this
I do not wish it to be inferred that I think the zodiacal
light has anything to do with the matter, and merely refer
to it to indicate the appearance of the pink light on the
evening named. On the following morning there was a
fainter pink tint in the sky near the sun, and several times
since the same appearance has been visible at different times
of the day.

It is a singular fact that some persons fail at first to see
the pink colour.

It may be stated that the pink colour of the sky is not
always visible when the atmosphere seems favourable for its
appearance, the neighbourhood of the sun having the usual
grey tint. The times when the pink colour is best seen are
when there are masses of white cloud near, the colour of
the sky then becomes most apparent.

Since writing the above a paragraph has appeared in

" Knowledge " of September 26th, in which the writer calls
attention to an unusual glow around the sun, and suggests
that the effects may be cosmical and a real appendage of
the sun. That the effect referred to is not connected with
the sun seemed to me easy to prove as, if belonging to our
atmosphere, a clear moonlight night might reveal the same
effect, but in a fainter degree. This supposition has proved
to be correct, as on the evening of Friday last, 3rd October,
there was an exact repetition of what I had so often seen
during the year at mid-day, and at other times of the day.
The coloured sketch shows very roughly the effect when
the sun is seen partly surrounded by cloud, and it may be
taken to show sunlight or moonlight allowing only for the
different intensities of the light.

The pink glow is not persistent on any day when it may
be visible. The colour may be as bright as I have attempted
to show it for half an hour or more, and then all colour may
quickly disappear and only the usual grayness surrounding
the sun may be visible; and again the pink colour may
reappear as quickly as it vanished. The colour is often
seen to increase in intensity in a few moments, and always
appears of a darker tint if the sun is obscured during the
observation.

Mr. K F. GwYTHER, M.A., described an Aurora seen on
the night of September 13th, off Rimouski, on the St.
Lawrence. When first seen the arch passed through the
zenith, and stretched to the horizon on either side. The
phenomenon remarked upon was that in the final stage in
place of the usual streamers the light flashed across the sky,
presenting the appearance of a border to hanging drapery
(represented by dark sky). Of this border, the uppermost
part was distinctly green in colour, whereas the lower fifth
or sixth part (in breadth) was distinctly purple.

Mr. Charles Bailey, F.L.S., read a paper entitled,
"Notes on the Structure, the occurrence in Lancashire, and
the Source of Origin, of Naias graminea Del., var. Delilei
Magnus.

General Meeting, October 21st, 1884.

Professor W. C. Williamson, F.E.S., President in tlie

Chair.
Mr. Edwaed Donner, of Manchester, Merchant, was
elected an Ordinary Member of the Society.

Ordinary Meeting, October 21st, 1884.

Professor W. C. Williamson, F.KS., President, in the

Chair.

" Note on the Visibility of the Moon during Total Lunar
Eclipses," by Joseph Baxendell, F.R.S., F.R.A.S.

It has been generally supposed by astronomers since the
time of Kepler that the visibility of the moon during total
lunar eclipses is due to light refracted by the earth's
atmosphere; but in considering the phenomena of the late
eclipse, and endeavouring to estimate the amount of light
which could be bent by the atmosphere of the earth into
its shadow, I was led to doubt whether this light was
sufficient to illuminate the eclipsed moon to the extent
observed in many total eclipses ; and this view appeared to
me to be supported by the faintness of the illumination of
the dark part of the moon by the reflected light from the
whole, or nearly the whole, of the disk of the earth a little

before or after new moon. This illumination is not much
greater than that observed in some total eclipses, but it
seems difficult to suppose that the light of the narrow ring
or thread of sun-light round the earth's disk as seen from
the moon, and greatly subdued as it must undoubtedly
be by passing through the earth's atmosphere, could be
comparable with the light from an almost fully illuminated
hemisphere of the earth, and it therefore became necessary
to inquire whether any other source existed which would
contribute light sufficient to render the moon so distinctly
visible as it sometimes appeared during total eclipses.

At the time of maximum phase during the late eclipse,
or when the centre of the moon was nearest to the central
line of the earth's shadow, the apparent diameter of the
earth as seen from the moon would be 1°2G'41" greater than
that of the sun, and therefore, besides the whole of the
disk of the sun, the whole of the lower corona, or corona
proper, would be covered by the earth, but according to the
statements of observers of total solar eclipses the outer
corona extends to a much greater distance on each side of
the sun. than the semidiameter of the earth as seen from
the moon, and from the estimations of the brightness of
this uncovered portion by some observers, it seems probable
that to it may be due a not inconsiderable portion of the
light which renders the moon visible when immersed in the
earth's shadow; and this probability is increased when it is
considered that the intensity of the light of the corona, as
seen from the earth, is much reduced by the absoption of
the atmosphere, an effect which would not be produced in
the case of the moon.

"On the Diamond-bearing Rocks of South Africa," by
Professor H. E. RoscoE, LL.D., F.KS., &c.

The communication opens with an account of the general
features of the diamond-bearing region based chieflj" on the

papers of Mr. Dunn and Mr. AV. H. Huddleston, with special
reference to the theory of the volcanic origin of the "pipes"
in which the diamonds occur, iirst advanced by Professor
E. Cohen, of Strasburg.

Tlie strata at Kimberley mine (from which the specimens
referred to in this paper were kind^}^ sent by Mr. Loewenthal)
are then described; two shafts which have been sunk there
— one in the "pipe," the other in the shale near it — passed
tlirough the following strata. : —

(1) ''Pipe."

Red Sand 3 feet.

Tufaceous Limestone 15 „

Soft yellow earthy dia-
mond rock 33 „

Soft blue diamond rock

proved to 282 „

Total excavated... 3 30 feet.

(2) "Outside the Pipe."

Red Sand 3 feet.

Tufaceous Limestone 5 ,,

Yellow Shale 20 „

Black carbonaceous do. 10 „
Two thin bands of black

dust in Shale 1 foot.

Black Shale 236 feet.

Dolerite 2 ,,

I Total excavated ... 2 77 feet.

The diamonds are found in the yellow and blue "Stuff"
along with garnets, mica, bronzite, ilmenite, pyrite, &c., and
are separated by washing the broken-up earth in sluices
similar to those used in gold mining. The annual value of
the diamonds from Kimberley is said to be £3,750,000, and
the total amount raised since 1870, to reach tlie enormous
sum of £40,000,000.

The specimens forwarded were as follows : —

I. A compact greenish-grey rock, labelled " The Hard
Rock."

II. A compact rock of dull rusty-brown colour, labelled
" Layer of Ironstone."

III. A friable earthy rock of greenish-blue colour in
which the diamonds occur.

lY. A mixture of several minerals, in pieces about the
size of a pea, labelled "Coarse heavy Deposit, Kimberley
blue ground."

V, A similar mixture, in much finer grains, labelled
" Fine heavy Deposit, Kimberley blue ground.

Sections of the first three specimens were cut and sent to
Professor Bonney, F.RS., an abstract of his report upon
them is as follows : —

I, This rock is an actinolitic diabase, and could not be
distinguished from specimens obtained from various British
localities, where rocks of paleozoic or greater age occur.

II. This is a rather decomposed basalt belonging toUhe
same group as I., but probably from a different mass and
altered in a different way.

These two specimens were analysed with the following-
results : —

I. II.

Si02

. 58-03 ...

... 48-47

AlA ..

. lo-53 ...

... 16-33

FeaOs ..

... 9-85

FeO

. 9-G4 ...

... 1-65

MnO ..

. 4-54 ...

... 0-48

CaO

. 6-99 ...

... 8-43

MgO ..

. 4-00 ...

... 7-38

Loss on Ignition..

. ...

^ r 5-55 % at 12(V
- ^^*ll-89%atredl

It will be observed that these have a very similar com-
position, the second differing from the first in containing a
considerable percentage of water, and in the fact that its
iron is almost entirely in the peroxidized condition.

III. Of this specimen, the diamond-rock itself, Professor
Bonney reports as follows : —

"No. Ill is evidently a breccia composed of a compact
serpentinous rock, of dark colour; the fragments and the
paste in which they are embedded apparently being similar
in character ; one or two scales of bronzite and a black mica
are scattered in the matrix with some small grains of a black
mineral of irregular fracture, and one of a brown mineral.

Microscopic examination does not enable me to come to a
definite conclusion as to the nature of this earth. So far as
I can make out, the ground-mass consists of a very minute
aggregation of doubly refracting crystallites of no very
definite but rather fibrous shape, and specks of ferrite. Here
and there (and these patches have rather definite outlines
and an approach to crystal form) the colouring mineral is
opacite. Frequent cracks appear to traverse the slide,
occupied by a clearer mineral similar to that disseminated
through the slide. There is a small crystal resembling a
hydrous bronzite. I cannot recall ever having seen a slide
exactly of this character, but I have several that throw some
light upon it, and I have a very strong suspicion that the
fragments have been a basalt-glass or an olivine-glass, more
probably the latter, converted by hydration into a kind of
serpentine. As a rule the peridotites appear to be deep-
seated rocks, but it is quite possible that there may be
occasional exceptions. I do not see anything specially
characteristic of a breccia of volcanic origin, but there is
nothing incompatible with this."

An analysis of the earth gave the following numbers : —

Si02 46-16

AlA 1000

Fe 0 6-71

MnO 0-34

Ca 0 ... 3-84

MgO 16-63

T • •,• _.,../ 9-75 at 120°

Loss on Ignition lo 43 j^.^g ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^

It was noticed that a peculiar smell, somewhat like that
of camphor, was evolved on treating the soft blue diamond-
earth with hot water, and an attempt was made to isolate
the aromatic body. A quantity of the earth was powdered
and digested with ether. On filtering and allowing the
ether to evaporate, a small quantity of a crystalline, strongly

aromatic body was obtained. This substance was very
volatile, burned easily with a smoky flame and melted at
about 50° C.

The presence of this carbonaceous substance in the dia-
mond matrix is most interesting and tends to confirm
Professor Cohen and Mr. Dunn's hypothesis that the car-
boniferous shales that are penetrated by the diamond bearing
"pipes" have been the source of the carbon which is now
found in the crystalline form as diamond. It is unfortunate
that the quantity of the substance obtained was too small
to admit of a full investigation of its composition and
properties.

The results of the examination of the remaining speci-
mens, which are samples of the deposit obtained by washing
the "stuff" at Kimberley, are interesting, as showing the
minerals which accompany the diamond in the matrix : —
100 grams, of the "Fine heavy Deposit" contained —

Garnet 10-76 grams.

Bronzite 3'64

Ilmenite 54-80

Pyrites 0-14

Mica 0-20

Limonite 16-12

Pieces of the rock which have \

escaped disintegration with >-10'84
some Limonite j

Coarse sand — a mixture of all"

3arse sand — a mixture of all 1 „ , „
the above / ^'^^

99-96

The composition of the limonite and bronzite are o-iven
below : —

Limonite. Bronzite.

Si O2 per cent 6-93 55-17

AlA „ 6.85 2-95

FeaOa „ 71-40

Limonite. Bronzite.

Fe O per cent 576

CaO „ 071 8-64

MgO „ 0-86 32-83

HaO „ 12-53

99-28 100-85

"Note on Envelopes and Singular Solutions," by Sir
James Cockle, F.R.S., F.R.A.S., &c, Corresponding Member
of the Society. (Continued from Vol. XXI., p. 100.)

16. Arts. 13 and 15 (misnumbered 14) require a correc-
tion. The tac-locus occurs twice (see Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher's
Examples, &c., Messenger, N.S., No. 183, May, 1882). And
in art. 13 (p. 100, line 1) the reference should be to No. (not
vol.) 36, vol. III.

17. Conceive a system of primitive curves, all constructed
according to one law and depending upon a single arbitrary
parameter; and each, therefore, marked by the magnitude
of its parameter.

18. When every primitive curve is an envelope, then each
touches every other, and the places, or the limits of the
places, of intersection of consecutives will be the envelopes.
Such places, or limiting places, will be either points or
curves. Take them to be primitive curves, finite in number.
Then every primitive curve is not an envelope. Take their
number as indefinitely large, still they will not (except upon
the inadmissible supposition that consecutives entirely
coincide, and so are, in fact, identical) comprise every par-
ticular primitive curve. Hence, when all the primitive
curves are envelopes, the envelopement does not take place
along curves.

19. If all the primitive curves are in mutual contact at a
certain point draw their common tangent, and when it does
not pass through the origin then on it, let fall a perpen-
dicular from the origin. The point of envelopement will lie

at a finite distance from the origin and from the perpen-
dicular, and we have a case of Symptotic Envelopement.

20. But we may conceive the kiw of construction as
changing, and the point of contact as passing off to an infi-
nite distance, and becoming the point at infinity in the
tangent. We shall then have a case of Asymptotic En-
velopement.

21. Again, we may conceive that the foot of the perpen-
dicular also passes off to an infinite distance, and so that the
tangent lies altogether at infinity. In this case, the line at
infinity is an envelope.

22. In each of these three cases all the primitive curves,
non-consecutive as well as consecutive, are, or are conceived
as being, in mutual contact. And in whichever of the three
senses above indicated the word envelope is used, in that
same sense the word tac-locus might also be used. In all
the three cases the envelope is also a tac-locus. Such an
envelope may be called a General Primitive Envelope.

23. When the primitive curves are not all envelopes but
a certain particular primitive curve is an envelope, we have
a Special Particular Primitive Envelope. Such an envelope
I shall call an Epicene Envelope.

24. When an envelope is not a primitive curve, it is a
Singular Envelope.

25. There are three species of envelope, viz. :

I. General Primitive Envelopes.
II. Epicene Envelopes.
III. Singular Envelopes.

26. There are three varieties of the first species, and a
general primitive envelope may give rise to —

(1) A Symptotic Envelopement.

(2) An Asymptotic Envelopement.

(3) An Envelopement on the line at infinity.

27. Suppose each particular primitive curve to be capable
of being represented by its respective particular primitive
equation, or, briefly, by its particular primitive. Then an
equation wherein the parameter, now regarded as the
arbitrary constant, is left undertermined in value, but by

means of which any particular primitive may, by an appro-
priate determination (accompanied or not by a decomposi-
tion into factors), be constructed is the complete primitive.
General primitive and epicene envelopes are represented
by particular integrals, singular envelopes by singular
solutions.

28. Epicene and singular envelopes possess a common
geometrical property. But an epicene envelope is, and a
singular envelope is not, a primitive curve. So a particular
integral is, and a singular solution is not, a case of the com-
plete primitive. And whether we say that an envelope is
at once epicene and singular, or that a solution is both a
singular solution and a particular integral, the logical prin-
ciple of contradiction is alike violated. In the geometry
the contradiction is plain. In the analysis it is as real
though less plain. It is less plain because, if we decompose
a complete primitive into factors, each factor will represent
a distinct part of a curve. The curve is therefore no longer
represented as a geometrical whole, but as a synthesis of
parts, each having its own analytical representation. The
several factors will give rise to distinct differential equa-
tions, two or more of which may have a common solution.
But such solution may be a particular integral of one dif-
ferential equation, and a singular solution of another. Illus-
tration of this may be drawn from my paper " On Particular
Integrals " in the Quarterly Journal of Mathematics (Vol.
XIII., No. 51, see pp. 240-1, art. 5). For if, instead of look-
ing at its separate parts, we view the parabola as a whole,
then the epicene primitive (therein called a singular inte-
gral) possesses the geometrical properties of a singular
solution.

29. Nevertheless, if we confine our attention to the pro-
duct, and suppress all reference to its factors, we may regard
the common solution either as particular or singular. It is
only in this sense that a solution can be both a singular
solution and a particular integral.

12, St, Stephen's Koad, Bayswater,

London, W., Oct. 9, 1884.

General Meeting, November 4th, 1884.

Professor W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.RS., President,
in the Chair.

Mr. BuLKELEY Allen, of West Lynn, Altrincham ; and
Mr. Joseph Corbett, of Manchester, Architect, were elected
Ordinary Members of the Society.

Professor O. Reynolds, F.R.S,, read a letter from the
Council of the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association,
proposing that a Conference on Health and Education should
be held in Manchester, at Easter, 1885, and requesting the
Society to nominate one or more of its members to act as
its representatives on a Committee to be appointed to or-
ganize such a Conference.

It was resolved that the letter be referred to the Council.

Ordinary Meeting, November 4th, 1884.

Professor W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.RS., President,
in the Chair.

The Peesident, in referring to Mr. Caldwell's recent
discovery of the oviparous reproduction of the Duck-billed
Platypus of Australia, called attention to the fact that when
he undertook the curatorship of the museum of the Man-
chester Natural History Society, in Peter Street, in 1835,
he found in that museum two very remarkable eggs which
had been brought from Australia, and which were labelled
" Eggs of the Duck-billed Platypus." Those eggs were in
the collection when he resigned his curatorship in 1838, and
no reference to their existence can be traced beyond that
date. Their size and oblong form made them wholly unlike
the eggs of any bird or oviparous reptile known at the above

Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIV.— No. 2.— Session 1884-5.

date. But the evidence that the Ornithorhyiichus was
oviparous was so inconclusive that these two eggs seem to
have attracted less attention than they even then deserved,
and their apparent disappearance from the collections of
the Natural History Society, now in the Owens College,
is the more to be regretted since Mr. Caldwell's discovery
makes it certain that these missing specimens were what
their label declared them to be, viz., the Eggs of the Mam-
malian Ornithorhynchus platypus. Whether these eggs
have been abstracted from the collection at some period
subsequent to 1838, or whether they have merely been
mislaid during one of the many changes which the museum
collections have since undergone, is uncertain.

A paper was read "On the Discharge of Electricity through
Gases — illustrated by experiments," by Arthur Schuster,
Ph.D., F.K.S.

Ordinary Meeting, November 18th, 1884.

Professor W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.RS., President,
in the Chair.

" On the Reversion of the Minima of the Double-period
Variable Star R SagittoR^' by Joseph Baxendell, F.RS.,
r.RA.S.

On the 2nd of March, 1880, I communicated to the Phy-
sical and Mathematical Section a paper on this star, in which,
after giving the results of my observations up to that time,
I remarked that " the mean difference between the magni-
tudes at the two minima is slowly decreasing, and it will
therefore be interesting to watch whether this decrease will
go on until the difference entirely disappears and the star
becomes a single period variable ; or whether the difference

is subject to periodical changes, alternately increasing and
decreasing within certain limits." Since the reading of this
paper additional observations and a re-examination and
discussion of the former observations have brought to light
a phenomenon whicl], so far as I am aware, has not been
previously observed. Each list of minima in the paper
referred to consists of two series, the first of minima observed
from 1859 to 1868 at the Crumpsall Observatory, and the
second those observed in 1878 and 1879 at the observatory
in Birkdale, and in the re-examination I have recently made
of all my reductions and results I found that I had been in
error in assuming that the minimum of August 19, 1878,
was a principal minimum, and that the interval from
September 12, 1868, comprised 52 periods, whereas the
minimum of July 16, 1878, was a principal minimum,
and the interval from September 12, 1868, to that date
comprised 51 complete periods, giving a mean period of
70"47 days. It appears, therefore, that six minima which
I had entered in the table of principal minima ought to
have been entered in the table of secondary minima, and
four minima entered as secondary were really primary;
and that in fact a reversion of the two minima had taken
place in the interval from 1868 to 1878. Since I arrived
at this conclusion I have examined the results of Professor
Schonfeld's observations to 1874, published in Nos. 1907,
1992, and 2066 of the " Astronomische Nachrichten," and
find that they fully bear out this view, and as he states that
the period seems to have decreased up to 1870-71, and that
in 1874 it had again increased, there can be no doubt that
the number of periods between 1868, September 12, and
1878, July 16, was only 51, and that a reversion of the
minima took place in or about 1874 after an increase in the
length of the period had commenced. Schonfeld, indeed,
in his last communication alluding to the near approach to
equality of the two minima which had then taken place.

remarks that if the star's variability had not been discovered
till that time, it would almost certainly have been regarded
as a single period variable.

The observations I have made since 1879 show that the
reversion continued till the spring of 1883, but from that
time to the autumn of the present year they seem to indicate
that a return to the former relations of the two minima has
already commenced.

The changes in the length of the period are shown as

follows : —

1859, Oct. 27, to 1861, Oct. 8

1861, Oct. 8, to 1864, Aug. 30

1864, Aug. 30, to 1866, Dec. 22..
1866, Dec. 22, to 1868, Sep. 12 ..
1868, Sep. 12, to 1878, July 16 ..
1878, July 16, to 1881, Juue 12..
1881, Juue 12, to 1884, Sep. 28..

The minima observed since September, 1868, are as follows:

First or Principal Minima.

Mag. Mag.

1878, July 16—9-5. 1881, Juue 12—8-9.
Sep. 21-9-3. Aug. 17— 8-9.
Dec. 5—9-4. Oct. 24—9-0.

1879, Sep. 3-9-4. 1882, May 26— 8-9.
Nov. 14-9-3. Aug. 7—9-0.

1880, June 16—8-9. Oct. 15—9-1.
Aug. 29—8-9. 1884, July 16—9-4.
Nov. 10— 8-9. Sep. 28—9-4.

The mean magnitude =9'14.

Epoch = 1881, March, 29-086.

Secondary Minima.

mean period = 70-88 days,
= 70-46
= 70-44
= 69-96
=^70-47
= 70-76
= 70-98

Mag.

