62 Proceedings. 



Manchester Ship Canal Company. It was lying on the 

 ground opposite the Ordsall Paper Works, in a portion of the 

 old river bed of the Irvvell from which the water has been 

 diverted for the purpose of constructing the Manchester 

 Ship Canal. Unfortunately, the spot where it was found 

 was not the exact spot from which it was excavated, it 

 having been thrown on one side by the workpeople. But 

 by enquiry I ascertained very nearly the exact spot. It 

 was about 10 feet below the present river bed, on a deposit 

 of an older age. The present river bed, for about 9 feet 

 thick, is largely composed of ashes, sand, and gravel. 

 Below this, very distinctly marked, comes a greyish silty 

 sand, having coarser gravel below containing boughs and 

 trunks of trees, and the jar, I have little doubt, came from 

 the bed of greyish sand, as the sand inside of the jar was 

 the same and contained no ashes. The shape of the jar 

 is circular, it is 11^ in. high over all, 8 in. high to its 

 greatest breadth, which is 8^4 in. diameter, tapering to 

 51^ in. near the base, which is curved. The neck is 2)4 in. 

 wide, the shape is by no means true, the workmanship crude, 

 and the vessel appears to be a dolmia, or wine cask, of 

 common quality. The colour is a yellowish brown, but the 

 fracture shews the centre of the clay burnt to a brightish 

 red. The clay contains quartz pebbles, and what appear 

 to be particles of a metallic substance. The rings, so 

 characteristic of Roman pottery, are very clearly to be seen, 

 especially inside the jar, which has an appearance of glazing 

 in parts." 



Professor BOYD Dawkins said he did not like to speak 

 positively as to the age of the jar, but suggested that it 

 might be of early Roman or late Celtic age. 



Mr. Alex. Hodgkinson, M.B., B.Sc., exhibited 

 specimens of clover roots showing, under the microscope, 

 the nodules developed by microbia, which, according to 

 recent investigation, have the property of fixing the free 



