The vote of tlia.ik^ having' been accorded, 

 Mr. Storrs suggested that economic sub- 

 jects, sucli as the economic side of the In- 

 surance Bill or any important subject might 

 be qiiite consistently discussed l>y the 

 Society. 



Mr. Lauder suggested also that matters of 

 local scientific intercM occupying the atten- 



tion of the City Council, such as tliat of 

 public abattoirs, might form the subject of 

 debates by the Society. 



It was decided that two or more debates 

 should take place. 



The Society did not think it was advisable 

 to make any alteration in the subscription. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH LIVING PLANTS. 

 By Mr. F. J. JEFFS, B.Sc. 



On Tuesday, jS'ovember 14, a meeting of 

 the East Kent Scientific Society was held 

 at the Simon Langton Boys' School. In 

 the absence of the President, Dr. Graham 

 Wills, the chair was taken by Mr. J. H. Sharp. 

 An address was given by Mr. Jeffs on " Experi- 

 ments with Living Plants." The lecturer 

 explained that those experiments u-ere 

 intended to illustrate some of the methods 

 pursued in the School to introduce the pupils 

 to the study of nature. " Kature study '' was 

 receiving more and more attention at the 

 present time as a school subject. It interested 

 the children in their surroundings, gave them 

 easy exercise for their descriptive powers with 

 pen and pencil, and like all forms of the study 

 of beautiful objects, was not without moral 

 advantages. The first series of experiments 

 dealt with the forces which direct the 

 generation of the seed and the growth of the 

 root. Roots were shown growing away from 

 light and towards water. A root growing 

 downwards into some mercury showed the 

 great effect on roots of the attraction of the 

 earth. The effect of the earth's pull was 

 eliminated by causing some seeds to grow while 

 they were slowly turned over by clockwork. 

 Under these conditions the root grew 

 upward or downward according as the 

 seed happened to have been placed. On the 



other hand, seeds grown on a vapidly revolving 

 wheel arranged themselves so that the roots 

 pointed outward from the rim of the wheel, 

 the whirling effect of the wheel being greater 

 than the effect of the earth's attraction. Some 

 similar experiments demonstrated the proper- 

 ties of stems. For example, a number of 

 seedlings were caused to lift a weight in their 

 efforts to grow upwards and towards the light. 

 The methods by which sap is caused to rise in 

 trees were demonstrated next. A working 

 model of a root hair was made bj- attaching to 

 a glass tube a bag made of the thin membrane 

 which lines an eggshell and containing a little 

 sugar. This apparatus drew water vigorously 

 from a surrounding vessel by the same process 

 that the root does. A leaf was united by means 

 of a piece of bicycle valve rubber to a thin 

 glass tube dipping into coloured liquid, so that 

 the leaf's power of attracting watery fluids 

 could be seen. The nature of the necessary 

 food material was shown by growing in '" cul- 

 ture solution" a plant with its root cut oS'. 

 The methods by which a tree forms a perma- 

 nent record of the history of its surroundings 

 were next illustrated, and the lecture concluded 

 by an example of the death of seedlings caused 

 by the successful attacks of a fungus. 



A vote of thanks was accorded to the lecturer 

 at the close of the meeting. 



DISCUSSION ON THE ECONOMICS OF NATIONAL INSUKANCE. 



The subject for diT^cussion at the Dccomboi- 

 meeting of this Society, held on the i:^tli 

 of this mouth, was "'National Insurance, 

 and an interesting debate upon it took place 

 before an atteudnice whicli. not imnatu- 

 rally, seeing the interest aroused on the 

 question of the insurance of domestic ser- 

 vants, was composed mostiv i.)f hidios. 



The meeting was held iu the Reference 

 Library of the Bcancy Institute, and in tho 

 absence of the President. Mr. W. Cozens 

 was elected to the chair. 



Mr. W. T. Leeming. M.Sc, opened the 

 debate in favour of national insurance, and 



jtriH-eedid to outline tlie paynieutrf to b? 

 made and tde be lefits to Ijc received undin* 

 tlie Bill tiien before Parliament. He said 

 it wa.s very curious that the agitation 

 against ;he Bill hpd been confined to two 

 comparatively small classes — women am* 

 clerks. Nothing had been said against it 

 on behalf 'if the male workers in tlic mills 

 of tlie north. The money paid by tho wom.'^a 

 would go to separate fund->. and it it wove 

 jiroved that too much was contributed tin- 

 contributions could be decreased or the 

 beretits increased. Sjjcaking of the Bi!l 

 from the emiiloycrs* point of view. Mr. 



