'Proceedings of Learned Societies. 65 



PKOCEEDINGS OF LEAKNED SOCIETIES. 



BY W. B. TEGETMEIEE. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.— June 17. 



On the Tertiary Shells and Corals of Jamaica. — Mr. J. Carrick 

 Moore communicated the result of an examination of 71 species of 

 Tertiary Mollusca from Jamaica, mostly collected by the late Mr. 

 Barrett, showing that 12 are still living, and that 28 are common to 

 the Tertiary beds of Jamaica and St. Domingo. The same relation 

 between those deposits had been found to exist by Dr. Duncan 

 through a comparison of the Corals. The " Pacific" affinity of many 

 of these Shells and Corals was noticed as confirmatory of a conclusion 

 arrived at by the author in a former paper ; and it was shown, from 

 the occurrence of Tertiary beds on the Panama Isthmus at a height 

 of 250 feet above the sea, that the complete separation of the 

 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans did not take place until after the com- 

 mencement of the Tertiary period. 



LIM^EAN" SOCIETY.— June 18. 



Cinchona Bark prom India. — The gradual, but certain destruction 

 of the Cinchona forests of America, which has been viewed with so 

 much anxiety by all who know how indispensable quinine is to the 

 existence of Europeans in many of the tropical parts of the world, 

 has lost its importance by the successful cultivation of the Cinchonas 

 in India. At the meeting of the Linnasan Society, June 18, Mr. 

 Howard exhibited the first specimens of Cinchona bark sent from 

 India. It was stated that these had been found to yield a per 

 centage of quinine, and the other febrifuge alkaloids, fully equal to 

 that furnished by the bark of the same species when grown in 

 South America. Mr. Howard also stated that quinine might be 

 obtained in small quantities from the leaves. The successful culture 

 of the Cinchona plants in India must be regarded as a subject of 

 the highest importance, not merely to the prosperity of India, but 

 indirectly to the whole world. The exploration and civilization of 

 many tropical countries by Europeans being absolutely dependent 

 on a supply of quinine. 



CHEMICAL SOCIETY.— June 4. 



Synthesis. — M. Marcellin Berthelot, of Paris, gave a lecture to 

 the members of this society " On Synthetic Methods in Organic 

 Chemistry." It was an able resume of the chief steps by which 

 complex organic substances have been built up from the elements 

 carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Although no absolutely 



VOL. IV. — NO. I. F 



