224 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
After showing the characteristic absorption bands of various 
coloured solutions, the spectra of flames in which different sub- 
stances were volatilized were shown, and their beauty and fixed 
position noted. 
Perhaps there is no single discovery of the last quarter of a 
century of so much scientific interest, and which has enabled the 
educated observer to learn of the constituents of bodies unapproach- 
able, as the spectroscope, and combined as it now is with the micro- 
scope, the student in spectrology has a wide field for original and 
interesting work. 
After an announcement by the President that the annual recep- 
tion of the Society would be held in Mercantile Library Hall some 
time during the last week of this month, the meeting adjourned. 
Adelaide Microscope Club, South Australia.* 
The monthly meeting was held on May 28, 1875, Mr. G. Francis 
in the chair. The following objects were exhibited : Pollen from one 
of the Wattle trees growing in the far north, by Mr. Babbage ; 
peculiar forms of Foraminifera (?) from the salt lakes on the penin- 
sula, by Mr. Young; thin sections of the bitumen-like substance 
found near the Coorong and called here Coorongite, by the Chairman. 
The consideration of the time for holding the annual conversazione 
was postponed till the July meeting. The Chairman then introduced 
the subject for the evening's study, viz. Ferments, and gave a succinct 
account of the views held by different sections of the scientific world 
in reference to fermentation. The subject was a difficult one, but he 
thought the balance of evidence was in favour of Pasteur's theory. 
The various kinds of fermentation were briefly referred to, and the 
saccharine, acetous, and lacteous were more fully discussed. Numerous 
specimens of the organisms found in yeast, beer, " diseased " wines, 
and other fermenting fluids, were shown during the Chairman's 
address. 
* Report supplied by Dr. Whittell, Adelaide. 
