Visit to the Plain of Troy 191 



May 23rd, 228th meeting. Dr. Hooker said the Ipeca- 

 cuanha plant had been lately established in the Himalayas,, 

 and was thriving luxuriantly. 



Mr. Siemens explained the working of the pneumatic 

 despatch tube lately fitted up under his superintendence at 

 the General Post Office. 



Oct. 24th, 229th meeting. Dr. Carpenter said that a 

 strong under-current, as H.M.S. Shearwater had discovered, 

 flowed at a depth of about 20 fathoms through the Darda- 

 nelles into the Black Sea. This he had predicted two years 

 ago, so he regarded it as confirmatory of the general theory 

 of under-currents. 



Nov. 2ist, 23oth meeting. Sir John Lubbock, who had 

 lately visited the Plain of Troy, said that it did not corre- 

 spond with Homer's description so well as several recent 

 writers had asserted. He had opened the so-called Tumulus 

 of Hector, without finding any sign of an interment, but he 

 admitted that his exploration was not a complete one. 



Mr. Sclater gave an account of the Livingstone search 

 expeditions about to be despatched from England ; one, 

 commanded by the Messrs. Grandy, to work from the west 

 coast of Africa by the river Congo, the other by Lieutenant 

 Cameron and Dr. Dillon from Zanzibar by Lake Tanganyika 

 The Zoological Society had urged on the leaders the impor- 

 tance of making collections of Natural History, and had 

 offered a grant in aid. 



Dec. igth, 23ist meeting. Dr. Carpenter said that though 

 the Challenger had encountered rough weather on its way 

 from Sheerness to Portsmouth, it had arrived there, as he 

 had ascertained on a visit yesterday, without the slightest 

 injury to the scientific appliances, of which the provision 

 was most satisfactory. 



Sir Benjamin Brodie referred to a movement, both external 

 and internal, to stimulate the universities to the promotion 

 of science and the encouragement of original research. Mr. 

 Grove thought that for this purpose fellowships, tenable for 

 a term of years, but irrespective of marriage, might be 

 helpful. 



