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is now more appropriately performed by the Librarian, the following alterations, in conformity with this change, are recommended for acceptance :

That Law XXXIV. shall be extended by the insertion of the following paragraph after the word "Members: "-"He shall receive, acknowledge, and record all donations presented to the library; shall cause the volume of Proceedings to be forwarded to those Societies and Institutions with which the Society is in correspondence, and shall maintain such other communications with them as may be desirable (under the direction of the Council)."

And that Law LIX. shall read as follows:-" All donations shall be duly recorded by the Secretary in the minutes of the Society, and in the next volume of the Proceedings."

The Council concludes this Report with the recommendation of the following gentlemen to serve on the new Council for the ensuing Session :-James Simpson, George Russell Rogerson, F.R.A.S., &c., Harry S. Samuel, the Rev. Dr. Stern, and Baron L. Benas.

The Report was approved and adopted, on the motion of the Rev. H. H. HIGGINS, Seconded by Mr. G. F. CHANTRELL.

The Treasurer's Accounts for the past Session were next submitted and passed, on the motion of Dr. NEVINS, seconded by Mr. GUTHRIE. It appeared, however, that one of the Society's Dock Bonds of the value of £100 had fallen due, and that it had been used for current expenses. This was also approved, but it was recommended that the Council should take into immediate consideration the financial position of the Society, and report thereon as early as convenient.

The election of officers was then proceeded with, and the following gentlemen were elected to the offices named :

Vice-Presidents-Thos. J. Moore, Cor. Mem. Z.S.L.; Edward R. Russell; Thos. Higgin, F.L.S.

Honorary Treasurer-Richard C. Johnson, F.R.A.S.
Honorary Secretary-James Birchall.

Honorary Librarian-Alfred Morgan.

Council-J. Campbell Brown, D.Sc.; Isaac Roberts, F.G.S.; G. H. Morton, F.G.S.; W. Carter, M.B.; John W. Hayward, M.D.; Edward Davies, F.C.S.; Malcolm Guthrie ; Alfred E. Fletcher, F.C.S.; Josiah Marples, and the following five gentlemen nominated by the retiring Council, namely, James Simpson; G. Russell Rogerson, F.R.A.S., F.R.G.S.; Harry S. Samuel; Rev. Wm. Stern, M.D.; and Baron L. Benas.

The following Corresponding Members, whose term of ten years had expired, were re-elected:-Rev. J. Holding, M.A.; Geo. Hawkins, Colombo; and J. Lewis Ingram, Bathurst, River Gambia.

The Associates were also re-elected.

In conformity with the recommendation contained in the Annual Report, the Secretary was duly authorised to call a meeting of delegates from the kindred Societies to consider the advisability of holding a second Associated Soirée.

The revision of Laws XXXIV. and LIX., defining the respective duties of the Secretary and Librarian, as recommended in the Report of the Council, was next formally passed and approved of.

The routine business of the Annual Meeting being thus completed, the President proceeded to deliver his second Inaugural Address.*

* See page 1.

FIRST ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, October 21st, 1878.

JOHN J. DRYSDALE, M.D., M.R.C.S., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

Messrs. H. C. Beasley, Wm. Adair, J. Wilson Ker, J. W. Thompson, Thos. B. Johnston, Jno. Hampden Johnson, and E. B. Roose were duly elected Ordinary Members.

The Rev. H. H. HIGGINS described a collection of rare plants from the Botanic Gardens, exhibited by the Curator (Mr. Richardson), and the following communication was then read :

THE RED CORAL OF COMMERCE-Corallium rubrum,

Lamarck.

BY THE REV. H. H. HIGGINS, M.A.

The living animal of the Red Coral in its structure resembles a Sea Anemone; it therefore belongs to the second, or lowest but one, of the great divisions of the animal kingdom, Cælenterata. This extensive sub-kingdom includes also the fresh-water Hydra, the Sertularian Zoophytes, Jellyfish, the Portuguese Man-of-War, the stony corals, the black coral (Antipathes), Sea-pens, flexible corals (Gorgonia), Seafingers, and the beautiful, pellucid, melon-shaped Cydippe.

The stony corals, as seen in museums, are true skeletons secreted within the tissues of living polypes. It is not so with the coral of commerce, which is a foot secretion of an external character, more resembling shell; except that the mollusc lives in its shell and the coral polype upon it. The red coral, when first taken from the sea, has a hard axis covered by a soft bark or rhind, in the substance of which

reside the polypes. These are white, and have eight delicately-fringed tentacles, the fully expanded polype being in miniature not unlike the petals of the common Buck-bean. The fertilising and ova-bearing polypes are generally distinct, and occupy separate branches; but, in certain cases, both sexes are united in the same polype.

In the bark of the flexible corals, as also in the integument of some Tunicates and Sea-cucumbers, are found little detached calcareous crystals, called sclerites, mostly microscopic in size and variable in shape. Scattered through the friable bark, these minute sclerites serve to give it the requisite firmness and consistency; but the axis of the red coral of commerce seems to be entirely made up of sclerites welded or fused together. So far as I am aware, this peculiarity in the red coral has not long been known. The members of the Liverpool Microscopical Society will, no doubt, be ready to prepare the thin sections of coral requisite for the illustration of this interesting fact, which belongs to a numerous class of inducements held out by Nature to encourage observation. The botanist recognises in the stamen of a flower a transformed leaf; and the histologist knows that the horn of the Rhinoceros is made up of hair firmly welded together. So these little sclerites or spicules, which have so often been seen as particles of crystal dust on the slide of the microscope, now appear under quite a new aspect; transformed and blended together, they constitute the substance of the noble or precious coral.

The principal fisheries of red coral are in the Mediterranean. I have been told that it extends to the coasts of the Atlantic, south of the Straits of Gibraltar, and north of the tropic of Cancer. An official of the Japanese government, who lately visited the Liverpool Museum, stated that red coral occurred in the seas of China and Japan; but all the best authorities to the present date agree in regarding

Corallium rubrum as a Mediterranean species. M. Milne Edwards mentions two other species, inferior in size and beauty, belonging to the same genus. It seems doubtful whether Corallium has been found in the geological series earlier than the Miocene period.

Red coral is found at depths varying from six fathoms to one hundred and twenty fathoms. The mode of fishing for it is sufficiently primitive. A heavily-weighted beam, to which are attached bundles of hempen tangles, is sunk in the sea and dragged along the bottom. On being drawn up, fragments of coral are found in the tangles. The breakage and waste must be enormous; the wonder is not that fine specimens should be rare, but rather that any at all should ever be secured. The coral fisheries of Algeria are divided into ten marine districts, one of which only is fished every year. By this it would appear that ten years are considered to be a sufficient period for the red coral to attain its full size.

A very extensive trade in coral was in ancient times carried on from the Mediterranean to India and the East. In China it is regarded as possessing talismanic properties, and is worn both as an ornament and an amulet. Very high prices have been given for fine specimens; and the pale rose-coloured variety is said to have realised more than eighty pounds per ounce.

In the book of Job coral is classed with treasures such as pearls and rubies; and the prophet Ezekiel, apostrophising the city of Tyre because of its wealth and magnificence, declares, "Syria was thy merchant in emeralds and broidered work and coral." In St. Mark's Square, Venice, as I am informed by my friend Dr. Nevins, very expensive sets of coral jewellery are exhibited by the goldsmiths. It is not so fashionable in this country as it used to be; but I may be pardoned for being so unscientific as to confess that I love to see a pretty child wearing a simple necklace of beads of red

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