S4G 



THE NATUKALIST. 



I'ead tlie first paper, thought it would have 

 been more fitting had the president ad- 

 dressed himself to some gentleman nearer 

 the chair. He regretted, and the regret 

 was unaffected, that the duty of taking the 

 initiative had been imposed upon him. At 

 the same time, few, perhaps, could have a 

 more earnest desire to acquaint themselves 

 with the character and mode of op- 

 eration of natural phenomena, under 

 some particular aspects of nature, than 

 himself. In a certain work, a translation of 

 a portion of which he had had the honour of 

 reading before them, some time previously, 

 the author, an enthusiastic German, had 

 stated that " plants when they receive at 

 the roots an ample supply of moisture, do 

 not, simultaneously, absorb water, in any 

 form, through the stems and leaves." In 

 consequence of haste at the time, the op- 

 portunity had not been given him of fairly 

 stating his author's position, and much 

 misapprehension had resulted. The speaker 

 afterwards proceeded to give a resume of a 

 paper lately read before the Imperial 

 Academy of Sciences of Vienna by the 

 celebrated linger, in which the learned 

 professor demonstrates, by a series of care- 

 ful and elaborate experiments, the fact 

 that the vegetative forces acting at the 

 roots of a plant act simultaneously in the 

 stems and leaves. In short it must not be 

 attempted to localise, so to speak, the 

 functions of a plant. N"o one has more 

 strenuously endeavoured to show the fal- 

 lacy of localising any one function than 

 Schultz. See his interesting work ; Die 

 Anaphytose, Oder Verjungung der PJlanzen, 

 published many years ago . Closer obser- 

 vation and a lenghtened experience have 

 led Herr linger to revise his earlier opinions 

 on the above subject ; but "science," as 

 says an eminent countryman of the Profes- 

 sor's " science, — knowledge, is no ready- 

 made building, but a tree, ever growing 

 and renewing itself." An instructive dis- 

 cussion followed the reading of the above 

 paper. The president subsequently ex- 

 plained, for the information of the younger 



members, the properties of endosmose and 

 exosmose, and capillary attraction, to 

 which reference had been made during the 

 evening. At the next intermediate meeting 

 March 19th, the vice-president, Mr. John 

 No well, will read a paper on " the Mosses 

 of the District. " A more competent person 

 for such a subject could scarcely be named. 

 A cordial vote of thanks to the reader of 

 the paper named above closed one of the 

 most interesting and instructive meetings 

 which the society, hitherto, has held. 



Meeting, Monday, March 5th, the vice- 

 president in the chair, Messrs. E. Cunlilfe, 

 Hawksclough, and J. Robertshaw, Hebden- 

 bridge, were elected members. After the 

 transaction of the routine business, the 

 excursions for the approaching season were 

 fixed as follows : 1866 — March 31st, 

 Staups Clough, near Todmorden ; April 

 28th, Shedden Clough, near Burnley ; 

 May 26th, Cowpe and Lench, Rossendale ; 

 June 30th, Teesdale, Yorkshire and Dur- 

 ham ; July 28th, Thieveley Scouts, Holmes- 

 chapel ; August 25th, Bolton Woods, 

 Yorkshire ; September 29th, High Green- 

 wood, near Heptonstall ; October 27th, 

 Ramsden Clough, Walsden. The excur- 

 sions, it appears, are all fixed for Saturdays, 

 in order, we presume, to meet everybody's 

 convenience. An interesting subject of 

 conversation during the evening was the 

 dry rot, MeruUus lachrymans, of which 

 splendid specimens were found no farther 

 ofi" than the bar of the "White Hart Hotel 

 itself, in massive red-deal posts there, put 

 in two or three years ago ! Many antidotes 

 have been prescribed, by as many men, 

 for this troublesome fimgus, whose specific 

 lachrymans, is no misnomer ! but the best 

 antidote of all, we are told, is — prevention — 

 by affording a free circulation of air beneath 

 the base timbers. Mr. Holmes had many 

 interesting objects to exhibit under the 

 society's microscope. Amongst others 

 examples of Trichina spiralis^ fromdiseas,ed 

 pork. 



The Queckett Microscopical Club. — The 

 monthly meeting of this society was held 



