REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
59 
Seaton, occupied the chair. The proceedings were commenced by the 
Hon. Secretary, Mr. B. S. Dodd, reading the annual report of the 
Committee, of which the following is an abridgment:—The Committee 
with great pleasure recorded a considerable increase of members 
during the past year, 69 ordinary members having been added to the 
Society, besides 6 corresponding members who reside at a distance. 
The membership stood thus : 5 honorary, 133 ordinary, and 7 corre¬ 
sponding members, making a total of 145. The Committee has been 
enlarged so as to make it more widely representative. They were 
endeavouring to secure a larger and more convenient meeting place on 
account of the increased membership. During the summer excursions 
had been made to Burghley House, Lincoln, and Dovedale. During 
the year nine papers and eight short communications of considerable 
interest and merit had been read before the Society, and had been 
followed usually by discussion. The Committee has arranged that in 
future all papers read before the Society, after being printed by the 
local press, should be printed from time to time to form the yearly 
volume of the Society’s transactions. The lending library had been 
very successful, 70 volumes having been in circulation since its opening 
in April last. During the year the library had been augmented by the 
purchase of 20 interesting works, and still further by the generous gift 
of the late members of the G.R.S. Naturalists’ Society of some 30 odd 
volumes. The annual dinner was announced to be held on February 
7tli at the George Hotel, and the annual soiree some time in March. 
After the rules of the society had been revised, the meeting proceeded 
to elect the officers and committee for the ensuing year, Dr. Seaton 
being re-elected president, and the meeting closed with the usual vote 
of thanks to the chairman. 
NOTTINGHAM WORKING MEN’S NATURALIST’S SOCIETY. 
—January 7th.—An entertainment, called “ A Peep at Nature through 
the Microscope,” illustrated by dissolving views, was given by Messrs. 
Jepson and Goldsmith. The subjects treated of were Parasites of 
various kinds, Botany, Geological Sections, and Soundings from 
H.M.S. “Challenger.” This Society usually devotes the evening of 
the first Monday in the month to a scientific exhibition, free to the 
public.—T. J. Goldsmith. 
PETERBOROUGH NATURAL HISTORY AND SCIENTIFIC 
SOCIETY.— Gilchrist Lecture, Jan. 17th.—The first of a series of 
six lectures of the “ Gilchrist Educational Trust” was given 
in the Drill Hall, Peterborough, under the auspices of this 
Society. For some time previously Mr. R. A. Procter was announced 
for the opening lecture, which was to have been upon the fascinating 
subject, “ The Birth and Death of Worlds,” but owing to indisposition 
he was unable to fulfil the engagement, and Professor Robert Ball, 
LL.D., F.R.S., Royal Astronomer of Ireland, lectured on “The 
Telescope and its uses.” There was a large audience. The lecture, 
which was illustrated by views thrown upon a screen by a powerful 
lime light, was given in a popular and interesting manner. It first dealt 
with the human eye and how it was aided in the attempts to see faint 
celestial objects by the telescope, the use of which was an equivalent 
to an enlargement of the pupil. The early attempts to construct 
a large telescope were described, and the present monster one 
at Vienna was illustrated. Lord Rosse’s great telescope and various 
