Ordinary Meeting, January 25th, 1870. 
J. P. Joule, LL.D., F.R.S., &c., President, in the Chair, 
“ On Organic Matter in the Air/’ by Dr. R. Angus Smith, 
F.R.S. &c. 
I have worked and written so constantly on impurities in 
air and water, that last year I was told by a periodical of 
high position that I was quite regardless of the impression 
made on timid persons, and I began to compare myself to a 
collector of “ varieties,” who is often obliged to bring up his 
curiosities every five years. When I read of the new experi- 
ment by Professor Tyndall, showing to the naked eye the 
numberless bodies in the air, I was abundantly gratified, as I 
obtain them only by a laborious although simple process. When 
however Dr. Tyndall began to show the character of these 
bodies it “ smote the chord of self,” as I imagined that I 
had long ago proved that not only organic and inorganic, 
but organised forms exist in the atmosphere. Neither do I 
claim this as my original idea, looking rather to the fulness 
of proof and quantitative results as mine. I think therefore 
I may remind my friends of some of my work, as I find 
that they forget, and even I forget the exact words used by 
myself, and must read up. 
Proceedings — Lit. &Phil. Sooiety.— V ol. IX.— No. 9 .— Session 1869=70, 
