The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-18 00:00:00

Sir JOHN lIERSCHEL being called upon by the Presi-
dent, addressed the meeting at some length.
The Rey. Dr. ROBINSON also addressed the meeting,
and alluded to the extraordinary visitation of comets
during the past two years. Their number was so great
that on one night he had been able to point out to some
of his friends who visited the Armagh Observatory no
less than five comets. A remarkable fact, which ap-
peared to have some connexion with the discovery of Mr.
Grove, is that the comets when coming from their an-
nelion appear like small stars surrounded by the cloudy
envelope or coma from which they derive their name ;
but after passing the sun the comet swells out into an
immense size, while the star or solid body considerably
decreases, and in one instance, observed by Sir John
Herchel at the Cape, appeared to have entirely dis-
appeared.
Sir JOHN FlEnscrim, remarked that one of the most
extraordinary scientific facts of the past year was that of
one of the comets having divided into tvt o, each of which
proceeded on its way alone. He would probably have
some remarks to bring before the association on this
subject at a future time.
The meeting, after hearing some explanatory remarks
from Mr. Grove, separated.
The sections, with the exception of those which had
completed their labours yesterday, all opened at eleven
o'clock this morning.
SECTION B.—CHEMISTRY.

There were six papers read at this section, but there
was only one of any general interest among them.
" On certain principles which obtain in the application
of manures. By W. C. Spooner." After alluding to
the importance of studying economy in considering the
application of chemistry to the purposes of agriculture—
a fact which chemists were but too prone to overlook—
the author dwelt on the necessity of attending to the
distinction between manures that are most essential to
the plant, and which can only be supplied by manure,
and those which are less essential and which can be pro-
cured from other sources. Whilst the compounds of
ammonia and phosphoric acid are of such value as to
well repay the expenditure of a large sum in procuring
them—the weaker manures—the alkalis, which can to a
great extent be substituted for each other, and the sili.
cotes, which ought to be realised from the soil, should only
be used as purchased manure when they canbe procured at
a low expense—particularly as they may be got from
the ashes of vegetables, or from burnt clay or other soil,
or else by the disintegration of the earth in the mecha-
nical operations of agriculture. The paper concluded
by suggesting the formation of an exclusively agricul,
tural section at the future meetings of the association.
SECTION C.—GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY.
Leonard Horner, Esq., president.
This section sat for a short time, and afterwards pro-
ceeded to visit the Artesian well on the common, near
the town. The president of the association, Sir R. Mur-
chison, announced it to be the opinion of the principal
geologists present, that as the boring had been continued
for such a considerable distance into the chalk, the
works ought to be proceeded with, with the expectation
of soon reaching the upper-green sandstone, in which
the great supply of water would be found.
SECTION D.—ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY.

