The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-15 00:00:00

SMITH

£. s. £. s.
Lowland Mead. Hay 3 3to 4 0
Upland Ditto 4 0 5 0
Rye-grass Hay 4O• 5 0
New Meadow Hay 315 4 5
A good supply, and a very dul

MEDICO-BOTA

Yesterday evening a Meeting of this Society was held a
the Committee Rooms, No. 32, Sackville-street, Sir
JAMES IWGercon, President of the Society, in the Chair.
The Minutes of last meeting having been read and con-
firmed, and the usual routine business disposed of, a consi-
derable number of highly respectable individuals were bal-
loted for and admitted as Members.
Mr. FROST, the Society's Professor of Botany, then di-
rected the attention' of the meeting to a number of valuable
and interesting donatiout made to the society by several
scientific gentlemen, animadverting on each with his usual
ability ; amongst the donations was a collection of drawings
of Cape, and another of East India, plants, the latter pre-
sented by Mr. Colebrook, a gentleman well known
for his literary as. well as botanical knowledge, cones
silted of nearly 600 exquisite drawings of exotic and
other pleats, many of which had hitherto been butrlittle,
if at all known in England. Mr. Frost next -gale
an interesting account of the Cow_ Tree ( Gdiacto
ternlron utik) of Caraccas, the juice of which is a sueceda-
nerrin- for milk to the inhabitants of that part of the world,
and no bad sucedaneuui neither, the 'milk having, said Mr.
F., the-taste-of-sweet cream, and even after a long voyage
it tasted by no means unpalatable.
A coupled of poisoned arrows from the quiver of a Bosh-
man chief, with a specimen of the poison plant, were next
adverted to, and introduced an excellent Lecture on the na- 1
ture and qualities of vegetable poisons, by Mr. Sigmond, ,
Profeisor of Zexieelogy to the Society.. The Lecturer
stated that, as in the case of Opium, vegetable poisons pos-
sessed two powers—the morphine, or sedative power, and
the narcotine, or exciting power ; and that ,in the instances
of its being administered to persons in a state of idiotcy, or
to lunatics, even in large quantities, little or,no effect was
produced, whilst on those endowed with reason it had, as
every one knew, the moat baneful results.—(Applause.)
Mr. FROST again addressed the meeting, and begged to
read a letter Le had received from the Earl of Stanhope ;
the letter stated, with how much pleasure the Noble Earl
should become a member of the Society, " many of those
weeds," said the Noble writer, "which we consider noxious,
were no doubt intended by an All-wise Providence for the
'good of mankind, and it was only by the efforts of such an
association as the Medico-Botanical Society of London that
their ends could be ascertained."—(Much applause.)—
Mr. F. continued, he had had he said an interview with
Lord William Cavendish Bentinck, who had promised to
promote the views of the Society in India ; Prince Ester-
hazy had also notified his intention of becoming a member.
The CHAIRMAN congratulated the Meeting on the rising
respectability of the Society, but not so much on,the rank
of its new members, as on the advantage the Society
would reap from their scientific attainments ; Lord
Bentinck, he the Chairman, had known for a long
time, and lie was sure the Society would find
in bis Lordship a warm friend. Her Ladyship, too, was
much devoted to the science of botany, and no doubt would
be an excellent coadjutor with his Lordship. The Chair-
man concluded by stating, that his Royal Highness the
Duke of Cumberland had promised his exertions in aid of
the Society in the Hanoverian dominions; a similar promise
was received from Davies Gilbert, Esq.., the new President
of the Society of Arts.
Mr. FROST, as the Medico-Botanical Professor, in con-
clusion, directed the attention of the Members to a case of
" secondary symptoms," which he had treated very success-
fully by administrating a cold infusion of sarsaparilla, in-
stead of the hot, which was in common use by medical gen-
tlemen.
Thanks being voted to the various donors to the Society,
the Meeting broke up. Some rare and exceedingly beauti-
ful plants and flowers were exhibited in the room, amongst
these was a branch of the Dombeya excelsa, or Norfolk
7sland pine, and Strelizia reyina.

Newark December fair was plentifully supplied
lwithttle demand,d'aol in
be kinds
ne hgosaftd ecao Ito:weer; rk
ii:Fdapst
rioacfnetclfarostttiloner.tehebellfaaossrtts*efsawi rwe;reevreeli;a I
poor show. It was the largest December sheep fair there
has been for years, hut wanted buyers.—Nottinghain
Paper.
D READFUL EXPLOSION.--This morning,
about eleven o'clock, the inhabitants of Lambeth-walk and
its vicinity were thrown into a state of considerable alarm,
by a tremendous es:plosion, which shook every house in
that and the adjoining streets : immediately after, a dense
volume of smoke rolled along over the whole neigh-
bourhood, and for a few moments rendered even the largest
and nearest objects invisible. It was soon ascertained that
the explosion bad proceeded from premises used as a fire-
work manufactory by Mr. Sotrrnav—one of the artists in
that department, belonging to Vauxhall-gardens. The effect
of the shock on the premises where it originated was most
destructive. ' The. bricks and tiles of the walls and roof
were blown to atoms, and scattered about the neighbourhood,
the only vestige remaining being apart of the woodwork,which
was on fire, and continued to burn until the whole was con-
sumed. A workman and some boys were in the manu—
factory when the fire began. The boys escaped untouched,
and the man had his hair singed and ene side of his face
slightly scorched, but was not otherwise injured. The
house was fortunately a little detached from other buildings,
otherwise the consequences might have been dreadful in
such, a crowded neighbourhood. Some of the circum
stances attending' the explosion, were rather ludicrous in
their effects. Two or three women who were standing
' together a short distance from the
pren.,ses, were all at
once thrown on their knees, in which position they re-
mained for some time after the nature of the ex-
plosion was known, imagining as they said, that
the end of the world had arrived. Several other per-
sons in the vicinity were thrown to the ground by the
violent concussion, but as far as we could.learn they were,
all more frightened than hurt. The shock was felt
throughout the whole of Kennington, and as far down as
Weitmizater-bridge, We 01114 not learn, how it originated.