PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY. NINETY-FIRST SESSION, 1861-62. Wednesday, November 27, 1861.-T. STRETHILL WRIGHT, M D., President, in the Chair. William Stevenson, Esq., Accountant, Dunse, 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 awarded to the donors: 1. (1) Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 4to. Vol. xxii. Part 2., 1859-60. (2.) Appendix to the Makerstoun Magnetica 1 and Meteorological Observations. 4to. (3.) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 8vo. Vol. iv., No. 50.- From the Society. 2. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Vol. xi., Nos. 43-45.— From the Society. 3. Observations on Temperature in connection with Vegetation. By J. H. Balfour, A.M., M.D. 8vo. 1861. From the Author. 4. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 8vo. 1860, Part 3, June to December; and 1861, Part 1, January to March. -From the Society. 5. Canadian Journal, Toronto, No. 32, March; No. 34, July; and No. 35, September 1861.-From the Canadian Institute, Toronto. 6. On Canadian Caverns. By George D. Gibb, M.D. From the Author. 7. The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, and Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Montreal, Vol. vi., Nos. 1-5.-From the Society. Dr WRIGHT then delivered the Opening Address : GENTLEMEN,-I have now to greet you on the commencement of the ninety-first session of the Royal Physical Society, which opens full of promise. Not only can we look back with satisfaction on the many valuable papers which have of late years been read at this table, and which, treasured up in our published proceedings, and disseminated through VOL. II. 2 Q the scientific societies of this and other countries, are assisting to preserve for Edinburgh that high position which she has attained in science; but the billet of this evening shows that, in the ensuing session, we have much to look forward to, both from our young soldiers, whose spurs are yet a-winning, and from well-tried veterans, whose names for many a year have been "familiar as household words" to the lips and pens of all those whom Natural History has taken for her own. Moreover, a highly respectable balance in the bank, and the continued influx of entrance-fees from new members, render us quite easy as to that commodity without which the highest literary and scientific attainments present but a pitiable appearance-so very easy, that a large number of our members, nearly all of us, have neglected for some years to pay our annual contributions. The Council have, however, considered it unadvisable that the property of the Society should any longer be carried about in the pockets of its members, and have directed that the arrears shall be collected, so that our available funds this year will be considerably increased. Since our last meeting, the Society has been deprived of the services of several useful and valuable members. One of them-Professor Shank More has been removed by the hand of death. I need not in this place recount the history and attainments of one so well known as Professor More. The increasing infirmities of age had for some time prevented his taking any part in the business of the Society, but he never ceased to show an interest in its welfare. We have suffered a severe loss in the removal from Edinburgh of two of our most skilful workers-Mr Andrew Murray and Dr Cleland. To the love of scientific research, the forcible style, the skilful pencil, and the unceasing activity of Mr Murray, the first volume of our Proceedings owes the chief part of its attractions; while his kindness of heart, and the ready interest he always took in the labours of his brethren, will long be remembered by us with regret. I have no hesitation in stating that the papers which Dr Cleland has communicated to this Society, and elsewhere, have placed him in the highest ranks of science as an accomplished comparative anatomist, and we must hope that we may still be favoured by his assistance, although he may not often be able to come amongst us. The work of the Society for the last session has been well divided amongst the members. On the Vertebrata the papers consist of those of Dr Cleland on the articular processes of the Atlas and Axis; Dr M'Bain on the anatomical distinctions between the skull of the Manatus senegalensis and a Manatus from the Bay of Honduras; Mr Edwards on inflammation in fishes, in which he has determined that those animals are quite indifferent to the infliction of wounds; Mr Peach, of Wick, on the Argentine, Anchovy, and other fishes, and on the termination of the vertebrate column in the tails of the Salmon tribe; Mr J. M. Mitchell and Mr G. Logan on the natural history and fisheries of the Herring and the Sprat; Mr W. S. Young on the Equorial pipefish and its specific distinctions. In Entomology, Mr R. T. Logan's paper-on the occurrence of Vanessa polychlora and Cheimatobia borearea in Edinburghshire. On the Calentrata two notices by Dr Strethill Wright-on reproduction in Chrysaora, and on Atractylis coccinea. On the Protozoa we have Dr M'Bain's notices of sponges from Shetland and elsewhere, together with his very valuable and interesting exposition of Bowerbank's recent discoveries and classification, and Dr Strethill Wright's papers on reproduction in Ophryodendron, on Dendrophrya and Lecythia, and on Rhizopod structure, and his discovery of ova and spermatozoa in that class of animals. In Geology and Mineralogy several very important papers have been read, including Mr R. H. Traquair's on the Trilobites of the Carboniferous Limestones of Fifeshire, accompanied by beautiful delineations of species. Mr Andrew Taylor on the exposure of the Liberton Old Red Sandstone conglomerate bed at Newington; and Mr John S. Livingston on the state of our knowledge respecting metamorphism in the mineral kingdom, in which he has given a most interesting account of the production of minerals by artificial means. To all these gentlemen I beg, in the name of the Society, to give cordial thanks for their assistance in the furtherance of its objects. To Dr J. A. Smith, our Secretary, special thanks must be offered for the constant |