PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
5 
that certain visible portions of the solar spectrum produce scarcely any effect upon 
the sensitive surfaces usually employed, while other portions of the spectrum, which 
produce no impression upon the organs of vision, act with great energy upon the 
same surfaces. In conclusion, the many interesting applications which this art has 
already received were shortly alluded to. 
An interesting discussion followed the reading of this paper, in which Doctor 
Dickie, Professor Stevelly, Mr. MacAdam, and other members took part. 
DECEMBER '6, 1854. 
Dr. Dickie, Y.P., in the Chair. 
Mr. Stephen Archer read a paper on the Geography of the Ancient Greeks. It 
commenced by noticing the inferiority of the ancient Greeks to the Phenicians in the 
art of navigation, and in a knowledge of the earth’s surface—the prevalent opinion 
being that round the dry land there existed a circumfluent ocean, from which the 
principal rivers flowed into the Mediterranean, and that, on the outer boundaries 
of the ocean, there was a chaos or mixture of the elements. Allusion was then 
made to the opinions of Homer, Hesiod, Thales, and Anaximander—the last of 
whom may be considered as the founder of geographical science. He was the first 
to form a map or chart, which he had engraved on a tablet of brass. The rivalry 
of the Greek and Phenician navigators was then noticed. A short abstract was 
given of the chapter of Herodotus on Scythia; and a comparison was made of the 
tribes mentioned by him—viz., the Scythians, Cimmerians, Sarmatians, Anthro¬ 
pophagi, Argasippi, Tauri, &c., with the present inhabitants of the Russian 
empire. The Ural and Altai mountains, so celebrated for their produce of gold, 
were mentioned by Herodotus, but he did not give their names. The Tauric 
Chersonesus, or modern Crimea, with its Greek settlements and interesting legends, 
was then adverted to ; also Sinope, and the warlike nation of Amazons. The paper 
concluded with an inquiry into the origin and language of the Turks, and allusion 
was made to the Mantchous, Tungusians, and other inhabitants of Northern Asia. 
DECEMBER^), 1854. 
Robert MacAdam, Esq., Y.P., in the Chair. 
Before commencing the business, resolutions were adopted, expressing the deep 
sorrow felt by the Society for the lamented death of one of their most distinguished 
Honorary Members, Professor Edward Forbes, of the University of Edinburgh ; and 
the Secretary was directed to transmit a copy of the resolutions to the bereaved 
family of the Professor. A paper was then read by Dr. Dickie on the “ Relations of 
Position, Number, Form, and Colour in the Flower.” Proofs were, in the first 
place, adduced that all the parts of the flower are homotypes with the leaf; the 
transition from leaf to bract, from the bract to the calyx, and from the latter to the 
corolla, being often sufficiently obvious. The ovarium or seed-vessel, in general 
aspect, frequently presents a nearer approach to the leaf- type than some other parts 
of the flower ; in the stamen the relation to the leaf is frequently not so evident; 
in the water-lily and allied plants the stamens, however, have an obvious resem¬ 
blance to the petals, and in double flowers all are alike. The law of the spiral 
regulates the position of leaves, their alternation being thus explained—The 
opposite and whorled positions of leaves in some plants are modifications of the 
alternate, owing to shortening of the axis. The flower and its parts consist of a 
series of whorls upon a short axis, and, as in whorls of leaves, those of each series 
stand opposite to the spaces between those in the next, so that the pieces of the calyx 
alternate with those of the corolla, and so throughout, and no plant is known in 
which all are opposite to each other. Relations of number are not less evident; the 
two great types of flowering plants called exogens or dicotyledons, and endogens 
or monocotyledons, have the parts of their flowers regulated principally by the 
numbers, five and three, respectively—presenting thus an interesting relation be¬ 
tween the structure of the flower and that of the stem, of the leaf, and of the seed. 
When the pieces of the calyx and of the corolla are of the same size and form, 