Mag,

1878, Aug. 19— 9-1.

1880, Dec.

14-

-9-7.

Oct. 30— 9-6.

1881, May

-9-1.

1879, Jan. 10—10-1.

July

11-

-9-3.

Aug. 5—10-0.

Sep.

18-

-9-1.

Oct. 15—10-0.

Dec.

-9-9.

Dec. 24— 9-8.

1882, June

30-

-9-9.

1880, May 16— 9-7.

Sep.

13-

-9-3.

July 22—10-1.

1884, Juue

-8-8.

Oct. 4— 9-9.

The mean mag

nitude =9-61.

Epoch =1880,

October, 3-365.

The interval between a principal and next following
minimum derived from the two epochs is 3o-709 days; the
value derived from the results given in my former paper is
84-886 days. The mean is therefore 'S5-297 days, which is
practically identical with the half of the mean period derived
from all the observations made since the discovery of the
star's variability — the difference being only O'Olo of a day.

The mean magnitude of the star in the principal minima
in the years 1859 to 18G8 was 9'7o, and in the years 1878
to 1884, 9*14, or 0-61 higher; while on the other hand the
mean magnitude in the secondary minima in the former
years was 9"03, and in the latter 9-61, or 058 lower.

No theory has yet been advanced that will account satis-
factorily for the ordinary phenomena of variable stars, and
it seems very probable that this occurrence of a reversion
of the minima of a double-period variable will increase the
difficulty of framing such a theory.

MICEOSCOPICAL AND NATUEAL HISTOEY SECTION.

November 10th, 1884.

Thomas Alcock, M.D., President of the Section,
in the Chair.

Mr. Mark Stirrup, F.G.S., exhibited specimens of the
nests of the Trap-door-nest Spider Nemesia coementaria
(Latr.) from Cannes and explained some of the interesting
habits of these creatures.

They form subterranean cylindrical burrows, generally
penetrating from two to three inches from the surface of
the soil; the openings into these burrows or nests are closed
with a beautifully close fitting door, which opens on a hinge,
and when these doors are closed, it is extremely difficult to

detect their whereabouts, as the doors are made of the
material of the surrounding soil and simulate exactly its
appearance. They usually select for their homes earthen
banks, such as we may find bordering roads or deep worn
lanes, but it is not impossible that they may make their
nests on the level ground, but they have not yet been found
in such a position.

The difficulty of finding these nests is shown by an in-
teresting anecdote related of Mr. Moggridge who, when
visiting Marseilles with one of his sons, called at the museum
there, to see the entomological Curator, and asked him
whether trap-door spiders were found in the neighboui-hood.

To this question the Curator said he could confidently
answer no, as he took a great interest in these creatures
and had repeatedly searched for them.

Mr. Moffofridffe on leavino; the museum said to his son,
" Now let us go and try what we can do," and the result of
their search was so successful that they were able to present
the astonished Curator next day, with several specimens
got in the immediate vicinity.

It would appear that the best indications to guide a
searcher are to look out for the little round doors that often
strew the sides of the banks where these spiders are located.

The doors being but frail soon wear out and give way,
but the spider seems to be able to quickly replace them, and
if a door be removed to-day, a new door, hinge, • and all will
be found hung on the following day, thus effectually guard-
ing again the privacy of its home.

The nests of the trap-door spiders are now common objects
of sale in the towns of the Riviera, which is no doubt due
to the interest created by that most interesting work
published a few years ago by the late Mr. Moggridge, on
"Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders," the result of
his investigations while residing on the shores of the Medi-
terranean for the benefit of his health.

Ordinary Meeting, December 2nd, 1884.

Professor W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.KS., President,
in the Chair.

Tlie Peesident made some observations on the double
foliar fibro-vascular bundle supposed by M. Renault of Paris
to exist in Sigillaria, but to be absent from the leaf-scars
and Lepidodendron. He called attention to specimens of
Lepidodendron Harcourtii, recently obtained by him, which
exhibit most clearly the apparent presence of such a double
bundle, but he demonstrated that this appearance was merely
due to the separation of two parts of a single leaf-bundle
originally united by a mass of delicate phloem cells which
had disappeared. In the living plant these delicate cells
had separated the vascular string from a similar string of
sclerous cells resembling hard bast. These latter cells have
been so preserved as to give the appearance oi a second zylevi
bundle whereas they are merely one of the phloem tissues
belonging to the single bundle of which the vascular string
represents the true Zylem element. As seen on the leaf-scar
of an ordinary structureless Sigillaria the real nature of
these two structures would be unrecognisable.

The President also exhibited a photograph of a fine speci-
men from the coal-measures of Dudley, in the rich collection
of Mr. Johnston of Dudley, in which a stem is surrounded
by a cluster of leaves, indentical with the Lepidophyllum
lanceolatum of Lindley and Hutton. This specimen was cor-
rectly recognised by Mr. Johnston as demonstrating the
Lepidodendroid character of this well known leaf

Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIV.— No. 3.— Session 1884-5.

MICROSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION.

December Stli, 1884.

Thomas Alcock, M.D., President of the Section,
in the Chair.

Professor A. Milnes Marshall, M.D, D.Sc, of Owens
College, read a paper on the morphology of the sexual organs
of Hydra. He also exhibited some specimens showing the
regeneration of the visceral mass in Comatula, and likewise
some specimens of Pennatula. Professor Marshall promised
to make some further communications to the Section on the
subject at an early date.

Mr. Hyde exhibited to the Section (1) a piece of chalk
from Brighton, perforated by Pholades ; (2) some stalactites
from Victoria Cave, Settle ; and (3) a piece of Fluor Spar,
from the Blue John Mine, Derbyshire.

Mr. K D. Darbishire, exhibited some fine specimens of
Magilus Antiquus, and some remarkable series of various
forms of Leptoconchus from the Mauritius.

Mr. A. Brothers, F.H.A.S., exhibited (under the micro-
scope) the electric spark, as produced by a Carbonate of
Potash Battery, at the extremities of two lead pencil points.
An induction coil being used in the process.

" On the Caernarvonshire Station of Rosa Wilsoni,
Borrer," by Charles Bailey, F.L.S.

I exhibit, to-night, fruiting specimens of Rosa Wilsoni,
Borrer, collected on the first of October last from plants
growing in tlie original station on the Caernarvonshire side
of the Menai Straits. In former years I had frequently

sought for tliis rose on both sides of the Straits, at different
seasons, and it was by the kindness of a local botanist, Mr.
John E. Griffith, F.L.S., of Vronheulog, Upper Bangor, and
in his company, that I had, at last, the pleasure of seeing
the plant in its native state.

At the date of our visit, while other roses were in full
leaf, all the leaves of Rosa Wilsoni had fallen from the fruc-
tiferous branches, and the bare bushes with their bright
scarlet fruits and erect sepals, and their claret-coloured
branches with their divaricate twigs, gave the plant a very
marked facies, so that it would not be likely to be over-
looked by any one who had once seen it in the living state.
There were a few barren shoots growing from the old
stocks, crowded with prickles, and each surmounted with a
tuft of leaves. In some cases the leaves were of an ashy-
green colour, but most of the shoots had the serrations of
their leaves edged, on their upper surface, with a rosy-claret
colour, which passed into a large central crimson-purple
blotch along both sides of the midrib. These purple patches
were of a redder tinge than the dark purple leaves of the
contiguous Rosa spinosissima, L.

The most noticeable feature of the station for this plant
Avas the extremely limited area upon which it gi-ew ; there
were very few bushes, and the whole patch could readily
be accommodated in one half the area of the Society's present
meeting-room. The sea is gradually encroaching upon the
bank occupied by the plants, and as these begin to occur
just above high-water mark at a part of the shore where it is
exposed to rough wave-action, it is an easy matter to foresee
the approaching extinction of the Rose. Last winter, as I
learned from Mr. J. E. Griffith, a portion of the area on
which Rosa Wilsoni grows was utilised by the owners of
the oyster-beds in the Straits for piling-up some of their
stores, so that the rose's present lease of life is doubly
imperilled.

It is a singular circumstance in the geographical distri-
bution of Rosa Wilsoni that excepting on the Umbra rocks

in county Deny, it should not have been found in any other
portion of the British islands. On one or other side of the
Menai Straits there must be other limestone banks well
adapted for the plant, but as far as is known it is confined
to a few square-yards of one bank on the Caernarvonshire
side of the Straits. Much of the land, however, on both
shores is not accessible to the public, and the plant may
exist in the neighbourhood in some unknown station. In
the almost near certainty of the early disappearance of the
plant, I hope Mr. Griffith will carry out the intention he
expressed to me of taking his man to transplant a few of
the stocks a little further from danger. One hardly likes
to see one of our native plants " assisted " after this fashion,
but when the alternative is a possible extinction of the
species from its Welsh habitat, the fostering care of botanists
is quite justifiable; Lancashire botanists in particulai* would
be glad to see Wilson's name perpetuated after this fashion,
rather than in herbarium specimens only.

Along with the examples of my own gathering I exhibit
specimens from a plant grown at Kew, derived from the
Menai station, and it will be seen that the plant has not
improved in luxuriance by growth in a southern latitude.
I also show a specimen collected by Mr. John E,alfs in 1840,
and another by our old and valued member Mr. Joseph
Sidebotham, F.L.S., collected as long ago as 1844. It would,
I am sure, be interesting to the Section if Mr. Sidebotham
would put upon record his recollection of what the Welsh
station was like forty years ago.

The late Mr. John Hardy — formerly an associate of the
section and whose comparatively early death so many Lan-
cashire naturalists regret — has frequently referred to Wil-
son's Eose at our meetings, but a specimen in his herbarium
labelled Rosa Wilsoni is not the true plant. It may interest
the members to know that Mr. Hardy's phanerogams and
cryptogams will be incorporated with my herbarium of
British plants ; they include almost a unique set of Sole's
Mints, and a good series of Irish Saxifrages collected by the
late Dr. Andrews.

Ordinary Meeting, December IGth, 1884,

Charles Bailey, F.L.S., in the Chair.

Mr. E. P. QuiNN exhibited several forms of frictional
electrical machines.

"Note on Envelopes and Singular Solutions/' by Sir
James Cockle, F.RS., F.R.A.S., &c., Corresponding Member
of the Society.

{Continued from p. 12)

SO. A differential expression with its complete integral
implies a corresponding equation with its complete primi-
tive. Solutions and integrating factors remain the same
on either assumption. A solution is a substitution which
makes the expression vanish or wliich satisfies the differ-
ential equation.

31. Any given solution can always be deduced from the
complete primitive. But we may have to replace the
arbitrary constant, sometimes by a definite constant, some-
times by a variable function, and sometimes by one or the
other at pleasure.

82. If the solution cannot be deduced without aivincf
the arbitrary constant a definite constant value the solution
is a Particular Primitive.

33. If it can be deduced in either of two ways indifier-
cntly, viz., either in giving to the arbitrary constant a
definite constant value or in replacing it by a variable
function the solution is an Epicene Primitive.

34. If it cannot be deduced without replacing the arbitrary
constant by a variable function the solution is a Singular
Solution.

Proceedinos-Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIV. — No. 4.— Session 1884-5.

35. Thus we have three kinds of solution, viz. : —
(I). Particular Primitives.
(II). Epicene Primitives.
(III). Singular Solutions.
86; Suppose that the complete primitive can be decom-
posed into factors one-valued, say linear, with respect to
the arbitrary constant. Then an epicene solution is a
primitive, and particular, when considered in relation to
one or more of such factors. But in relation to the rest it
may not be a solution at all, or it may be not particular
but singular, and consequently not a primitive.

87. Regarding each such linear factor as a complete
primitive, there will be only two other kinds of solution at
most, viz., Particular Primitives and Singular Solutions.

38. The derived equation of course contains the differ-
ential coefficient, and it may also contain all, any, either, or
none of the three quantities following, viz., the arbitrary
constant and the two variables. The cases in which it
contains none, and in which it contains the constant alone,
are cases in which it cannot be brought under what I call
an adfected form, viz., a form containing the arbitrary
constant, together with one at least of the variables. In all
other cases the derived equation is either adfected as it
stands or else may be rendered so ; for the constant, if absent
from, may be introduced into it by eliminating a variable
between it and the complete primitive or, otherwise, by
substituting for the variable in a part only of the expression
for the differential coefficient. In seeking a general primi-
tive envelope I deal with the differential equation under its
adfected form. This form cannot be attained without a
knowledge of the complete primitive.

39. When the complete primitive and its adfected deriva-
tive can both be satisfied, for all values of the arbitrary
constant, by a system of particular values of the variables
we have a general primitive envelope.

40. An epicene envelope is represented by an epicene
primitive. But an epicene primitive does not represent an
epicene envelope, unless it gives a double value to the
arbiti'ary constant in the complete primitive. An epicene
primitive which does not give such double value is epicene
in form onl}^, and is in substance a particular primitive.

41. A singular solution represents a singular envelope,
and a singular envelope is represented by a singular solu-
tion. A singular solution gives a double value to the
arbitrary constant in the complete primitive ; but a value
or relation which gives a double value to the arbitrary
constant in the complete primitive does not always represent
a solution, singular or other than singular.

12, St. Stephen's Road,

Bayswater, London, W.,

Decemher 9th, 1884.

"Some novel phenomena of Chemical Action attending
the efflux from a capillary tube," by K S. Dale, B.A.

The results obtained in the experiments I propose to
describe were the outcome of a desire to know what, if any
mechanical action took place where two solutions capable
of forming a precipitate, were slowly mixed. Next to find
the nature of such mechanical action, and latterly, if possible,
to measure it. I have made no attempt in the latter
direction, but propose describing a series of experiments
which have yielded some very novel effects.

1. Solutions of Lead Acetate and Potassium Bichromate
were allowed to travel in opposite directions along a thread
placed in the field of a microscope. At the moment of
mixing very considerable disturbance took place, accom-
panied with a whirling motion. This method not offerino*
results which could be easily registered, it occurred to me
to cause one solution to flow into the other through a
capillary tube or syphon. The apparatus used was of the

simplest possible description, consisting of a pair of cylinders
connected by a capillary syphon, the effluent end of which
was bent upwards. One cylinder was raised slightly above
the other to insure a flow. I have a photograph of the
general arrangement adopted.

2. Solutions of Lead Acetate and Potassium Bichromate
were allowed to mix in this manner. The latter salt was
passed into the former. The capillary syphon was charged
with water, and after this had passed through the heavier
fluid a series of vortex rings began to be formed at the point
of the tube. Later one attached itself to the tube, and
others to this, until a tube was built up through which the
Potassium Dichromate was passed without any chemical
action taking place to the top of the Lead Acetate. This
action continued until the system reached an equilibrium.
Fearing that I could not show the experiments before the
Society I photographed some of them, and they show
exceedingly well the curious growths of Lead Chromate
which were thus produced. With these two substances to
obtain a single tube was most difficult, and only a series
could be obtained with anything like certainty.

An experiment was made reversing the fluids. The
same results were obtained, though the growth was less
stable, as the Potassium Dichromate being of much smaller
specific gravity no support was given to the Lead Chromate
formed, and thus the growth continually fell off the point
of the syphon.

3. A cold saturated solution of Sodium Sulphate was
passed into a saturated solution of Barium Chloride. A
perfectly straight tube was obtained, which formed with
great rapidity, and was very stable. This result was most
unlooked for taking into consideration the great density of
Barium Sulphate.

4. A solution of Ammonium Oxalate was passed into a
solution of Calcium Chloride. These particular solutions

were chosen because the Amorphous Calcium Oxalate first
produced on mixing these solutions rapidly becomes
crystalline, and the effect could not be surmised on mixing
with a capillary tube. The usual phenomena took place
until the tube reached tlie height of about one inch, when
the Amorphous Calcium Oxalate suddenly changed to the
crystalline variety, and apparently stopped the action, as no
further upward growth took place. On careful examination,
however, of the point of the growth, a fluid was noticed to
emerge which had no action on the surrounding Calcium
Chloride, showing that chemical action was still going on.
Now, the upward growth having ceased, it was inevitable
that the tube should become wider, and this is what really
took place. On another experiment I obtained a nearly
spherical body, about half an inch in diameter.

5. Action of Ammonia on Ferrous Sulphate. A very
thick tube of Ferious Oxide was formed, which I am able
to show you, as it is by no means fragile. It has of course
been since, out of the fluid, partially converted into Ferrous
Oxide.

6. Sodium Carbonate on Copper Sulphate. In this case
a crystalline Copper Carbonate was obtained of two shades,
one a bright blue, resembling Azurite (if it be not actually
that substance), and another a bright green, resembling
Malachite. I am able to show this tube.

7. Ammonium Sulphide on Copper Sulphate. An action
closely resembling in many particulars the action of
Ammonia on Ferrous Sulphate.

8. Sodium Carbonate on Calcium Chloride. The com-
mencement of the action was marked by the formation of a
perfectly transparent and highly refractive sheath of Calcium
Carbonate, which did not show any signs of crystallization
until about half an inch in length. On examination after
the lapse of about twelve hours, a crystalline tube of
Calcium Carbonate had made its way to the top of the

containing cylinder. This tube was composed of minute
but well defined crystals. I found it impossible to retain
it in its perfect shape for inspection here.

9. Sodium Carbonate on Barium Chloride. A very
similar action to that mentioned in experiment 7, but at no
time was a transparent substance noted, the growth being
quite opaque and not palpably crystalline.

10. Hydrochloric Acid on Sodium Silicate. Here a well
marked action took place, and a tube of silica was produced,
a portion of which I am able to show.

11. Knowing the Silica produced by the action of Ammo-
nium Chloride on Sodium Silicate was much denser than
that obtained in the previous experiment, I caused these
substances to act on each other, and succeeded in obtaining
a very long tube of Silica of considerable thickness. I am
able to show this also.

12. Ferricyanide of Potassium on Ferrous Sulphate.
Notwithstanding the extreme lightness of the blue precipate
produced by these solutions a perfect tube was obtained,
which reached the surface of the Ferrous Sulphate.

Many experiments on the above lines will readily suggest
themselves, but I think I have described sufficient to call
attention to this, to me, novel method of experiment, and I
must leave it to some future occasion to describe such others
as may show any peculiarities worth noting. I purposely
refrain from making any theoretical deductions, with the
one exception, that it is pretty certain that these phenomena
are inseperably connected with vortex action, the tubes
being undoubtedly built up of a series of vortex rings.

Ordinary Meeting, December 30th, 1884.

Dr. James Bottomley, Hon. Secretary, in the Chair.

" Notes on the early history of the Manchester Literary
and Philosophical Society," by James Bottomley, D.Sc,
F.C.S.

The recent work by Dr. Angus Smith has been the
means of accumulating much intelligence respecting the
early history of the Society, nevertheless there remains
information of interest to be gathered by those who are
inclined to glean in the same field. The references to the
two first presidents in Dr. Smith's work are brief and
unsatisfactory, and I know that he was anxious to have
more information relative to them. It is, however, some-
thing to have called attention to the existence of these
gentlemen, whose connection with the Society seems well
nigh to have been forgotten. It is a matter of regret that
of these two members, so closely associated with the origin
of the Society, we have no memorial either in the shape of
portrait or memoir. They were both useful citizens in the
town in which they resided in several capacities, both were
representatives of old Cheshire families, both lived to an
advanced age, indeed Dr. Mainwaring must have been
considerably past eighty when he assisted in the formation
of this Society ; it adds much to their local interest, that
both were intimate friends of Dr. John Byrom, who makes
frequent references to them in his journal. The high
esteem in which Dr. Mainwaring was held by the members
is testified by the following resolution, which I find in the
minute book of the Society : —

1782, May 1st, Adjourned Annual Meeting.

"It was resolved unanimously that the Members of the
Literary and Philosophical Society regard Dr. Main-
waring as the Father of their Institution, and wish
for the continuance of his sanction and support."

Some account of the two first presidents would be a
valuable addition to the history of the Society.

Members of the Society may feel some curiosity about its
former habitation, before the erection of the present build-
ing ; in the old minute books I find an entry which estab-
lishes this : —

1781, October 3rd.

"The question was put whether the room at the
Assembly Coffee House, at which the Society has
lately met, be convenient for the future meetings of
the Society, and the ballot being taken it was
determined in the negative. Ordered that the next
meeting of the Society be held in the room adjoining
to the Dissenter's Chapel, and that the Rev. Mr.
Barnes be requested to inquire into the terms on
which the Society can be accommodated with the
same room weekly."
At a subsequent meeting the following resolution was
passed : —

1781, October 10th.

" It was ordered unanimously that the room in which
the Society are at present met will be convenient
for their future meetings, ordered that two guineas
be allowed quarterly to the Eev. Mr. Barnes for the
use of the room, fire, candles, and other conveniences."

Ordinary Meeting, January 13th, 1885.

Professor W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.E,.S., President,
in the Chair.

"On the Composition of Projections in Geometry of Two
Dimensions," by James Bottomley, D.Sc, B.A., &c.

