which had taken place for holding a General Soirée of all the Literary, Scientific, and Art Societies of Liverpool. Mr. JOSEPH BOULT read a paper on "The Credibility of Venerable Bede."* Ladies were invited to this Meeting. THIRD ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, November 12th, 1877. JOHN J. DRYSDALE, M.D., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. Messrs. Jno. Galley, G. W. Allman, and John Atkinson, were elected Ordinary Members. Some inquiries were made with regard to the Society's Library, and suggestions offered as to the best mode of bringing the donations of books and Transactions presented to the Society under the notice of the Members. It was ultimately moved by Mr. UNWIN, seconded by Mr. YATES, and carried:-"That the Council be requested to take into consideration the printing of a Catalogue of the Society's Library, and also to ascertain whether this could be done in conjunction with a similar proceeding on the part of the other societies meeting in the Royal Institution." Mr. ALBERT J. MOTT gave a brief epitome of the discoveries of Stanley in Africa, and pointed out the immense influence they would have upon the future commerce of that continent. The Rev. HENRY H. HIGGINS, M.A., read a paper on Developmentalists and Evolutionists: or the Use of Dogma See page 127 Mr. R. C. JOHNSON, F.R.A.S., after some remarks on the case, thought it possible that a star which exhibited a continuous spectrum crossed by certain bright lines, might (if the star from any cause became much fainter) exhibit what would appear to be a bright line (or gaseous) spectrum only, and that the impression might thus arise that a change had taken place in the constitution of the star. "Amy Mr. JOSIAH MARPLES then read a paper on Robsart, the story of her Married Life and her Death."* Ladies were invited to this meeting. SIXTH ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, January 7th, 1878. JOHN J. DRYSDALE, M.D., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. Mr. R. Read, Rev. David Morris, and Dr. Shearer were elected Ordinary Members. Dr. CAMPBELL BROWN explained the principles and construction of the Telephone, and was followed with remarks thereon by the Rev. H. H. Higgins, Mr. Stearn, Dr. Whittle, etc. The Rev. H. H. HIGGINS exhibited a series of selected specimens of the univalve coral-inhabiting Mollusc, Magilus, belonging to Mr. Edward Charlesworth, F.G.S., who believes they show that Magilus has the power of driving its way through masses of solid coral, and that it does so with the same facility that the bivalve Teredo tunnels through masses of wood. * See page 151. In the absence of the Hon. Secretary, the PRESIDENT reported that the recent Soirée had resulted in a profit of £37, which had been invested, in the names of trustees, for the benefit of the next Soirée. More than 2,000 persons had attended the gathering in St. George's Hall, and the Soirée was considered in every respect to have been a very great success. Mr. WARD read a paper on "The Salt Lakes, Deserts, and Salt Districts of Asia." * Ladies were invited to this Meeting. SEVENTH ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, January 21st, 1878. JOHN J. DRYSDALE, M.D., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. Mr. T. J. MOORE brought before the Society some additional micro-photographs of the thread-cells, etc., of Physalia, by Dr. J. Habirshaw, from preparations by Capt. Mortimer, supplementary to those exhibited to the Society in October last. Capt. MORTIMER, who was present, made some remarks on the above, and on a large and beautifully preserved specimen of Balantium, taken by him in the South Pacific, and remarked on the supposed relation of this Pteropod to the fossil genus Conularia; as also on a sample of Flexible Sandstone (Itacolumite), from the United States, prepared and presented to him by Capt. Dewy, of Philadelphia. Mr. ISAAC ROBERTS, F.G.S., explained, with the aid of blackboard illustrations, the recently discovered methods of See page 233. e the liquefaction and solidification of oxygen and hydrogen, and the artificial manufacture of rubies, sapphires, etc. Votes of thanks were unanimously passed to Mr. Alfred Morgan, Honorary Librarian, for the presentation to the Society of the maps and other illustrations in his paper on the Cliff Houses of Colorado; and to Mr. Josiah Marples, for the fac-similes of letters of Amy Robsart, in illustration of his paper on her Life and Death. Mr. J. A. PICTON, F.S.A., then read a paper on "Scientific Materialism from a Non-Scientific Point of View." * Ladies were present at this Meeting. EIGHTH ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, February 4th, 1878. JOHN J. DRYSDALE, M.D., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. Mr. J. L. PALMER, Fleet Surgeon, R.N., exhibited a specimen of the down of the Alsophila Pruinata, which he described as follows: "The specimens of the pubescence of the fern Alsophila Pruinata, which I have the pleasure of shewing this evening, were given me by Dr. Gustav Fonck, F.R.G.S., some years ago, when I was in Chiloe, South America. The fern which produces them is a tree-fern of the Cyathecous order, which is pretty widely distributed. It is not so remarkable for its height as for the spread of its fronds, which range from six to twelve or more feet in length. The pubescence is found all over the very young fronds, and in the axils and round the base of the older ones. "Some of it, as you see, is much more silky and 'goldenhaired' than the rest; both kinds are used as a vulnerary * See page 95. and styptic. It acts not by any inherent tanning property, but mechanically, in the same way as a pinch of fur from a beaver hat; and, from the nature of its structure, cannot be used as a textile material any more than thistle-down. Apropos of vulneraries, in this country the proverb of the "hair of the dog that bit you" is not a figurative expression, but an actual fact. I was assured that in case of being bitten, the common people take some of the hair of the biter in country wine to act as a spell against rabies. What the dog takes I do not know. Another strange custom obtains. If anyone breaks a limb, the nearest unfortunate cur is seized, part of his ear cropped, and bound on the limb under the bandages used after setting it. "I am ignorant of the origin of this custom, and whether it exists in other parts of the world among other races." Mr. JOSIAH MARPLES referred to the recent reception, by the Duke of Richmond, of a deputation on the subject of Reformed Spelling, and mentioned that while we in England had not reached further than the discussion of the subject, our cousins in the United States had been driven to action. The Mormons, Mr. Marples stated, conducted all their services and carried on all their public proceedings in English, and as their numbers were largely and constantly recruited from the different European nations, considerable difficulty was experienced by the new comers in learning to read English. So great had been the inconvenience, that a special alphabet had been invented, called the Deseret alphabet, which professed to have a symbol for every sound. Mr. Marples exhibited a copy of the complete Book of Mormon, printed in this manner; for some reason, however, probably because the English speaking Mormons found it inconvenient to learn reading afresh, the Deseret alphabet was not now used, and orders had been sent to Liverpool from Utah that new |