152 Proceedings. 



Ordinary Meeting, January 2 1st, 1890. 



Professor Osborne Reynolds, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.^ 

 President, in the Chair. 



Reference was made to recent correspondence in the 

 Manchester papers respecting the Society's former member, 

 William Sturgeon, the electrician, and it was stated that 

 the Society's collections included certain relics of Sturgeon's 

 work. 



Mr. FARADAY read two unpublished letters written by 

 James Anderson, LL.D., the Scotch agriculturist and econo- 

 mist, who, in 1777, in a tract entitled, "An Inquiry into 

 the Nature of the Corn Laws," completely stated the 

 theory of rent subsequently known as Ricardo's. The 

 letters were addressed to Colonel John Leigh Philips, of 

 May field, Manchester, and were dated from Leith, December 

 24th, 1794, and July 24th, 1795, respectively. A statement 

 in one of the letters to the effect that the writer had no 

 hesitation in saying that a bridge might be constructed of 

 cast iron with a single span of 500 feet and without the use of 

 " a single ounce of wrought iron," was referred to by the 

 PRESIDENT as a remarkable statement considering the date, 

 and a conversation on iron bridges ensued. 



Professor W. C. WILLIAMSON communicated a paper 

 by Mr. A. C. Seward, M.A., F.G.S., on " Sphenophyllum as 

 a branch oiAsterophyllites" It was pointed out during the 

 discussion that the paper confirmed the conclusion long since 

 arrived at by Dr. Williamson, that the separation of Spheno- 

 phyllum from Asterophyllites is not scientifically justifiable. 