(Abstract)

In previous papers (Proceedings, Vol. XXI., p. 188, et seq. ;
Memoirs, Vol. VIII., third series, p. 218, et seq.), the author
considered the application of a new kind of projection to the
geometry of solids. The kind of projection there contem-
plated has its analogue in geometry of two dimensions. The
projections to be compounded in the first case are those of a
line on a line, and of a plane on a plane; in this case the
projections to be compounded are those of two lines on two
lines. As in three dimensions we ma.y derive from a solid
three solids of variable volume, but subject to the condition
that their sum is constant, so in two dimensions, from any
area bounded by straight or curved lines, may be derived
two areas such that their sum is constant, though each is a
variable magnitude, if we suppose the primitive area to re-
volve round any axis perpendicular to its plane. In the
present paper the author considers the question, given the
equation to the primitive curve, to find that of the projected
curve. If the primitive curve be a circle, the curve derived
from it will be an ellipse, the magnitude and inclination of
Peoceedings — Lit. & Phil. Soc. — Vol. XXIV.— No. 5. — Session 1884-5.

whose axes to the axis of x will depend upon the inclination
of the primitive axis to the same fixed axis. The envelop
of this ellipse is given, and also the locus of the extremities
of its axes. By means of the relation between the coordi-
nates, inverse questions may be solved, viz., given the pro-
jected curve to find the primitive. In three dimensions, if
an arbitrary curve be traced on the primitive solid and
curves drawn on the projected solids passing through the
corresponding points, a simple relation may be found among
the infinitesimal arcs of these curves. A similar proposition
holds in two dimensions, the relation in this case being be-
tween the infinitesimal arcs of the perimeters of the primi-
tive and its two derivatives. Finally, it is remarked that
each projected area may again be regarded as a primitive
subject to projection, and if we suppose the operation to be
repeated n times, we shall obtain 2** areas, variable if we
suppose the primitive to have any motion of rotation, yet
subject to the condition that their sum is constant and equal
to the primitive area.

Ordinary Meeting, January 27th, 1885.

Professor W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.R.S., President,
in the Chair.

"The Morphology of the Sexual Organs of Hydra/' by
Prof. A. MiLNEs Marshall, M.D., D.Sc.

Hydra stands alone, or almost so, among Hydrozoa, inas-
much as its reproductive organs, whether ovaries or testes,

develop and ripen in the body-wall of tlie animal instead of
in special buds or gonophores. Concerning the relationship
in this respect between Hydra and other Hydrozoa two
diametrically opposite views have been held, one being that
Hydra exhibits the simplest and most primitive condition
of the reproductive organs prior to the evolution of special
sexual buds; the other that the condition in Hydra is one
of extreme degeneration, the sexual buds that were pre-
viously present having completelj'- aborted.

Quite recently Prof Weismann of Freiburg has published
some extremely interesting and valuable researches on the
development of the sexual products in Hydrozoa, and it is
the object of the present paper to enquire into the bearing
of these results on the problem stated above concerning
Hydra.

In one of the typical hydroid colonies such as Podocoryne
or Bougainvillea the sexual products, whether ova or sper-
maldzoa, are contained in medusoid buds, and do not ripen
until these medusae have attained full development, and de-
tached themselves from the colonj" so as to lead a free-
swimming existence. In many cases, however, the sexual
products ripen before the medusoid bud has completed its
development, in which case the bud remains attached to the
colony in a more or less immature condition. In some in-
stances the gonophore is a fully-formed medusa, which,
however, never detaches itself from the colony, such a gono-
phore being called an attached medusa ; in other cases de-
velopment stops at an earlier stage, giving rise to a disguised
medusa, in which all the essential parts of the medusa are
present, but in an un expanded condition; and, finally,

development may go no further than the production of a
hollow diverticulum of the body-wall of the parent known
as a sporosac or sporophore.

It is worthy of notice that the free medusa in the course
of its development passes through in succession the stages
of sporosac, disguised medusa, and attached medusa; so that
these latter may be regarded as due to arrested development
of the medusa at an earlier or later stage. That this view
is correct rather than one which would regard the sporosac?
disguised medusa, and attached medusa as representing
stages in the gradual progressive evolution of the free me-
dusa, is evident from the consideration that the disguised
medusa and attached medusa, which have all the parts of
the free medusa fitting it for independent existence but
never have an opportunity of employing them, could never
have arisen by a process of natural selection from the spo-
rosac, for the possession of a swimming bell that is never
opened could clearly be of no advantage.

Hence the forms with free-swimming medusae must be
regarded as the most primitive, and those with attached or
disguised medusae, or with sporosacs, must be viewed as
derived from these by abortion, more or less complete, of
the various parts of the free medusa, such abortion being
intimately associated with the early or premature ripening
of the sexual products.

Weismann, in the work alluded to above, has shown that
the genital cells may arise in parts other than those in
which they are ultimately lodged, and indeed before the
appearance of these latter, into which they migrate later on.
In some cases this may be carried so far that the genital
cells arise in the body-wall of the primary zooid not only
before the commencement of the development of the gono-
phore, or sexual bud, but even before the first trace of the
appearance of the branch on which the gonophore will be
borne. A good example of this is afforded by the fresh-

water genus Cordylopliora, in which the ova arise in what
Weismann calls the gei'minal zone of the primary zooid,
then migrate into the lateral branch of the zooid when this is
formed, and later on shift again into the gonophore which
arises as an offset from this lateral branch.

The explanation of this curious migration is probably to
be found, as Weismann suggests, in the advantage derived
from commencing the development of the sexual products
as early as possible. The development of the ovum, espe-
ciall}^, is a long and complicated process, which in most
animals is commenced at a very early date ; in the highest
mammals, for instance, the ovary contains either at or very
shortly after the time of birth all the ova that will ever be
developed in it. The development of spermatozoa is a more
rapid and less elaborate process than that of ova, and we
find accordingly that the date of their appearance is not
thrown back so far as that of the ova. For instance, in
Eudendrium the ova arise in the primary zooid before the
appearance of the lateral branches ; the male cells, however,
are not formed till later, and appear first in Lhe lateral
branches, from which, like the ova, they migrate into the
gonophores.

The suggestion I would make with regard to Hydra is
that it represents one step further in the process of migra-
tion beyond the stage reached by Cordylophora or Euden-
drium ; i.e., that in Hydra the genital products not only
make their first appearance in the wall of the primary zooid,
but remain and undergo their whole development in the
same position, no lateral bud or gonophore being formed.

Weismann himself takes the direct opposite view that
Hydra represents a primitive, and not, as I believe it to be,
an extremely modified condition. He considers that in
Hydra there has been no shifting of the place of origin of
the sexual cells, but that Hydra represents in this respect
the primitive and original condition.

In support of the contention that Hydra is a modified
and not a primitive form, I would cite the following argu-
ments : —

1. Hydra is hermaphrodite, being in this respect almost
unique among Hydrozoa. There is not the slightest
evidence for regarding a hermaphrodite condition as being
primitive among Hydrozoa, and there is very strong reason
for viewing it as secondary and acquired wherever it occurs
in other groups of animals.

2. Hydra is fresh-water, differing in this respect from
almost all other Hydrozoa. Fresh-water forms are in most
cases derived from marine forms, and are very liable to
undergo modifications in consequence of their change of
habitat.

3. The structure of the ovary of Hydra shows it to be in
a highly modified and not a primitive condition. Out of a
large number of primitive ova only a single one ripens, the
remainder serving merely to supply it with food. This is
an entirely exceptional and much modified condition,

4. The other fresh-water genus, Cordylophora, is one in
which the shifting has already taken place to a very great
extent. It is a form which is believed to have only
recently become fresh-water, and it would not require a
very great amount of further modification to reduce it to
the condition of Hydra.

5. The difference between the ovary of Hydra, which
involves ectoderm only, and the gonophore of an ordinary
Hydroid, which consists of both ectoderm and endoderm —
a difference which is fatal to a comparison of tlie ovary of
Hydra with a sporosac — becomes readily intelligible on the
above theory.

Ordinary Meeting, February 1.0th, 1885.

Professor W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.R.S., President,
in the Chair.

Mr. J. A. Bennion, M.A., and Mr. A. Brothers were
appointed Auditors of the Treasurer's Accounts.

" On some undescribed tracks of Invertebrate animals
from the Carboniferous rocks, and on some inorganic pheno-
mena, simulating plant remains, produced on tidal shores,"
by Professor W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.R.S., President.

Professor Williamson's Memoir first contained descriptions
and figures of a new form of Chrossocorda, which he named
C. tuberculata, from the Yoredale rocks of Stony hurst, in
Lancashire, which genus has hitherto been found only in
Palceozoic rocks of nmch older age than the Yoredale beds.
Reciting the views of Schimper and others, who believe
that the genus Chrossocorda represents some Fucoidal form
of Palaeozoic life, the author regards the various modifica-
tions of it as consisting of tracks of Marine animals, probably
Crustaceans. He assigns the name of Chrossochorda tuber-
culata to that now described.

A second form of track, of a different type, was found by
Mr. J. W. Davis, F.G.S., of Chevinedge, near Halifax. It
consists of a line of curved footprints in groups of eight —
four on each side — the successive groups varying from five-
eighths of an inch to two inches apart from each other.
The specimen described was found in a Quarry of Yoredale
beds, near Hawes. The author assigns to it the name of
Protichnites Davisi, after its discoverer.

Casts of two series of mai'kings, produced by water, were
Pboceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIV.— No. 6.— Session 1881-5.

exhibited and described. One of these series represented
branching forms easily mistaken for Fucoidal remains. They
were in reality casts, made in plaster of Paris, of remarkable
drainage lines left by the retiring tide, on the sandbanks at
Llanfairfechan, in N. Wales.

The second series consisted of allied objects, but in this
case drainage lines had combined with ripple marks to pro-
duce an effect easily mistaken for the geometrically arranged
scale-leaves of some Cycadean stem. These casts were
obtained from sandbanks to, the north of Barmouth.

The author called attention to the controversy bearing on
these subjects still in progress, especially between Professor
Nathorst and the Marquis of Saporta, and renewed an
objection, recorded in more than one of his previous publica-
tions, to such anomalous objects as those in dispute being
made use of, when attempting to frame, from Palceontological
evidences, a pedigree of the vegetable world.

It was moved by the President, seconded by Dr. Bottomley,
and resolved unanimously, That the thanks of the Society
be given to Mr. Brothers for having presented to the Society
photographic illustrations of the specimens discussed in the
President's Memoir.

Ordinary Meeting, February 24th, 188.5.

Professor W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.RS., President,
in the Chair.

"On Unipolar Convolutes," by the Rev. H. London, M.A,

Let a string of fixed length be wrapped round a curve,

and let the free end be fastened to a given point. If then

the string be kept stretched by a pencil point dividing it

into two segments, and if the string be unwrapped from the

curve, the pencil point will describe another curve, which I

call the Unipolar Convolute of the given curve.

In fig. 1 let VV be the given curve, 0 the fixed point, and

PP' the convolute. Then it follows that if

OP = r, ?Y = l, and YY' = d>r, dl + dr^da 1

Hence we get a

geometrical method

of describing the

curve which, with a

given radiant point

shall produce a given

caustic by reflexion-
All theorems respecting caustics are thus capable of a

geometrical solution.

It has been noticed and is easily proved that if r, p be

the coordinates of the curve (P), and p, tt those of (V)

d)'
dp

v/r2-7r2+v^p2_^2^.

y.p — n-T-

:i' - p

djo

and 7r=-^^/;-2-;/^

from which equations
the convolute may some-
times be found. But, iii
order to remark the pro-
perties of the curve (P)
with regard to (Y), 1
have used pedal coordi-
nates. Let the coordinates of P be (r, B) as before and those
of D be (tt, o)).

It may be observed that the relation above remarked
follows from regarding the curve (P) as the envelope of a
family of ellipses, whose fixed focus is 0, and whose instanta-
neous focus lies on the curve (V).

We get therefore the equation

rdd = ldcj 2

Now ; = £ + ^72ir;^2 3

therefore # = ?^. + J^frfl _ ,^1

du) du)^ \/r^-7r^{ dto du)]

but from equation 1

dl _d(T _ dr (ZV _dr

d(t) d(t> dw d(t)^ du}

hence from 3 and 4

f _^\ /-^i i ^ ^^'^

V dwj ^ "^ ~ ^dix) ^doj

••• |{ .W^^^ } "'{ J + v'^:^^'} 5

also d-io = cos-^'^ 6

Hence if the equation to the curve (V) be ir=f{w), we can

from equations 5 and 6 completely determine the equation

to the convolute. It is evident that equation 5 can be put

in the form

r+ J^^^^=JiT^w 7

The equation of the Unipolar Convolute also admits of a
simple solution whenever that of the Involute is known.

For in fig. 3 if Q, Q' be the images of O with regard to
the tangents to the Convolute at P, P' and if OZ the perpen-
dicular on QQ' be equal to 'p, then the locus of Q is an
involute of the curve V,

Also Tr = -£^ and p = r + ^'?^^ :. 2pr = Tr^ + p^ 8

Again if OZ make an angle ^ with the prime vector, equa-
tion 6 becomes

mn(0-x) = ^ ...9

Hence to determine the Convolute we have

From the above it is evident that the convolute is similar
to and half the dimensions of the inverse pedal of the in-
volute of any curve. It has also been noticed by Rev. J.
T. Ward, Fellow and Tutor of St. John's College, Cambridge,
that the radius of curvature at any point of a convolute,
whether unipolar or not, is independent of the curvatures
of the curve or curves from which it is derived.

From equation 10 it is easily proved that if any curve
have an involute of the form

then its unipolar convolute is a curve of the same class and
of degree n where

_ '^
^~2m + l'

Also that if the involute of any curve be of the form

/{p,r)^0
where/ is a homogeneous function, then the unipolar con-
volute is a similar curve of half the linear dimensions.

The theory of convolutes leads not only to a geometrical
representation of the curves which will produce a given
caustic by reflexion, but applies equally to the case of
refracted rays. But the details which are based upon the
construction of Cartesian Ovals, would become too cumber-
some for practical application save for a few most simple
values of the refractive index.

From what has been said, however, it may be suggested
that the theory enables us by a simple construction to pass
from any one system of radiant energy to any other system.
For if the wave fronts of these respective systems be taken
and if the derived surfaces of these systems be used as
generators of a convolute surface, then the transition from
one wave system to the other can be effected by means of
the surface so described.

It follows that the radiant energy which is dissipated in
the first system will be conserved in the second, and con-
versely, so that the two systems are finitely interdependent.

^he case in which one of the generating curves is at an
infinite distance is peculiar, and again leads to a construction
for the convolute.

Let PN (fig. 4) be the direction of the parallel rays^ and
Ox, Oy axes.

Let V be (xr/), P (4,/) and < ?Tx = xP, < PS^ = .^
then g/ - jj = (a; - ^)tan\// 11

. 1 + tan ^

Eliminating y and tj from equations 11 and 12

-^. —L,fiec\p= — x&ec\p 13

. J. / SQC-4^d-4, f r -J'seC-d'd-d' 17, \

.. ^ = e ^ ^1 ~ I e •' ^ ^xsec\pd\p + c)

If the constant be zero we have

k-x= ~ (seci// + tan;//)y (scc>// - tani//)f/^ 14

from which, with equation 11 if re is known as a function
of;// the equation to the convohite can always be found.
Again, from equation l-i

X — L, — — /

s -/

where the clashes are differentials with regard to x, and
where s is measured along the curve (V). And if PV^ = A
we obtain from this last equation

X + r} = s 15

Hence supposing N the free end of the string to be fastened
to a ring which can slide along Ox, we obtain a geometrical
construction for the convolute in tliis case also.

MICEOSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTOEY SECTION.

January 19, 1885.

Dr. Alcock, President of the Section, in the chair.

Mr. Hyde showed specimens of the wing3 of the following-
insects, mounted dry between glass-plates, for the purpose of
exhibition in the magic lantern.

1. Dragon Fly.

2. Grasshopper.

3. Ditiscus Marginalis.

He also showed some interesting drawino-s of insects on
ground glass for the magic lantern.

The Peesident exhibited some specimens of Everlastino-
flowers, and made some remarks upon them.

Mr. Rogers made some remarks in continuance of a
previous communication made by him to the Society. * On
some observations made by his son during the years 1882
and 1883 on the absence of the earthworm on the prairies
which lay along the track of the Canadian Pacific Eailway
between Winnepeg and East of the summit of the Rocky
Mountains.' His son having resided during the year 1884
West of the Rockies (Vancouver's Island) had continued his
enquiries and observations amongst the farms and older
inhabitants in the neighbourhood of Corvichan, an agricul-
tural district, and in some part an Indian reservation, about
40 miles from Victoria, which resulted in the general belief
that no earthworms existed there up to that time. But
during his occupation of road making near his own farm,
he himself had found two specimens, which he exhibited at
the time, much to the surprise of his more immediate neigh-
bours.

I LIB R AR Y,$

Ordinary Meeting, March lOtli, 1885.

Professor W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.R.S., President,
in the Chair.

"On making Sea Water Potable," by Thomas Kay,
President of the Stockport Natural History Society. Com-
municated by F. J. Faraday, F.L.S.

The author called attention to the absence of research
in this direction, and how man, endowed to overcome every
physical disability which encompassed him on land, was
powerless to live on the wide ocean, although it is teeming
with life.

The water for experiment was taken from the English
Channel about 50 miles south-west of the Eddystone Light-
house, and it was found to correspond closely with the
analysis of the Atlantic, published by Roscoe, viz. : — total
solids 85-976 of which the total chlorides are 32-730, re-
presenting 19 '868 of chlorine.

The waters of the Irish Sea and the English Channel
nearer to the German Ocean, from their neighbourhood to
great rivers are weaker than the above.

Schweitzer's analysis of the waters of the English Chan-
nel, near Brighton, was taken as representing the com-
position of the sea, and is here given : —

Sodium Chloride 27-059

Potassium „ 0-766

Magnesium „ 3-666

„ Bromide 0-029

„ Sulphate 2-296

Calcium „ 1-406

_„ Carbonate 0-033

Iodine and Ammoniacal Salts — traces

Water 964-795

1000-000
Peoceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIV.— No. 7.— Session 1884-5.

The Chlorides in the Irish Sea are about 30 per mille.
„ English Channel „ 31 „ „

„ beyond the Eddj^stone are 32 „ „

As the requirement for a potable sea water does not
arise except in mid-ocean, the proportion of 32- per mille.
must be taken as the basis of calculation.

This represents as near 20* per mille. of Chlorine as
possible.

From the analysis shown it will be perceived that the
Chlorides of Sodium and Magnesium are in great pre-
ponderance.

It is to the former of these that the baneful effects of
sea-water when drunk, are to be ascribed, for Chloride of
Sodium or common salt produces thirst, probably by its
styptic action on the salivary glands, and scurvy by its
deleterious action of the blood when taken in excess.

Sodium Chloride being the principal noxious element
in sea-water, and Soda in combination with a vegetable or
organic acid, such as Citric Acid, Tartaric Acid, or Malic
Acid, being innocuous ; the conclusion is that the element
of evil to be voided, is Chlorine.

After describing various experiments and calling atten-
tion to the power of earthy matters in abstracting salts
from solutions by which he hoped the process would be
perfected; an Imperial pint of water from beyond the
Eddystone was shown mixed with 960 grains of Citrate of
Silver and 4 grains of free Citric Acid.

Each part of the Chlorides requires three parts by
weight of the Silver Citrate to throw down the Chlorine,
thus —

3 NaCl + Ag3C6H607 = Na3. Q,B,0^ + SAg.Cl.

The Silver Chloride formed a dense insoluble precipitate,
and the supernatant fluid was decanted and filtered through
a rubber tube and handed round as a beverage.

It contained in each fluid ounce by calculation about
18 grains of Citrate of Soda
1| „ „ Magnesia

I „ „ Potash

1 „ Sulphate of Magnesia
i „ » Lime

i „ Citric Acid
with less than half a grain of undecomposed Chlorides.

To analyse this liquid therapeutically, it may be broadly
stated that Salts of Potash are diuretic, Salts of Magnesia
aperient, and Salts of Soda neutral, except in excessive
doses or in combination with acids of varying medicinal
action, thus, Soda in Nitric Acid, Nitrate of Soda is a
diuretic, following the law of Nitrates as Nitrate of Potash,
a most powerful diuretic, Nitrous ^ther, &c. &c, ; whilst
Soda in combination with Sulphuric Acid as Sulphate of
Soda is aperient, following the law of Sulphates which
increase aperient action, as in Sulphate of Magnesia, &c.

Thus it would seem that Soda holds the scales evenly
between Potash and Magnesia in this medical sense and
that it is weighted, so to speak, on either side by the kind
of mineral acid with which it may be combined.

With non-poisonous vegetable acids, and these slightly in
excess, there is not such an effect produced.

Sodium is an important constituent of the human body,
and Citric Acid, from its carbon almost a food. Although
no one would advocate saline drinks in excess, yet, under
especial circumstances, the solution of it in the form of
Citrate can hardly be hurtful when used to moisten the
throat and tongue, for it will never be used under cir-
cumstances where it can be taken in large quantities.

In the converted sea- water the bulk of the solids is com-
posed of inert Citrate of Soda. There is a little Citrate of
Potash which is a feeble diuretic ; a little Citrate and Sul-
phate of Magnesia, a slight aperient, corrected however by

the constipatory half grain of Sulphate of Lime ; so that the
whole practically is inoperative.

The combination of these salts in nature's proportions
would seem to indicate that they must be the best for
administration in those ailments to which their use would
be beneficial.

