99 



" Proceedings of the Epping Forest Natural") ^ Qm ^ Q Q ubj 



History Club" ... ... ) 



" Proceedings of the Belgian Microscopical") Society 



Society" ... ... ... ) 



"Science Gossip" ... ... ... „ „ Publisher. 



" The Analyst " ... ... ... ... ,, „ „ 



" The Northern Microscopist " ... ... „ ,, ,, 



" The American Monthly Microscopical") . exc k an cre 



Journal" ... ... ... ) 



« Handbook of the Wild Silks of India " } fr A ™ ^ e Sc | ence , aud 



) Art Department. 



" Annals of Natural History " ... ... purchased. 



"Dr. Cooke's Fresh Water Algae" ... „ 



Three Slides ... ... ... ... from the President. 



The thanks of the meeting were voted to the donors. 



Mr. E. T. Newton exhibited and described a new form of microtome, 

 devised by Professor Miall. 



The President was sure that the members would heartily join in a vote 

 of thanks to Mr. Newton for bringing this apparatus before them. Many 

 scientific men were not very wealthy, and could ill afford to purchase 

 elaborate and costly section machines. Whatever therefore could be done 

 to effect economy without impairing efficiency, was very desirable. A 

 vote of thanks was put and carried unanimously. 



Mr. J. W. Groves said he must thank Mr. Newton for bringing up a 

 machine that seemed likely to be useful for tolerably thin sections ; he 

 thought, however, that very thin sections would be likely to get cut wedge- 

 shaped. He also thought that there was an objection to the top plate 

 being of brass, because the razor would be apt to dig into it in the act of 

 cutting ; for this reason he thought a glass plate would be much better. 



Mr. Newton said that practically the first-mentioned difficulty did not 

 arise, because they must cut about 30 sections before getting the whole of 

 the error. He hardly supposed anyone would try to cut sections ^o^o °f 

 an inch in thickness with such a machine, although it could be done. 



Mr. Hailes said that the tendency to the wedge shape would not arise if 

 the plate was screwed on the thread and faced up in the lathe ; it would 

 then be practically true. 



Mr. J. G. Waller read a paper on " Sand." 



Mr. M. Hawkins Johnson in reply to the President, said he understood 

 the question before them to be, " How was it to be accounted for that 

 sand contained such a great quantity of quartz but so little flint ? " He 

 confessed that he did not know much about it, but perhaps he might specu- 

 late a little. If a number of chalk pebbles were thrown together en a 

 beach by the action of the waves, they would be found to collide with 

 much less force than they would if thrown in the air; the amount of force 

 exerted upon each was very small, and they might rather be said to roll 

 together. The result of a blow upon a flint would be to produce a conical 

 fissure, and when a number of these were made, small scaly pieces got 



