Auckland Institute. 603 



Sixth Meeting: 9th August, 1886. 



Professor F. D. Brown, President, in the chair. 



Professor A. P. Thomas gave a lecture entitled " Wings : A 

 Chapter in Evolution." 



Seventh Meeting : 23rf? August, 1886. 

 Professor F. D. Brown, President, in the chair. 

 New Members. — Eev. J. Campbell, Dr. Challinor Purchas. 

 Papers. — 1. " The Medicinal Properties of certain New Zea- 

 land Plants," by J. Baber, C.E. {Transactions, p. 319.) 



Dr. Murray Moore spoke in favourable terms of the paper. He was 

 confident that many New Zealand plants would yield drugs of considerable 

 value. The active principle of the Karaka berry was worth investigation, as 

 it was not improbable that it would be useful in paralytic affections. He 

 gave an instance of the curing of a severe case of dysentery by means of an 

 extract prepared from the root of Phormium tenax, and mentioned several 

 other well-known plants which promised to be of service in medicine. 



Mr. Stewart mentioned the Kawakawa {Piper excelsum), the Kaukawa 

 (Panax edgerleyi), and the Horopito (Drimys axillaris), as likely to prove of 

 medicinal value. 



Mr. Adams also commented in favourable terms on the paper. With 

 respect to the poisoning of cattle by Tutu, he pointed out that cattle run- 

 ning freely over the country were rarely if ever poisoned, but if fed in grass 

 paddocks, and then suddenly turned out into the bush, great mortality often 

 ensued. He instanced several plants that might have been included in Mr. 

 Baber's list. 



2, " New Species of Pselaphidai," by Capt. T. Broun. 



3. " The Two Theories : Evolution or Creation," by J. 

 Buchanan. 



Eighth Meeting : 6th September, 1886. 

 Professor F. D. Brown, President, in the chair. 



Professor Brown gave a lecture on " The Luminosity of 

 Flames." 



Abstract. 



He commenced by pointing out that a flame was the burning of vapour, 

 never the burning of solids, or of a liquid body. He illustrated this by 

 lighting an ordinary candle, and showed how the tallow had to be melted 

 and volatilised before there was a flame. He elucidated the same theory by 

 blowing the candle out and then igniting it immediately with the light two 

 inches away from the wick. He then proceeded to point out that solid 

 bodies sometimes burnt intensely but without flame. This he illustrated 

 with a piece of charcoal burnt in oxygen. Professor Brown then jDointed 

 out from these experiments that a flame was a vapour burning in the air, 

 and that there must be a surface where they joined for combustion to take 

 place. By a series of most interesting experiments he showed the hollow- 

 ness of flame, and that the hollow contained a combustible vapour ; and, by 

 another series of experiments, showed that the flame was a shell separating 

 a combustible from a non-combustible substance. He pointed out that 