Citrate of Silver is an almost insoluble salt, and requires
to be kept from the light, air, and organic matter, it being
very easily decomposed.

A stoppered bottle covered with india-rubber was ex-
hibited as indicating a suitable preserver of the salt as it
affords protection against light, air, and breakage.

As one ounce of Silver Citrate will convert half a pint of
sea- water into a drinkable fluid, and a man can keep alive
upon it a day, then seven ounces of it will keep him a week,
and so on, it may not unreasonably be hoped, in proportion.

It is proposed to pack the Silver Citrate in hermetically
sealed rubber covered bottles or tubes, to be inserted under
the canisters or thwarts of the life-boats in ocean going
vessels, and this can be done at a simple interest on the
first outlay, without any loss by depreciation, as it will
always be worth its cost, and be invaluable in case of need.

MICROSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION.
February 16 th, 1885.

Thomas Alcock, M.D., President of the Section,
in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were elected Associates of the
Section : —

John B, Pettigrew, Esq., of Didsbury.

Frank A. Huet, Esq., L.D.S., RC.S., Eng., of Blooms-
bury, Oxford Road.

John Smith, Esq., M.RC.S., Eng., of 28, Chorlton Road.

William Blackburn, Esq., F.R.M.S., of Woodlands,
Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

H. G. Brooke, Esq., B.A., M.B., Lond., of 189, High
Street, C.-on-M.

Referring to the paper on Pulex Penetrans formerly read
by him, Mr. Boyd also drew attention to two papers on the
Chigoe, or Jigger: Pulex Penetrans in the same magazine,
one by Waterton, the other a translation from Pohl and
Kollar's work, "Brasiliens vorziiglich lastige Insecten," which
give good descriptions of the ravages of these little pests,
but do not enter fully into anatomical details.

Mr. Boyd showed under the microscope specimens of this
insect, and dissections of its oral appendages.

Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S., read a paper entitled,
"A proposed revision of the species and varieties of the
subgenus Cylinder (Montfort) of Conus (L.)."

After briefly enumerating the chief characteristics of the
large assemblage of Mollusca included in the genus Conus,
containing from 450 to 500 species, he pointed out that the
subgenus under discussion corresponded with the 17th and
last Section "Texti," of Weinkauff's classification of the
genus — adopted in the latest issued monograph, by Mr. G. W.
Try on, Junr,, of Philadelphia, in his "Manual of Conchology,"
1884

He illustrated his paper with specimens from his collec-
tion, which exhibited 35 of the 89 described forms. He
proposed that these should be divided into five groups, as
follows :— Conus (L.) § subg : Cylinder (Montfort).

Vera.

Textilia.

C. textile (L.).

Variety 1.

tigrinus (Sowb.).

, 2.

vicarius (Lam.).

, 3.

verriculum (Eeeve).

, 4.

concatenatus (Sowb.),

, 5.

canonicus (Hwass).

, 6.

scriptus (Sowb.).

, 7.

condensus (Sowb.).

, 8.

telatus (Eeeve).

, 9.

Dalli (Stearns).

, 10.

Corbula (Eeeve).

, 11.

euetrios (Sowb. and Melvill).

b) Ablates.

C. abbas (Hwass).

C. panniculus (Lam.).

Var. 1. textilinus (Kiener).
C. Victorise (Eeeve).

Var. 1. complanatus (Sowb.).
(c) Pyramidalia.

C. pyramidalis (Lam.).

Var. 1. convolutus (Sowb.).
C. gloria maris (Chem.).
C. Pauluccise (Sowb.).
C. Prevostianus (Sowb.).

II. Eetifeei.
C. retifer (Lam.) only species = solidus (Sowb.).

III. LuciDi.
C. lucidus (Mawe) only species [ = reticulatus (Auct)]

(a) Crocati.

IV. AULTCI.

C. crocatus (Lam.).
C. racemosus (Sowb.).
C. colubrinus (Lam.).

(b) Episcopi.

0. Elizse (Kiener).

C. prffilatus (Hwass).

C. magnificus (Eeeve).

C. episcopus (Hwass).

Var. 1. Eubiginosus (Hwass).
,, 2. Pennaceus (Born).
C. Omaria (Hwass).
0. Aulicus (L.).

Var. 1. auratus (Lam.).

V. AUEEI.

C. aureus (Brug).
C. clavus (L.).

He next gave details of the geographical distribution, and
differentiated the various species and forms.

Among the specimens exhibited, was one of that most
highly esteemed of known shells, Conus gloria maris
(Chemnitz), which he provisionally classed under Textilia
Pyramidalia, but at the same time there can be no doubt
but that it stands by itself, as the result of the highest effort
of evolution in its own particular sphere. He gave a history
of what is known of its discovery; first being heard of about
1750, it was not till 1788 that it was described by Chemnitz.
There are at present 11 specimens certainly known to exist,
besides one which is reported from Amsterdam, and requires
confirmation. Five are in this country, three of which are
in the National collection at South Kensington. France,
Italy, Belgium, and Portugal each possess one, and two
others are located in New York and Melbourne museums
respectively. Of these, not more than one-half are in good
condition. Jacna, Island of Bohol, Philippine Islands, is
the locality whence the late Mr. Hugh Cuming, in 1838, pro-
cured two specimens, one immature, but no example has been
procured since, excepting one poor dead shell by Mr. Carl

Bock, in 1879, and it is surmised by those who have studied
the subject most thoroughly that the race is now exhausted,
and doomed to extinction in all probability.

The President made some remarks on the growth of
EverlastiDg Flowers in the neighbourhood of Manchester,
illustrated by five common Australian species, namely,
Ammohium alatum, Helichrysum hxiceatum and HeMpte-
rum Manglesii, roseum and corymhiflorum.

He said the summer of 1884 was unusally favourable to
the growth and perfection of these flowers. The flower-
heads were continually visited by crowds of winged insects
of various kinds, which evidently found some strong attrac-
tion in the bracts of the involucre rather than in the florets ;
the insects were hive-bees, several specimens of wasp, drone
flies, hoverers, ichneumon flies, house-flies, and others, and
late in the season large numbers of gay butterflies, and these
were constantly present. The hygrometric properties of the
bracts were noticed in all the species, the flower-head im-
mediately closing on the commencement of rain, and it was
especially remarkable in Helipterum roseum from the fact
that the part affected by damp was at the line of junction
of the petal-like lamina with the claw at the base. It was
shown that the dry bracts of the expanded flower-head of
this species when damped, merely by being breathed upon,
immediately turn up as if on a hinge, and the united action
of all the bracts is to form a perfect conical tent over the
central florets. It was concluded that the use of the in-
volucre is evidently to protect the florets from damp, and it
might be a subject for reflection why such a special con-
trivance should be required by plants inhabiting a country
whose summer climate is so dry as that of Australia ; and it
would not seem unreasonable to suppose that these plants
could not possibly be cultivated in the open air in this

country where, on the contrary, the weather is so constantly
unsettled.

The plants, however, grew here with remarkable vigour,
and considerably exceeded the size attained in their native
country. This was especiallj^ the case with HelichrysuTri
bradeatum, and from a large proportion of these plants
having flower -heads of the original wild form or only
slightly altered, it was inferred that they were the produce
of a recent importation of seed.

Mr. SiNGTON made the following remarks with respect to
a specimen he exhibited of Mineral deposit, occurring at
Windy Knoll, near Castleton.

This deposit is exposed on the top of a small isolated hill,
in the face of a quarry, near Castleton. It is specially
noticeable on account of the peculiarity of its position and
its chemical constitution, which has not, as yet, been defi-
nitely ascertained. There are specimens in the mineralogical
museums of several Continental Universities. The entire
deposit occupies a space of about one cubic yard, in a slight
hollow on the hill top, filled up with fragments of limestone
and quartz, the spaces between which are occupied with the
mineral. When freed by means of benzine from the im-
purities with which it is mixed, it is found to consist of a
bright yellow jelly-like body. The limestone in contact
with it has been saturated with the mineral, and has been
changed to a black colour ; they can be separated by boiling
in a suitable solvent. Quartz is not affected by the mineral.
It is insoluble in water.

MICKOSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION.

March 16th, 1885.

Thomas Alcock, M.D., President of the Section,
in the Chair.

"On the breeding of the Reed Warbler, acrocephalas
arundinaceus, in Cheshire," by Francis Nicholson, F.Z.S.

In the February number of the "Naturalist," there
appeared a letter from Mr. Chas. Oldham, of Sale, Cheshire,
in which he announced that on the 29th of May last, when
searching in company with Mr. T. A. Coward, of Bowdon,
for the eggs of the Sedge Warbler (acrocephalus phragmitis),
among the reedy margins of Pickmere, near Northwich, he
was agreeably surprised to find a nest of the Reed Warbler,
suspended on the reeds, and containing four eggs, &c. An
editorial note follows, saying that this is the most north-
westerly locality in which this species has been known to
breed in Britain, although it breeds regularly in Eastern
England, annually, as far north as mid Yorkshire.

Mr. Nicholson showed that although it has not been
recorded to have nested, it has been known to him and most
of our local Ornithologists that it does so regularly on most
of the Cheshire meres that are suited to its habits. The
nest, as elsewhere, is fixed usually to three or four reed
stems, of the common English reed, Phragmitis communis,
and is one of the most beautiful of those of our British birds.
It is composed of slender blades of grass, interwoven with
reed tops, and is a deep and solid structure. The eggs cannot
easily roll out, and though the nest may be blown to the
surface of the water, the old and young ride as securely in
their cradle as a sailor does in his hammock.

Mr. Nicholson also drew the attention of the members to
the nearest ally of the Reed Warbler, viz., the marsh warbler,
Acrocephalus palustris, which Mr. Seebohm says, in his his-
tory of British birds, must now be admitted to be a regular,
though local summer visitor to the south of England. The
two species differ considerably in their song, habits, eggs, and
distribution; the prepared skins are almost impossible to
distinguish, unless just after the moult, when the rump of the
Reed Warbler is russet-brown, and the same part in the Marsh
Warbler is olive-brown. Mr. Nicholson was at some trouble
a few years ago to snare a number, with the result that he
is pretty certain that it does not occur in Cheshire, though
it would be well for those who have the opportunity to be
on the look-out for the species.

" On Lagena crenata," by Dr. Alcock, President.

The publication of the important Report on Foraminifera
obtained from dredgings off Dublin, by Mr. Joseph Wright,
and the fact that my specimen of Lagena crenata has been
honoured by having a place assigned to it among the beau-
tiful illustrations to the Report, has induced me to exhibit
my specimen of this comparatively rare variety to the
meeting.

The reason for its admission was that the Dublin dredg-
ings yielded only one specimen, which was unfortunately
less perfectly developed than the Dog's Bay example, and
this, being also from the Irish coast, was admitted in ordei
to show the perfect form of the variety.

Lagena crenata occurs as a fossil in the Middle Tertiaries
of Bordeaux and Malaga, and was first recorded and
described as recent by Messrs. Parker and Jones in tlie
Philosophical Transactions of 1865. They describe it as
"decanter-shaped, neck long and coiled; body gradually
widening and smooth at the base, which for half its radius

is widely and deeply crenate with broad radiating furrows ;
the centre of the base being smooth and gently convex."
Length about sVinch.

This variety is described by Messrs. Parker and Jones,
from shore-sand obtained at Swan River, Western Australia,
I found my specimen in the same year, 1865, and recognised
it at once from their figure and description, then just pub-
lished. At that time I believe my "sjoecimen and theirs
were the only recent examples which had been met with,
and it is curious to notice that they occurred at opposite
sides of the globe, giving promise of the very wide distri-
bution which this remarkable and beautiful form of Lagena
has since been found to have.

In the Challenger Report, Mr. Brady says/'Lagena crenata
is a somewhat rare form, and though it has been found in a
considerable number of localities, it is nowhere abundant.
The distribution list includes several points in the British
seas, at depths of less than 60 fathoms ; the North Atlantic,
west of Ireland, 183 fathoms ; the Cape of Good Hope, 15 to
20 fathoms ; Australia shore-sands ; Bass Strait, 38 fathoms ;
and three stations in deep water in the South Pacific, from
2,825 to 2,425 fathoms." To these localities, Mr. Wright
adds off Corfu 36 fathoms, a lovely specimen obtained.

With regard to the scarcity of this variety, I may say
that during the twenty yenvs which have passed since my
specimen was found, extremely few have been met with in
British seas, although dredging has been carried on so per-
sistently all round our coasts; I believe in fact that the
whole number could still almost be counted on the fingers
of one hand. The exact record, according to Mr. Wright, is
as foUowB :

"It was obtained by Mr. Brady either off" Shetland or
Hebrides, but I cannot, he says, at the moment lay my

bands on the note I had from him in reference to the find.
It was also got by the late Edward Waller, off Yalentia,
Ireland, in dredgings taken in the late Dr. Jeffrey's yacht.
Waller did not live to publish the result of these gatherings,
although some three years were spent at the work. Three
plates were drawn by Wild, in one of tliese he figured three
forms of Crenata, each differing somewhat in shape, but all
referable to the one species."

Your find, he says, off Dog's Bay, and mine off Dublin,
complete the list of British examples.

The apparently world-wide distribution of this form of
Lagena, considered in conjunction with the fewness of the
specimens obtained from each known locality, is a singular
fact which must admit of some explanation, though what
that explanation may be, I am not sure that I can offer
even a probable conjecture. Some forms of Lagena, where
they are present at all, are to be found in abundance, such
as Lagena striata, costata and clavata. Others are less
common, but still are usually found in tolerable plenty;
while Lagena crenata is said to be everywhere scarce,
though its form is so remarkable that it could not be over-
looked by anyone searching a sample of marine deposit, and
therefore I conclude its variety must be admitted.

Can it be supposed that the sarcode which forms a test of
this particular shape is distributed in only small quantity,
and yet so widely over the sea-bed ; or might it not seem
easier to believe that all the sarcode which assumes a flask-
shape, that is all the varieties of Lagena, may take the form
of any of the varieties and all of them in succession, thouo-h
some shapes are more frequently assumed than others ?

According to this view the forms are interchangeable in
successive generations, the forms taken depending possibly
on varying external and internal conditions.

" The Post-Glacial Shell Beds, at Uddevalla, Sweden," by
Mark Stirrup, F.G.S.

During a tour that I made last summer through parts of
Sweden and Norway, I took the opportunity of visiting the
little town of Uddevalla, some 65 miles (by railway) north
of Gothenburg in Southern Sweden.

The steps of wandering naturalists and geologists have
been long drawn to this spot, since Linnaeus, some century
and a-half ago, drew attention to it in an account he
published of a journey in this part of Sweden.

Its attractions are the immense accumulations of fossil
marine shells and barnacles which are found massed against
its hills all over the district, at heights from 50 to 200 feet
or more above the level of the sea, and of which we find
mention made in almost every treatise on the science of
Geology.

The great interest which attaches to these deposits is not
only the evidence they afford of the character and geo-
graphical distribution of a recent marine fauna, but they
have supplied undeniable proofs of the oscillation of land
areas, changes of relative level of land and sea, at a period,
geologically of yesterday.

From the inquiries and researches of Swedish geologists
and the late Sir Charles Lyell, we learn that this terrestrial
movement is still going on in various parts of Scandinavia.

Although our society has had the benefit of a previous
and valuable communication on these shell deposits from
Mr. K D. Darbishire in 1876, I thought it would not be
inadmissible to give the result of my collection and obser-
vation, as great inroads and destruction of the principal
deposits at Kapellbackar have, in recent years, been taking
place.

The town of Uddevalla, situated at the head of a small
and narrow fjord, lies in a basin-shaped depression almost

surrounded by hills : it is in the valleys and ravines among
these hills, that the shell deposits are found.

As my time in the neighbourhood was limited, I visited
only two of them. The first and most considerable one is
at Kappelbackar, about one mile south of the town ; after
you have left the town and begin to ascend the winding-
road up the hill, you see signs of the shells on both sides of
the road filling up the ravine. The roads are, in fact,
repaired with the shells, and a promenade has lately been
laid out and planted with trees, which has caused the
destruction of some of these shell heaps. The ravine is
entirely filled up with shells to a depth varying from about
20 to 30 feet. At the bottom of the ravine runs a small
stream ; upon its bank, behind some cottages, I saw a small
pit had been scooped out in a bed of dark blue clay or silt,
this underlies the mass of shells, and I believe is continued
under the town of Uddevalla, and probably occupies the
bottom of many of the valleys near the coast, as the same
kind of clay is said to be now forming in the fjords in
proximity to the land. I did not get any clear section of
the whole depth, as, when standing by the stream at the
bottom of the ravine, the bank was obscured by talus and
alterations of the road.

Dr. Jeffreys, in his paper on these deposits read before
the British Association in 1863, speaks of, lying upon this
clay, " a bed of sandy gravel with rolled stones or pebbles,
containing Mytilus Edulis and a small form of Saxicava
arctica. This bed was about six inches deep, and resembled
a raised beach." This bed I was not able to detect.

My specimens were collected, for the most part, from the
uppermost layer of those closely compacted heaps which
line the road as it crosses the top of the hill.

The most prominent and abundant shells are those of
Mya truncata var. Uddevalensis and Saxicava rugosa

(arctica) with these are mixed enormous numbers of the
detached valves of the giant barnacle, Balanus Hameri.

The extensive accumulations of shells at Kapellbackar
differ in constitution from that of ordinary " raised beaches "
where the shells are dispersed through beds of sand and
gravel ; here they seem to have been heaped and collected
together in a bay among the rocks, by the action of marine
currents, without being buried in sand or shingle.

The shells are often filled with a fine earthy clay, in
which fragments of broken shells, etc., are largely mixed,
but the clay seems as much like a wash from the land as a
marine deposit.

That these mollusks and barnacles lived and flourished
close to where they are now found, is shown by the frequent
finding of the two valves, of some of the conchifera, closed
and in juxtaposition ; this statement is more clearly proved
in the case of the barnacles, as their basal plates have been
found attached to the rocks against which these deposits
are heaped. This circumstance is mentioned by Alexander
Brogniart in the early part of the present century; he
reports, having found near the top of the hill, and a little
above the heaps of shells, several balani still adherent to
the rock.

Balanus Hameri is said to be an inhabitant of deep
water, therefore the proof is furnished that the sea once
covered the tops of these hills, and that they remained
submerged at a depth, and for a period sufficiently long, to
permit of countless generations of these balani to live and
contribute their calcareous shields to the heaps we have
described.

The time required for these operations must be counted
by centuries of years if we attempt to estimate the time
it would take to amass these extensive deposits, which have

been despoiled from time immemorial for reducing into lime,
road mending, and other purposes.

The species are the same, for the most part, as those now-
inhabiting the adjacent ocean, with the exception of Pecten
Islmidicus, which is said not now to exist on the Swedish
coast or further south than Trondjhem in Norway. They are
arctic in their general facies, and though from their position
above the glacial beds, they must undoubtedly be classed as
post-glacial, and marking the close of the extreme glacial
conditions on the land, yet the temperature of the sea could
have been but slightly diminished from that of the previously
more arctic conditions.

The other locality that I visited, Lilla Herrstahagen, lies
about one mile east of Uddevalla. Though so short a
distance separates these two deposits, the molluscan fauna
differs in several particulars, but whether that difference
has been due to the character of the shore, or whether the
deposit is of a later age, is somewhat difficult to decide.

This deposit is but of small dimensions when compared
with that of Kapellbackar. It nestles among the rocks at
some short distance from the road across some tilled land,
and it has been disclosed, apparently by the working of a
bed of sand and gravel which underlies the shell deposit.

The shell bearing stratum is the uppermost, and of about
7 or 8 feet in thickness; the underlying beds, which are
unfossiliferous, are composed of about 3 feet of rougli pebbly
sand with rounded stones, and a thick sand-bed, showing
current bedding, the full depth of which has not been laid
bare; the whole depth of the section being about 25 feet.

The shell bearing deposit consists mainly of the broken
tiud rotten shells of Mytilus edulis, but these have not that
thickened or distorted form which is seen at Kapellbackar ;
shells which occur frequently at the latter place are con-
spicously absent here, such are Astarte horealis, Tellina

calcarea, Pecten Islandlcus ; on the other hand, I collected
species here of which I did not find any representatives at
Kapellbackar, viz. : Odrea edidis, Luclna horealis, Cardium
edule, and Nassa reticulata, with these were Trophon
clathratus, which Dr. Gwyn Jeffrej^s describes as a high
northern species, and found living only within the arctic
circle.

Dr. Jeffreys records from this deposit some species which
I did not meet with there, viz. : Tapes pullastra, Corhula
gibha, and Aporrhais pes-pelecani, which he says, with the
Ostrea edulis, " are shells of rather a southern type." Now
one of these species, Aporrhais pes-pelecani, which Dr.
Jeffreys considered absent from Kapellbackar, I was success-
ful in finding there.

This mixing up of species of a southern type with those
of an undoubted arctic or boreal type, is somewhat difficult
of explanation. Some of these apparent anomalies may be
ascribed to our ignorance of the extent of the range of some
of these moUusks in our present seas, or this influx of
southern types may be due to changes in the sea bed,
currents of warmer water finding their way northwards,
bringing with them denizens of a more southern latitude.

Whatever may be the interpretation of these difficulties,
we may be certain that these immense heaps of fossil shells
are the result of slow growth and accumulation, during
which many changes of elevation and depression of the coast
line have taken place.

