129 



At first acquaiatauce with the African people, the errors which they 

 commit in sexual nomenclature appear very absurd, — as of a mau 

 pointing out to me a strapping daughter of his, and saying, " Dat be 

 my son ;" of another — as one of our interpreters did when up the 

 Niger — handing me a calabash to drink out of, observing, " Dis be 

 bullock's milk for thrue ;" of the same mau introduDing a chiefs sister 

 by remarking, " When him brudder no live, him be biggest man for 

 town ;" and of a native trader giving an order to a British supercargo, 

 in one of the palm-oil rivers, to bring him out " a man and woman 

 goose, with a cock and hen jackass." 



ELEVENTH ORDINARY MEETING. 



Held at the Royal Institution, on the 23rd March, 1857, 



THOMAS INMAN, Esq., M.D., President, in the Chair. 



A quarto copy of Pi'ince Albert's " Speeches and Addresses " was 

 subscribed for. 



Several interesting extracts from the Koran, prepared by the high 

 priests, or Mallams, and intended to be sewn up in leathern bags and 

 worn round the neck as charms by the African Mahommedaus, were 

 exhibited by Dr. Thomson. 



The paper for the evening was then read, entitled — 



RESULTS OF AN ENQUIRY INTO THE ACTION OF 

 LIVERPOOL WATER UPON LEAD. 

 By J. B. KEVINS, M.D. and J. B. EDWAEDS, Ph.D., F.C.S., 

 Of which the following is an abstract : — 



The authors gave a general sketch of the researches and views of 

 chemists upon the action of hard and soft waters, especially upon lead 

 cisterns and piping, from which it appeared that the generally received 

 opinion is, that while soft waters act rapidly upon the metal, hard 

 waters very soon cease to act upon it by forming a protecting crust or 

 coating upon the surface. 



Tliis subject, being of the utmost public importance, has received 

 special attention from scientific men ; and several chemists have 

 endeavoured to generalize results, and to ascribe the solution of 



