NOTICES OF MEETINGS. 159 

Manchester Microscopical Society, under the leadership of Mr. Henry 
Hyde, took place on Saturday, April 22nd, to that specially interesting district 
at this time of the year, the Bollin Valley. On leaving the road at Bowden, 
the wild and mock strawberries, the stitchwort, the adoxa, and the cow parsley 
were picked up, also a few Pucciniz or cluster cups. After passing that old 
botanical landmark, Bank Hall, with its seventeen yew trees, the common but 
pretty moss, “ Ceratadon purpureus,” was collected in fine fruit,and the adder’s- 
tongue fern was noticed. Reaching the river side the red campion, the marsh 
marigold, the wood anemone, the dog violet, the primrose, and a host of others 
were met with; and here attention may be called to the ruthless manner in 
_ which flowers are plucked and thrown aside by many so called botanists, as if in 
mere wantonness ; every few yards revealed dead blossoms strewn about the 
footpath. Before leaving the valley the cuckoo was distinctly heard for the first 
time this season, and the bryologists were successful in finding Lophocolea 
heterophylla very plentiful and in good fruit, Wrzum hornum, undulatum, and 
punctatum, also a very pretty species of lichen, C/adonia extensa, resplendant 
with its bright vermillion-red tubercles. This is the red cup moss of which Mrs. 
Hemans sings :— 
‘**They find the red cup moss where they climb ; 
And they chase the bee o’er the scented thyme.” 
It contains a small quantity of gummy and starchy matter, and has been used, 
boiled in milk or syrup, in hooping cough and other chest affections in children. 
In Thuringia a decoction is used in intermittent fevers. In crossing Hale Moss 
on the return journey Polytrichum gracile, Scapania irrigua, Cephalozia bicus- 
pidata, and Calypoget Trichomanes were also collected. The following are the 
~ names of the flowering plants not already mentioned, which were collected and 
named by Mr. Hyde: The Bed-straw, Bluebell, Lesser Celandine, Wild Turnip, 
Red-dead-nettle, Dog’s-mercury, Ground Ivy, Red-rattle or lousewort, Wood- 
ruck, May-flower, Sweet Woodruff, Speedwell, and Orchis. 
MANCHESTER MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.—The ordinary monthly 
meeting of the Manchester Microscopical Society was held on Thursday even-. 
ing, May 4th, Mr. Thomas Brittain, the president, in the chair. Two papers 
were read, one by the president, on the Magnifying Power of Microscopes and 
Telescopes, and the other by Mr. R. C. Smith, M.D., on the Injurious Effects 
of Smoke on the Lungs. The latter was illustrated for comparison by mounted 
and prepared sections of the natural lung and the lung of a coal miner, the 
latter showing the havoc which is wrought on the respiratory organs by the 
constant inhalation of solid particles of carbon. Dr. Smith showed that 
similar results, though in a lesser degree, are produced upon the lungs of all 
dwellers in towns where black smoke is prevalent. 
Mr. John Boyd made a communication, in which he stated that most Micros- 
copists are familiar with the story that on a certain old church-door some nails 
were shewn fastening what appeared to be fragments of leather, and that tra- 
dition stated that the skin of a felon who had been flayed had been nailed to 
the door. These portions of leather were examined under the microscope, and 
were found to be really human skin, proving the correctness of the tradition. 
Quite recently a circumstance came under my notice, in some respects similar. 
That is to say, that a statement made as to a certain object was proved to be 
correct from microscopical examination. I was visiting in a country house in 
Scotland, and one day, to amuse a child who was playing about in the room, a 
peculiar carved stool was brought out. It was of a very unusual shape, narrow 
at the bottom, and broader and wider at the top; and this top instead of being 
flat was hollowed out. The material was the twin-trunk of a small tree. It 
was said to have been brought by a missionary from Africa, and although 
apparently a stool was really a pillow. As is well known to you, many tribes 
dress their hair into most extravagant shapes. The process takes a very long 


