PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 5 



that certain visible portions of the solar spectrum produce scarcely any effect upon 

 the sensitive surfaces usually employed, while other portions of the spectrum, which 

 produce no impression upon the organs of vision, act with great energy upon the 

 same surfaces. In conclusion, the many interesting applications which this art has 

 already received were shortly alluded to. 



An interesting discussion followed the reading of this paper, in which Doctor 

 Dickie, Professor Stevelly, Mr. MacAdam, and other members took part. 



DECEMBEK 6, 1854. 

 Dr. DICKIE, V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. Stephen Archer read a paper on the Geography of the Ancient Greeks. It 

 commenced by noticing the inferiority of the ancient Greeks to the Phenicians in the 

 art of navigation, and in a knowledge of the earth's surface the prevalent opinion 

 being that round the dry land there existed a circumfluent ocean, from which the 

 principal rivers flowed into the Mediterranean, and that, on the outer boundaries 

 of the ocean, there was a chaos or mixture of the elements. Allusion was then 

 made to the opinions of Homer, Hesiod, Thales, and Anaximander the last of 

 whom may be considered as the founder of geographical science. He was the first 

 to form a map or chart, which he had engraved on a tablet of brass. The rivalry 

 of the Greek and Phenician navigators was then noticed. A short abstract was 

 given of the chapter of Herodotus on Scy thia ; and a comparison was made of the 

 tribes mentioned by him viz., the Scythians, Cimmerians, Sarmatians, Anthro- 

 pophagi, Argasippi, Tauri, &c., with the present inhabitants of the Russian 

 empire. The Ural and Altai mountains, so celebrated for their produce of gold, 

 were mentioned by Herodotus, but he did not give their names. The Tauric 

 Chersonesus, or modern Crimea, with its Greek settlements and interesting legends, 

 was then adverted to ; also Sinope, and the warlike nation of Amazons. The paper 

 concluded with an inquiry into the origin and language of the Turks, and allusion 

 was made to the Mantchous, Tungusians, and ether inhabitants of Northern Asia. 



DECEMBER 20, 1854. 

 ROBERT MACADAM, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Before commencing the business, resolutions were adopted, expressing the deep 

 sorrow felt by the Society for the lamented death of one of their most distinguished 

 Honorary Members, Professor Edward Forbes, of the University of Edinburgh ; and 

 the Secretary was directed to transmit a copy of the resolutions to the bereaved 

 family of the Professor. A paper was then read by Dr. Dickie on the " Relations of 

 Position, Number, Form, and Colour in the Flower." Proofs were, in the first 

 place, adduced that all the parts of the flower are homotypes with the leaf; the 

 transition from leaf to bract, from the bract to the calyx, and from the latter to the 

 corolla, being often sufficiently obvious. The ovarium or seed-vessel, in general 

 aspect, frequently presents a nearer approach to the leaf- type than some other parts 

 of the flower ; in the stamen the relation to the leaf is frequently not so evident ; 

 in the water-lily and allied plants the stamens, however, have an obvious resem- 

 blance to the petals, and in double flowers all are alike. The law of the spiral 

 regulates the position of leaves, their alternation being thus explained The 

 opposite and whorled positions of leaves in some plants are modifications of the 

 alternate, owing to shortening of the axis. The flower and its parts consist of a 

 series of whorls upon a short axis, and, as in whorls of leaves, those of each series 

 stand opposite to the spaces between those in the next, so that the pieces of the calyx 

 alternate with those of the corolla, and so throughout, and no plant is known in 

 which all are opposite to each other. Relations of number are not less evident ; the 

 two great types of flowering plants called exogens or dicotyledons, and endogens 

 or monocotyledons, have the parts of their flowers regulated principally by the 

 numbers, five and three, respectively presenting thus an interesting relation be- 

 tween the structure of the flower and that of the stem, of the leaf, and of the seed. 

 When the pieces of the calyx and of the corolla are of the same size and form, 



