100 Proceedings. 



" Mr. Frederick Hovenden recently brought a paper 

 before the Society in which he mentioned the occurrence of 

 motes in tobacco smoke, with wing-Hke appendages. 

 Mr. Gwyther and others, besides myself, examined tobacco 

 smoke with a view to confirming Mr. Hovenden's observa- 

 tions, but each of us failed to do so. Mr. Hovenden 

 communicated with me further, stating more definitely 

 the manner in which his experiment was made ; this 

 experiment I repeated, and succeeded in observing more 

 definitely the appearances which he mentioned. The smoke 

 was blown into a semi-circular cell attached to a microscope 

 slide, which was then closed by a piece of cork or cardboard. 

 The smoke from a cigar or cigarette being blown through 

 a tube into the cell, a considerable quantity of whirling 

 particles was at first observed, but nothing definite until 

 the cell was closed by the cork or cardboard ; the whirling 

 then ceased, and the particles or motes came into view, and 

 appeared to move round each other with a vibratory motion, 

 and gradually to fall to the bottom of the cell. I also observed 

 a distinct tail from each mote resembling a shadow going 

 from it in a vertical line behind it. The experiment I 

 made was nor done precisely in the manner described by 

 Mr. Hovenden, as there was considerable ground for doubt 

 as to what Mr. Hovenden's conditions exactly were, but I 

 can understand that with a different kind of illumination 

 two shadows or tails might be observed to each mote, which 

 might give the appearance of the wings which Mr. Hovenden 

 mentioned in his paper." 



Mr. Thomson successfully repeated the experiment 

 before the members, several of whom saw and described 

 the motes and appendages. 



A " Memoir of the late Carl Schorlemmer, LL.D., F.R.S., 

 F.C.S.," by Professor HAROLD B. DixON, M.A., F.R.S., was 

 read in the absence of the author by Mr. P. J. Hartog, B.Sc. 



