May 
19 
A proposed alteration in Rule III. (for the circulation of books), 
notice of which had been duly given at the previous meeting, was 
then put to the meeting and carried unanimously. The rule to 
stand thus :— 
3.—Members may obtain books by making personal or written epee 
for them, and by signing a receipt for the same, which shall be held by the 
Librarian until the book is returned. No Member shall have more than one 
work at atime, nor shall he keep any work for a longer period than one 
month ; but it may be returned for exchange any time within that period 
when the Library may be open. 
Dr. R. Bevertry Coxe then gave a short account of the ‘‘ Pro- 
gress of Microscopical Science in Western America,” and at its 
termination a vote of thanks was unanimously passed to him. 
Dr. Adams exhibited a valve of Myra Margaritifera, containing 
artificial pearls. 
The following members exhibited microscopes :—J. Berney, E. 
Lovett, J. Gregory, K. McKean, and A. D. Taylor. 
19th, 1875.--Henry Lee, Esq., President, in the chair. The 
minutes of the last meeting were read and confimed. Mr. George 
Roper was ballotted for and duly elected a member. Mr. J. 8. 
Wright and Mr. W. Dickinson, M.A., were nominated for election. 
The Presipent then called upon Dr. Alfred Carpenter to give his 
lecture on ‘‘ Carnivorous plants.” 
After some prefatory remarks, Dr. Carpenter said—I had been 
taught—as had all the members of my profession—that plant growth 
could only be nourished by the decomposition of manure and its 
resolution into its ultimate elements—that manure must putrify 
before it could be absorbed by plant life. That was laid down as 
a canon law by Liebig, the great German chemist, also by the 
author of ‘‘ Agricultural Chemistry ;” it was adopted as an axiom 
by physiologists ; it was accepted by Dr. W. B. Carpenter, the most 
noted physiologist of the day; and Dr. Anderson endorsed it as a 
fact, holding that all plants, before they could be nourished, must 
have the material which was offered to them reduced to such a state 
as to be soluble in water, otherwise it could not be absorbed. Dr. 
Anderson stated that was so, because the rootlets of plants had 
been carefully looked into; and that examination showed no opening 
by which anything in a solid state could possibly find admission into 
the plant itself. The matter absorbed must, therefore, be in solu- 
tion, and to become dissolved the matter, whether animal or 
vegetable, must first be resolved into its original elements, and form 
chemical salts, as ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates or phosphates. 