That these shells indicate colder climatal conditions than
those now prevailing on the coasts of Southern Sweden, is
proved by the absence of the large Pecten Islandlcus from
the neighbouring sea, and most of them are at present in-
habitants of the Arctic Ocean, and have been dredged from
the Greenland and Spitzbergen waters.

Many of them are also common shells in our glacial clays

of the Clyde and other localities in Scotland, where they
are often of larger size than in the post-glacial deposits of
Sweden.

That a similar marine fauna lived in the Polar Sea, when
that sea was more extensive than now, and covered lands
that now form the northern coast of Siberia, is demonstrated
by the explorations of NordenskioJd in the " Voyage of the
Vega."

In the upper earthy l-Ajer of the tundra, on the banks of
the Yenisej, he discovered numerous species of shells, some
of which are common species in the Uddevalla beds, as
My a truncata var. Uddevalensis, Tellina lata, Trichotropis
horealis, and Natica lielicoides.

Before concluding, it may not be uninteresting to record
the plants seen and gathered on the rocky knoll near the
last deposit, on 21st March, 1884. They are all common
British plants, except the Hepatica triloba, which is not an
inhabitant of the British Isles.

The Sloe, Prunus spinoza, was in flower; the rock was gay
with the numerous white blooms of Saxifraga granulata
— the following were also in flower : Anemone nemorosa,
A. hepatica, L. (Hepatica triloba), Orohiis tuberosus, Sedum
acre, Leontodon taraxacum, a large lilac flowered Viola
(canina?), Viola tricolor, Convallaria majalis (not yet in
flower) ; and in the meadows below grew the Caltha palus-
tris with large corolla.

In the following list of Uddevalla fossils, which have been
kindly identified for me by R. D. Darbishire, Esq. (the
result of one day's visit), I have, for the sake of convenience,
made use of the nomenclature and the synonymic list of
the late Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, published in the Report of
the British Association for the Advancement of Science,
for 1863.

Localities.

Kapell-
backar.

Lilla
Herrs-
tehagen.

Eemarks.

Ostrea edulis

Pecten Islandicus

Mytilus edulis

X
X

X
X
X
X
X

X
X
X
X
X
X

X
X
X
X

X
X

One valve.

Plentiful. Colour well pre-
served in some specimens.

Colour well preserved in some.
A distorted form occurs large-
ly at Kapellbacker, the lower
margin being much thickened
and turned inwards, owing
probably to its living in cre-
vices of tlie rocks.

Fragment.

One valve and fragment.

Modiola modiolus

Leda arctica

Lucina borealis

Cardium edule

Plentiful.
Bather rare.

Cyprina Islandica ...

Astarte sulcata

(var. elliptica)
compressa

Fragment.
Plentiful

Plentiful.

borealis

Abundant.

Tellina calcarea

Balthica

Mya truncata

Very abundant at Kapellbackar.

Ditto.
Fragment.
One specimen.

(var. Uddevalensis)

Saxicava arctica

Pholas crispata

Lepeta ca^ca

Littorina litorea

Natica affinis

Rare. One specimen.

Two specimens.
Plentiful.
Plentiful.
Bathei' rare.

(N. helicoides, John-
ston.)
Aporrhais pes-pelecani
Buccinum undatum ...
Trophon clathratus ...
Truncatus

(M. bamffius)
Fusus antiquus

Fragment.
Rather rare.

Very abundant at Kapellbackar

latericeus, Moll..

Nassa reticulata ....

CiRRIPEDIA.

Balanus Hameri

porcatus

ECHINODERM.

Fragments of Spines

Page 27, line 17
19

COmilGENDA.

For Ferious Oxide read Ferrous Hydrate.
For Ferrous read Ferric.

Ordinary Meeting, March 24th, 1885.

Professor W. C. Williamson LL.D., F.RS., President,
in .the Cliair.

"On Peculiar Ice Forms," by Aeteur Wm. Waters,
F.G.S.

In " Nature," November the 6th of last year, some " Pecu-
liar ice forms" were described by Mr. W. Woodd Smith who
found " a bare slope almost covered with a coating of ice
nearly four inches in depth, and of very curious structure,

being formed in four layers Each la3^er was composed

of an aggregation of filaments or elongated crystals, one-
sixteenth of an inch and downwards in diameter, and all of
a length equal to the thickness of the layer ranged side by
side like organ-pipes or basaltic columns and with pyramidal
ends."

Mr. Smith says that " the mass had evidently been pushed
up from below," and my observations here certainly leave
no doubt in my mind that this is correct.

In the correspondence* which followed one observer
thought that " they were mainly due to the prolonged con-
deasation of aqueous vapour from the air;" another authority
considered that " the separate layers of ice may possibly be
the small remains of four separate and distinct snow storms
piled one above the other," and he thinks that this snow has
been coaverted into ice and assumed the basaltic form.

* Since this paper was read an interesting letter from Professor Mc.Gee
has appeared in " Nature," March 26th, giving references to a series of
letters to which I found no necessity to allude, and in the communication
the subject is dealt with from a different standpoint to the one I had in
view.

Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIV.— No. 8.— Session 1884-5.

All the writers seem to consider that these ice structures
are not common, and do not seem to appreciate how quickly
they are formed, and it therefore seems advisable to put
upon record the circumstances which are most favourable
for their production.

I have often seen them in Davos, and also in North Italy,
and in the fiae winter of 1881-1882 I many days purposely
went early in the morning to the same slopes above Davos
Platz to observe these peculiar forms. I cannot now lay
my hands on the notes made, but jHnd on November the I3th,
1881, that the surface of what I call the talus, from the turf
was covered with vertical acicular crystals of ice in bundles,
1| to 2 inches long, looking like asbestos. The diameter of
each needle was about 0 5 millimetres. This asbestos-like
appearance has struck another observer. I have frequently
seen a layer several feet in extent about 3 to 4 inches in
depth, and these I used to break up to find them fresh
formed the next day.

The places where they can most regularly be observed
are at the sides of the mountain paths, on the slopes facing
to the south or east. The grass does not in most cases come
down to the path as the action of tlie weather breaks it
away at the edge, and thus from the grass there is a steep
slope of light loamy earth, and when there is snow melting
on the turf above, the water percolates and keeps this earth
moist for a long time, and the sun shining full on this dark
ground makes it very warm in the day, but each night
all is frozen hard.

The conditions for the formation of these crystals did not
exist in the middle of winter, but as soon as the winter snow
was partly melted away I knew that I should find them in
large quantities, and took the opportunity of examining
the same place on three consecutive suitable days, namely,
from the 26th to the 28th of February.

The 25th had been warm with the air temperature

+ 10'G° C. (51*1° F.) at 1 p.m., and the solar radiation was
51-7° C. (125-1° F.). On the 26th, at 7 a.m. (which may be
taken as abont the minimum of the night), the temperature
was -7-2° C. (19-0° F ) but rose at 1 pin. to 9-9° C. (49'9° F.).
On the 27th, at 7 a.m., we had -6-2° C. (20-9" F.), and at 1
p.m., 10-2° C. (50-4° F.), with solar radiation 48-9° C. (120-0'
F.). On the 28th, at 7 a.m., -5-5° C. (22-1° F.), at 1 p.m.,
5-2° C. (41-4° F.), with solar radiation 46-6° C. (115-9° F.).
The nights were clear, and a terrestial radiation thermo-
meter would have shown about zero Fahrenheit each night.

It will be seen that the days were warm, with a very
powerful sun, while the nights were clear and cold. On
the slopes in question, the earth was softened very soon
after the sun appeared above the mountains, and about two
hours after this, all the peculiar ice forms examined had
been melted awaj^, therefore, to study them, these slopes
must always be visited early, though they may be found
under less favourable circumstances, and with different
aspects at other times.

On the first day these forms averaged about an inch.
On the second some were as much as two, but most were a
little more than one inch. The third day when the earth
was becoming drier, was the most instructive, as then at
the upper part of the earth slope, which was the driest, the
crystals were only a quarter of an inch long, while below,
where the earth was still soaked they were two inches lono-.

I have not this year found any case of their occurring in
several layers, though I have previously seen it, and the
cause is no doubt an interruption in the meteorological
conditions. Besides the straight rods, there are often some
bent into a half circle, or into reversed fl shape, and
frequently in the lower part of a layer the filaments are
more numerous than in the upper part. As far as my
observations go no trace of these peculiar forms is to be
found upon the turf.

/ . t r-1 era A C3 V .

The amount of earth carried on tlie top of these eolumna
is often considerable, but varies on different days and
probably depends upon the rapidity with which the crystal-
lisation commences. The morning on which there seemed
to be least dirt was after several warm days, during which
there had been rain and snow, and, consequently, the ground
was pretty equally saturated.

Although probably on more than thirty da3^s in every
winter it would be possible to gather some cart loads of
these filaments by the side of the favourite mountain walk
above Davos, 1 feel convinced that many pass by without
ever seeing them in consequence of the covering of dirt,
and, as we have said, it is only those who walk early who
could, as a rule, see them in great abundance.

Many other ice and snow structures occurring here would
well repay careful study, but competent workers do not
take the matter up. On the 11th of this month I was
surprised to see the stalks of some herbaceous plants
supporting thin sheets of ice the shape of a razor blade and
about half an inch broad. These blades were directed
against the prevailing wind, and on the umbels of some
dead umbelliferae had a very curious appearance. As there
had been rain, snow, and mist the day before, the way in
which they grew is somewhat doubtful.

I have in a previous paper* called attention to the fact
that the snow entirely recrystallizes during the winter, but
towards the end of the winter when the snow is being
melted each day it becomes in the night coarsely granulated
without any trace of crystalline form. On the 15th of
March, in the morning, the granules had much the form of
very coarsely granulated zinc, with irregular granules about
a quarter of an inch in diameter.

* " Observations made in St. Moritz." Proc, Manch. Lit. & Phil. Soc,
vol. xxii., p. 83.

Ordinary Meeting, April 7th, 1885.

J. P. Joule, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., &c., Vice-President,
in the Chair.

"Note from Davos Dorfli," by Arthur Wm. Waters,
F.G.S.

If I was a strong man I should not be in Davos, and
meteorological observations ought to be undertaken by
those in health, and this will be sufficient explanation
why I am only able to make a small contribution to our
knowledge of the Davos climate ; and a severe illness last
summer prevented my putting up either of the electric
thermometers* which I devised especially for an extreme
winter climate. Instead, I used the variations in the electrical
resistance of wire, a plan which was described by Sir William
Siemens,-f- and has been employed in deep sea and other
measurements.

Besides wishing to know the temperature without leaving
my room, I was anxious to become practically acquainted
with the advantages and difficulties of the system.

The coils described by Sir W. Siemens are platinum wire,
wound on pipe-clay, and for furnace or deep sea measure-
ments this would not seem to have any disadvantage, but
for meteorological purposes the aim should rather be towards
an arrangement that will very rapidly take the temperature
of the air. As an experiment I therefore took some fine
copper wire (O'l millim.) and wound this in such a way
that it should be as much as possible exposed to the air
currents. Beginning near the centre I wound a number

* New Method of reading a Thermometer and Hygrometer at a distance, by means of
Electricity.— Quart. Journ. of the Meteorol. Soc, vol. ix., p. 205. See also Proc. Manch.
Lit. and Phil. Soc, vol. xxii., p. 106.

+ Electrical Resistance Thermometer and Pyrometer Trans. Soc. Telogr. Engineers
1875, See also " Nature," July, 1875.

Peoceedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIV.— No. 9.— Session 1884-5.

of turns, making circles 12 centim. in diameter, then about
0-5 centim., further out another series, going on until the
last circle was 25 centim. These skeins, if they may be
so called, were suspended by silk threads within a light
wooden frame, and looked much like a spider's web ; and in
this way the wire was uninfluenced by the neighbourhood
of any wood or metal. The wire, however, had to be silk
covered and soaked in paraffine wax, and as both are bad
conductors of heat, it is evident that although the wire will
pretty quickly take the temperature of the air, yet greater
sensitiveness might be obtained.

It would be difficult to have a satisfactory resistance of
uncovered wire with any other metal than platinum, and
this should be very fine, so as not to require too great a
length. I have, therefore, made another coil with 10 yards
uncovered platinum wire, about 004 millim. in diameter.

^ First I put together a frame, something

7y/Z^///yy//yyy\ Hke a slate frame, and near and parallel
with the top and bottom fastened two
strings (35 centimetres apart) which
were threaded through small pieces
of tobacco pipe, fastened on with
shellac. The object of having a broken
up surface is to avoid connexion by
dew, or hoar frost. The platinum wire,
which is uncovered, is now led from
a piece of tobacco pipe on the upper
^/\//yyyyy/y////-f-al string round one on the lower, and up

' — ' again to the second piece on the upper

string, and thus from one to another until the whole is
fixed. In this way each wire is about 15 millim. from
the one before, and with this very fine wire we may, I
think, say that it will almost instantaneously take the
temperature of the air. The resistance is about 600 ohms,
and being wound so open does not, so far as the measure-

ments made with my present instruments indicate, show
any rise of temperature when a suitable measuring current
is sent through, though the same wire wound compactly
upon a piece of clay pipe rises considerably with this
current.

The Wheatstone bridge and resistances which were used
are those I described before this Society,* and the arrange-
ment has proved very satisfactory when rapidity of
measurement is a consideration. The galvanometer is a
very good astatic which was bought for other purposes,
but being a short coil I was not working under ad-
vantageous circumstances, and am, therefore, making a
more suitable one. For the sake of any who may make
similar measurements I would advise a galvanometer shunt,
so that too much time may not be lost through swinging of
the needle during the balancing. Correction has to be
made for the temperature of the room, and as an open
window may not act as quickly upon the measuring coils as
upon a thermometer, this may from time to time be the
source of a small error. For very exact measurements the
temperature of the resistance bridge might be taken by
means of a small coil placed in melting ice.

For laboratory, or observatory observations, there is no
doubt that this plan of taking the temperature may be
readily developed, so that an amount of exactness may be
attained which would be impossible by any other method.
Living in rooms in an hotel, it is rather awkward to have
delicate instruments left permanently in suitable positions,
and in this respect my previous instrument, with its simple
reader and ordinary compass galvanometer, which might be
moved about and hung up out of the way, was much less
troublesome to use. In that case, as I pointed out, the weak
point was the sluggishness of the thermometer, whereas

♦ On a Method of Mounting Electrical Resistances : Proc. Manch. Lit. and Mill. Soc,
vol. xxiii., p. 43.

with the present plan, the thermometer part may be made
most sensitive. It should not he forgotten that in these
severe climates the errors through bad position of the
instruments is often considerable, whereas with an electric
system they can be placed far from the houses. Therefore, if
with a metal thermometer, such as was used before, the error
should even rise as high as a half a degree Centigrade, and
a quicksilver thermometer placed near a house should give,
in consequence of the position, an error of two degrees C,
then we obtain the most reliable figures from the least
sensitive instrument.

The following table shows the temperature as measured
in Davos Dorfli in my screen, fifty metres from the hotel.
The nine a.m. figures were always taken with a mercury
thermometer; at one p.m. usually with the electrical resis-
tance, but on a number of days I used the mercury ther-
mometer. Except on a few days in February, when a
friend took the observations, the seven a.m. and nine p.m.
were taken regularly with the electrical resistance. The
coil used was the one described as a spider's web, in which
the resistance was 450 ohms at — 7' Fahr., and 550 ohms
at 83 Fahr.

As the whole thing was really in an experimental stage,
to see what could be done with the apparatus I possessed, the
results must not be looked upon as reliable within half a
degree Fahrenheit, but I think that they may be taken as
so far correct,

7 A.M. 9 A.M. 1 P.M. 9 P.M.

1884. Nov.*- 8-lC.(17-4F.)- 3-5 0.(257 F.) + 2.6C.(36-8F.)- 7-3 0.(18-9 P.)
,, Dec. - 7-9 0.(17-8 P.)- 6-5 0.(20-2 F.)-l-l C.(30-0F.)- 7-80.(17-9P.)

1885. Jan. -13-2 0.( 8-2P.)-ll-3 C.(ir7 P.)-l-9C.(28-6F.)-ir7C.(irOF.)
„ Feb. - 5-6 0.(21-9 F.)- 2-8 0.(27-0 F.) + 3-8 0.(38-9 F.)- 37 0.(25-4 F.)

The results obtained are just about two degi'ees Cent,
colder than those published from Davos Platz, and ppssibly
Platz is a trifle colder, but the main difference must be

* November, 1884, at 3 p.m. the mean was— 0-9 C. (30-4 F.)

"taken as arising from my instruments being free, while
those in Platz are in a position wliere they must receive a
good deal of heat from surrounding houses.

I must point out that we are now getting together a
considerable number of figures of these high climates at
other hours than the official ones, so that gradually we shall
see the course through the day. The nine a.m. observations
have been made by me in Davos both during the winter
1870-71 and this winter. During 1882-83 winter, I took
it in St. Moritz, and Dr. Wise registered it in Wiesen 1882-3,
and in Maloja 1883-4. Many patients who could not under-
take to keep a record at seven a.m. could do so at nine a.m.,
and therefore it is important to know its relation to other
hours. In St. Moritz I also made observations at three p.m.,
and Dr. Wise has done so in Wiesen and Maloja, but it is
rather to be regretted that none of Dr. Wise's observations
are taken at the same time as in the official Swiss stations.

The mean winter temperature in Davos Platz taken from
12 years' observations is November — 2-4 Cent.; December -
6'1 C; January — 7"7 C; February — 41 C; so that com-
paring this winter in Davos Platz it is nearly two degrees
centigrade warmer than the average.

Wind.
The wind was again measured at about 6 feet from the
ground, in order to see approximately the conditions to
which patients are exposed. The position though about 50
metres from the hotel we can only look upon as representing
a sheltered part of Davos Dorfli. As we have previously had
occasion to notice the choice of position is an extremely
difficult question, and almost any result may be obtained,
according to the position taken, for as a rule the wind is
only a valley wind, that is to say, is quite independent of
the upper currents, and it will therefore be readily under-
stood that its exact direction varies very considerably in

different parts of the vallej'-, and consequently I have found
it best only to note whether the wind blows up or down the
valley. The most frequent wind here has a direction from
the lake to the lower part of the valley and on one house
will show itself as a north wind, while a few houses further
on it will, according to the position, be north-east or north-
west.

Besides this, the valley wind is really a surface wind, so
that very frequently the smoke shows the direction to be
from the north at the height of the roof, whereas at about
double or three times this height it is blowing from the
south. This occurs so often that it may almost be considered
a rule when a true valley wind is blowing. Also it is often
the case that in the middle of the valley the wind is from
the north while at the two sides it is from the south. There
must therefore on these occasions be a neutral zone, and the
force must vary very greatly at different heights. This I
have been able to see clearly, for on one or two days when
there was a strong unpleasant wind by the ground, a vane
on a pole about the height of a house showed no movement.
In the two lateral valleys, Dischma and Fluela, it very often
happens tliat the wind is blowing in opposite directions,
probably in these cases the wind may either be caused in
these side valleys, or be drawn by the main valley.

The direction of the prevailing valley wind depends upon
various circumstances, and it has been a matter of scientific
surprise to some people that the direction in Davos should
be down the valley, and the cause has often been sought in
the wrong place, but it seems to me that the explanation is
a simple one, for although the direction is from N.E. to
S.W. the main mountain masses lie to the south, so that the
air being more warmed over these mountain masses the
current is thus drawn to the south although the valley falls
in this direction. That this is the probable explanation
receives the strongest support from the lower part of the

valley. In Wieseu which is south of the gorge of the Zuge,
near the main mountain masses^ the valley wind seems to
have a frequent or prevailing direction from the south. As
the Swiss meteorological observations are now only printed
in most cases as monthly means, it is very difficult to make
any detail comparisons, but through the courtesy of the pastor
who takes the observations in Wiesen I was, however, able
to see some of the March figures, and the direction of the
wind was mostly the reverse of that in Davos and the days
that I have been there this has been the case. Further
comparison must however be made.

It does not seem to some people that places within 20
miles can really be as different as they are, and this cannot
be thoroughly understood without fully taking into con-
sideration the winds and their origin, but when it is seen
how much they depend upon the neighbouring configuration
then it can be appreciated.

Those who know Davos are well aware that there are
great complaints as to the depressing influence of the fohn
(or perhaps more properly fon) wind, but whether this ic
due to the first change, or whether — which I think is more
probable — the most depressing time is when the real fohn
is over and when the air is becoming damper is a question
of great importance yet to be solved.

The fohn is the favonius of the Romans, and is now in
the Engadine favoun, and when residing in that valley I took
a good deal of trouble to find out whether the conception of
the favoun was a definite one among the inhabitants, and
found that while most associated the direction with the
warm wind, there were some who would call any warm
snow melting wind in the spring favoun.

