70 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
The water which exists in the mineral evidently belongs to the ske¬ 
leton ; hut as its quantity could not he absolutely determined, owing to 
the presence of organic matter, I have not attempted to calculate a for¬ 
mula for the asbestiform skeleton. 
Another explanation of the origin of the skeleton suggests itself, 
namely, that the mineral was not hornhlendic, hut augitic; for example, 
like the asbestiform Diopside from Zillerthall, examined by Meitzendorf, 
when augitic minerals are acted upon by water containing carbonic acid 
in solution, the lime is removed, and nearly the whole of magnesia is 
left behind, of which the Rensselverite of Beck is an example. 
Numerous other examples of this kind have been given by Beudant, 
Svanberg, &c. 
The organic matter noted in the analysis appeared to have been de¬ 
rived from infiltrated waters, and followed the direction of the fibres. 
When a fragment of the mineral was heated in a small glass tube, the 
junction of the fibres was well marked by black lines from the charred 
matter. Whatever may have been the original mineral, it must have 
been considerably modified before the incrustation began. The propor¬ 
tion which the skeleton bears to the whole mass of the mineral in its 
present form is so small, that some of the original fibrous mineral, must 
have been wholly removed before the remainder began to be incrustated. 
The peculiar character of the pseudomorph, especially if we assume 
that it was Tremolite, which is so frequently found in calcareous rocks, 
suggests the idea that many of the fibrous varieties of dolomite may have 
been formed in a similar way. It would be worth while to examine 
some specimens of these dolomites from this point of view. 
The Meeting then adjourned to the second Wednesday in February. 
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, FEBRUARY 10, 1858. 
Gilbert Sanders, M.R.I.A., in the Chair. 
The Society met at 2 o’clock, when the following Report from Council 
was submitted and adopted:— 
REPORT. 
Your Council have much pleasure in congratulating the Society on the 
amount and quality of the work done during the past year, and on the 
position of the Society at the present time. 
The addition to the number of Members consists of four Life Mem¬ 
bers, and sixteen Annual Subscribers, making a total of twenty ; from 
which, however, eleven must be deducted, as lost from death and other 
causes, leaving a balance of nine Members gained during the past year. 
Among the Undergraduate Associates, indeed, who last year num¬ 
bered twenty-one, there is a loss of seventeen, either from their having 
become Graduates, or from other causes, while only one new Associate 
Member has joined the Society. As this class of Members is necessarily 
