November 2. 



The Rev. J. BOOTH, LLD., F.R.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 



Matthew James Chapman, M. D., was elected a Member 

 of the Society. 



The President, after the private business had been disposed 

 of, announced the death of the Rev. Dr. Tattershall, one 

 of the Vice-Presidents of the Society, to whose virtues and 

 talents he bore ample testimony. 



On the motion of Mr. Turner, the election of a Vice- 

 President to supply the place of Dr. Tattershall was 

 postponed until the next Meeting. 



Mr. J B. Yates exhibited to the Society a Geological Spe- 

 cimen, apparently part of the stem of a plant, found in the new 

 red sand' stone rock, in the course of the excavations which 

 are now being made in Grafton-street. 



Dr. Inman exhibited a specimen of Gun Cotton, which 

 had been prepared in the usual way. — He stated that the 

 cotton absorbed a large amount of the mixed acids; two 

 ounces by weight of the latter being necessary to impregnate 

 two drachms of the former ; but that by repeated washing, 

 the greatest portion of the acids was removed; as the cotton was 

 found, after drying, to have gained only one tliird of its original 

 weight. He had not found any microscopic difference between 

 the ordinary and explosive material, until he had added the 

 polarizing apparatus to the instrument. This immediately 

 developed a most remarkable phenomenon. 



He had first introduced a quantity of ordinary cotton, 

 rendered transparent with turpentine, into the microscopic 

 field, (the prisms having been previously arranged to darken 