Among the visitors the term is used very loosely, and
much is attributed to the fohn which has nothing to do
with it, nor is it scientifically a very satisfactory term.
Dove, Hann, and others have long since shown that the

Sirocco, or distant origin of this wind, is not a tenable
theory, but that it has a local origin. To explain shortly
the present state of knowledge with regard to this important
climate factor ! If air rises or comes into less barometrical
pressure it must expand, and this expansion requires heat,
which is taken from the air brought to that spot, and thus
the temperature falls. Should on the other hand the air
descend or come into greater barometrical pressure the
contrary effect takes place, and the temperature rises. If
the air be quite dry the difference of temperature thus
caused is 1° Cent, for each 101 metres that the air has risen
or fallen. The air, however, is never quite dry, and there-
fore the calculation is not quite as simple as this, for when
air containing moisture rises it is lowered in temperature,
and so gradually reaches its dew point, when some of the
moisture will be precipitated as snow or rain, and in this
way the latent heat is set free, so that the fall of temperature
of air containing moisture is less than that of dry air rising
to the same height. In descending the temperature of the
air rises, but the amount of absolute moisture remains the
same, so tliat the air is constantly becoming relatively drier,
and it will thus be seen that the rise of temperature when
the air descends is more rapid than the fall when the air
ascended. Thus air with a temperature of 20° Cent, and 86
per cent of relative moisture would in passing over a
mountain 2500 metres higher deposit a part of its moisture,
and coming down to the level from which it started would
on the other side of the mountain have a temperature of
80'5 cent, and relative moisture 29 per cent.*

I wish, as far as possible, to avoid in any way entering
into the merits of the rival places of Davos and St. Moritz,
but in consequence of the different configuration, the fohn
affects the two places so differently that in St. Moritz we
hardly ever hear anyone speaking of it, whereas in Davos

• For fuller explanation see Mohn " Meteorologie," 2ncl ed., p. 174.

it is a stock subject of conversation. St. Moritz Dorf
is the highest part of the valley of the Eugadine, and,
therefore, when a fohn wind is blowing in the neighbour-
hood it frequently deposits its moisture in St. Moritz, or if
not snowing, or raining, is a damp wind. In Davos, on the
other hand, the fohn wind has to descend from a greater
height, and has passed over a range of mountains, and is
in consequence of its descent a warm and dry wind, at any
rate for part of its duration. The winter of 1882-1(S83 gave
some very interesting examples, showing that the theory
given above was sufScient to explain what was taking
place. On the days with strongest fohn, viz. : November 7th
St. Moritz had at 1 p.m. +3'2 Cent., while Davos had
+ 13 Cent.; November 8th St. Moritz had +21 Cent., Davos
+ 7 Cent.; December 4th St, Moritz was at 1 p.m. - 5 Cent.,
Davos was +4 Cent.; January 30th St. Moritz was —08
Cent., Davos was +5 Cent.

It will be seen that whereas St. Moritz has no depressing
fohn, its absence at such times has to be paid for by a
colder and damper air together with a strong wind (which
is more trying as it is cold). My own opinion is that for
some individuals the disadvantages of the fohn outweigh
the disadvantages of the colder and moister air, while
others can better bear the bracing and cold air than the
depressing one, and as such places as Arosa, Pontresina,
the neighbourhood of Schuls, &;c., have been thought of as
winter health resorts, it becomes important first to study
how the wind affects each of them ; for, as I have elsewhere
said, I believe that the difference of some of these places,
quite near together, is as great as between Brighton and
Torquay.

In order, therefore, to study the influence of the wind on
people, we ought first of all to know the force at about the
height of a person, and then we ought to know the direction
(and if possible the force) of the main upper current, for of

course it is not to be supposed that the physiological
influence of air blowing from the south, though merely
locally turned from the north, is the same as air brought
from the north. In order to have data concerning the
upper currents available for those who may in the future
wish to study their climatic influence a vane was sub-
scribed for, and put upon the Bremenbiihl at a height of
about 700 metres (2,300 feet) above the valley. It can be
seen from Davos Dorfli from which it is 2,600 metres;
and from Davos Platz, a distance of about 2,100 metres.
I'his I observed from Dorfli for two months, and Mr.
Rzerwuski observed it for January and February from
Platz. The vane is on a principle devised by Mr. Hugo
Leupold,* and has two large triangles below the vane, and
by the position of these the direction of the wind is read
with a key. There is also a very ingenious force measurer,
consisting of a flap which moves a ring above the vane :
and by the height of this ring the force is read. As the
instrument was only put up at the beginning of the winter
when the snow was on the ground, there has not yet
been the opportunity of testing its action, and these force
measurements are therefore omitted. The telescope which
I used was not large enough for reading this part of the
instrument on unfavourable days. People living in English
foo-s will be surprised to hear that with only two exceptions
this vane could be seen every day for four months. The
table of this upper wind is given at the end of the
paper.

The wind in the valley in the position already mentioned,
was : —

Davos Dorfli. Davos Platz. St. Moritz.

1881-1882. 1882-1883.

September, 1884 1281

November, „ 759 561 1965

December, „ 761 727 1422

^ A New Method of reading the direction of tlie wind on exposed heights, <Src.; by H
Leupold, F.R. Met. Soc, CE. '<J J. K. Met, Soc, Vol. xi., Jan., 1886.

Davos Dorfii.
785 ....

Davos Platz.

1881-1882.

283 ....

St. Moritz.
1882-1883.
1674

1402 ....

597 ....

1556

1859 ,...

1656 ....

2740

1850

Januaiy, 1885

February, „

March, ,,

April, „

We are not able to make comparisons between the figures
obtained in Davos and St. Moritz, although taken by the
same Robinson's anemometer, as the position was a more
open one in St. Moritz than in Platz or Dorfii. I, however,
put the figures side by side so that they may be readily
referred to.

It must of course be remembered, that the amount regis-
tered so near the ground is much less than it would be at a
greater height, and further, we must also not forget, that
an amount of wind which is pleasant in summer is unbear-
able in winter. As I before said, for a pleasant winter day,
the wind registered should not be above a mile an hour. I
refer again to this, as Dr. C. Theodore Williams, in a dis-
cussion before the Meteorological Society, said that I found
that there was very little wind in St. Moritz. I certainly
have not intended to write anything which should make me
responsible for such a statement, but to avoid making im-
perfect comparisons between rival places merely gave the
figures, for each to draw their own conclusions, and while
there are many advantages in the hotel and neighbourhood,
making it a pleasant place for those who are strong enough
to stand the climate, did not return there, simply because I
felt that a more sheltered position was advisable for me.

Sunshine Recorder.

An addition has been made to the instruments used by
the meteorological station in the shape of a sunshine recorder.
The results of which are given from the local paper : —

September 201 hours.

October... 102i „

November 128 „ about 65 per cent of possible duration.

December. 66 „ „ 50 „ „

January... 137-8 „ „ 85

February.. 104^ „ „ 50 „

The mere statement of the number of hours which the
sun shone is exceedingly misleading, as the sun appears and
disappears above and below the mountains at quite different
times to the hours of sunrise and sunset for these latitudes,
and this difference cannot be estimated by people living at
a distance. A few observations each month as to the sunrise
and sunset, so that the percentage of the possible duration
could be given would add immensely to the value of the
figures, but this simple thing, which could so easily be
done, was officiall}'" discouraged by the Swiss Meteorological
Bureau. I therefore give a rough estimate of the percentage
of possible duration.

Water.
I have on a previous occasion spoken about the time of
snow melting, and should like at some future time to enter
fully into it, as there is no doubt that many make unfor-
tunate choice as to the time they leave and the place to
which they go, but there are various dangers here during
the snow melting time, some of which might be mitigated.
One ver}'- important consideration is, how the drinking
water is collected. After suffering for a long time from
stomachic derangements, whicli had disappeared upon several
occasions on leaving Davos for a few days, I unexpectedly
found the explanation. For the purpose of washing some
microscopic preparations, I added a drop of drinking water,
and was surprised to find that this contained a large number
of fine particles of stone, and then putting on a higher
power the water was seen to be swarming with bacteria.
This led me to examine the way that the water was collected,
which was in a small wooden reservoir higher than the
hotel, but only about 100 metres distant, and instead of
being collected from a spring directly issuing from the rock
it is led under the earth for a short distance, in such a
manner that the water from the grassy slopes above can

percolate into it. As the slopes are very thoroughly
manured in the autumn, before the snow falls, and as the
goats wander about here, the danger, as soon as the melting
snow keeps the ground soaked, is very great. There is a
second danger from the fine particles in the water, and
ao-ain the amount of magnesia should be examined, as it will
from some springs be considerable. Filtering the water
would be a great advantage, but could not affect the organic
impurities. Upon making this discovery I at once gave up
drinking any water, and the results showed that I was at
last upon the right track.

Being in an hotel which calls itself a Curhaus, and where
a doctor has resided for many years, I had not thought
that such an unsatisfactory, primitive, and dangerous method
of collecting the water was possible, and though probably
no other hotel obtains its supply in the same way (in fact
most will now be furnished from a water supply collected
in the Fluela valley some miles away), yet all should be
examined; and the object of what I am saying, is to urge
the English doctors who send patients here to use their
influence to have an officer of health appointed, with the
right to examine all sanitary questions.

Davos Platz has now become a town producing at times
a veil of smoke, which in an English town we should call
a fog, and this, if scientific methods were employed, could
be much reduced. I am in a position to say that the
sanitary arrangements in some of the hotels require entirely
changing to be suitable for a place which has grown so
rapidly, and with the possibility of frozen drainage, these
and all other sanitary questions should be periodically
examined by a competent official.

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1-1

OOOSOrHtMCO-^lOOt^OOOSOr-t

Annual General Meeting, April 21st, 1885.

J. P. Joule, D.C.L, LL.D., F.R.S, &c., Vice-President,
in the Chair.

The Treasurer reported that enquiries had been made
relative to the cost of the restoration of the old building ;
this would involve an expenditure of at least £500. He
had much pleasure in informing the Society that one of
their members, Mr. Henry Wilde, in addition to his recent
benefactions to the Society had also undertaken the restora-
tion of the building at his own cost.

On the Motion of Mr. C, Bailey, seconded by Mr. R S.
Dale, it was unanimously resolved " That the thanks of
of the Society be given to Mr. Wilde for his additional bene-
faction."

The Treasurer also reported that the Council had accepted
the offer of the Microscopical and Natural History Section
to furnish the room over the Library at the expense of the
Section.

A letter was read from Mr. J, Baxendell stating that on
account of his continued ill health he wished to resign the
office of Honorary Secretary which he had held for twenty-
four years.

On the motion of Dr. Joule, seconded by Dr. Bottomley,
it was unanimously resolved " That the Society has heard
with great regret that Mr. Baxendell finds himself unable
to continue his attendance at the meetings and his services
as Senior Secretary of the Society, and cannot proceed to
the election of his successor without first placing on record
Pbooeedings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIV.— Jfo. 10.— Session 1884-5.

a hearty expression of acknowledgment of his ability and
assiduity in the discharge of his secretarial duties and the
superintendence of the Society's publications, and of the
courtesy with which he has always met every call made
upon him by the members of the Society and its Council."

Report of the Council, April, 1885,

The Treasurer again reports that the ordinary expenditure
of the Society has exceeded the ordinary receipts, as will be
seen from the comparative Accounts attached to this Report,
and your Council can suggest no sounder means of restoring
the finances of the Society to a more healthy condition than
by again earnestly recommending an increase in the number
of ordinary members. Fewer members have been elected
this year than was the case last year, the total number upon
the roll is out of all proportion to the numbers of original
observers resident in Manchester and its neighbourhood.

In the last Eeport your CouDcil reported that Sir Henry
Roscoe had undertaken to appeal to the members and friends
of the Society for funds to erect a new library and general
meeting room on the land at the rear of the old building ;
this appeal has resulted in promises amounting to £2,308 Is.,
of which £2,247 have been received in the Society's finan-
cial year. For the generous gifts thus placed at the disposal
of the Society, your Council returns its grateful thanks.
Details of this Centenary Fund will be found in the accom-
panying separate account. During the year, a commodious
building has been erected, but funds beyond what have
been promised will be required to complete and furnish the
new building, as well as to renovate the old premises. But
beyond these necessities, the Society will not have worthily
celebrated its centenary, unless an ample fund is set aside
to ensure more frequent issues of the Society's Memoirs.

The number of Ordinary Members on the roU of the
Society on the 1st April, 1884, was 144, and 3 new members

have been elected; the losses have been, resignation 1,
defaulter 1, deaths 7.

The deceased members are Mr. Samuel Robinson, Dr. R.
Angus Smith, F.R.S., Rev. W. Gaskell, M.A., Mr. Bartholomew
Stretton, Mr. W. Rayner Wood, Professor Morrison Watson,
and Sir Thomas Bazley, Bart.

Mr. Samuel Robinson who died on the 8th day of Decem-
ber, 1884, at his residence Black Brook Cottage, Wilmslow, in
his 91st year, had been a member of the Society since the
year 1822. The son of a gentleman who has been described
as " one of the local literati and leaders of society and a
prominent man in all that concerned the prosperity of the
town and the interests of culture and progress," he received
at Manchester College (at that time stationed at York, which
was then the resort of many of those whom a now happily
obsolete prejudice excluded from the National Universities),
a fair University training which, if that of a small provincial
College, was yet in advance of the prevailing English scholar
ship of the day.

The refinement of letters Mr. Robinson never lost.
Through a long life — 40 years — spent in cotton manufac-
turing in Manchester and Dukinfield, he never fsiiled in warm
personal interest, in the moral and educational welfare of
his workpeople and neighbours. The founder of the Dukin-
field Library, he frequently lectured there and W9,s for many
years a daily visitor at the British School and a diligent
teacher in the old Chapel School.

On his retirement in 1860 he withdrew to Wilmslow and
devoted himself to the prosecution of the literary pursuits
which had been for many years the resource of hardly earned
leisure. He could not lay aside, nor ever wished to do so,
his earnest and singularly practical work for improving the
conditions of life of old and young around. As a school
manager, as a poor law guardian, as an active trustee, and

for 4 years up to 1871 the president of Manchester College
and as an earnest promoter of the Evening Class movement
at Owens College, he has certainly left a mark of his own
in tlie civilisation of his day and district. No one who had
the honour of friendly intercourse with Mr. Robinson ever
left him without being in some way better for the interview.
His life-long familiarity with the classical literature of
Greece and Rome, of Italy and Germany, and especially of
England, and a habit of even fastidious composition and of
ready and earnest address, secured to him a marked emi-
nence amongst the cultivated men of business who some
years ago distinguished Manchester society.

In addition to continuous study in these directions he
devoted considerable attention to mastering the Persian
language and literature. Throughout his life he had much
pleasure in making and publishing, more or less privately,
a series of elegant translations of Latin, Italian, and German
poems, but his chief work is represented by a volume which
he published privately in 1883, of "Persian Poetry for
English readers, illustrated by specimens of six of the greatest
classical Poets of Persia, with biographical notices and notes."
A portion of this work consisted of a reproduction of a paper
on the " Life and Writings of Ferdosee " which Mr. Robin-
son read before the Society on the 24th of September, 1819,
and which was printed in the 4th volume of its Memoirs
in 1824.

The Rev. William Gaskell, M.A. (Glasgow), died in
June, 1884, in his 79th year. Educated for the Ministry
amongst Unitarians, at the College, at York, he became in
1828 one of the ministers of Cross Street Chapel, in Man-
chester, an office which he held till his death.

Of fine and faithfully developed scholarship, especially in
English subjects and literature, he lectured for many years
in these departments in Manchester New College, and in

the evening classes at Owens College, and to private pupils.
Many Mancli ester men and women gladly acknowledge the
influence of his varied learning and his refined taste. He
was for many years Chairman of the Portico Library, where
his assiduity and judgment did much to maintain the
character of that important institution.

Within the limits of his own religious association he was
an honoured leader, and during all his long service in Man-
chester, was widely known for his personal attention to
every call of kindness amongst his own flock and the poor
in many parts of the City and district.

He became a member in 1840, and was frequently
re-elected to serve on the Council, and from 1869 to 1876
was one of the Vice-presidents of the Society. He was
much interested in its working, and in the details of admin-
istration; but its increasing tendency to absorption in
scientific research and discussion did not invite the exhibi-
tion of his exclusively literary accomplishment. A course
of lectures on the Lancashire dialect which he published in
1854 was first read as notes to the Society, Completely
occupied in his ministerial duties and his teaching he found
little time for original authorship beyond the preparation
of his Discourses. Tliis was always with him a matter of
conscientious deliberation, and his style, while simple,
devout, and direct, was singularl}'- polished and effective.

He published in 1839 a small volume of Temperance
Rhymes, which had considerable popular approval, and in
1859 a volume of "Life and Letters of Mr. John Ashton
Nicholls," a former member of the Society, and many
sermons on special occasions.

He was interred in the chapel yard at Knutsford by the
side of his wife, the well-known authoress of" Mary Barton,"
and other works.

Sir Thomas Bazley, Baronet, who died at Lytham on
March 17th, at the advanced age of 87, was born at Gilnow,

near Bolton, and was educated at the Bolton Grammar
School. In the commercial world he was well known as
the proprietor of factories for the spinning of fine cotton and
lace thread. In connection with his public career it may be
mentioned that he was formerly boroughreeve for Salford.
In 1845 he was elected president of the Manchester Chamber
of Commerce. He was one of the royal commissioners of
the great exhibition of 1851. In 1858 he was elected M.P.
for Manchester, this honour was repeated at the general
elections in the years 1859, 1865, 1868, 1874. In 1869 he
was created a Baronet for his public services. He was
elected a member of this Society January. 26th, 18 47.

Since the close of last Session the enlargement of the
Society's premises has engaged the constant attention of the
Council. To carry out their project, they engaged the ser-
vices of Mr. Clegg, of the firm of Clegg, Son, and Knowles,
as architect, and the contract for the building was let to
Messrs. Southern and Son ; the cost of the building, apart
from library fittings, to be £1,498. At the close of the
Session a Committee was formed to consult with the archi-
tect whenever occasion might require; in this commission
the Council beg to acknowledge the valuable services of Mr.
H. Wilde.

The new building consists of a basement room, library,
and a room above. The new premises are lighted with gas;
they are also fitted with appliances for electric lighting, and
are now sufficiently advanced towards completion to enable
the members to judge how far the Council have successfully
carried out their undertaking. A Committee has been
appointed to consider to what additional uses the new
rooms may be put and to report to the Council thereon.

An invitation was sent to this Society by the American
Association for the Advancement of Science to send repre-

sentatives to their Annual Meeting, held at Philadelphia in
September of the past year. At the request of the Council
Professor Milnes Marshall consented to act as their repre-
sentative.

During the Session a copy of the following letter, signed
by the President and Secretaries, was presented by Sir H.
Roscoe to the Council of the British Association : —

Manchester, Nov. 14th, 1884.
In the name of the Literary and Philosophical Society we beg cordially
to invite the British Association for the Advancement of Science to hold
their meeting in 1886 or 1887 at Manchester. Situated in a central
position this city has always proved to be a convenient one for members
coming either from the north or from the south. It is surrounded by a
wide and densely populated district, and is abundantly supplied with
buildings suitable for the purposes of the Association. The Society
which we represent will do whatever may be in its power to contribute
to the success of such a meeting.

The following papers and communications have been read
at the Ordinary and Sectional Meetings of the Society
during the Session : —

October 1th, 1884.— "The Pink Sun-Glow," by Alfred Brothers,
F.R.A.S.

" Notes on the Structure, the Occurrence in Lancashire, and the
Source of Origin, of Naias gramiiiea Del. var. Delielei Magnus," by
Charles Bailey, F.L.S.

Odoher 2\st, 1884. — "Note on the Visibihty of the Moon during
Total Lunar Eclipses," by Joseph Baxendell, F.R.S., F.R.A.S.

" On the Diamond-bearing Rocks of South Africa," by Professor
H. E. Roscoe, LL.D., F.R.S,, &c.

" Note on Envelopes and Singular Solutions," by Sir James
Cockle, F.R.S.jF.R.A.S., &c. , Corresponding Member of the Society.

November Ath, 1884. — " On the Eggs of the Duck-billed Platypus
of Australia," by Professor W.'C. Williamson, LL.D., F.R.S.,
President.

" On the Discharge of Electricity through Gases — illustrated by
experiments," by Arthur Schuster, Ph.D., F.R.S.

Novemher 10^/i, 1884. — "On the Trap-door-nest Spider, Nemesia
ccementaria (Latr.)," by Mark Stirrup, F.G.S.

November ISth, 1884. — " On the Reversion of the Minima of the
Double-period Variable Star R Sagittce" by Joseph Baxeudell,
F.R.S., F.R.AS.

December 2ncl, 1884. — "On the double foliar fibro- vascular
bundle supposed to exist in Sigillaria," by Professor AV. C.
Williamson, LL.D., F.R.S., President.

December Sth, 1884. — "On the Caernarvonshire Station of Hosa
Wilsoni, Barrer," by Charles Bailey, F.L.S.

December \%th, 1884. — "Note on Envelopes and Singular Solu-
tions," by Sir James Cockle, F.R.S., F.R.A.S., &c., Corresponding
Member of the Society.

"Some novel phenomena of Chemical Action attending the
efflux from a capillary tube," by R. S. Dale, B.A.

December ZQth, 1884. — " Notes on the early History of the Man-
chester Literary and Philosophical Society," by James Bottomley,
D.Sc, F.C.S.

January \Wi, 1885. — On the Composition of Projections in
Geometry of Two Dimensions," by James Bottomley, D.Sc, B.A.,
&c.

