8 



conversazione Avas held last month, when a very able and 

 interesting jjaper was read by the President on the " Migration 

 of Birds." The attendance was very fair considering the state of 

 the weather, and several members took part in the conversazione 

 afterwards. 



Bath, March, 1866. 



On the Phosjphatic Nodules obtained in the Eastern Counties, and used 

 in Agriculture. By the Rev. L. Jenyns, M.A., F.L.S., 

 F.G.S., &c.. President. 



Gentlemen, 



When you see some of the specimens I have here to 

 illustrate the lecture, which I have the honour of delivering to 

 you this evening, you may be disposed to regard them as mere 

 limips of indurated marl or small stones which might be picked 

 up anywhere, and be led to ask of what value they can be, or of 

 what use to anyone. But when I tell you that they have been 

 the means of putting many thousands of pounds into the pockets 

 of landed proprietors in the Eastern Counties, — that they have, at 

 the same time, not only improved the value of land, but, in many 

 instances, the condition of the labourer, — moreover, that, in certain 

 districts, they have altered the whole face of the country, honey- 

 combed it with pits and trenches for the excavation of these 

 nodules, leading to the temporary erection of steam-engines and 

 mills to facilitate the various processes by which they are obtained 

 and prepared for the uses to which they are to be put ; thereby 

 giving the country quite another character in the eyes of those 

 who remember it as it was formerly, — when you hear all this 

 you will begin to tliink these small stones have a storj' to tell 

 worth listening to, and you will, I trust, be ready to hear M-hat 1 

 have to say respecting them. 



