PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 199 



niaceae, Bythraceae, Chenopodiacere, and especially the Urticaceaa, 

 and it is thought by some botanists that they afford a good diagnostic 

 character for species. In some exotic plants these Sphasraphides 

 occur of considerable size, forming a weighty grit, and are especially 

 large and fine in the prickly pear and others of the Cactus tribe. 



If we look to the use of this curious and elaborate structure in the 

 leaves of plants, and ask what is their object in the economy of 

 nature ? It is a question easier to ask than to answer. Some suppose 

 that Raphides are perhaps rather a disease than formations of natural 

 growth in plants ; but they are of too common occurrence and too 

 universally distributed over the whole tissue of certain species for 

 this to be the case. In some instances they are doubtless useful as 

 a medicine, and the genuineness of sarsaparilla, guaiacum and squills 

 may be tested by the presence or absence of Eaphides. Dioscorides 

 says that the juice of the wall pellitory tempered with ceruse is 

 good for the shingles, and Pliny affirms it is also a remedy for gout. 

 But it is more probable, as Dr. Gulliver suggests, that the large 

 proportion of these crystalline bodies being compounded of phosphate 

 or oxalate of lime, or some other compound of this earth, and 

 remember the value of these substances in the growth and nutrition 

 of plants, that nature has established in some plants a storehouse or 

 laboratory of such calcareous salts, and that we may thus get a 

 glimpse of the utility of these crystals. 



A vote of thanks was passed to the authors. 



Both papers were illustrated by sections and specimens showing 

 the points of interest, which were exhibited under the microscope, at 

 the close of the meeting. 



Sheffield Naturalists' Club. 



Last month the first meeting of the Sheffield Naturalists' Club 

 was held in the Cutlers' Hall. Mr. Henry C. Sorby presided. 



The President, in delivering the inaugural address, said he pro- 

 posed to give a few of his views with reference to the formation of the 

 Society. He had been asked what was the use of such an institution, 

 and he would tell them. If they were to look upon the study of 

 natural history as the discovery of rare plants in the district which 

 did not exist in other parts, such a society as this would be of little 

 use. The knowledge of natural history was not to be limited to the 

 mere knowing the names of animals and plants, and the chronicling 

 of them. That would be about equal to knowing the name of a 

 man and thinking they knew his character, or knowing the name of 

 a country and thinking they knew its history. Such a society as this 

 had two characters. First of all, the subjective influence it had on 

 the members who composed it. The study of natural history was 

 most desirable in many ways. Man had a certain amount of energy ; 

 it must be expended in some way or other, and the examination into 

 natural history furnished them with a study which was advantageous 

 to both body and mind. The explorations into the country would be 

 exceedingly beneficial in point of health, and they might learn many 