January ^Ith, 1885. — " On the Morphology of the Sexual
Organs of Hydra," by Professor A, Milnes Marshall, M.D., D.Sc.

February lOth, 1885. — "On some undescribed tracks of Inver-
tebrate animals from the Carboniferous rocks, and on some in-
organic phenomena, simulating plant remains, produced on tidal
shores," by Professor W. C. "Williamson, LL.D., F.R.S., President.

February l&th, 1885. — -"A proposed revision of the species and
varieties of the subgenus Cylinder (Montfort) of Comus (L.)," by
J. Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S.

" On the Growth of Everlasting Flowers in the neighbourhood
of Manchester," by Thomas Alcock, M.D,

Fehniary 24:th, 188^5.— "On Unipolar Convolntes," by the Rev.
H. London, M.A.

March lOth, 1885.— " On making Sea Water Potable," by
Thomas Kay, Esq., President of the Stockport Natural History
Society. Communicated by F, J. Faraday, F.L.S.

March I6th, 1885.— "On the Breeding of the Reed Warbler,
acrocephalus aruncUnaceus in Cheshire," by Francis Nicholson,
F.Z.S.

" On Lagena crenata," by Thomas Alcock, M.D.

" The Post-Glacial Shell Beds, at Uddevalla, Sweden," by Mark
Stirrup, F.G.S.

March 2ith, 1885.— "On Peculiar Ice Forms," by Arthur Wra.
Waters, F.G.S.

Volume 8, Ser. 3, of the Society's Memoirs lias been com-
pleted, and several of the above papers will appear in volume
10, which is now being printed, volume 9 being Dr. K
Angus Smith's " Centenary of Science in Manchester."

The Council consider it desirable to continue the system
of electing Sectional Associates, and a resolution on the
subject will be submitted to the Annual General Meeting
for the approval of the Members.

The Librarian reports that tlie Society continues to receive
the publications of the Associations in correspondence with it
and that the number of books, pamphlets, and part volumes
received during the year has been 1910, of which 1110 are
British and 800 foreign.

The number of learned bodies, etc., now exchanging their
proceedings, memoirs, etc., with us, is 323, of which 213 are
foreign and 110 British.

During the past year no books have been bound owing
to the want of funds for this purpose. (In 1883 there were
180 volumes bound.)

There is a large accnmnlation of books and periodicals
that require binding, and as many of the books will be
transferred to the shelves in the new room, this would be
an opportune time for having the binding done.

Many important works have been purchased for, or pre-
sented to, the Library during the year ; amongst them may
be named the splendid publication being issued by the
Government, entitled a " Report on the Scientific Results of
the Voyage of H. M.S. 'Challenger.'" 13 volumes have now
been received on Zoology and one volume on Physics and
Chemistry.

The " Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel," vol, VIII,
and the second part of the third volume of " A Treatise on
Chemistry." Two periodicals have been added during the
year, the " Illustrated Science Monthly," and " The Ameri-
can Naturalist."

MANCHESTER LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

THE CBNTENAEY FUND.

Charles Bailey, Treasurer, in Account with the Society, from 1st April, 1883,
]X, to the 31st March, 1885. Qlx.

1883-4. £ s. d.

Dr. J. P. Joule 50 0 0

Sir H. E. Roscoe (first donation)... 50 0 0

Dr. R. Angus Smith, the late 50 0 0

Mr. H. Wilde (first donation) 100 0 0

Dr. James Young (Glasgow) 60 0 0

£300 0 0

1884-5.

1884— April 1— To Balance 86 8 0

Dr. Thomas Alcock 10 0 0

Mr. Charles Bailey 10 0 0

Mr. Joseph Basendell 10 0 0

Dr. James Bottomley 5 5 0

Mr. Wm. Brockbank 20 0 0

Dr. Heni-y Browne 50 0 0

Mr. Chancellor Christie 5 0 0

Mr. Robert E. Cunliffe 10 0 0

Mr. Hastings C. Dent 10 0 0

Mr. F. J. Faraday 5 5 0

Dr. Wm. Chas. Henry 200 0 0

Miss Henry 50 0 0

Mr. Charles J. Heywood 100 0 0

Mr. James Heywood 50 0 0

Mr. Oliver Heywood 100 0 0

Mr. Wm. Hy. Johnson (first don.) 50 0 0

Mr. Andrew Knowles 100 0 0

Mr. Edward Lund 21 0 0

Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill 10 0 0

Mr. Ludwig Mond 50 0 0

Mr. Francis Nicholson 5 5 0

Mr. Charles O'NeiU 10 0 0

Mr. Henry D. Pochin 100 0 0

Mr. Wm. Eadford 10 0 0

Dr. Wm. Roberts 50 0 0

Mr. J. Rhodes 5 0 0

Mr. J. Ramsbottom 50 0 0

Sir Henry E. Roscoe (second don.) 200 0 0

Mr. Archibald Sandeman 25 0 0

Dr. Edward Schunck 100 0 0

Mr. Joseph Sidebotham 50 0 0

Mr. B. Stretton, the late 20 0 0

Mr. Arthur Wm. Waters 5 0 0

Mr. H. Wilde (second donation) ... 400 0 0

Mr. W. C. Williams 5 5 0

Dr. W. C. Williamson 10 0 0

Mr. M. Bateson Wood 10 0 0

Mr. G. S. Woolley 20 0 0

Mr. Thos. Worthington 5 0 0

£2033 8 0

1883-4.

£ s. d.

Spottiswoode and Co. — Printing

and Binding Centenary Vol. ...213 12 0
1884— March 31st— By Balance ... 86 8 0

£300 0 0

1884-5.
Clegg, Son, and Knowles, Archi-
tects 50 0 0

Wm. Southern and Sons, Builders.. 1200 0 0
1885— March 31st— By Balance ... 783 8 0

£2033 8 0

1885— April 1— To Balance £783

Ir.

MANCHESTEK LITERARY AND

Charles Bailey, Treasurer, in account with the Society,

Statement op the Accounts

1884-5. 1883-4.

1884-5. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.

To Cash in haad, 1st April, 1884 248 11 5 88 7 1

To Members' Contributions : —

Arrears 1882-3, 3 Subscriptions at 42s 6 6 0

„ 1883-4,12 „ „ 25 4 0

„ „ 2 Half „ 21s 2 2 0

Old Members, 1884-5, 117 Subscriptions at 42s 245 14 0

„ 1885-6, 1 „ „ 2 2 0

New Members, 1884-5, 5 „ „ 10 10 0

„ 1883-4, 2 Admission Fees ,, 4 4 0

„ 1884-5, 6 „ „ 12 12 0

308 14

To One Associate's Library Subscription 010

To Sectional Contributions for 1884-5 :

Physical and Mathematical Section 2 2 0

Microscopical and Natui-al History Section 2 2 0

4 4

To use of the Society's Kooms : —

Manchester Geological Society to 31st March, 1885 30 0

To Sale of the Society's Publications 1 17

To Natural History Fund : —

Dividends on £1,225, Great Western Ey. Co. Stock 59 15

To Bank Interest, less Bank postages 14 17

To Anonymous donation for six years' subscriptions to the Pali Text
Society

To Centenary Fund : — (See separate Account.)

Donations 1947 0

295 1

0 10

4 4

30 0

14 3

59 17

G 0

5 5

)

300 0

£2615 9 5 £803 8 1

1885.— Aprill, To Cash in Manchester and Salford Bank, Limited £846 16 11

Note. — The detailed accounts of the session 1884-5 (of which the above account is an
abstract^ are in course of audit by Mr. J. A. Bennion and Mr. A. Brothers.

PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

FROM 1st April, 1884, to the 31st March, 1885, with a Comparative
FOR the Session 1883-1884.

€x.

1884-5.

1885— March 31. ^ s. d. £ a. d.

By Charges on Property :—

Chief Eent 12 12 2

Insurance against Fire 12 17 6

Property Tax 4 5 0

Repairs, &c 116

By House Expenditure : —

Coals, Gas, Candles, and Water 19 3 9

Tea and Coffee at Meetings 17 6 5

House Duty 6 7 Q

Cleaning, Brashes, &c 5 17 10

By Administrative Charges : —

Wages of Keeper of Rooms 57 4 0

Postages and Carriage of Parcels 19 16 5

Attendance on Sections and Societies 9 4 0

Stationery, Printing Circulars, & Receipts 14 13 6

Distributing Memoirs 6 3 1

By Publishing : —

Advertising Centenary Volume 0 15 0

Printing Memoirs 55 15 6

Printing Proceedings 25 11 0

Wood Engraving and Lithogi'aphing 3 2 3

Editor of Memoirs and Proceedings 50 0 0

Binding Proceedings 14 10 11

By Library : — ■

Binding Books

Books and Periodicals 27 6 5

Assistant in Library 18 0 0

Geological Record

Palajontographical Society for the Year 1885 110

Ray Society ditto 110

Pali Text Society (6 years' subscriptions)

By Natural History Fund : —

Works on Natural History 34 16 9

Grant to Microscopical and Natural History

Section 100 0 0

By Centenai-y Fund (See separate account)

By Balance

30 16 2

48 15 6

107 1 0

149 14 8

47 8 5

134 16 9

1250 0 0

846 16 11

1883-4.
£ s. d. £ s. d.

12 12 2
12 17 6

3 10 10

3 14 2

18 8 6

16 14 I

6 7 6

4 0 5

32 14 8

— 45 10 6

57 4 0

14 2 0

9 9 0

12 3 9

2 16

28 17 0

3 19 0

50 0 0

19 17 8

25 18 3

11 0 0

"2 "2 0

2 2 0

5 5 0

18 18 4

95 0 3

82 16 0

66 4 11

£2615 9 5

18 18 4

213 12 0

248 11 5

£803 8 1

1884-5.

Compounders' Fund : — £ s. d.

Balance in favour of this Account, Api'il 1st, 1885

Natural History Fund : —

Balance in favour of this Account, April 1st, 1884 96 9 2

Dividends received during Session 1884-5 59 15 9

156 4 11

Expenditure during Session 1884-5 134 16 9

Balance in favour of this Account, 31st March, 1885

Centenary Fund : —

Balance in favour of this Account, April 1st, 1884 86 8 0

Donations received during Session 1884-5 1947 0 0

2033 8 0
Expenditure during Session 1884-5 1250 0 0

Balance in favour of this Account, March 31st, 1885

General Fund : —

Balance against this Account, 1st April, 1884 59 5 9

Expenditure during the Session 1884-5 383 15 9

443 1 6

Receipts during the Session 1884-5 360 2 3

Balance against General Fund, 31st March, 1885

Cash at Bankers, 31st March, 1885

£ s. d.
125 0 0

21 8 2

783 8 0
929 16 2

82 19 3
£846 16 11

On the motion of Mr. James Smith, seconded by
Mr. John A. Bennion, it was resolved " That the Annual
Report be adopted and printed in the Society's proceedings."

On the motion of Mr. Alfred Brothers, seconded by
Mr. Richard S. Dale, it was resolved " That the system
of electing Sectional Associates be continued during the
ensuing session."

The following gentlemen were elected officers of the
Society and members of Council for the ensuing year : —

fl'CSiircnt.
WILLIAM CRAWFORD WILLIAMSON, LL.D., F.E.S.

Wxct-'^xtsihmis.

SIR HENRY ENFIELD EOSCOE, B.A., LL.D., P.E.S., F.C.S,
JAMES PEESCOTT JOULE, D.C.L, LL.D., F.R.S., F.C.S.
OSBORNE REYNOLDS, M.A., F.R.S.
JOSEPH BAXENDELL, F.R.S., F.E.A.S.

3^txdKxm.

JAMES BOTTOMLEY, B.A., D.Sc, F.C.S.
ARTHUR SCHUSTER, F.R.S.

%xmsnxi^x.

CHARLES BAILEY, F.L.S.

'glhxmmt

FRANCIS NICHOLSON, F.Z.S.

®i\m H^mlrm oi t)^z Cowiwil.

ROBERT DUKINFIELD DARBISHIRE, B.A., F.G.S.
BALFOUR STEWART, LL.D,, F.R.S.

CARL SCHORLEMMER, F.R.S.

WILLIAM HENRY JOHNSON, B.Sc.

HENRY WILDE.

JAMES COSMO MELVILL, M.A., F.L.S.

One of the Secretaries then read the following account of
the life of Dr. Robert Angus Smith, which had been drawn
up by Dr. E, Schunck at the request of the Council : —

Robert Angus Smith, a man whose name will always find
a place in the annals of our Society, has passed away since
our last annual meeting. His was a life of which it is
difiicult to form a just estimate, on account of the many-
sidedness of his character and attainments. His contribu-
tions to science and literature will indeed always remain
accessible to the judgment of posterity, but there is much
in his character and his relations to the world which should
be recorded ere those who knew him have also passed
away. In his case, fortunately, the record may be perfectly
unreserved, for here there are no blots to be concealed, no
dark shadows to be passed over.

Robert Angus Smith was born in Glasgow, February
15th, 1817, being the twelfth child and seventh son of John
Smith, a manufacturer of that city, and of Janet his wife,
daughter of James Thomson, who was an owner of flax and
other mills at Strathavon, where he held the office of
baron-baillie. Of the brothers, those who attained to
maturity were all men of remarkable intellect. The eldest,
John Smith, was for many years a master in the Perth
Academy, and paid great attention to optics, a paper of
his having been printed in the Memoirs of this Society.
James Smith, a man of highly original character, was the
author of several works on religious and philosophical
subjects. Another brother, Michaiah, was a distinguished
oriental scholar, while Joseph, the youngest, devoted him-
self to science, but unfortunately died early. The father
was by all accounts a very earnest man with profound
religious convictions, and though not highly successful in
worldly pursuits was able to give his sons a good education,
such as the schools and universities of Scotland were and
are presumably still able to offer even to men of moderate

means. Two of the sons, James and Michaiah, were ordained
ministers in the Scotch church. At that tim^e, however,
the Irvingite schism was exciting the minds and engaging
the sympathies of many, especially the young, and it is
probable that the father as well as several of the sons felt
attracted by the doctrines promulgated by Irving, doctrines
which could not possibly find sufficient scope within the
somewhat contracted sphere of a Calvinistic communion.
So far as our friend is concerned it is certain that his
sympathies led him more in the direction of Anglicanism,
and from the hints he let drop at various times it seems
that it was only through circumstances that he was pre-
vented, when a choice was possible, from taking orders in
the English church. After passing through the usual
course at the Glasgow high school, and spending some time
at the University of Glasgow, a period of his life of which
he seldom spoke, simply perhaps because there was little to
say, Dr. Smith accepted a post as tutor to a family in the
Highlands, but was soon compelled to leave from ill health.
He then proceeded to England, where he was employed
in a similar capacity in families, whose peculiar religious
opinions give some indication of the direction in which his
sympathies at that time tended. With the Rev. and Hon. H.
E. Bridgeman he spent two years, and with him proceeded
to Germany. So far Dr. Smith's tastes and occupations had
been purely literary and theological. His education had
been entirely classical, comprising a knowledge of ancient
languages, such as was in his day thought sufficient for all
the purposes of life, an acquaintance with science, mathe-
matics, or modern languages being then considered of little
consequence. During his stay in Germany one of the
tendencies of his many-sided mind revealed itself Hearing
of Professor Liebig, whose fame was then spreading through
Germany, his attention was directed towards science, this
tendency being perhaps encouraged by tlie example of his

brother Joseph, who had engaged in the study of chemistry
under Professor Penny, of Glasgow, and with whom he
corresponded. He accordingly ]n-oceeded to Giessen, where
he worked in Liebig's laboratory during the years 1840-41,
and where before leaving he took the degree of Ph.D.
During his stav at Giessen he extended his knowledge of
the German language and literature, and also paid much
attention to German systems of philosophy, a subject that
at all times interested him greatly.

It may perhaps be considered a matter for regret that Dr.
Smith's early training in science was not more extensive, and
that it continued for so short a time. On the other hand it is
possible that a more rigorous training in natural science and
mathematics might have detracted fi-om the catholicity of
mind and wide culture which were prominent characteristics
of his. He afforded indeed a conspicuous example of what
the conservatives in education always insist on, viz., that a
thorough classical training affords a basis on which a super-
structure consisting of any kind of specialt}^ may be confi-
dently erected, though on the other hand it is hardly a safe
proceeding to found general rules on such exceptional cases
as his. Soon after leaving Giessen, Dr. Smith published a
translation of Liebig's work " On the azotized nutritive
principles of plants." After his return to England at the
end of 1841, Dr. Smith was engaged in various capacities
with families of distinction, and at this time the early
inclination for a theological career seems to have revived,
and was probably only given up when it was found that
circumstances, such as the necessity? for a preliminary
education at an English University, placed an insuperable
barrier in the way. In the year 1843 we find him working
as assistant to Dr. Lyon Playfair, with whom he had become
acquainted at Giessen, and who was then engaged as Pro-
fessor of Chemistry to the Manchester Royal Institution.
At Manchester Dr. Smith finally settled down, here with

100

the exception of intervals of travel he spent the rest of his
life, and here all his most important work was done. With
characters combining many-sidedness with great intensity
of purpose it is often a mere accident that determines the
direction the energies shall take. Such an accident occurred
in the career of Dr. Smith. The Health of Towns Com-
mission, of which Mr. Edwin Chadwick was the moving
spirit, came to Manchester as to other towns to institute
inquiries. Dr. Playfair was much interested in these
inquiries, and Dr. Smith was engaged in conducting some
portion of them, their object being more practical than
scientific. This circumstance directed Dr. Smith's attention
to sanitary matters, and led him to commence the series of
investigations which occupied a great part of his time and
attention from the year 1844, up to the time of his death.

At the time when Dr. Smith commenced his researches
sanitary science did not exist, unless a mere collection of
unconnected facts can be dignified with the name of science.
Since that time much more system has been introduced
into the subject, and a great portion of the merit of having
developed the purely scientific side of it is due to Dr.
Smith. The pathological side of the subject did not, of
course, receive as much attention from him as the purely
physical; nor did he, we think, at any time pronounce
decidedly on the question whether the phenomena with
which sanitary science deals are purely organic in their
nature or whether they are not also partly due to merely
physical causes. What he did was to investigate patiently
the physical and chqtnical conditions as regards outward
agents, more especially the air we inhale and the water we
drink, on which health and disease seem to depend. No
doubt, since the time when Dr. Smith entered the field,
our views on this subject have altered considerably. It is
now held that most diseases, especially those of the zymotic
class, are due to the development of organic germs, but the

101

most ardent advocate of the germ theory must allow that
there are physical and chemical phenomena attending dis-
ease which must not be neglected, and to these Dr. Smith
chiefly confined his attention, now and then only reverting
to the general question of the causes of disease, as to which
he was always prepared to change his opinions when the
progress of discovery required him to do so. The results of
his labours are contained in a series of papers, of which the
Royal Society's catalogue contains a list, though an incom-
plete one, beginning with one entitled " Some Remarks on
the Air and Water of Towns," published in the Chemical
Society's Journal, 1845-48. His results are summed up in
an independent work entitled "Air and Rain." Much of
Dr. Smith's work was necessarily of a purely qualitative
character, for the phenomena which he investigated are
concerned with almost infinitesimal quantities of matter.
Nevertheless, whenever it was possible, he introduced quan-
titative methods, as when examining the amount of carbonic
acid contained in the atmosphere, of which an account will
be found in his paper " On Minimetric A nalysis," read
before this Society in the session 1865-66. This paper con-
tains a description of a very simple and ingenious little
apparatus, called by him a "finger-pump," by which the
amount of impurity in the atmosphere, in the shape of car-
bonic acid or hydrochloric acid, can be rapidly and easily
determined. On disinfectants, to which Dr. Smith's atten-
tion was naturally directed, he worked much, his general
views on the subject being contained in a separate work
published in 1869, and entitled " Disinfectants and Disin-
fection." The practical result of his studies in this direction
was the invention of a very useful disinfectant which was
introduced by Mr. Mc.Dougall, and is still largely employed.
This short resume of Dr. Smith's labours on air and water in
their hygienic relations must suffice for the present occasion,
but before closino; it we must not omit to name his able

102

report " On the Air of Mines," chiefly those of Cornwall,
presented to government, by whose directions the inquiry
into the atmospheric conditions prevailing in mines was
undertaken. Dr. Smith's memoirs on other scientific sub-
jects are not numerous. Among them may be mentioned
those on rosolic acid, on the absorption of gases by charcoal,
which he supposed to take place in certain definite propor-
tions and on the "Measurement of the Actinism of the
Sun's Rays and of Daylight " (Proceedings, Royal Society,
XXX, 855), in which a novel method of measurement is des-
cribed. His study of peat, which treated of a favourite subject
of his, was perhaps more practical than scientific in character.

This is perhaps not the place to mention in detail his
work in connection with technical subjects, but one of his
inventions must not be passed over in silence, viz. that for
coating iron tubes with an impermeable varnish, so as to
preserve them from corrosion. Of this invention experts
entertain the very highest opinion, and it may safely be
said that had he been endowed with more wordly prudence,
he might by this invention alone have amassed a consider-
able fortune. Like many other inventors he never enjoyed
the rewards to which his ingenuity entitled him — it is for
the world to acknowledge, by words at least, the benefits
he conferred on it — for those who are unable or unwilling
to fight and struggle for wealth and position it has no other
recompense to offer.

