Mar., 1891. 
NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY'S REPORT. 
57 
March 27th.—“Ideas of Supernatural Agents,” by Mr. W. R. 
Hughes. 
At the supplementary meetings the following have been 
read :— 
January 23rd.—“ Ideas of the Animate and Inanimate,” by Miss 
L. A. Goyne. 
February 13th.—“Ideas of Sleep, Dreams, and Swoon,” by Miss 
Birt-Davies. 
February 27th.—“Ideas of Death, Resurrection, Souls, &c.,” by 
Mr. Harold W. Buncher. 
March 20th.—“ Ideas of Another Life and Another World,” by 
Miss Byett. 
April 17th.—“ Sacred Places, Altars, Temples, &c. ,” by Mr. E. Hill. 
April 24th.—“Ancestor Worship, Idol Worship, and Fetich 
Worship,” by Mr. J. A. Hill. 
May 8th.—“Animal and Plant Worship,” by Mr. W. B. Grove. 
May 22nd.—“ Nature Worship,” by Miss Mary Dalton. 
June 12th.—“ Deities,” by Miss Mary Dalton. 
June 25tli.—“On Weismann’s Theory of the Continuity of the 
Germ Plasm,” by Mr. Herbert Stone. 
November 11th.—“Socialism; the Coming Storm,” by Mr. 
Herbert Stone. 
During the past year the members of the section have 
exhibited a marked preference for the supplementary meet¬ 
ings, as only one paper has been read on a Tuesday evening. 
It is regretted that there has been a considerable falling off in 
the number of papers, there being only eleven, against eighteen 
during the previous year. 
On April 27th a memorial, signed by forty-three members 
and friends interested in the section, was sent to Mr. Herbert 
Spencer, congratulating him on attaining his seventieth birth¬ 
day. A kind acknowledgment was received from him. 
In the absence of the Secretary, through illness, during 
the greater part of the year, his duties have been discharged 
by Miss L. A. Goyne. 
The Library .—The Librarian (Mr. J. E. Bagnall) reports 
that the library is in about the same condition as when 
last reported. It is still to be regretted that it receives 
so little patronage from the members. Only 81 volumes have 
been taken out, and the number of members borrowing these 
books has been only 88. The following has been the issue of 
books for the year :—Botany, 11 ; Entomology, 11 ; Zoology, 
15 ; Geology, 7 ; Microscopy, 17 ; miscellaneous, 20. 
Genetal Property .—The Curators (Messrs. G. M. Iliff and 
Herbert Miller) report that the necessary repairs mentioned 
in their last report have been effected, and the instruments 
are now in working order. 
