428 [Proc. B.N.F.C, 



there was the point of view of the biologist who, believing in a 

 slow, evolution of life from the lowest to the highest, required a 

 long period of time for this purpose. Professor Sollas would 

 be satisfied with a period of only twenty-six million years, but 

 very few biologists agree with him, the majority thinking that a 

 period three or four times longer is nearer the mark. In 

 conclusion, Mr. Gough said that in round numbers a hundred 

 million years would probably satisfy both. Geologists and 

 Physicists, and might be looked upon as the approximate age 

 of the earth. 



After the address, a long discussion took place, those 

 taking part being Messrs. Cunningham, Gray, Tomlinson, 

 Carson, and Anderson. Mr. Gough having replied, the pro- 

 ceedings closed. 



WOOD : ITS NATURAL HISTORY AND IDENTIFICATION. 



The fourth meeting of the Club was held in the Museum, 

 College Square, on February 20th, when Mr. A. Deane 

 (Curator of Municipal Museum) gave a lecture on "Wood : Its 

 Natural History and Identification." The President (Mr. W. 

 H. Phillips) was in the chair. The lecture was illustrated by 

 specimens and lantern slides. 



The lecturer commenced by calling attention to the great 

 contrast between the tiny oak seedling and the huge oak trunk 

 with its large cylinder of wood ; that the necessary substances 

 to form wood were obtained from the air and soil, and for this 

 purpose there must be a root, stem, and leaves. A timber tree, 

 although differing considerably in outward appearance to that 

 of a daisy, belonged to the flowering plants, in so much that it 

 produced true seeds from flowers. Woody plants were 

 divided according to the manner in which development of wood 

 takes place. Only those trees that increase in bulk by forming 

 lings could produce the durable substance which formed timber. 

 The object of the root was to anchor the plant, and to take 

 from the soil water containing salts in solution, but they also 

 assisted in dissolving fragments of stone which they corroded 



