92 Earthen Vase found in Boulder Clay at Stockport.

of 164 ft. from a high rock upon a softer one below, which, by attrition, is undermined and tumbles in. Its rate of recession is rather more than 2 ft. per annum; but it is to be observed that the river above the falls has hardly lowered its original bed for thousands of years. It is only at, and below, the falls that it chisels out the rock before it.

The red sandstone rock at Stockport, as a barrier to the ancient river Mersey, may be taken for the purpose of this paper as ending at the present sewage outfall opposite to Heaton Mersey, a distance of 9,800 feet from the Permian sandstone fault at Teviot Dale Station. If we take the retrogression of the Niagara Falls as a basis of calculation, we have at least a period of 4,500 years since this vase was deposited upon or within the boulder clay of Portwood.

There are, however, other conditions to be considered before such a period can be accepted; and these are the nature of the rock, which is not so hard as that of Niagara, and the sawing through it by water instead of its being chiselled out in blocks from its face.

Another point worth mentioning is, that there were three vases together, of different sizes, to contain the wine, corn, and oil, or, figuratively, anything which would denote light, food, and nourishment, and that neither was large enough to form an urn or cinerarium. As such vessels were usually placed in mounds, it is obvious that this mound must have been placed upon the boulder clay before the inrush of alluvials occurred. Assuming this, it is plain that the vase, along with the others, was submerged from a higher level at some flood time, which silted the boulder clay; and it must have occurred very soon after, if not during, the glacial epoch. We have, therefore, possibly here a specimen of man's remotest handicraft which has, perhaps, ever been found in these islands.

[Microscopical and Natural History Section.]

Ordinary Meeting, February 10th, 1896.

JOHN BOYD, Esq., President of the Section, in the Chair.

Mr. HYDE exhibited a plant found in Chili which was new to the members. It grows in dense isolated masses of a grey colour, which, from a distance, have the appearance of a flock of sheep. It is said to be used locally for fuel.

Mr. ALLEN exhibited a number of leaves of cabbages gathered within a mile of Widnes, some injured by fumes. and others showing natural decay. The former were marked by black and blue metallic spots. Under the microscope those injured by fumes could be easily distinguished. The metallic particles (especially iron) contained in the dust deposited as soot is acted on by sulphuretted hydrogen and converted into sulphides, which on leaves (or ice) are observed as metallic-looking blue spots. These sulphides are principally observed on damp mornings; they rapidly oxidize and are converted into sulphates, which are corrosive and leave brown spots on the leaves.

[Microscopical and Natural History Section.]

Ordinary Meeting, March 9th, 1896.

JOHN BOYD, Esq., President of the Section, in the Chair.

Mr. ROGERS referred to the plant exhibited at the last meeting as having been gathered in Chili, and stated that it had been examined by Mr. Leo Grindon and

Professor Weiss, who expressed the opinion that it belonged to the Composita, and was near akin to the Pterygopappus Lawrencia, of Tasmania. The fact that it was not in flower or fruit made exact identification almost impossible.

Mr. ROGERS also exhibited 17 new species of land shells of the Family Achatinellina, from the Hawaiian Islands, which have been recently described and figured by Mr. Baldwin in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, for 1895.

Mr. CUNLIFFE exhibited several slides of diatoms from Siberia and Istria, under the microscope.

Mr. BoyD exhibited sections of the earth-worm under the microscope.

Mr. J. C. MELVILL, M.A., F.L.S., exhibited specimen of Plusia moneta Febr., a striking addition to our English lists, which has during the past five years been making itself at home in our southern counties, more particularly Kent. Mr. M. M. Phipps, of Tunbridge Wells, has been fortunate enough to breed some fine specimens from the egg, he having on two occasions netted 's, and he forwarded Mr. Melvill four specimens in fresh condition. One he gave to the Manchester Museum at Owens College; the other three were exhibited.

For comparison Mr. MELVILL showed the other Plusia in his British and European collection, amounting in all to 23 species, and a few exotic moths of the same genus, likewise showing that the inhabitants of the more temperate climes are more beautifully marked, as touching this genus, than the tropical. P. mya (V. argenteum) and P. dives from Russia are amongst the most beautiful Noctua known.

Ordinary Meeting, March 3rd, 1896.

HENRY WILDE, F.R.S., President, in the Chair.

The thanks of the meeting were voted to the donors of the books upon the table.

Professor SCHUSTER, F.R.S., gave an account of experiments which have been carried on in the Physical Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, showing the shifting of the lines in the spectrum of a metal due to pressure; and also exhibited photographs taken by means of the Röntgen rays of a child's hand and of the leg of a frog, which latter showed that the leg had been broken and had healed.

Mr. D. E. PACKER gave a supplementary account of his attempts to photograph the sun's corona by means of a pin-hole camera with metallic screens over the sensitive plate, and exhibited further photographs of the results obtained.

Ordinary Meeting, March 17th, 1896.

Professor OSBORNE REYNOLDS, M.A., LL.D, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

The thanks of the members were voted to the donors of the books upon the table.

Dr. SCHUSTER, F.R.S., warned the members against placing too much reliance on published experiments with the Röntgen rays, on the ground that many single observations made known had not been confirmed by further investigations. Conclusions have been too hastily drawn, and, therefore, have not been subsequently justified. It seems, however, to be established that there is an accumulation of evidence of a real state of oscillatory motion; and that there may be a kind of phosphorescence,

as the rays appear to be found in some phosphorescent states of natural substances, but not in the solar rays or in the electric arc. A discussion ensued, in which Professor DIXON, Professor REYNOLDS, and Mr. W. THOMSON took part.

Dr. SCHUSTER also described experiments of his own, from which he has found that it is impossible to keep an electroscope charged when a beam of the Röntgen rays is passing at a distance of about 1 inch from the plate.

Ordinary Meeting, March 31st, 1896.

HENRY WILDE, F.R.S., President, in the Chair.

The thanks of the members were voted to the donors of the books upon the table.

Mr. C. L. BARNES, M.A., showed a method of producing Lissajous' curves by drawing a sine-curve on a sheet of celluloid, which is then bent into a cylinder of varying diameter. He also exhibited a specimen of writing by the telautograph, an instrument for copying writings and drawings at a distance by electricity.

Mr. THORPE showed a diffraction grating on speculum metal by Professor Rowland, of Johns Hopkins University, which divides the helium line in the solar spectrum.

Mr. W. E. HOYLE, M.A., exhibited some fine butterflies of the genus Papilio, presented to the Manchester Museum by Lieut. Ellis Leech and other travellers in the West of Africa; as well as a series of the land shells of the Sandwich Islands, almost the whole of which belong to the family Achatinellida. This group is almost peculiar to these islands, where it presents many slightly different varieties, each valley often possessing its own. A discussion on questions of mimicry and other matters suggested by the specimens followed.