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pire, in order to ensure a supply of these articles being 
received, the want of which is being felt in England. 
We can hardly, now that our forests once so dense, have 
been thinned, find a sufficient quantity of rosinous trees to 
form an article of trade. The Secretary has however pointed 
out several that yield rosin, for instance : the Colophonia 
Mauritiana, Marignia obtusifolia, Calophyllum Ratamaka §c. 
Sir Gabriel Fropier has reminded us that several plants of 
the genus Eucalyptus have been introduced from Australia. 
Our former President, Mr. R. W. Rawson, now Governor of 
Bahamas, being the first to set the exemple. But they are 
not iu sufficient number to fulfil the ends for which they were 
introduced into the Island. 
As to Turpentine, alcohol is known to be a substitute for 
it. A legislative enactment has even permitted its introduc- 
tion into England, duty free, but on condition that it should 
be mixed with a substance Avhich renders its use loathsome. 
Dr. Guthrie has suggested that spirits of wood should be 
mixed with the alcohol, but Mr. Fleurot remarked that it 
would only be obtained by the combustion of a considerable 
quantity of wood, and that Petroleum oil might be used, 
which is imported in considerable quantities from America. 
His Excellency the Governor has also forwarded to the 
Society a circular from the Society of Acclimatisation of 
London. A similar Society is in existence in our island. 
Several of our members belong to it, and overtures have been 
made to us with a view of placing it in communication with a 
commission selected from the members of our Society. We 
must then await a favorable time to furnish our replies to the 
various questions of the London Society. 
Similar questions were addressed to the Secretary of our 
Society during the administration of the late Sir William 
Stevenson. His reply is dated 28th April 1862. 
Mr. Constant V ankeirslbick presented au Hygrometer of 
his own sugestion, a filament or Arista of the seed of Erttlium 
Gruinum, a plant recently introduced by Mr. Constant V. 
himself, being substituted for hair. This filament from its 
elasticity and sensitiveness to atmospheric influences, may 
serve to determine the state of the ambiant air. It constitutes 
an instrument as simple as it is ingenious, to indicate, like the 
hygrometer, the exact state of saturation of the atmosphere. 
Mr. Fleurot presented specimens of Carbonate of Lime from 
Diego Suarez. Other specimens of this chalk were also collect- 
ed by Isidore Legentil, at Rodrigues. 
It exists, in the opinion of Mr. Fleurot, in sufficient abun- 
dance iu those Islands to fill the purposes in Mauritius, for 
