686 
CONVERSAZIONE. 
The Society’s annual conversazione took place on Tuesday evening, the 14th 
of May. A large number of visitors responded to the invitations of the 
Council, and there was also a numerous attendance of members and their friends. 
The various rooms of the Institution were filled throughout the evening, and 
the different objects of interest which the Council, through the kindness of 
friends, had brought together for the occasion, sufficiently served to occupy the 
attention, and engage the conversation of those present. The Royal Botanic 
Society, as usual, kindly furnished a number of plants and flowers in bloom, 
which served to decorate the halls and passages. Some fine works of Art, con¬ 
tributed by ]Mr. Thomas Morson, jun., and by Messrs. Yokins, were hung on 
the walls of the reception-room. The Council were also indebted to Mr. Palmer 
for some magnificent specimens of chromo-lithography; to Mr. Phillips for 
some fine reproductions of antique bronzes ; to Mr. Butler for a bust of Plugh 
Falconer, F.R.S., and some other sculpture ; to Mr. Vernon Heath for a series 
of beautiful photographic illustrations to ‘ The Lady of the Lake,’ and other 
photographic views; to IMessrs. Jackson and Graham and Messrs. Gillow & Co. 
for a number of fine bronzes ; to Mr. Morson for two finely wrought vases ; 
and to Messrs. Phillips and Co. for some Majolica ware. The London Stereo¬ 
scopic Company showed some portraits and photographs ; and Mr. Daniel Ilan- 
bury kindly contributed a portrait of Professor von Fehling, of Stuttgart, the 
president of the jury for chemical and pharmaceutical products at the Paris Ex¬ 
hibition. 
Mr. Baines, F.R.G.S., the well-known African traveller, lent for the occasion 
a large number of highly interesting coloured sketches from South Africa and 
Western Australia, which were made by himself during his travels. These were 
displayed upon one of the walls, and attracted a great deal of attention. During 
the evening also a number of transparent views of the Victoria falls were pro¬ 
jected upon the screen by Mr. Highley in the lecture-room, and Mr. Baines, 
who had drawn the views himself, kindly attended and entertained a large 
audience with his description of them. In the Council-room, Professor Bentley 
made a fine display of medicinal and economic plants in the living state. 
Among them were the Cinchona Calisaya^ C. officinalis^ Podophyllum peltatum, 
Anamirta Cocculus, Coffiea arahica^ Thea viridis, Cinnamodendron Zeplanicum^ 
and Artanthe elongata. Mr. D. Hanbury showed some very large sheets of ama¬ 
dou, some of them more than three feet in length ; also specimens of ben-quts, 
derived from Moringa aptera and Jf. pterygosperma^ and dried flowering 
specimens of the plants; specimens of the plant which yields savanilla rhatany, 
viz. Krameria ixina^ var. granatensis ; specimen of Hemidesmus indicus^ and 
a large head of fruits of Pleitaria speciosa^ from Java. Mr. Howard, F.L.S., 
exhibited a beautiful series of drawings, by Mr. Tuffen West, of sections of 
barks of Cinchona sncciruhra^ showing the renewed bark, grown after partial 
decortication, under the application of moss. Mr. W. C. Hugman contributed 
a large Australian bat; Mr. H. C. Lang some rare moths and butterflies; 
Mr. J. Jardine some new species of algse; and Mr. Leadbeater some foreign 
birds, beautifully preserved. 
Dr. Guy exhibited under the microscope some curious and highly interesting 
crystallizations produced by the sublimation of the alkaloids^ such as morphia, 
strychnia, etc. Dr. Helwig has quite recently announced the possibility of 
subliming minute quantities of any of the alkaloids, and obtaining a sublimate 
of definite and characteristic crystalline forms. The method of operating has 
been simplified and improved by Dr. Guy, and it is described as being easily 
applied to as small a quantity as the ^\jth of a grain of the alkaloid. In the 
case of strychnia, for instance, a minute portion is placed on the lid of a 
