450  Jubilee  of  the  Coal  Tar  Industry.  {^SSiS^St 
(6)  The  Botany  and  Chemistry  of  Raphia  Pedunculata.  By  M. 
M.  Decrock  et  Fr.  Schlagdenhauffen. 
(7)  Morphology  and  Anatomy  of  the  Larva  Jo  Irene  Boisduval. 
By  M.  L.  Bordas,  D.  Sc. 
JUBILEE  OF  THE  COAL  TAR  INDUSTRY. 
The  first  meeting  in  connection  with  the  international  celebration 
of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  the  first  aniline  color 
by  Sir  William  Henry  Perkin  was  held  at  the  Royal  Institution, 
London,  on  July  26.  It  was  a  beautiful  morning,  and  the  old  lec- 
ture-theatre was  well  filled  on  the  ground  floor  with  an  audience  ol 
men  and  women. 
At  a  few  minutes  after  eleven  Professor  Meldola  opened  the  pro- 
ceedings by  offering  Sir  William  Perkin  "  hearty  congratulations  on 
having  lived  to  witness  the  consummation  of  his  labors,"  and  on 
having  received  the  honor  of  knighthood.  Next  Professor  Meldola 
referred  to  the  appropriateness  of  the  meeting-place,  for  it  was  in 
that  building  that  Michael  Faraday  first  discovered  benzene,  the 
starting-point  in  the  manufacture  of  aniline  colors.  [The  original 
sample  of  benzene  was  on  the  table,  beside  it  being  early  samples 
of  mauve  dye  and  fabrics  dyed  with  the  first  specimen  of  mauve.] 
Professor  Meldola  next  welcomed  the  foreign  colleagues,  the  names 
being  received  with  a  great  outburst  of  applause.  The  celebration 
scheme  was  then  outlined  as  arranged  at  the  Mansion  House  meet- 
ing in  February,  consisting  briefly  of  (1)  portrait  of  Sir  William 
Perkin  painted  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Cope,  A.R.A.,  to  be  held  by  Sir 
William  during  his  life  and  afterwards  to  be  offered  to  the  nation  ; 
(2)  marble  bust  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Pomeroy,  A.R.A.,  for  the  Chemical 
Society's  library ;  and  (3)  endowment  of  a  Perkin  research  fund, 
towards  which  some  ^2,000  has  already  been  received. 
The  portrait  was  then  formally  presented  to  Sir  William  Perkin, 
the  green  curtain  which  covered  it  being  drawn  aside,  amid  tremen- 
dous applause.  The  portrait  represents  Sir  William  with  a  skein  of 
mauve  silk  in  his  hand,  on  the  table  being  flasks  and  beakers  con- 
taining dye  stuffs.  Attention  was  next  called  to  the  bust,  which  is 
a  plaster  replica  of  the  marble  bust,  Professor  Meldola  stating  that 
when  it  is  placed  in  the  library  of  the  Chemical  Society  it  will  "  act 
