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310 the work of the Society if we were called together rather oftener. I think if we were called together every quarter, instead of once a year, it would create a much greater interest in the work than letting matters stand over until a whole year has elapsed. Speaking of snow, I arrived in Jerusalem in deep snow in the middle of March, 1880, and going right out to Bethlehem there was deep snow the whole of the way.

—I should like to say one word before the Report is passed, and that is with regard to Mr. Bliss. I think we are extremely fortunate in having a man like Mr. Bliss. He has learned the work of excavation under Professor Petrie, who really is what one may almost call a born excavator. Mr. Bliss carries out his work in a thoroughly scientific manner, and one very good point about his excavations is that they are remarkably economical. All his work is done extremely well, and it is very satisfactory to find that within the first week he came upon the remains of a tower, which is really the only portion of Jewish masonry which has ever been uncovered in Jerusalem, excepting the wall round the Temple area. With regard to the snow that Professor Hull has mentioned, snow falls on an average three years out of every five in Jerusalem.

The Report was then adopted, and entered upon the Minutes. —The rainfall at Jerusalem at the present moment is in a doubtful state. We cannot say whether the climate is changing or whether it is merely a cycle. The remarkable thing is, that you have here two years with the greatest and least rain, but I think we are just about at the apex now, and apparently we are inclined to turn and come down. As to the productiveness increasing, I fear it will not, because in December we have enough rain to wash the seed all out of the ground, and the curious thing is that in other years, in December, we have less than an inch. When there is little rain in the autumn it is terrible for the agriculturist. The ground is dry, and it cannot be fit for the reception of seed; whilst in wet years it is all washed out of the ground. However, it is a matter of very deep interest, and it will extend its influence far beyond Palestine. We are indebted very greatly to our officers for work they have done. Certainly we are indebted to our Treasurer, who not only receives the money, but keeps an account of it. He is an accountant, and goes through every item in the year, which is a very heavy piece of work. I know it, because in the absence of the Treasurer I have done it myself, and therefore I am thankful to any on<! who takes the deep interest in our work that Mr. Morrison does; so that I am sure, in asking you to accord a vote of thanks to him you will do so very cheerfully. (The thanks were accorded.) Then comes Mr. Besant. He is a very busy man, but at more than half the meetings I attend he is present, and assists us in every way. Mr. Armstrong is always here, and apparently never tired, and really, gentlemen, the work of the office is very heavy—very heavy, indeed—and it is kept up very well by Mr. Armstrong. I should like, therefore, to move that we recognise the labours of Mr.


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Rh Besant and Mr. Armstrong, by also giving them a vote of thanks. (Applause.) Then we have the Editor of the Quarterly Statement. I can only say that each number seems to be more interesting than its predecessor, and that is saying a great deal. I feel sure there is not a gentleman here but who, when he receives it, sits down and reads it through. And so, to our Editor, also, I should like our warm thanks to be given for his labours. (Applause.) Then, there are two whose labours we must recognise in Palestine. Mr. Bliss has twenty persons now under him, and there is a great deal of work to be done in removing earth, and so on. He is working with great energy, and I am sure you will accord to him your encouragement, by giving to him our very hearty thanks for doing his best—and "He who does his best does nobly." (Applause.) Then there is Mr. Schick. He has had a busy life, and is now something more than 70 years of age, but he will not let age check him. As long as he can work he will work, and, as is stated in the Report, he has sent some interesting information to us. I am sure you will also thank him. (Applause.) There now only remains the election of the Executive Committee.

—I have much pleasure in moving the election of the Executive Committee.

—I beg to second that.

—The Committee recommended that Canon Dalton should also be elected on the Executive Committee. He has been on the General Committee for a long time, and I suppose I may consider, in the vote I am now putting, that he is included in the Executive Committee.

The resolution was then Passed.

—I think that concludes our business to-day. A suggestion has been made about calling us together more frequently, and no doubt the more frequently we meet the better. The remarks which have been made will be reported to the Executive Committee, but they are all busy men, and I fear if we were to give them very much more work they might break away. However, I will report what has been said to the Executive Committee and see if something cannot be done in respect to that.

