president’s address. 
5 1 7 
whilst in other parts experiments were being performed with the 
spectroscope and with Wheatstone’s Bridge. A very interesting 
modification of Joule’s apparatus for determining the mechanical 
equivalent of heat was explained. They also inspected the 
magnificent collection of apparatus in the Cavendish Laboratory, 
some of which is of historical interest, as for example, the mechan- 
ism devised by Maxwell for showing the probable constitution 
of Saturn’s ring, Babbage’s calculating machine, and the coil used 
by the Committee of the British Association for determining the 
value of the Ohm. In the Lecture Hall, Professor J. J. Thomson 
showed some beautiful effects produced by sending electrical 
discharges through coils of wire surrounding flasks, which contained 
gases in a highly rarified condition. 
Tea and colfeo were served in the hall of Magdalene College, on 
the invitation of Professor Newton, who conducted those who 
wished to the Pepys Library, where they had an opportunity of 
inspecting the famous “ Diary,” which possesses a revived interest 
in the light of the recent publication of a fuller edition of this 
remarkable work, and a walk along the “ Backs,” which were look- 
ing their best in all the glory of the tender spring foliage, lighted 
up by brilliant sunshine, and thence to the railway station, ended 
a day which will long remain fresh in the memory of those who 
shared in the kindness and hospitality of all who took so much 
trouble to make their visit both a source of pleasure and profit. 
On the 22nd June, a party of members and their friends visited 
the beautiful woods at Hempstead near Holt, on the invitation of 
Mr. Hugh Gurney Barclay. Under the guidance of Samuel Fowle, 
who has for many years been the guardian of this lovely tract of 
woodland, interspersed with heath and water, and in parts a very 
paradise of ferns, they spent a pleasant time in exploring its 
beauties till obliged to take shelter from a thunderstorm, which 
brought that part of the proceedings to a close ; but the satisfaction 
with which the much needed shower was regarded, and the beauty 
of the subsequent evening, fully atoned for the ramble in the woods 
being somewhat curtailed. The chief botanical find was Pi/rola 
minor, and the remarkable disappearance of Sctitellaria minor which 
