MONTHLY SUMSIAET. 10]. 



slab now placed in front of the high altar in the church of Santa 

 Maria in Transtevere at Rome, and the same colouring and 

 general effect may be met with in most of the churches in Italy 

 ■which contain any pavement of this formation, 



This class of manufacture has now reached such great per- 

 fection, and has so much character and peculiar effect of its own, 



^ L 



that it can scarcely perhaps be treated as an imitation, at least to 

 the extent of estimating its worth by the nearness of its approach 

 to the material imitated. The materials used by the Romans to 

 produce the different colours were these : the light buff ground 

 colour was given by a slightly clouded yellow Sienna marble ; 

 the purple tints by morsels of porphyry ; the green by beautifully 

 coloured serpentine, or verde antique; the black and white by 

 marbles of these colours ; and the blue by lapis lazuli. In the 

 tile, the colours are produced as follows: — The buff and red 

 colours are native Staffordshire clays* The blue is produced by 

 a mixture of white clays, stained with oxide of cobalt. The 

 white is also a mixture of white clays, j)rocured from Devon- 

 shire and Cornwall. The chocolate is the red Staffordshire clay 

 stained with manganese. The green is produced by staining the 

 white clavs with oxide of chrome. 



Annual Meeting.--This meeting took place on the 11th 

 February, when the President, Council, and Office-bearers were 

 elected. It will be seen from the report of the Council, p. 108, 

 which was received by the meeting, and ordered to be circulated, 

 that had it been compatible with her high position, Her Majesty 

 herself would have deigned to accept that office, but this not 

 being possible, had recommended the Duke of Buccleuch for 

 election. The meeting most cordially adopted her Majesty's 

 recommendation, and his Grace was accordingly elected President. 

 The other changes in the Council were the substitution of the 

 Earl of Somers, Mr. Cooper, and Mr. Fleming, for Mr. Hope, 

 Mr. Wrench, and Mr. Edmonds. The President has since 

 exercised his power of nominating Vice-Presidents, by reap- 

 pointing the same gentlemen who already filled the office, his 

 Grace remarking that he '* felt that he should best sen-e the 

 interest of the Society by nominating those gentlemen to be Vice- 

 Presidents who were selected for that office by his late Royal 

 Highness the Prince Consort." 



Ordinary Meetings. — Ordinary meetings were held on the 7th 



