Deceinberiith,igoo^ PROCEEDINGS. vii 



from the burst. Dr. Wilson inquired if this interval had been 

 observed by others. It was suggested that the subject might be 

 brought up again when some members possessing wide special 

 experience might be present. No satisfactory explanation of the 

 delay in the bursting was suggested. 



Mr. W, Barnard Faraday read a paper on " Selections 

 from the Correspondence of Lieutenant-Colonel John 

 Leigh Philips, of Mayfield, Manchester. Part IH." 



The paper will be printed in the Memoirs. 



Ordinary Meeting, December nth, 1900. 



Osborne Reynolds, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., Vice-President, in 



the Chair. 



The thanks of the members were voted to the donors of the 

 books upon the table. 



Mr. Thomas Thorp mentioned a somewhat unpleasant 

 experience he had had the previous day. Having prepared a 

 quantity of silvering solution (nitrate of silver, potassa and 

 ammonia) about a week before, but finding it not so good as 

 usual, he had poured a small portion into a measuring glass with 

 the intention of testing it to find out, if possible, the reason of 

 its poor quality. The bottle was lightly corked and laid down 

 on the bench, when, after about a couple of minutes, the 

 contents exploded. On examining the glass of the bottle in 

 question, a considerable portion was found to be pulverised, 

 the rest being in more or less small pieces having a shattered 

 appearance. No flash was seen, but apparently a misty aureola, 

 whilst the glass and liquid were projected several yards away. 

 Taken by itself the explosion was a puzzling one, but a similar 

 event happened some months ago, only in this case the bottle 

 containing the solution was in a cupboard, and the fact of an 

 explosion having occurred was only discovered when the solu- 

 tion was required ; in this case, also, the glass was pulverised. 

 Mr. Thorp considered them to be instances of spontaneous 

 explosion. 



