A vote of thants to the lecturer was proposed 

 by the President and carried with acclamation. 



The President; said thtt eveaino' marked a very 

 important event for they were usinof for the first 

 time the electric Nernst lamp in tbe lantern and 

 he asked the Hon. Sec. to explain the lamp and 

 show how it worked. 



Mr. Lauder said that for many years they had 

 looked for an electric illuminant suitable for the 

 lantern, and that at last something like perfection 

 was discovered la this lamp. In principle it is 

 like the VVelsbach incandescent mantle, but, 

 instead of miking the mantle incandescent I'y 

 means of a gas flame, a powerful current of elec- 



tricity was passed through a small rod of the 

 substance, which was in that way heated to a 

 white heat, and therefore gave out a very 

 brilliant heat. As many of them had seen 

 the account in the Kentish Gazette and Canter- 

 bury Press of a trial of two of these lamps in 

 the streets, Mr. Lander explained thdt the use of 

 these would save over half the amount of the 

 electric light bill ot those who used them, and said 

 some of the members, as well as himself, were fitting 

 them in their business establishments. In the 

 lantern the light was particularly brilliant and 

 perfectly steady. 



FOURTH WINTER MEETING— NOVEMBER 19th, 1901. 



LANTEEN EVENING. 



The fourth meeting took the form of a lantern 

 evening, when members brought their lantern 

 slides and bad them exhibited in the lantern by 

 means of the Nernst lamp. In this way members 

 were enabled to see specimens of each other's 

 work and compare notes, and it is hoped that 

 thus much good was done and many useful hints 

 noted down for future work. Among those 

 present were the President (S. Harvey, Esq.), Miss 

 Cole, Messrs. C. Buckingham, H. A. Langston, \V. 



Surry, F. C. Snell.W. H. Hammond, the Hon. Sec. 

 and many others. The slides included a large 

 number ot magnificent records cf natural history 

 subjects, etc., by Mr. "W. H. Hammond, Mr. F. C. 

 Snell, Mr. W. Surry, and others, and one or two 

 specimens of colour-photography by the Hon. Sec. 

 (Mr. A.Lander). A very enjoyable and instructive 

 evening was spent, and it is hoped that a lantern 

 evening will be a feature of the programme of 

 future sessions. 



FIFTH WINTER MEETING— DECEMBER 3rd, 1901. 



'-COINS AND CHBISTIANITY." 

 By Mr. S. Webb. 



The fifth winter meeting was held in the 

 Reference Library of the Beaney Institute on 

 Dec. 3, 1901. The President of the Society (Mr. 

 Sidney Harvey) presided, and there were 

 also present Miss Holmes, Miss Phillpott-, 

 Miss Hurst, Mrs. Suramerville, Mr. and Mrs. 

 Husbands, Miss Sworn, Miss Cozens, Mi33 

 Cole, Miss Smith, Mr. VV. P. Mann, Mr. \V. 

 Cozens, Mr. T. G-. Mirsh, Mrs. Mirsh, Mr. W. 

 H. Hammond, Miss Hammond, Mr. C. A. Gardner, 

 Mr. P. A. Small, Mr. C. Buckingham, Mr. E. 

 Kennedy, and the Hon. Secretary (Mr. A. Lander). 



The exhibits included a pitcher-plant, sent by 

 Mr. F. J. Sage; three copies of an aotiquariiu 

 itinerancy, nearly 100 years old. sent by Mr. 

 Gardner; som^ ancient oins, sent by M'ss Coie 

 and Miss Holmes ; galls on elms, saat by Messrs. 

 Snell and Buckingham j a number of "Brownie" 

 photographs and enlargements, sent by Mr. F. J. 

 tia 'e. A c jmpetition had been arranged for the 

 best photos taken during tho summer excursions 

 and the prints sent in were now ou view. Mr. C. 

 Buckingham took the prize, which consistad of the 

 Society's certificate and the new book entitled 

 " Photography for Naturalists." 



Mrs. Husbands was unanimously elected a 

 member of the Society, after which the President 

 briefly introduced Mr. Sydney Webb, of Dover. 

 who then gave his lecture on "Coins and 

 Christianity," in the course of which he traced the 

 coins of circulation from the dawn of coinage. 

 He remarked that lumps of metal were the first 

 medium of exchange after barter in kind, and 

 dealt with the primceval methods of exchange. 

 He also poiatr;d out that archaic weights in them- 

 selves were not coins. Pliny recorded that blocks 

 of metal were first stamped in the reign of Servius 

 TuUius, 578 B.C., and he derived the name 

 Pecunii from pecus^cattle ; while our Eaglish 

 word " pecuniary " w;i3 evidently b',>rn of the 

 same source. Our £ s. d. were e:^ually from the 

 litin, libra, a pound weight, •i:ilidus, representing 

 the smaller piece, a shilling, aui denarius, the 

 peany. Similarly they fouud money to have been 

 derived from the temple of Juno, Moneta, where 

 the implements for coining were placed in the 

 custody of the priests. The lecturer continued : 

 Tbe history of the Romans has been given in 

 greater detail by ancient writers than that of any 

 other nation, whose accounts for tbe most part 



