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Ordinary Meeting, April 1st, 1862. 
J. P. Joule, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 
Mr. David Joy was elected an Ordinary Member of the 
Society. 
Mr. Frederick N. Dyer and Mr. Samuel Cottain were 
appointed Auditors of the Treasurer’s accounts for the present 
Session. 
A letter from Dr. Fairbairn, F.R.S., was read, enclosing 
a dried specimen of a fibrous bulb which he had received 
from Mr. James Niven, of Jeffrey’s Bay, Human’s Dorp 
District, Cape of Good Hope. In a letter, dated 17th 
February, 1862, Mr. Niven says, “ I enclose a leaf and some 
of the fibre of a very fibrous wild bulb, very plentiful in this 
country, and, if of any commercial value, a large quantity in 
the leaf could be exported annually. The sample is not a fair- 
one, as the bulb is not matured at this season, and has only its 
outermost leaf dry. I think the fibre is stronger in the 
matured bulb. I do not know its botanical name. In the 
Dutch of the country it is called Maager-man boll (Slender- 
man bulb), probably from its tall and slender flower stem, 
which sometimes attains the height of six feet. The bulb 
resembles an onion.” 
Mr. Binney, after examining the specimen, said that it 
had always appeared to him most strange for a large manu- 
facturing town like Manchester to be without a museum, in 
which should be deposited all the new raw products, whether 
of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin, that were from time 
to time discovered. At the present time, when public atten- 
tion was directed to the supply of cotton, the want of such a 
collection was peculiarly felt. If the Chamber of Commerce 
Proceedings— Lit. & Phil. Society— No. 14 .— Session 1861 — 62 . 
