44 W. Gollan— JVo/e on the Chestnut. [April, 



The following is an abstract : — 



The 14tli International Congress of Orientalists will be held at 

 Algiers during the Easter vacation of 1905. 



The Committee draws attention to the fact that this is the first 

 time the Congress has met in a Mussulman country, and hope that 

 this interesting fact, together with the attraction of the climate and 

 natural features of Africa, will ensure a large attendance. The Con- 

 gress will, as before, devote itself to all branches of Oriental learning, 

 though questions of local interest will receive special attention. 



The subscription is 20 francs (ladies 10 francs), but this does not 

 include the cost of the publications of the Congress. 



Contributions on Oriental questions are invited. The address of 

 the General Secretary is — M. Edmond Doutte, Idlcole Superieure des 

 Lettres, Pare de Fontaine-Bleue, Mustapha-Superieur, Algiers. 



Mr. E. Vredenburg on behalf of Mr. T. H. Holland exhibited fur- 

 ther specimens of the Meteorite which passed over Calcutta on the 22nd 

 October last. 



Mr. I. H. Burkill exhibited some Burmese pottery ornamented in 

 a very primitive manner. 



At Thayetmyo two kinds of pottery clay are used for making pots ; 

 the one gives ordinary cooking pots, the other gives a kind of terra cotta 

 out of which vases are made. 



The vases are ornamented by being polished in various designs by 

 means of the hard bean of entada scandens. 



Captain L. Rogers exhibited slides illustrating the Physiological 

 Action and Antidotes of Snake poisons. 



The following paper was read : — 



Note on the Chestnut. — By W. Gollan, Supermtendant, Government 

 Botanic Garden, Saharanpur. Communicated by Major D. Prain, I.M.S. 



This tree has taken kindly to the Dehra Dun Valley, and it also 

 exists on a small scale in the Kulu Valley, but outside of the two small 

 areas the tree is rare, and will probably ever remain rare. 



Here (Saharanpur) the tree flowers every season, but never ripens 

 its nuts, and the same is the case over the Punjab and Upper Gangetic 

 plains generally. At Aringadh, Mussoorie (5,500 feet), it also flowers 

 every season but never ripens its nuts, and the same is probably the 

 case at all the Hill Stations with the one exception of the Kulu Valley. 

 As far as I can gather, the nuts are not yet an article of trade from the 

 Kulu Valley, but a fairly large trade is done in them from Dehra Dun. 



