322 PEOGEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. [^our'S.Tari!^^^^^^^^^ 
calcium ; the water being taken up by the ether, and this in its turn 
by the chloride of calcium. By this means many substances could be 
perfectly dried in thin sections without detriment, sections of potato 
being mentioned as examples. A discussion took place as to the best 
form of vessel to be used for the purpose, and the most effectual means 
of closing joints against the escape of ether vapour ; Dr. Matthews, 
the President, and Messrs. Breese, Ilawksley, and Suffolk, spoke on the 
subject. Mr. Thos. F. Wight read a short paper " On a Method of 
Coating Glass Chimneys for Microscope Lamps," and which consisted 
in pouring a thin coating of liquid plaster of Paris into the chimney, 
rubbing off a small portion on one side only for the escape of the 
light, and allowing the remainder to dry gradually. By this means a 
simple and very efficient shade and reflector were at once obtained. 
The President suggested that it would be better to apply the coating 
to the outside in order to preserve the whiteness of the reflecting 
surface ; but some practical difficulties, from the cracking of the plaster 
by expansion of the glass, were mentioned by the author, and it was 
then proposed by Dr. Matthews to obviate this by electrotyping the 
plaster. Mr. J. Slade made a few observations relative to some slides 
of skin of Synapta and shell of Terebratula, &c., which he had pre- 
sented to the cabinet ; and votes of thanks to the readers of the papers 
were carried unanimously. The President announced that the field 
excursions of the club would commence in April, and be continued 
fortnightly during the summer months. The meeting was concluded 
by a conversazione. 
Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. 
Ordinary Meeting, March 9th, 1869. E. W. Binney, F.E.S., F.G.S., 
Vice-President, in the chair. Joseph Chesborough Dyer, Esq., was 
elected an Honorary Member of the Society. — Professor W. C. Wil- 
liamson, F.R.S., exhibited female cones of Araucaria imhricata and 
fruits of 3IagnoUce, ripened last summer in the vicinity of London. 
He also called attention to a communication from Mr. Moore, of 
Liverpool, to the last number of the ' Magazine of Natural History,' 
pointing out that the beautiful Euplectella aspergillum of the Philippine 
Islands does not grow attached to the side of a rock, as had often been 
supposed, but that its silky lower extremity is found plunged in soft 
sand or mud in deep water, whence it is obtained by dredging. " Ad- 
ditional Notes on the Structure of Calamites," by Professor W. C. 
Williamson, F.R.S. The author stated that, since the reading of his 
first paper on the subject, he Lad studied numerous beautiful sections 
of specimens collected and prepared by Mr. J. Butter worth, of High 
Crompton, near Oldham. In general these specimens had confirmed 
all the author's views on the subject, with some slight modifications. 
One specimen had occurred in which remarkable variations presented 
themselves in the form of the cells of the cellular tracts dividing the 
woody tissue into radiating wedges ; and in another there were traces 
of a transition from the barred or scalariform structuiie of the vessels 
