THE society's NOTE-BOOKS. 209 



rays, indicating layers or lamellae of bony matter. The substance 

 of bone presents numerous black, somewhat elongated bodies, 

 called lacun {lacunaa^ a little hollow), or bone corpuscles, which 

 are, however, hollow, therefore not truly corpuscles, as they were 

 formerly considered. Between the adjacent lacunae run numerous 

 fine, dark, branched lines, consisting of very minute canals, or 

 canalicidi. If the section of bone be viewed by reflected light, 

 the lacunae and canaliculi appear white. In the dried bone they 

 contain air. 



The structure of bone is best seen when viewed as a trans- 

 parent object in the dry state ; for when the section is immersed 

 in liquid, the lacunae and canaliculi become filled up. 



T. F. Uttlev. 



Bath rnMcroecopical Society. 



^be Batb Matcre. 



AT a recent meeting of the Bath Microscopical Society, Mr, 

 J. W. Morris, F.L.S., read an extremely interesting paper 

 on " Hazel Nuts and their Crystallised Contents found in 

 the course of Excavations at the Roman Baths." 



Mr. Morris explained that the subject which he had to bring 

 before them had come to light, if he might use such an expres- 

 sion, in rather an accidental way. There was nothing at all novel 

 or strange in the fact of hazel nuts being found among the Roman 

 remains. They had been found from time to time for centuries 

 past, and there were a good many of them in the cases at the 

 Pump Room. The odd thing was that through these long ages 

 nobody ever thought of ' inquiring within upon everything,' until 

 the results were discovered which were being placed before them. 

 The frequent occurrence of the nuts was noted by Stukeley, who 

 in 1724 wrote as follows : — "It is remarkable that at the cleansing 

 of the springs, when they set down a new pump, they constantly 

 found great quantities of hazel nuts as in many other places among 

 subterraneous timber. These I doubt not to be the remains of 

 the famous and universal deluge, which the Hebrew historian tells 



International Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science. 

 Third Series. Vol. VI. o 



