Werner'ian Natural History Society, 3 1 9 



vey of that county, and by Dr. Henry, in his paper on the 

 sui)jecl in the Philosophical Transactions, it appears that 

 the strength of the cliflerent brines is nearly the samej that 

 the Cheshire brine contains rather a larger proportion of 

 miriate of soda; that the Droitwich brine is free from car- 

 bonate of lime, oxide of iron, and muriate of lime, all of 

 which are found in the Cheshire brine; and finally, that 

 the latter is free from the sulphate of soda which is con- 

 tained in the former. 



WERNEBIAN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETT. 



At the meeting of this Society on the 7lh ot March, the 

 Secretary read an " Essay on Sponges, with descriptions of 

 all the species that have been discovered on the coast of 

 Great Britain," by George Montagu, Esq. of Devonshire. 

 From Mr. Montagu's researches as to the constitution of 

 sponges, it appears that no polypi or vermes of any kind 

 are to be discerned in their cells or pores : they are, how- 

 ever, decidedly of an animal nature ; but they possess vi- 

 tality without perceptible action or motion. Mr. Monta- 

 gu has divided the genus Spongia into five families, viz. 

 branched, digitated, tubular, compact, and orbicular. 

 Only fourteen species were previously known to be British. 

 Mr. Montagu in this communication described no fewer 

 than thirty-nine. A considerable number of the species 

 are quite new, or have now for the first time been distin- 

 guished and formed by that indefatigable naturalist. 



At the same meeting Dr. Yule read a memoir on the 

 natural method in botany, in which he defended the ex- 

 istence of the series of natural affinity in plants against ob- 

 jections of Professor Willdenow and Dr. Smith, founded 

 on the want of regularity in the series, &c. He contended, 

 that the illustrious author of the artificial system never in- 

 tended that it should supersede, but, on the contrary, that 

 it should lay the foundation of, the natural cla.sses, " quas 

 plana genera nondum detecta revelabunl :" and that with 

 this view he uniformly inculcated the study of natural ge- 

 nera, in conformity with his great maxim, " Omne genus 

 naturale." 



THE KIKWANIAN SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



A new Philosophical Society has been established in 

 Dublin, on a plan somewhat different from those already 

 existing in that city. Its object is, to promote the cultiva- 

 tion of chemistry, mineralogy, and other branches of 

 natural history ; and it means to concentrate its attention 

 to these pursuits exclusively. 



X 4 The 