Sir John Richardson, M.D., president, in the chair.
" On mould containing phosphorescent vegetables.
By the lion. W. Fox Strangways." The luminous
matter described in the paper was found attached to the
roots of some mosses on a hill near Alexandria. No at-
tempt at explaining the phenomenon was made.
Mr. BABINGTON observed that he had found the same
phosphorescence attached to precisely similar moss grow-
ing in cavities in the red sandstone of Cornwall.
On the dissimilarity in the calcifying functions of
mollusks, whose organisation is in other respects similar."
By Mr. Lovell Reeve—This was an oral communication,
and the author delivered some interesting remarks on the
physiological condition of the highest forms of mollusks,
for the purpose of showing the subordinate character of
the shell as compared with the other parts of their struc-
ture. He demonstrated that of the four shell secreting
kinds of cephalopods, the cuttle fish, the paper nautilus,
the pearly nautilus, and the spirule or ram's horn, each
exhibited a different method of forming its shell, differ-
ing as much from each other in their microscopic struc-
ture, and secreted even from different parts of their
system, although strictly allied in all those elements of
anatomical detail which constitute the soft parts or
animal frame; showing also that whilst the calcareous
portion of the cuttle fish was merely represented by an
internal bony plate, consisting mainly of carbonate of
lime, the shell of the pearly nautilus constituted a huge
mechanical apparatus, secreted from the mantle envelop-
ing the visceral mass, and consisting of two separate
deposits, an outer crust,-and an inner nacre, for the
purpose of buoying up its inhabitant under the
different mutations of pressure to which it is
subjected in its deep region of habitation. The
shell of the paper nautilus, on the other hand,
was a light elastic boat, transparent and permeable
to light, secreted only by the female for the purpose of
containing her eggs; and that in this animal the office
of calcification was transferred by some mysterious order
from the mantle to the hinder pair of arms. The spirula
was again totally different, it being contained within the
mantle of an animal far larger in proportion than that
of the other cephalopods, under circumstances which at
present remained unknown. The drawing exhibited was
taken from a living specimen recently collected at New
Zealand, for the first time in perfect condition, but as the
proprietor was unwilling that it should be dissected, Mr.
Reeve could only state that it contained a problem in the
physiological history of the cephalopods which it was
extremely desirous to solve. The next point to which
he directed the attention of the section was the curious
difference which takes place in the growth of the cowrey
and the olive, and which he had more fully communi-
cated to the Linnwan Society. When the cowrey arrived
at a certain period of its existence, the mantle divided
into two lobes, which passing out of the aperture of the
shell on either side, deposited the testaceous matter
from the outside; but the olive, which produces a shell
of almost similar appearance and external polish, com-
pleted its growth by the gradual addition of matter at
the top, secreted by the mantle, which has no further
influence over the shell after it once receded from it in
its course of retrovolution, and was held in a state of
tention by a filament or cord passing from its posterior
extremity into a narrow groove in the spire of the shell.
Other peculiarities were also demonstrated in the colours
and design of the different layers of enamel. The
author next directed his remarks to the chiton, patella,
dolium, glassy nautilus, firoles, and other mollusks, the
whole of which were illustrated by a series of beauti-
fully executed drawings on a large scale, each as in a
living condition, with its shell in situ. Mr. Reeve con-
cluded his observations by hoping that as the result of
his inquiries were in course of publication elsewhere,
we should soon see our amateur conchologists collecting
their specimens with a more philosophic spirit of inquiry
into the nature and habits of those animals of which
they merely constituted a subordinate portion. Whilst
the geologist might content himself to a certain extent
with the shells, as serving to identify that abundant issue
of imperishable medals by which he is enabled to calcu-
late the age and convulsions of the crust of our globe,
the zoologist must be satisfied with nothing short of
complete physiological analysis of the mysterious ani-
mals from which they are derived.
SECTION E.—SUBSECTION FOR ETHNOLOGY.
Dr. R. G. Latham in the chair.
1. Dr. Twining on Nekrowazezers of Bessarabia.
2. On the Inhabitants of Timor.

3. On the Inhabitants of Macassar.
4. Dr. R. G. Latham's Report on the present state of
Ethnological Philology.

►SECTION G.-MECHANICS.

The Rev. Dr. Robinson, vice-president, in the chair.
The proceedings at this section to-day were looked
forward to during the week with much anxiety, as
the new wave principle in the importont department
of naval architecture was expected to be developed. The
room was densely crowded during the meeting.
Dr. PHIPPS gave an account, which was of a most
flattering kind of the sailing powers of two sailing
yachts, built by him on the wave principle. These were
the Enchantress cutter and a smaller boat built for Dr.
Corrigan, of Dublin. In the course of his remarks he
observed that vessels of from 70 to 80 tons might be
safely cutter-rigged, but above that tonnage the enor-
mous weight and size of the mainboom would render
such a rig unwieldy and dangerous. In smaller vessels
it might be taken as a general rule that no plurality
of sails would never effectually supply the place of one
large sail.

The Rev. Dr. ROBINSCUI said, before calling on Mr.
Russell, the author of the wave system of ship building,
to explain its principles, he would offer a few preliminary
remarks on a subject involving so intimately the great-
ness and prosperity of this empire. There was a museum,
which was easy of access, kept at Somerset House, of the
models of nearly all the vessels of war that had ever been
built, and it was a most humiliating sight to perceive
that, with the exception of the celebrated ship the Great
Harry, and the Sovereign of the Seas, there was not a
single model rising higher than that of a beast of burden
in the entire, save some prizes taken from the French.
During the war it was found that French vessels could
always keep to the windward of the British ships, and
then sail away from them when they liked, and it was
solely owing to the indomitable spirit of the British
salon that so many great victories had been obtained.
The superiority of the French ships he ascribed to the
care taken by Louis XIV. to unite practical know-
ledge with superior science in this branch of national
greatness. The few good British ships that had been
constructed were made after French models, and even
in these there was such an inferiority, that a number
of small vessels, built on the plan of a celebrated
French corvette, were so bad as to be known in the
service as the forty thieves. The writers on naval archi-
tecture, with the exception of Chapman and a few more,
promulgated the most absurd rules and systems, and left
the subject without any theoretic principles whatever to
guide the builders. He would have asked the associa-
tion before this to obtain a report on the practical prin-
ciples of naval architecture, but that he really.knew no
oue to whom they could apply with a prospect of getting
a satisfactory answer. As an instance of the bad feel-
ing existing on this subject, he had only to allude to the
recent operations of the experimental squadron, where
matters of fact had been made matters of party. He
trusted, however, that at the next session of the associa-
tion some better prospect would be before them. A few