•30 



TWELFTH WINTER MEETING, 



TUESDAY, MARCH 26th, 1901. 



•POLARISED LIGHT AND COLOUR PHENOMENA." 



LECTURE BY MR. W. P. MANN. 



The twelfth winter meeting' of metnbers took 

 place at the Simon Langton Schools, Canterbury, 

 on Tuesday, March ^6, 1901, by the kind invitation 

 of the Headmaster, Mr. W. P. Mann. Amongst 

 the many members and friends were Mr. Sidney 

 Harvey, M if s Harvey, Miss Holmes, MissPhillpotts, 

 Mr. A. Lander (Hon. Sec.) and Mrs. Lander. Mr. 

 Blofield, Miss MacCanlis, Miss Sworn, Mrs. Pratt, 

 Councillor Whicbcord. Mrs. Gard, Mr. VVhaliey, 

 Mr.Gard, Miss Drake, Mr. Cozens, and many otheis. 

 Between 7 and 8 p.m. a conversazione was held 

 in the Physical Laboratory, when the meiubers 

 examined with great interest the valuable micros- 

 cope?, poiariscopes, etc., which were on the tables. 

 At 8 o'clock Mr. W. P. Mann gave a highly 

 interesting lecture in the Lecture Hall on " Polar- 

 ised light and colour phenomena." 



Mr. Sidney Harvey, who presided, said it might 

 be well to explain the reason of their presence 

 there that evening. First of all, the Beaney 

 Institute would not have held the large assembly 

 which had gathered there. Secondly, their kind 

 friend, Mr. Mann — who was always ready to come 

 to the rescue — required, in order that a lecture of 

 that nature might be illustrated in a proper 

 manner, costly and extensive apparatus which 

 would be too large to ask him to bring to the 

 Beaney Institute, wheie, with a lack of appliances. 

 it would b3 impossible to show any experiments at 

 all. They were Mr. Mann's guests, and nut for 

 the first time, for the first lecture was delivered 

 on premises adjacent to that building more than 

 25 years ago. They had enjoyed his hospitality 

 on previous occasions, and they hoped they would 

 enjoy it again (hear, hear). 



The Chairman then proposed Mrs. Somerville 

 as a new member of the Society, and that laiy 

 was unanimously elected. 



The Hon. Secretary read a list of the exhibits 

 on the table. They were, he said, mainly 

 microscopical. Mr. Harvey had sent two 

 microscopes, under one of which were some 

 vegetable tissues illuminated by ordinary and 

 polarised light. Tlie President of the Society 

 (Mr. S. Horsley) had, during his illness, m- unted 

 a lot of pollen, which under the microscope looked 

 very beautiful. He had sent them some thirty 

 specimens with the microscope. Mr. Mann bad 

 brought his microscope, and Miss Holmes and 

 Miss PhillpDtts had brought their's with some 

 dandelion seeds under them. A very curious 



atlas, dated 1073, was also on view, kindly 

 sent by Miss Hogben. It was not a map 

 in the ordinary sense cf the word, but a 

 beautifully coloured chart of eveiy coast in 

 the world, 3howing all the rocks and 

 sand banks. With reference to the lerture 

 on "Cloud photogiaphy," lecently i;iven 

 by Mr. Snell, Mr. Horsley had expressed a 

 wish that some member would takeuptho subject 

 and photograph the clouds regularly. It would 

 be necessary to note the exact time and day on 

 which each photo was taken. The Koyal Meteoro- 

 logical Society had written to their Society asking 

 them to make observations. On the first Thurs- 

 day in every month special balloons would be 

 sent up throughout Europe, specially to 

 view the clouds, and, if possible, to photograph 

 them, and find their distance from the eartlj. If 

 members could take away their cameras from 

 caricaturing their friends occasionally, and take 

 the clouds they would get valuable results 

 (laughter). With reference to the proposed visit 

 of the South-Eastern Cnion to Canterbury in 1!W2, 

 Mr. Lander stated that a meeting of the Commit- 

 tee of the Union was held recently, and it was 

 decided toaccept the Canterbury Society's invita- 

 tion to come there in May of next year. At a meeting 

 of their own Committee it was suggested that a 

 strong local committee be formed to arrange for the 

 reception of the Union. The following names 

 were suggested: — The Mayor (Alderman Hart), 

 Deputy Mayor (Councillor Netherclift), the Dean 

 of Canterbury (Dr. Farrar), Miss Phillpotts, 

 Miss Holmes, the Piesident of the Society 

 (Mr. Stephen Horsley), Mr. Bennett Goldney, 

 Mr. Henry Fielding, Rev. W. M. Rodwell, Mr. 

 Facer, Mr. S. Harvey, Mr. W.P. Mann, Councillor 

 Whicbcord, Mr. Blofeld. Mr. Cozens, Rev. A. J. 

 Galpin, Captain Stead, Mr. Snell, Mr. Horsnaill, 

 and Mr. A. Lander (Hon. Sec). The Mayor had 

 promised to do all that lay in his power to help 

 them, and suggested that a reception should be 

 given in the Beaney Institute. Of coarse that 

 was a matter which would have to be settled later 

 on. The visit would cost the Society something 

 like -£25 altogether. The Secretary also stated 

 that during the month they had only had -K) hours 

 of sunshine in Canterbury, whereas in some years 

 they had had as much as 180 hours. They had 

 during the first week of the month more rain in 

 Canterbury than in any other place in England- 

 Mr. Marsh proposed, and Mr. Argrave seconded. 



