cli 
Old Documents, Etc. 
Memorial Tablet of Lord Nelson, from engraved plate, demy. 
Miss Burgess. 
Passport, granted to J. Wemyss Syme to Canton, 1885, From Mr. J. 
Wemyss Syme. 
Ethnology. 
Two Malay creeses or daggers, used for executions, one Malay 
Peninsula creese, one Malay knife for cutting timber, one Malay knife 
for ordinary purposes, one quiver containing poisoned arrows, one Malay 
native dress, ‘‘sula,” or native ladies’ dress, one Malay head-dress, 
** Tappa,” or native cloth used by the jungle tribes, Malay Peninsula. 
Volcanic dust from the late eruption, Straits of Sunda.—From Mr. J. 
Wemyss Syme. 
‘*Sampitan,” or blowpipe, used by the natives of the Malay Peninsula 
for hunting, etc. Two swords worn by Malay gentlemen.—From Mr. 
Brian Gaynor, of Kwaldkhangsar, State of Perak (through Mr. J. 
Wemyss Syme.) 
In reference to the poisoned arrows, 
Dr. AGNEw said there was a considerable amount of discussion as 
to whether they maintained their poisonous qualities, and the 
Curator had told him that day that he had tried an experiment on 
a cat with a South Sea Island arrow by introducing the tip of one of the 
so-called poisoned arrows under the skin, and the cat received no 
damage or injury from it. Some years ago the death of Commodore 
Goodenough was supposed to be caused by one of these poisoned 
arrows, but, on the whole, it was afterwards believed he died from 
tetanus, brought on by the season and by the nature of the wounds. 
A punctured wound was more apt to produce tetanus, and probably 
that was the cause of his death. 
Dr. PERKINS said the poison used by the natives of South Africa to 
tip their arrows with was a fluid obtained from the bark of a tree. 
It acted very speedily, and some of it which had been recently analysed 
in Great Britain contained an alkaloid called Strephanthine which 
had a paralysing effect on the heart. Arrows tipped with such a fluid 
would kill almost instantaneously if the poison was fresh. 
Mr. E. D. SwAn said the arrow by which Commodore Goodenough was 
killed was a very formidable weapon. These would have no such effect. 
Mr. C. T. BetstEap: Was it an arrow or a spear ? 
Mr. E. D. Swan: Anarrow I believe, but the wound was a 
terrific one. 
On examining the native ladies’ dress, several members questioned 
if it were made on the Malay Peninsula, and 
Mr. E. D. Swan said that Wallace, in his ‘‘ Malay Archipelago,” said 
that such materials as these were sold cheaper there than in 
England. 
Mr. J. Mc C. Brownz related how, when at Guam, in 1850, he had 
seen the native women wearing sueh fabrics on Corpus Christi 
Day. Probably they were supplied from Manilla, who in turn got 
them from English and Scotch houses in Liverpool and Glasgow. 
Mr. CHARPENTIER said one specimen was evidently block-printed. 
Some of the South Africans sent their native cloths to England to be 
rinted. 
, Dr. AGNEw described the dresses of the native women in Ceylon as 
being similarly varied in hue to these specimens, 
PAPERS. 
An interesting paper. was read, entitled, ‘‘ Shells of the Group 
Polycystina, illustrated by the microscope,” by Mr. C. J. Atkins.—The 
living animalcule of this family of microscopic shells belong to a type 
that ranks lowest in the scale of creation. They are Protozoa, the 
