TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 



The Soiree which was held in the Gruille-Alles Lecture 

 Hall on the evening of January 26, 1904, to celebrate the 

 completion of the twenty-first year of the Society's existence, 

 proved in every way a gratifying success. Four short 

 Lectures were delivered, with Electric Lantern illustrations, 

 and these were interspersed with musical selections most 

 kindly given by Miss Isemonger. The attendance was large, 

 about 140 persons being present. 



The first Lecture was by the President, Dr. J. Aikman, 

 on " The Study of Nature." In the study of Nature we 

 stand face to face with a history written in cipher : the key 

 to that cipher is patient classification, namely, the arrange- 

 ment of living and dead things according to their structure 

 and surroundings, and any other circumstance which may 

 affect them. After dealing with the subject from several 

 points of view, the lecturer concluded by briefly reviewing 

 the Society's work since its organisation twenty-one years 

 ago. 



The second Lecture, by Mr. A. Collenette, was entitled 

 " The Mighty Atom." Modern research shows that an 

 atom, although so inconceivably minute that many trillions 

 are contained in a cubic inch of matter, is not really 

 indivisible, as was formerly supposed, but on the contrary, of 

 gigantic size when compared with electrons, of which 100,000 

 could lie on the diameter of a single atom. The lecturer 

 explained the properties of Radium atoms and the famous 

 X rays, and dwelt on the probable relationship of the electric 

 current with the movement of electrons. 



The third Lecture, by Mr. E. D. Marquand, was 

 entitled " Some of the Marvels of Insect Life." One of 

 the most familiar of all insects, the common Housefly, was 

 selected for examination, and various parts of its anatomy 

 and structure described. The arrangement of the suckers 

 on the foot, whereby a fly is enabled to walk up and down a 

 window pane ; the elaborate breathing apparatus ; the 

 compound eyes, consisting of thousands of lenses aggregated 

 together, enabling the fly to see in all directions at the same 



