The President read an unpublished letter, copied from 

 the Harleian MSS, addressed by Henry VIII to Sir Thomas 

 Dwyer, Ambassador at the court of Charles V., Emperor of 

 Germany. It was dated 23rd December, 1538, and related 

 to a Council summoned by the Pope. 



Mr. Archer gave an account of various modes of pre- 

 paring Indian corn meal; and entertained the society after- 

 wards with specimens of cakes, &c, prepared according to 

 his directions. — Dr. Macnaught noticed the fact, that in 

 Jamaica this corn was considered superior to oats, for horses 

 and black cattle. The negroes were fed with a species still 

 better, called Guinea corn, the nutritive qualities of which 

 far surpassed those of the yam or potato. 



THE PAPER FOR THE EVENING WAS, 



AN INQUIRY INTO THE HIGH RATE OF MORTALITY IN 

 INFANCY By Mr. Balnan. 



The writer commenced by stating that the importance of 

 this subject could not be questioned by any one who had 

 reflected upon the startling fact, that nearly one half of all 

 those were born perished under five years of age. Was this 

 a law inherent in our constitutions, or did it arise from 

 secondary causes which might be obviated or partially 

 removed ? It appeared to him ridiculous and unphiloso- 

 phical to charge it upon nature, and suppose that infants 

 were more subject to disease and death than grown persons. 

 On the contrary, the infantile constitution seemed to be 

 endowed with a greater degree of elasticity or power of 

 resisting injuries ; they bore pain and disease much better — 

 in fact nothing analogous was seen in all the other produc- 

 tions of nature ; in animals, whose structure most nearly 

 resembled man, we saw in them, as well as in plants, the 

 greatest vigour and luxuriancy of health the nearer they 

 were to the bud. 



Some authors had broached a different opinion, the 

 tendency of which had been to create perfect indifference as 

 to the causes of the great human mortality at this period, 

 by representing the most terrible and fatal diseases designed 

 as salutary checks to excessive population ; but what were 

 the facts ? — an increase of deaths could only diminish the 

 population, if the number of births remained stationary. 

 Many well attested fads went to show that the number of 

 births almost invariably increased when the mortality 

 increased ; and it could be seen from the tables of the 



