Societies and Academies

Abstract

SYDNEY Royal Society of New South Wales, June 2.—Chr. Rolleston, C.M.G., President, in the chair.—Papers read:—A new species of Ardisia from New Guinea, by Baron Ferd. von Mueller, K.C.M.G., F.R. S., descriptive of the only specimen as yet found so far north.—A comparison of the dialects of East and West Polynesia, Malay, Malagasy, and Australian, by the Rev. George Pratt, author of a dictionary of the Samoan lan-guage. This was a valuable contribution towards a polyglot of the languages of Polynesia, some of which have already passed away, and most of which are changing through the introduction of new words and the rapid intermingling of various races. The Royal Society of New South Wales was urged to take steps to preserve these records and customs not only of Polynesia, but of the fast-diminishing tribes of Australia.—The discovery of a poison in three species of Daphnandra, a genus of plants of the order Monimiaceae, by T. L. Bancroft, M.B. (Edin.), F.L.S. (Brisbane).—On some new poisonous substances discovered on the Johnstone River, North Queensland, also by Dr. Bancroft. These papers were descriptive of experiments of the therapeutic action on the guinea-pig.—Prof. Liversidge, F. R. S., exhibited and described: (1) a meteorite, the third one known to be found in New South Wales, composed of iron principally, nickel, cobalt, nilphur, phosphorus, and carbon; (2) the matrix of the rock of the tin deposits of Tasmania, in which the cementing material is topaz; (3) a collection of New South Wales silver ores (38 specimens), collected by Mr. McGarvie Smith; (4) shale from the Hawkesbury sandstone showing worm tracks and perforations, the first time noticed in these rocks.—Mr. Lawrence Hargrave exhibited a model illustrating the undu-latory motion of serpents, based upon the trichoidal plane, a continuation of similar studies by him on the motion of fishes and the flight of birds.