s 
ISTOL NATURALISTS SOCIETY. 
From the " Bkistoi. Daily Post" of Oct, 12th, 1864. 
Oa Thursday evening last, October 6th, this society held 
its first meeting of the session at the Philosophical Institu- 
tion. Fifty-four members and friends, including several 
ladies, were present, Mr. William Sanders, president, occu- 
pying the chair. The usual routine business occupied rather 
more time than usual, the hon. secretary having to give a 
short account of the last annual meeting and the three 
summer excursions of the society, as well as some extracts 
from the minutes of the council. These latter were of too 
important a character to allow them to be dismissed by 
simply mentioning the transaction of this formal business ; 
for they not only showed the continued steady growth of the 
society, but also gave clear evidence of the healthy and 
vigorous spirit animating this youthful body. Since the last 
monthly meeting of the society the following gentlemen had 
been elected members: — Messrs. George F. Atchley, John 
Bates, John Beattie, William Fiddes, junr., Edward R. 
Hodges, E. C. Plant, Septimus Powell, Jotin Robert Rogers, 
W. H. Smith, William Tanner, senr., C. W. Warren, and 
P. J. Worsley. Also two more corresponding members had 
been added to the list, viz., Mr. Hugh Owen, late of Bristol, 
and Mr. G. E". K. Thwaites, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 
Ceylon, too well known to require commendation. The 
other part of the abstract of the council meetings to which 
we have referred was the announcement of the formation of 
four sections of the society for a more severe pursuit of the 
various sciences, viz., an entomological section, meeting on 
the second Tuesday of every month ; a botanical section, 
meeting on the third Friday of every month, from October 
to March inclusive, substituting botanical walks during the 
other half of the year ; a geological section, meeting on the 
fourth Friday of every month, from October to March inclu- 
sive, also substituting walks during the summer months ; 
and a chemical and photographic section, meeting on the 
second Wednesday of every month. 
The hon. secretary having made these various communi- 
cations, Mr, Thomas Pease, one of the vice-presidents of the 
society, exhibited two .ivju, specimens of Lacerta viridis, 
the common green lizar a of Europe, which he had brought 
from the forest of Fonta'mebleau, where these elegant, active 
little creatures are pretty common, and made some remarks 
as to their habits and distribution, stating that they are not 
met with nearer home than in the Channel Islands. 
The hon. secretary, Mr. Leipner, then read a note which 
he had received that day from Mr. Thomas Coomber, on the 
well and conduit waters in this neighbourhood. The writer 
has from time to time taken opportunities to examine these 
waters for the amount of organic matter which they contain. 
He had not intended to publish his results, until he had 
made some additions to them; but considering the present 
necessity to resort to these sources of suppl}'^, ho felt it to be 
desirable to make them known to the society. The following 
are the heads of Mr. Coomber's remarks -.—First— The cause 
of the unwholesomeness of the water is generally the presence 
of an excess of organic matter. Second— Different observers 
have regarded different amounts of organic matter as being 
the maximum which would allow a water to be used for 
domestic purposes without objectionable consequences. 
Third— The writer adopts as low a standard of purity as 
any. His determinations were made with a solution of 
permanganate of potassium, standardised by pure oxalic 
