50 
importance of lime in the economy of animals, we may well admire 
this one of several sources by which, as we now see, nature has so 
abundantly provided this earth in that very provender on which 
many animals greedily feed. Has any chemist ever determined the 
percentage of lime and starch and its derivatives, in the leguminous 
plants used as fodder for ruminant and other animals, and the rela- 
tion of such constituents to the value of such food ? What are their 
absolute and relative qualities in a truss of clover or sainfoin ? 
Surely questions of this rational sort will have to be sotved, sooner 
or later, in the interest of scientific agriculture. We can now 
perceive some of the significance of these crystals. But why they 
should be constantly present in certain parts of the structure of one 
plant or group of plants, and as regularly absent from the same 
parts of others; why, instead of the form of shapeless precipitates 
the lime should occur in crystals within beautifully-organized cells, 
arranged with exquisite regularity, we can nowise understand. Here 
‘science is in complete darkness, utterly unable to see the cause of 
these phenomena. And it is so as regards such lowly objects, we 
may derive from them—and their number is legion—lessons of hu- 
mility which should not be without use to those philosophers who 
believe themselves able to unveil, by mere physical inquiries, the 
mysteries of the highest creation.”’ 
On the termination of the paper a short discussion ensued, in 
which Dr. Strong, Dr. Carpenter, and other members took part, 
after which the President accorded to Mr. Beeby the cordial thanks 
of the Club for his paper, upon which he had been at work ever 
since the recess. This was a great compliment to the Club, anda 
great credit to himself. 
The paper was illustrated by diagrams and microscopical speci- 
mens, the latter being exhibited under microscopes placed at Mr. 
Beeby’s disposal by the following members :—The President, Mr. P. 
Crowley, Mr. J. 8. Johnson, Mr. H. M. Klaassen, Mr. E. Lovett, 
Mr. George Manners, Mr. George Perry, Dr. Strong, Mr. EK. B. 
Sturge, and Mr. A. D. Taylor. 
Dr. CarpENTER called attention to an admirable specimen of a 
fossil sponge which had been dug up in gravel that had been de- 
posited in the Brighton-road. It was the most perfect specimen he 
- had ever seen. 
The PresipEent remarked that they were generally called fossil 
mushrooms by the stone-breakers. 
Mr. H. Turner called attention to a singular phenomenon he 
had lately witnessed in connection with the stars, 
