10 



jrail until they bad given France a constitution. 

 Tlie court party, led by the Queen, induced the 

 Kinfj to attempt to breuk down the Commons, 

 hut the uiitional asrfonibly, led by Mirabeau, 

 declared that nothing; but tlu* bayonet should 

 drive them out, and Louis had to yield. Troops 

 were theu massed by the King at Versailles 

 and Paris, evidently with the intention of 

 crushing the assembly and Paris by force of 

 iirms. Events followed rapidly in Paris. The 

 regiment of the Gardes Francaises supported 



the people, and with their help the Bastille i\a« 

 taken. The King, who had hitherto refused to 

 remove the troops from the neighbourhood of 

 Paris and Versailles, now came to Paris, re- 

 ceived the cocude from Bailey, whom he recog- 

 nised as the Mayor of I'aris, and Lafayette as 

 general of the City soldiery. This point marks 

 the downfall of absolute monarchy, and pre- 

 ceded the period in which the National Assem- 

 bly became the Constituent Assembly. 



"CRYSTALS.*— By F. J. JEFFS, Esq., B.Sc. 



On Wednesday, Fcbru;iry 22, a meeting was 

 lield in the Simon langton Boys' School for the 

 purpose of hearing a lecture by Mr. Jeffs ou 

 "Crvstals." The chair was taken bv Mr. S. 

 Harvey, F.I.C. 



lu the coarse of his remarks the lecturer 

 drew attention to a large number of examples 

 of naturally occuiTing substances of definite 

 goemetric form, and showed some of the rays 

 in which they may be artificially prepared. 

 The crystal referred to in the Bible and other 

 ancient literature was what we now know as 

 quartz or pebble, and was thought to be pro- 

 duced from iec. The different systems of crys- 

 tals were exhibited^ and a set of blocks was 

 used to illustrate the reason for the geometric 

 ^hajie and the tendency to show " cleavage " 

 iu i)articular directions. Interesting experi- 

 ments were given to illustrate the reluctance 

 of many dissolving or melting substances to re- 

 turn to the solid state unless they are " inocu- 

 lated " with a minute particle of the solid. 

 Even in the case of two salts dissolving in the 

 sRUie water only cue of them cry.stallised when 



its proper crystal was added ; the other re- 

 mained in .solution. An account followed of 

 the lemarkable right-handel and left-handed 

 forms of the crystals of a particular body whicli 

 hear to each other the relatiou of an object and 

 its image iu a mirror. They were accounted 

 as being crystals of a substance whose ulti- 

 mate particles admitted of two possible ar- 

 rangements of its constituent atoms being mir- 

 ror images of one another. Inflammable crys- 

 tals were .sho»vn which burst into flame as they 

 were formed. ^Yhi^e sj)eakiug of minute jtar- 

 ticles the lecturer showed a very remarkable 

 property possess&d by a heap of spheres — ordi- 

 nary lead shot. The heap actually became 

 larger wheu compressed instead of smaller as 

 one miglit suppose would be the universal rule. 

 The lecture concluded with an exhibition of 

 crystallisation in the lantern, and of some very 

 large and well dcvelojied crystals of different 

 tubstances, somo of which were the property of 

 the school, and others very kindly lent by 

 Messrs. Bing and Mr. W. Goddcu. 



•NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY."— By Mr. F. C. SN^LL. 



At the meeting of the East Kent Natural His- 

 tory and Scientific Society at the Beaney Institute, 

 Canterbury, on Wednesday in last week. Mr. F. C. 

 Snell gave a lecture on " Nature Photogriphy." 

 According to the programme. Dr. Graham Wills 

 was to have spoken on " The wonders of plant 

 life." but the energetic President of the Society 

 was unable through pressure of professional 

 duties to carry this out. However, Mr. Snell pro- 

 vided those who attended with a very instructive 

 and entertaining lecture, which amply bore out 

 the President's inti oductory remarks that Mr.Snell 

 had done exceedingly good work as an amateur 

 photographer. 



Mr. Snell pointed out that niture photography 

 was capable of calling forth all the photographic 

 skill, all the enthusiasm, and all the interest that 

 coiild be got out of any hobby, and all the taste and 

 feeling and sometimes not a little of the artistic 

 faculty retiuired tor other photographic work. By 

 means of the lantern, manipulated by the Secretary 

 (Mr. Lander) the lecturer then showed some of the 

 photographs he had taken of birds and birds' 

 nests. He was careful to point out that he was 

 not " a nature puritan " as some were. If, for 

 instance he saw that a nest would make a better 



picture by the alteration he did not mind remov- 

 ing or adding a few leaves or sprays. He ex- 

 plained how he "composed" some of the pictures 

 which he had taken. He also showed how, by 

 means of the " control method "—bringing 

 creatures home and placing them in sur- 

 roundings similar to those amongst which they 

 lived — that instructive photographs coiUd be 

 obtained of these creatures, such as would 

 be impossible but for that arrangement. One 

 instance, in particular, was that of a mouse 

 clinging to an ear of wheat. It would not be eas^*, 

 said Mr. Snell, to select one ear of wheat out of 

 ten aer-is as the most promising one to focus the 

 camera upon in order to obtain a photograph of a 

 mouse in such a position, so the control method 

 was necessary. Mr. Snell's pictures of reptiles 

 were very interesting, too, and the series 

 showing the development of the tadpole into the 

 frog were exceptionally good. 



The President, in proposing a vote of thanks to 

 the lecturer, said they were very proud they had 

 one in Canterbury who took such enormous pains 

 with his work. It spoke tremendously for Mr. 

 Snell's perseverance and constant attention to 

 detail. 



