83 



January 25, 1847. 



The Kev. J. BOOTH, LLJD., F.K.S., President, 



in the Chair. 



The Rev. Henry Hampton, M.A., and Mr. Samuel 

 Huggins were elected Members of the Society. 



Dr. Turnbull exhibited specimens of Gutta Percha, 

 the concrete juice of a plant from Sincapore, resembling 

 caoutchouc, and soluble in Ether and Naptha ; it does not 

 possess elasticity, but, when heated to 110° of Fahrenheit, 

 it can be drawn out and moulded into shape It may be 

 used for the driving bands of engines. 



Mr. Higginson exhibited a simple form of Stomach 

 Pump, of his own invention, without valves or stop-cock, 

 and which might be constructed for use at a very trifling 

 cost; also an apparatus for inhaling the vapour of Ether. 



J. B. Yates, Esq., read a paper " On the causes 

 which, after the death of Queen Elizabeth, impeded the 

 growth of English commerce." 



Mr. Yates commenced his paper by giving a rapid but 

 comprehensive sketch of the commerce of this country, 

 during the reigns of the Plantagenets, and the earlier Princes 

 of the Tudor race. He showed that during this period the 

 commerce of the country consisted chiefly in the export of 

 raw Wool, together with a small quantity of Tin and Lead. 

 That this commerce, limited as it was, was mostly in the 

 hands of Italian merchants, and also that the manufacture 

 of woollens was chiefly carried on by Flemish artisans, 

 driven to this country by the distractions of their native 

 land. He then proceeded to refer to various causes by which 

 a considerable impulse had been given to the internal trade 

 and foreign commerce of the country, in the reigns of the 



