TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 



The third annual soiree of the Society was held in 

 the Guille-Alles Lecture Hall on the 6th of Februaiy, 1906. 

 There was a crowded attendance, and many who secured 

 admittance had to remain standing throughout the evening. 

 Four short Lectures were delivered, each occupying about 

 twelve minutes, and illustrated by means of the Electric 

 Lantern, the intervals being filled up with delightful musical 

 selections kindly given by Miss E. Shaw, Miss J. Fergusson, 

 Fraulein Weizel, and the members of the Elizabeth College 

 Choir. 



The President of the Society, Eev. W. C. Penney, M.A., 

 having made a few introductory remarks, called upon Mr. 

 F. J. S. Wyeth for the first lecture, entitled " Some lowly 

 forms of Life." Beginning with the very lowest member 

 of the animal Avorld, the Amoeba, a mere shapeless mass of 

 jelly-like protoplasm, the lecturer passed on to the wonderfully 

 beautiful Foraminifera, the minute shells of which, in 

 countless myriads, form the principal constituent of chalk. 

 In this group the microscopic shells are entirely calcareous, 

 but in another large group allied to them, the Polycystins, 

 the shells are composed of flint ; and all of them are 

 remarkable by their exquisite beauty of form and sculpture, 

 and their almost infinite variety of design. Closely related 

 to these are the Sponges, which we chiefly know by their 

 skeletons, and the Infusoria, which teem in stagnant water. 

 Some of these living forms seem to occupy the neutral 

 ground which lies between the animal and vegetable kingdoms. 



Mr. A. Collenette delivered the next lecture on " Waves." 

 In a very clear manner he explained the propagation of light 

 and heat by means of ether waves, treating of their eflects 

 upon the organs of sense, and the phenomena accompanying 

 their manifestations. Comparisons were drawn between waves 

 visible to the eye, such as water, and those of sound, heat 

 and light. The need was shown of (1) a medium, (2) a 

 vibration, and (3) a movement — and the effects were traced of 

 the arrest of wave-motion in each case ; viz., sound, producing 

 music, harmony ; heat, producing warmth, burns ; and light, 



