PEOCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
risfal Jfcttwnt lists' ^0^% 
Vol. II. NOVEMBER, 1867. No. 10. 
GENERAL MEETING. 
Thursday, November 7th, 1867. — Mr. Thomas Pease, F.G.S., 
Vice-President, in the chair. 
The Hon. Secretary, having read the minutes of the last meeting, 
announced the election of the following new ordinary members : — 
Mr. Edward Stutchbury, Almondsbury Hill, near Bristol. 
Mr. W. T. Rowden, Professor of Physics at Clifton College. 
Mr. Edward F. Willoughby, Surgeon, 8, Oaklands, Redland. 
Also, that the following donations to the Society's Library had been 
received from Dr. Marty n : — 
Kirkes' Handbook of Physiology, 4th and 5th editions ; 2 vols. 
Miiller's Archiv fiir Anatomie Physiologie, und wissenschaftliche 
medecin. Volumes for 1854-55-56-57. 
Mr. Emil Arnold Pr^eger then made a verbal communication upon 
Neumeyer's newly-invented Gunpowder. After referring to the great pre- 
valence of error as to the inventor of gunpowder, and to the fact that it 
seems certainly to have been known to the Chinese in very early times, the 
speaker stated that the new powder was composed of precisely the same 
materials as ordinary powder, but in different proportions. He then very 
briefly described the manufacture and purification of the three compo- 
nents, — sulphur, nitre, and charcoal. Sulphur was purified by sublimation 
and subsequent condensation. Nitre was produced both naturally and 
artificially, and best in warm climates, it was purified by crystallisation, 
the crystalline form being that of a hexagonal parallelopiped ; English 
