CIV Proceedings, 



and the scenery by dissolving views. Admission was by ticket 

 to members and their friends, of whom 350 were present. Mr. 

 John Barney presided. 



Soiree. 



The Nineteenth Annual Soiree, held in the Large and Small 

 Public Halls on the 21st of November, was as successful as any 

 of its predecessors. On two previous occasions, in 1885 and 



1886, when the numbers present reached respectively 893 and 

 820, the rooms were somewhat overcrowded. At the late 

 gathering, an assembly of 690, or exactly 100 more than in 



1887, did not occasion any inconvenience on this head. The 

 smaller number compared with 1885 and 1886 was probably 

 attributable to the price of admission to the public having been 

 raised from 2s. 6d. to 5s. a head. The financial results to the 

 Club remain pretty constant. The net cost has been in 1886, 

 £32 2s. 2d. ; 1887, £34 Os. 2d. ; and 1888, £36 18s. 2d. Of the 

 690 persons present, 154 were members and 536 visitors. Twelve 

 societies and clubs, besides persons unattached to any club, joined 

 in the exhibition of microscopes ; and of the 135 exhibitors, 102 

 brought 117 microscopes. A very fine effect was produced in the 

 Large Hall by the collection of flowering and foliage plants with 

 which Mr. P. Crowley decorated the stage. 



The principal objects of interest in the Small Hall were 

 a splendid series of tropical Lepidoptera from the eollection of 

 Mr. Crowley ; Roman antiquities, and a large number of Palaeo- 

 lithic and Neolithic flint implements, from the collection of Mr. 

 E. Elliott ; a small but nearly perfect series of British land and 

 fresh-water molluscs, by Mr. A. J. Jenkins ; African weapons, 

 by G. Lovell ; botanical specimens, by Mr. Henry T. Memiell ; 

 old Egyptian bronzes, by Mr. John Dixon. 



A feature of these annual gatherings has been for many years 

 the basket of flowers culled in the open air on the day of the 

 Soiree by Mrs. W. F. Miller. On this occasion the number of 

 species was 139 against 67 last year. 



The corridor between the two halls was occupied by the 

 exhibits of members of the Photographic Section, who made 

 a very creditable illustration of the year's work. The Royal 

 Meteorological Society contributed a small series of photographs 

 of lightning. Special mention must be made of the screen of 

 transparencies, the work of our Honorary Secretary, Mr. W. 

 Low Sarjeant, which was shown in the Small Hall. 



