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they were unable to bear the voyage, and died before they 
reached Mauritius. The disappointment is a great one. Expe- 
riments would have been settled or nearly so : whether or not, 
certain elevated parts of our Island were suited for the culti- 
vation and subsequent naturalisation of the Cinchona. 
The Exhibition held in September last, with Your Excel- 
lency’s permission in the garden attached to Government 
House, presented rather a brilliant show of fruits, dowers and 
regetables. 
The committee, under the direction of its President, the 
Hon. Mr. Ch. Wiehe, and of Mr. Henry Jourdain, its Vice- 
President, and with the valuable assistance of the Judges, 
made the arrangements and the disposition of the articles ex- 
hibited as complete as possible. 
That which had never been accomplished, if we except the 
Intercolonial Exhibition, was this time effected ; the medals 
and prizes were distributed on the very day of the Exhibition. 
The plants and dowers exhibited by Mr. Constant Van- 
keirsbilck and by Mr. Eug Duponsel, and the cut dowers 
from La Bourdonnais and other places, were remarkable for 
their beauty -and freshness. Lady Barkly contributed to the 
pleasure of the occasion not only by her presence, but also by 
her cooperation, — the collection of Ferns, both indigeneous 
and exotic, was justly rewarded by a medal. 
Dr. Guthrie presented to the Society a very interesting- 
paper, which was afterwards printed with the proceedings of 
the Royal Society of London. He gives an exact description 
of the various volumes of what are commonly called Drops. 
“ This,” observes Dr. Guthrie, “ may at drst seem a trivial 
matter, but it is nevertheless in several points of view, a 
subject of importance, principally to the physician and phar- 
macist.” It is evident that the exact quantity contained in 
a drop should be well-known, when a prescription is made out, 
in which a substance enters that requires to be measured drop 
by drop, the more particularly when that substance possesses 
the most energetic properties. It is the same with the bubble 
given out by certain gases, which present the same conditions 
and arc subject to the same rules as drops. 
The volume of a drop depends upon the nature and quan- 
tity of the solid matter held in solution, and the chemical 
nature of the fluid. Of all the liquids subjected to examination 
by Dr. Guthrie, water gave the largest drops, and acetic acid 
the smallest. The instrument used by Dr. G. to measure 
drops and which was shewn by him to the Society was named 
by him Stcdagmometer , from the Greek words signifying Drop 
and Measure. 
