204 



the statement of the accounts it appeared that the Society had annually 

 expended £'20 more than its income duiing the last seven years, and 

 that the balance in the hands of the Treasurer was gradually decreasing. 



Mr. James Rowe, and Douglas Cohen, M.D., were elected ordinary 

 members. 



Dr. J. B. Edwards submitted several ^pictures of microscopic objects, 

 taken by means of the camera, under the collodion process, which he ex- 

 plained ; the drawings might be used for printing from. He also called 

 attention to some beautiful microscopic drawings on stone, executed in 

 Germany, and distributed to the members of the " Cavendish Society." 



Mr. F. P. Marrat exhibited specimens of rare mosses from the neigh- 

 bourhood, many being entii'ely new to the flora of Liverpool, amongst 

 which may be mentioned Weissia lanceolata, Phascum alternifolium, 

 Orthotrichum pumillum, Phascum Flo'erkianum, and Gnmmia ovata. 



The Secretary read a paper by the Rev. J. S, Howson, M.A. 



ON THE HISTORY OF NAUTICAL TERMS. 



After some general remarks on the study of language, and especially 

 of provincialism, he dwelt on the peculiar value of the dialect of seamen 

 — from its antiquity — its marked and emphatic character — its con- 

 nexion, not only with the various local dialects of our own coasts, but with 

 the languages of many other countries. He remarked that, notwithstand- 

 ing the attention bestowed on provincialism in general, no one had sub- 

 jected our maritime patois to a careful examination. To do this at all 

 completely would require the union of much linguistic knowledge with 

 a practical experience of the sea. But, without the possession of these 

 qualifications, the general line of inquiry on the subject might be pointed 

 out. It was suggested that our different nautical terms might be com- 

 pared with the synonymous expressions in four northern languages, 

 Dutch, German, Swedish, and Danish (or Norwegian), for the purpose 

 of tracing the Teutonic or Scandinavian elements of our maritime phrase- 

 ology ; and in four of southern Em'ope, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and 

 French, as representing the influence of the Romance languages. The 

 subject would natiually be divided into two branches, philological and 

 historical. On the present occasion, the writer limited himself to the 

 former; and the paper concluded with various illustrations of the rela- 

 tions of our own seafaring language with those of other countries, and of 

 its retention of archaic forms, which are elsewhere nearly lost. 



