1 88 Annals of the Philosophical Club 



March 3oth, 2i8th meeting. Mr. Busk described an effect 

 produced by different-coloured chalks. During a lecture 

 at the Royal College of Surgeons, what was written in blue 

 on the blackboard seemed to be in the same plane as it ; 

 that in red to project two or three inches from it ; and that 

 in white to occupy an intermediate position. The effect was 

 seen by two of the audience, whose attention he had called 

 to it. Some members present mentioned similar appear- 

 ances which they thought might help in explaining the 

 phenomenon. 



June 2Qth, 220th meeting. Dr. Hooker gave an account 

 of his recent three months' expedition to Marocco. 1 The 

 general coolness of the climate, due to the prevalent north- 

 west winds and the cold southerly current along the Atlantic 

 coast, had especially struck him. His party went from 

 Tetuan to Mogador by sea, and thence to Marocco. From 

 that city they visited the main chain of the Atlas, some 

 20 miles south of it, and reached a height of 12,000 feet. 

 Though snow falls on the highest parts throughout the year, 

 it is only permanent as patches in gullies. No glaciers now 

 exist, but they discovered a moraine at a height of about 

 7000 feet. No truly Alpine plants were found, the vegeta- 

 tion, so far as it extended upwards, being purely Spanish. 



Oct. 26th, 22ist meeting. Mr. Paget said that the brain 

 of the late Mr. Babbage, 2 which had been examined in 

 accordance with his desire, was rather below than above 

 the average weight and slightly asymmetrical. It would 

 be placed in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. 



Nov. 23rd, 222nd meeting. Dr. Carpenter communicated 

 some results of his expedition to the Mediterranean, during 

 the past autumn, on H.M.S. Shearwater while on its way to 

 survey the Red Sea. The evidence of an outflow under- 



1 It began on April ist and ended on June 2ist. He was accompanied 

 by Mr. John Ball, the well-known Alpine botanist, and Mr. G. Maw. The 

 journey is described in their Journal of a Tour in Marocco and the Great 

 Atlas, 1878. 



2 Charles Babbage (1791-1871), so eminent in mathematics and mechani- 

 cal science, noted especially as inventor of the calculating machine. He- 

 had died on Oct. i8th. 



