extremity and the first premolar socket. There is a slight metallic crust on the inner surface of the teeth, very distinct on the third tri-columnar premolar. The remaining fragment in this collection, No. 15, is the upper half or nearly twothirds of the right middle metacarpal or cannon bone of a small-sized horse, from which the upper articulating surface is separated; the canal for the medullary vessels is recurrent, and placed close to the outer edge of the groove for the internal splint bone. The fore cannon bone in the horse is more flattened in an antero-posterior direction than it is in the hinder extremity, as in the latter it is somewhat compressed at the sides, and more rounded.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY.

NINETIETH SESSION, 1860–61.

Wednesday, November 28, 1860.-WILLIAM RHIND, Esq., President, in the Chair.

Mr Colin S. Valentine, medical missionary, Dispensary, 39 Cowgate, was balloted for, and elected a non-resident member of the Society.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks voted to the donors:

1. Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, for Session 1859-60, No. 14.-From the Society. 2. Canadian Journal, Toronto, Nos. 27 and 28, for May and July 1860.-From the Canadian Institute, Toronto. 3. Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Part x., November 1859-July 1860; London.-From the Royal Institution of Great Britain. 4. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1860, Part i., January-March; Part ii., March-June. From the Society. 5. Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, Second Series, Vol. xv., Part ii., 1860. 6. Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, 1858-59, No. 1.From the Society.

WILLIAM RHIND, Esq., President, then delivered the Opening Address:

GENTLEMEN,-I have to congratulate the Society this evening on again assembling to commence another session, and with the prospect of having this session filled up with a series of as interesting and instructive communications as characterised the one that is past.

On this occasion the congratulations to the meeting would be unalloyed, were it not that we have to deplore the loss of one of our office-bearers, whose punctual presence here, not

VOL. II.

2 E

only on the opening nights, but on all occasions, was always to be depended upon, and ever hailed with pleasure and confidence. I am sure it must be the universal feeling of the members, that in the decease of Mr William Oliphant, the treasurer, the Society has sustained a loss which will be deeply felt, and which cannot readily be replaced, while every individual has to mourn the loss of a personal friend. Carefully and liberally educated, and at first intended for one of the learned professions, the naturally delicate state of Mr Oliphant's constitution prevented him from prosecuting his original intention; but he still chose a walk of life which gave scope to his love of and desire for knowledge, and as a publisher he became the successful diffuser, as well as in several instances the patron and kind friend, of those engaged in the pursuit of literature and science. Mr Oliphant became a member of the Royal Physical Society in August 1828, and was thus in connection with it for a period of thirty-two years. A few years after his entrance, he was requested to undertake the duties of occasional secretary, and from 1844 to 1848 he acted as secretary. For the last ten years, as you all know, he fulfilled the duties of treasurer. Under all the phases which this Society has passed through, from the period mentioned,-in its prosperity, in its difficulties, in its temporary decline, and again in its complete revival,-Mr Oliphant tenderly nursed it, husbanded its funds, preserved its library, and found for the Society this local habitation, when it removed from its apartments within the University; and all this was accomplished in that quiet, unostentatious, unobtrusive way, which was so characteristic of his nature. His voice was never heard amongst us but in the gentlest and most appropriate suggestions-he never obtruded but to conciliate, to oblige, and to guide by his advice, which was always sound and considerate. Not only this Society, but society at large, must feel the loss of such a man; for it is not those who make most noise, and take the most conspicuous parts in society, who are in reality the main stay, and strength, and ornaments of social life, but such a genuine, highly-principled, unassuming, yet active, benevolent, and altogether estimable character as

Mr Oliphant. You are all aware, too, what an interest Mr Oliphant took in our scientific pursuits, and that it was through him, in the first instance, that an introduction was obtained to the Calabar missionaries, whose contributions to the zoology of Western Africa have afforded so many interesting communications.

During the recess, another and venerable member of our Society has also paid the debt of nature,-Mr Alexander Rose, long a well-known lecturer on geology and mineralogy in this city, who, as often as the growing infirmities of a good old age would permit, was always a welcome and respected member among us. Mr Rose, a native of Dingwall, Ross-shire, not far removed from the birth-place of another of our late lamented and celebrated associates, Mr Hugh Miller, was also, like him, a self-taught geologist and man of science-if it may not be said that every man of science is, in a great measure, self-taught. Mr Rose in early life became a citizen of Edinburgh; and, after some years, relinquishing an art in which he was both expert and ingenious, he resolved to follow the irresistible bent of his taste and inclinations, and in time became a celebrated practical mineralogist and geologist, He, too, was characterised by his unassuming and genial disposition; and there are not a few of his attached friends and former pupils who can bear testimony to his suavity of manners, and the readiness and ability with which he was ever glad to communicate his stores of knowledge.

Mr Rhind then referred to the beautiful Ordnance maps of the county of Edinburgh now before the Society, and observed that it was no small pleasure to find every inch of ground which several of us have gone over again and again, so accurately and so artistically displayed in one comprehensive view before us. To those who many years ago began their studies in the only field where real knowledge can be obtained,-in the open field of nature,-such maps would have been invaluable. What labour, and doubts, and

* Mr Rose was originally a turner of wood and ivory. He was much employed by the late Sir John Leslie in the construction of his many meteorological instruments.