4 38 Medico-Botanical Society, Zoological Society, 



4193 members, most of them also members of the military and marine 

 services ; and had instituted some local committees in Britain and abroad. 

 The following are subjects of lectures that had been delivered " during the 

 last season :" — the actual state and prospects of African discovery ; the 

 earth's magnetism ; steam navigation ; the chemical properties of atmo- 

 spheric air and its constituent gases. The council will neglect no measures 

 to promote so desirable an object as the continuance of the supply of lec- 

 tures. It is proposed to keep a meteorological journal at the museum. 

 See p. 361. The council invite communications on the various subjects 

 detailed " in the last report." Measures are in progress for completing a 

 systematic catalogue of subjects in the museum. The Society has the ad- 

 vantage of the following favours : — Government transports have received 

 directions to convey contributions from abroad free of expense. Objects 

 intended for exhibition in the museum are to enter the kingdom free of 

 import duties. The East India Company's court of directors has favoured 

 the Society's objects, and not a few of the Society's members are als& 

 members of the East India Company's service. The governor in council 

 of Madras has directed arrangements to be made for conveyingto England, 

 free of expense, contributions from that presidency. The Society's offices 

 are in Middle Scotland Yard, Whitehall, London. 



The editor of the United Service Journal has offered to publish any 

 papers suited to the character of that work. 



Dr. Loudon, in his work noticed in p. 334, has invited the attention of 

 the army, navy, and East India medical boards, to the subject of it : it 

 is perhaps suited, also, for the cognisance of the United Service [Scien- 

 tific Society]. 



The Medico-Botanical Society. — At the anniversary meeting, held on 

 Jan. 16. 1836, the president, Earl Stanhope, delivered an address rich in 

 botanico-medical information, and, one would conceive, likely to promote 

 the prosperity of the Society ; an object in which he is zealous. He is of 

 opinion that, when the objects which the Society pursues are estimated by 

 their practical utility, they " must be appreciated as they deserve, and 

 ought to secure to the Society that encouragement and support which 

 it has not yet received, but which it is justly entitled to expect." The 

 address has been printed in a pamphlet of 31 pages 8vo, by J. Wilson, 

 George Court, Piccadilly. It is not clear that it is purchasable : its being 

 purchasable would be a means by which the information it contains might 

 be more widely dispersed. 



The Zoological Society of London. — It appears in the report of the council, 

 read at the annual general meeting on April 29. 1836, and published since, 

 that, during the year preceding the above date, additions have been made 

 to the Society's menagerie and museum, and that improvements have been 

 made in both and in the gardens ; and that the improvements made in the 

 museum are as follows : — The Society has engaged premises in Leicester 

 Square, more adequate than those which it has occupied in Bruton Street, 

 for the display of the extensive collection of preserved animals which it 

 possesses. In the new premises, in well arranged rooms and galleries, 

 there is accommodation for more than twice the extent of cases that could 

 be crowded into the rooms previously occupied ; and the society will be 

 able to exhibit the most extensive series of Mammalia and birds that is 

 yet open to public view in this kingdom, occupying a series of cases 460 ft. 

 in length. " The increased extent of the museum, and the importance of 

 completing catalogues of the objects contained in its several departments, 

 and of registering more correctly the accessions to it, have rendered ne- 

 cessary an increase in the establishment, both of persons in charge of it, and 

 of attendants. With the increased powers now devoted to it, its utility 

 may be confidently expected to become very considerably advanced." 



The Society, since the date of the annual meeting, has received four 