In the year 1864 Dr. Smith was appointed chief inspector
under the Alkali Act, which had just previously been passed
by the legislature, a post for which he was from his intimate
knowledge of atmospheric contamination eminently fitted.
Great complaints having arisen regarding the injury done
to crops and other things by the emanations from alkali
works, an Act Avas passed the object of which was to limit
the amount of injurious gases, especially hydrochloric acid
which should be allowed to escape from the flues of alkali
works.

103

It was this Act the provisions of which Dr. Smith with
the aid of his sub-inspectors was to see carried out by con-
stant supervision on the part of the sub-inspectors and
frequent periodical visits to various districts by himself.

That he was eminently successful in his attempts to
secure for the public the benefits which the legislature had
in view when the Act was passed, and on the other hand in
conciliating by his prudence and tact those who were
to some extent restricted and interfered with by the pro-
visions of the Act, is universally conceded. It is quite pos-
sible that in other hands the task which Dr. Smith was
called on to perform might not have been accomplished and
the result might have been complete failure. To continue
what he began according to methods initiated by him is a
comparatively easy task. As chief inspector under the
Alkali Act Dr. Smith had each year to present a report of
the proceedings under the Act for the preceding year. These
reports, of which the last presented in 188-i was the twen-
tieth of the series, contain much information over and above
what mere official summaries might be expected to give,
and they should be carefully studied by all who are in-
terested in hygiene in its relation to manufactures.

In the year 1876 an Act similar to the Alkali Act, though
of a less stringent character was passed styled the " Elvers
Pollution Prevention Act," Under this Act Dr. Smith was
appointed to examine polluted waters, more especially the
state of effluent fluids from sewage works, and he presented
two re])orts to the Local Government Board as an inspector
under the Act. To the results set forth in the second of
these reports, presented shortly before his death, Dr, Smith
attached the greatest importance. It will be for others to
judge of the value of these results, but he himself considered
that the discoveries described in the report would open up
a wide field of research throwing quite a new light on the
relations between disease and water and soil.

104

To those who take an interest in sanitary science it must
be a matter for vivid regret that his labours on this novel
field of research were cut short just when they seemed to
promise important results.

It remains to say a few words on such of Dr. Smith's
publications as are not of a scientific or professional charac-
ter. These are partly philosophical in their tendency, partly
literary or simply popular in character and in part treat of
antiquarian subjects for which Dr. Smith had a great liking,
and seem often to have been hastily penned to fill up a
leisure hour or at the request of friends. Many of them
were anonymous, but Dr. Smith's style and the current
of his thought were so original that to those who knew
him the disguise was only a thin one. One of the works
belonging to this class must not however be passed over
without special notice. During several years of the latter
portion of his life he was in the habit of spending his autumn
vacation on the shore of Loch Etive in Scotland, where he
employed himself — his active mind never being satisfied
without some special object to occupy it — in exploring this
part of his native country with a view of throwing some
light on its state in prehistoric times. The result was a
work which is not only instructive, but highly entertaining
in the best sense, called " Loch Etive and the Sons of Uis-
nach," a work which all should read who are interested in
prehistoric research and ethnology. Dr. Smith paid great
attention to Celtic languages and made a large collection of
works in Gaelic. These, with the rest of his books, have since
his death been presented to the library of Owens College.

Dr. Smith was elected a member of this Society in the year
1844. For several years he acted as one of the secretaries
of the Society, subsequently he was elected a Vice-President
and during the sessions 1864 and 1865 he filled the post of
President. He at all times took a lively interest in the
welfare of the Society, and was always ready with advice

105

and active assistance when such were required in the tran-
saction of business.

In connection with this Society he will, however, be
chiefly remembered by two works, the " Life of Dalton and
the Atomic Theory " and "A Centenary of Science in Man-
chester," which were written at our request, and form two
volumes of our series of Memoirs.

Into the merits of those works it will be unnecessary to
enter, as they must be well known to all the members. For
the last work we are under peculiar obligations to him, as
it was undertaken contrary to the advice of his friends at a
time when his health was declining, and he was already
overburdened with other work.

He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the
Chemical Society of London, and a member of several
learned societies on the continent. Had he been more of a
specialist it is probable that the list of societies that have
sought to honour him by membership and in other ways
would have been longer. In the year 1881 the degree of
LL.D. was conferred on him by the University of Glasgow,
a distinction which coming from his alma mater, the seat of
learning in his native town, he valued highly. The same
degree was awarded to him by the University of Edinburgh
in 1882.

Dr. Smith's health had evidently been declining for some
years. Not endowed with a very robust constitution, and
unable, as it appeared to some, to take the amount of
sustenance required for so active an existence as his, the
great labours which were partly imposed on him, and partly
undertaken voluntarily, began in time to tell on his health.
To the entreaties of his friends to allow himself some rest
he did not reply by a direct refusal, but continued to work
on with unabated zeal, as if the stock of vigour he had to
draw on were inexhaustible.

Various changes of scene were tried, but without effect,

1.06

and he gradually sank, the bodily strength declining but
the mind remaining clear to the last. He died at Colwyn
Bay, in N. Wales, on the 12th May, 1884. His remains
were interred in the churchyard of St. Paul's, Kersal, near
the spot where one of his oldest and most intimate friends
hopes some time also to rest.

This notice would not be complete without some reference
to Dr. Smith's moral characteristics. To most of us these
were familiar, but those who come after us should know
that in his case an intellect of high order was united to a
character of the purest and noblest type. The most marked
trait in his character, it seems to us, was a wide, to some it
might seem an almost inconceivably wide benevolence, a
benevolence which seemed capable of embracing all except
the unworthy within its folds. It was this that led him to
associate with men of the most diverse character and aims,
extracting from each specimen of humanity a something
with which he could sympathise, putting on one side or
excusing what was uncongenial to his nature in each and
establishing bonds, some stronger some weaker, which in
their totality gave him a sense of relationship to humanity
at large. This wide toleration may serve to explain the
fact which may sometimes have been observed, that two
men mutually repellent and unwilling to associate together
might both have been warm friends of his. To us he
seemed sometimes to be the centre of a system or con-
stellation, the individual members of which knew little of
each other, but were all united to him by bonds of sympathy.
His extreme conscientiousness and high sense of honour
appear even in his works, leading him scrupulously to
weigh all that could be said on either side of an argu-
ment, and to give every man his proper share of merit,
refusing sometimes even to credit himself with what was
manifestly his due. This great conscientiousness was
occasionally even injurious to him by hindering him in

107

arriving at positive and precise conclusions such as the
world requires even when there is no thorough conviction.

Of the charms of Dr. Smith's conversation, only those are
able to form an idea who had the pleasure of his personal
acquaintance, for it was not of a kind to be reproduced in
set phrases. Without being at all eloquent or indulging in
harangue and giving due weight to everything his hearers
had to say, he was able from the fulness of his knowledge
and the originality of his views to throw a new light on
almost every subject he touched on, and thus he would
sometimes continue to instruct without dogmatising and
entertain without wearying until it was found that not
minutes but hours had slipped away in listening.

One trait in Dr. Smith's character must not be passed
over, though to mention it in this age of materialism may
seem to require some apology — he was a firm believer in a
spiritual world, that is of a v/orld above and beyond the
senses, of the reality of which, whether we can communicate
with it directly or not — and of this he never seemed quite
sure — he was firmly convinced. Those who remain to
lament his loss, and who share the same belief, may unite in
the fervent trust that in the world of which he thouarht
much, but spoke little, his spirit may have found not merely
rest and satisfaction, but also a continuance of that mental
activity and development which to him were life.

Dr. Smith was never married, but for many years liis
niece. Miss Jessie Knox Smith, was his constant companion
and confidante, ministering to him with a zeal and devo-
which could not have been exceeded had the relationship
been that of father and daughter.

"On a variation in the size of an image on the retina
according to the distance of the background on which it is
seen," by Alfred Brothers, F.R.A.S.

The effect on the retina when the eyes have been fixed

108

intently for a few seconds on a brightly illuminated coloured
object is well known, the colour complementary to the one
looked at always appears when the gaze is removed to a
colourless surface. It is also a matter of common observa-
tion that when the eyes have been directed to a bright
light for a short time, the image left on the retina as seen
when the eyes are averted is dark; but if the eyes are
rapidly opened and closed the image is still seen bright.
I am not aware, however, that it has ever been noticed that
this image varies in size according to the distance of the
background to which the eyes are directed. A circle of
gas jets, perhaps, affords the simplest test. It will be seen
after looking at the circle of light for a few seconds — (in
some cases a more or less lengthened gaze at the light is
necessary, owing to the varying sensitiveness of the retina)
- that, if the vision be turned to a distant background, the
size of the image is instantly enlarged, and then, if the eyes
be directed to a near background, the image is reduced in
size. If any difficulty should be found in seeing the reversed
image of the gas jets, it may readily be seen as a bright
object by rapidly closing and opening the eyelids. The
effect is the same as if the image were seen through a cone
— the apex of the cone being held close to the eyes. In
other words, the effect is the reverse of the ordinary rules
of perspective.

109

MICROSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION.

Annual Meeting, April 13tli, 1885.

Dr. Alcock, President of the Section, in the Chair.

Annual Report of the Section, April, 1885.

There have been 7 meetings of the Section during the
past session, at which the attendance has been satisfactory.
During the same period (J meetings of the Council have been
held.

The balance in the hands of the Treasurer continues to
increase, and stands at £194 8s. lid., on the 7th April,
1885 ; but this amount includes the unexpended balance of
a grant of £100 made for the purchase of Natural History
works by the Council of the Parent Society from their
" Natural History Fund." The Council of the Section con-
sider it desirable to keep their expenditure against these
grants under a separate heading, and for that reason the
payments made on this account during the past session
(£41 19s.) appear separate from the ordinary expenditure
of the Section, in the accompanying statement of the
Treasurer. The Council think it right to put on record a
statement of the whole of the payments which they have
made during the last eleven years against grants made from
the Natural History Fund, and the Treasurer has made the
accompanying abstract of the receipts and expenditure of
this fund, showing a credit balance of £55 ISs. Id., on the
7th April, 1885.

Frocekdings— Lit. & Phil. Soc— Vol. XXIV.— No. 11.— Session 1884-5.

110

The following is a list of the Members and Associates on
the 7th April, 1885 ; viz :—

Icmlj^rr/.

AlcocKj Thomas, M.D.
Bailey, Charles, F.L.S.
Baeeatt, Walter Edward.
Baeeow, John.
Baxendell, Joseph, F. R. S.,

F.B.A.S.
BiCKHAM, Spencer H., Jun.
Bieley, Thomas Hornby.
Boyd, John.
Bkogden, Heney.
Brothers, Alfred, F.B.A.S.
CoTTAM, Samuel.
Coward, Edward.
CowAED, Thomas.

CUNLIFFE, EoBERT ElIIS.

Dale, John, F.C.8.
Dancer, Jno. Benjamin, F.R.A.S.
Dent, Hastings Charles, F.L S.
Daebishire, E. D., B.A., F.G.8.

Dawkins, W. Boyd, F.R.S.,F.G.S.,
Prof, of Geology, Owens College.

Deane, W. K.

Higgin, James, F.C.S.

HoDGKiNsoN, Alex., B.Sc, M.B.

HuEST, Charles Herbert.

HowoRTH, Hfnry Hoyle, F.S.A.

Marshall, A. Milnes, M.A,, D.Sc,
F.B.S.. Prof, of Zoology, Owens
College.

Melvill, J. Cosmo, M.A., F.L.S.

Moore, Samuel.

Morgan, J. E., M.D., 3I.A.

Nicholson, Francis, F.Z.S.

Sidebotham, Joseph, F.R.A.S,
F.L.S.

Williamson, Wm. Crawford,
L.L.D., F.B.S., Prof. Nat. Hist.,
Owens College.

Wright, William Cort.

%smmUs,

Blackburn, William, F.B.M.S.
Brooke, H. S., B.A., M.B.
CuNLiFFE, Peter.
Huet,FrankA.,L.D.S., B-CS.
Hydb, Henry.
Pettigrew, John B.
Quinn, Edward Paul.

EoGEEs, Thomas.

Smith John, M.R.C.S.

Stirrup, Mark, F.G.S.

SiNGTON, Theodore.

Tatham, John F. W., B.A., M.B.

Ward, Edward.

Young, Sydney.

Total 32 Members and 14 Associates, against 33 members
and 9 Associates at the corresponding period last year.

The following communications have been made, and
papers read to the Section ; those marked with an asterisk
have been recommended by the Section for printing in the
" Memoirs "' of the Society.

Ill

* A paper, illustrated with specimens, " On the Nests of the Trap-
door Spider, Nemetia ccementaria (Latr.)," by Mr. Mark Stirrup,
F.G.S.

A Demonstration " On a Method of Preparing and Mounting
Foraminifera for Examination under the Microscope," by the
President.

* Ajjaper "On the Morphology of the Sexual Organs of ^^ Hydra, ^^
by Professor A. Milnes Marshall, M.D., D.Sc, of Owens College.

A communication, with specimens, showing the regeneration of
the visceral mass in Comatula; also some young specimens of Penna-
tula, by Prof. A. Milnes Marshall, M.D., D.Sc.

Specimens of (a) a piece of Chalk from Brighton, peiforated by
a Species of Pholas ; (b) Stalactites from Victoria Cave, Settle, were
exhibited by Mr. Henry Hyde.

Fine specimens of Magilus Antiqims, and some remarkable series
of various forms of Leptoconchus from the Mauritius, were exhibited
by Mr. K D. Darbishire, F.G.S.

Paper " On the Carnarvonshire Station oiRosa Wilsoni (Borrer)",
by Mr. Charles Bailey, F.L.S.

The Electric Spark under the Microscope, as produced by a
Chromate of Potash Battery at the extremities of two pencil points,
exhibited by Mr. Alfred Brothers, F.R.A.S.

Specimens of Everlasting Flowers, exhibited, with notes, by the
President.

Communication, " On the Absence of the Earth-Worm on the
Prairies which lie along the track of the Canadian Pacific Railway,
between Winnipeg and a district east of the summit of the Rocky
Mountains," by Mr. Thos. Rogers.

Communication, " On Pidex Penetrans" with specimens, by Mr.
John Boyd.

* Paper, "On a Proposed Revision of the Species and Varieties
of the Subgenus cylinder (Montfort) of CONUS(L.y\ by Mr. Cosmo
Melvill, M.A., F.L.S.

Communication, with specimens, "On a Mineral Deposit (-£"/«-
terite) occurring at Windy Knoll, near Castleton, Derbyshire," by
Mr. Theodore Siugton.

112

Specimens of Hydractinia racemosa, from Japan, were exhibited,
and some account was given of the British Species Hydractinia
Echinata, by Mr. E. D. Darbishire, F.G.S.

* Paper "On the Breeding of the Beed Warbler, Acrocephalns
orundinaceus" by Mr. F. Nicholson, F.Z.S.

* Paper " On the Post-Glacial Shell Beds at Uddevalla, Sweden,"
by Mr. Mark Stirrup, F.G.S.

Paper " On the Rare Foraminifer, Lagena Crenata" illustrated
by specimens, by the President.

Mr. P. Cameron exhibited an example of Selandria Sixii
which had both of the recurrent nervures received in the
2nd cubital cellule, thus differing from the normal form ; and
pointed out that, to his knowledge, two " genera " had been
created on similar variations in the neuration of the wings.

Mr. Rogers exhibited a large and handsome form of
" narcissus " which appeared to be identical in form with a
figure published in the year 1757 in Hales Eden, under the
name of " nonpareil," but which has now been recently made
prominent as a florist's flower, under the name of "Sir
Watkin Daffodil."

Mr. John BoYD read some notes on Calgius and Lepeoj^h-
the'iTUS — Entomostraca Paratitic on the Cod. The subject
was admirably illustrated with diagrams drawn by Mr.
Boyd himself.

The following gentlemen were elected Officers and Mem-
bers of Council of the Section for the ensuing year :

THOMAS ALCOCK, M.D.

T. COSMO MELVILL, M.A., F.L.S.

A. MILNES MARSHALL, M.A., MD., F.E.S.

A. BROTHERS, F.E.A.S.

113

%xmmxzx,

MARK STIRRUP, F.G.S.

3i(xtinx^.

JOHN TATHAM, B.A., M.B.

Couittil.

CHAS. BAILEY, F.L.S.

JOHN BOYD.

ROBT. E. CUNLIFF.

R. D. DARBISHIRE, B.A., F.G.S.,

F. NICHOLSON, F Z.S.

THOMAS ROGERS.

THEODORE SINGTON.

W. C. WILLIAMSON, L.L D., F.R.S.

ir.

The Microscopical and Natural History Section of

IN Account with the Parent Society for Grants

From Slst March, 1875,

1875. £ s. d

March 31. To Grant, per Treasurer of Man. Lit. & Phil. Societv 100 0 0

1876.
March 30.

1877.

April 30.

1878.
April 6.

1880.
April 15.

1882.
March 14.

1885.
March 17.

.. 40 0 0

.. 60 0 0

.. 100 0 0

.. 40 0 0

.. 80 0 0

,. 100 0 0

£520 0 0

1885— April 7. To Balance of Natural History Fund Grants £55 13 1

THE Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society,

MADE FOB Books from the Natural History Fund.

to 7th April, 1885. ^^'^

1874. £ s.^ d.

Oct. 19. By MicroscopicalJoumal, Vols. I.— X 3 15 0

1885.

Feby. 10. ,, Tulasnc^s Selecta Fungorum Carpologia, 3 Vols 9 15 0

„ 10. „ Adansonia, Vols. I.— X 6 15 0

,, 10. ,, Bruch, Schimpei', and Gumbel's Bryologia Europsea ... 16 10 0

,, 10. ,, Lianasa, Journal f. d. Botanik > 14 0

,, 10. „ Wilson's Bryologia Britannica 4 4 0

,, 10. ,, Agassiz' Monograph d'Echinodermes 1 18 6

,, 10. ,, Dickinson's Flora of Liverpool 0 5 0

Octr. 5. ,, Murray's Geographical Distribution of Mammals 1 8 0

,, 5. ,, Archives du Museum d'histoire naturelle 24 0 0

,, 5. ,, Nouvelles archives ditto 18 8 0

,, 5. ,, Bulletin de la Socidt^ Botanique de France 18 14 0

1870.

April 5. ,, Reaumur's M^moires p. s. a I'histoire des Insectes,

6vols 2 2 0

„ 5. ,, Ralf's British Desmidiese _. 3 13 G

Nov, 28. „ Reichenbach's Icones Flora Germanicse et Helvet.,

1877. Vols. I.— XXI 54 0 0

April 16. „ Zoological Record, Vols. I.— XIII 12 9 0

Nov. 16. ,, Nature-printed British Seaweeds, by Johnstone & CroU 4 4 0

,, 16. ,, Seemann's Flora Vitiensis, description of the Plants of

the Fiji Islands 4 15 0

„ 28. „ Hooker's Niger Flora 0 7 0

„ 28. „ Hooker's Flora of British India 110

„ 28. „ Hooker's Flora Tasmania, 2 Vols 12 12 0

„ 28. „ Lowe's Flora of Madeira 0 6 0

„ 28. ,, Boott's Illustrations of the Genus Carex, Vol. IV 9 0 0

„ 28. „ OUver's Flora of Tropical Africa, VoL 1 0 16 8

,, 28. ,, Harvey's Flora Capensis, 3 Vols 1 15 0

1878.

Feby. 4. ,, Hewitson's Exotic Butterflies 49 0 0

„ 5. „ Ibis, for 1859 to 1876 0 0 0

May 13. ,, Lovell Reeve's Conchologia Iconica, Monograph of

1879. theGeneraof Shells, Vols. I. -XIX 115 0 0

Mar. 14. ,, „ „ „ „ Vol. XX 9 19 3

April 10. ,, Hewitson's Exotic Butterflies 4 10 0

1880.

April21. ,, „ „ „ 9 0 0

Aug. 3. ,, Hooker and Bentham's Genera Plantarum 4 0 0

1882

Mar. 25. „' Challenger ' Reports, Vols. I.— Ill 5 0 0

Oct. 31. „ „ „ „ IV.— V 6 10 0

1883

Mar. 9. „ „ „ „ VI 2 2 0

Oct. 22. „ „ „ ,, VII 1 10 0

1884.

April 3. „ „ „ „ VIII 2 0 0

„ 18. „ Botany of California, 2 Vols 3 12 0

,, 18. „ Watson's Topographical Botany, 2nd Edition 0 16 0

,, 24. ,, Mineralogie Microscopique 2 4 0

May 13. ,, Hooker's Botany of the Antarctic Voyage made by J.

C. Ross, 2 Vols 10 10 0

June 28. „' Challenger ' Reports, Physics, Vol. 1 110

July 24. „ Gray's Flora of North America, Vol. II., Pt. 1 1 16 0

Oct. 2. „ „ „ „ Vol. I., Pt. 2 15 0

,, 3. ,, • Challenger ' Reports, Zoology, Vol IX 3 3 0

Nov. 19. „ Owens' British Reptiles 12 12 0

1885.

Jan. 16. „' Challenger ' Reports, Zoology, Vol. X 2 10 0

April 2. „ „ „ „ VoLXI 2 10 0

,, 7. ,, Balance of Grants unexpended 55 13 1

£520 0 0

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