123 



place in this instance arose from excess of alkali, which so often occurred 

 in soap. He had himself tried, and given up soap alto^ethar, and in its 

 place he now ased Hyposulphite of Soda, which was the best detergent 

 known ; it not only did not do any mischief, bat actually dissjlved the dirt 

 away. For very many purposes he knew of nothing so good as this. 



Mr. Ingpen agreed with Mr. White that the action was rather mechanical 

 than chemical. 



Mr. Michael did not doubt that there was a mechanical action at work 

 due to the Brownian movements, but thought there was also a chemical 

 action in the process. 



Dr. Matthews said that the great majority of soaps contained Silicate of 

 Potash. 



Mr. Spencer said that the soap which contained Silicate of Soda was 

 certainly the best of all. 



Mr. Ingpen suggested that they could get a soap made on purpose, if it 

 were needed. 



Mr. Spencer said that was of course supposing that soap was the best 

 thing to use, which it was not. 



Mr. J. G. Waller read a paper, " On a New British Sponge," to which he 

 gave the name of " Raphiodesma mifiima.** 



Mr. Priest said he had been working at the same subject for some time, 

 and found a specimen of Raphiodesma sordida at Ramsgate last year, which 

 he thought was very much like one which Mr. Waller then thought was 

 Bymeniacidon macilenta ; and on reference to Dr. Bowerbank's book he 

 found the close agreement which Mr. Waller had described. 



The President said that the attention given to the paper showed the 

 interest which had been taken in the subject. He did not think that any 

 blame should be attached to those workers who had opened up these 

 subjects years ago, because they had not minutely followed out every detail 

 — they had done useful service in opening out the subject, and in preparing 

 the way for special work such as Mr. Waller and others had been able to 

 accomplish. 



Mr. Martinelli read a paper " On the Structure of the Stomata in the 

 Holly," which he illustrated by numerous photo-micrographs. 



The President thought the photographs gave a remarkably good general 

 idea of what these Stomata appeared to be. 



Mr. W. H. Grilburt commented upon the paper, and suggested that some 

 of the appearances observed were due to the peculiar mode of preparation 

 adopted. 



Mr. Martinelli, in reply, admitted the possibility of this view. 



Mr. E. T. Newton described a simple section cutting machine, which 

 was exhibited by Mr. Curties. He did not claim it as being either entirely 

 new, or that it was to supersede everything else, but it was simple in 

 action and construction, and was produced at a moderate cost. It had the 

 usual hole in the centre, and a means of raising the wax up as required, 

 with the very great advantage that the cylinder containing the wax was 

 loose in the central tube^ and could therefore be raised up or pushed down 