—Gentlemen, it is our duty and pleasure to vote our sincere thanks to our Chairman. Old age, when it is honourably carried, as our distinguished Chairman bears it, is called the green old age, but I think the white old age is just as beautiful. So far as his merits are concerned it would be great presumption on my part to speak of them, and to try to become eloquent in order to praise a name, the very mention of which in connection with our Society is the best commendation the Society can have. We are always delighted to hear the excellent and apposite remarks which fall from our Chairman, and everyone who comes here, and all those who cannot come here, look with the utmost admiration upon the man who fulfils the saying which appears in the 30th chapter of the Book

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312 of the Proverbs, "It is he that went up towards Heaven and went down again." I believe Mr. Glaisher has solved many scientific problems, but he has done more, he has brought together the lovers of Palestine and he keeps them together, and it is because we owe him a boundless debt of gratitude that I propose that our most cordial thanks be given to him.

Admiral —I have great pleasure in seconding that motion. I quite endorse all that has been said of the efficiency of our worthy Chairman, and I think we are very happy in having such a staunch friend, a man of scientific acquirements, which are so conducive to the success of this Society.

The resolution having been heartily carried,

replied: Gentlemen, I thank you very much indeed for your appreciation. It certainly does stimulate one to do one's best—although I have done my best hitherto. I am getting old in years it is true, but I do not feel very old in my mental powers; when that time comes I shall resign at once, you may depend upon it. You know that I am older than Mr. Gladstone—I was born in the same year, but it was nine months before he was. It is true that I stand unique in respect to that ascent of seven miles in a balloon, but fresh problems are presenting themselves, and there is yet a great deal to be done in respect to the balloon. The Russian Government, I believe, will take it up; the German Government are taking it up earnestly, and only last month two professors called upon me to repeat the observations I made. England is too small a country for balloon experiments. I went down to Lord Wrottesley's place near Wolverhampton, in order to be in the centre of the country, and he said to me, "Mind where you are going—yon will be in the 'Wash' before you know where you are." We went right above the clouds and were very quickly over the "Wash," and had it not been for the breeze blowing on the land, we should have gone right into the water. That shows how difficult it is to conduct balloon experiments in this country. But the Germans are going at it in a systematic way, and it is very likely the experiments I have made may be repeated. I thank you very much indeed for coming here to-day. I long to know what is hidden below the ground at Jerusalem, and I hope that I may meet you all when some of these important discoveries have been made. There is one to whom I am very much indebted, and that is Sir Charles Wilson. He knows so much about Jerusalem, and has kindly undertaken to aid Mr. Bliss with his valuable advice and direction. I am sure that a Society surrounded by such earnest men cannot fail to do credit to itself, and to do good to the would at large.

The meeting then concluded.


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The Moths of the British Isles/Chapter 5

About seventy-two species, referred to this family, are known to occur in various parts of the Palæarctic region; ten of these are found in our islands. The Black V-moth (Leucoma v-nigrum or Arctornis l-album) has been reported as British, but if the few examples that have been recorded were natives, the species has long since disappeared from this country.

Some of the caterpillars, as, for example, those of the Brown and Yellow-tails, are not altogether pleasant to handle, as the hairs with which they are covered have a disagreeable trick of transferring themselves to our hands, whence they find their way to our face, and when there are apt to set up most unpleasant irritation and swelling of the parts affected. These urticating hairs are more troublesome when received from the caterpillar or cocoon, but those from the moth itself communicate a very respectable simulation of the skin trouble known to the doctor as Urticaria.

The male of this species, and also of the next, flies in the sunshine, but the female of each is wingless, or nearly so, and has to remain at home on the cocoon from which she emerged. Here she lays a large number of eggs, from four to five hundred, upon the exterior. The eggs of this species are whitish and rather glossy when first laid; the top is sunken. Apart from the deeper brown colour of the fore wings and the blacker hind wings, the male of this species has a white mark near the tip of each fore wing, and this character will distinguish it from the same sex of the Common Vapourer.

The caterpillar is blackish with star-like tufts of hair, white on the back and greyish on the sides; on rings four to seven are brushes of brown hairs; a pencil of black hair on side of the first ring pointing forward, and a thicker one on the back of ring eleven directed backward; the interrupted stripes along the back and sides are reddish orange, approaching vermilion; those along the back are united in front of the pencil on ring eleven, and those of the sides unite behind the pencil. Head glossy, black. The foliage of sallow, willow, and oak, is perhaps the more usual food, but it has been known to eat beech, elm, hawthorn, sloe, and nut, and has been found on meadow-sweet. The chrysalis is brown, inclining to yellowish between the rings, and the back is hairy; enclosed in a cocoon spun up among leaves or in any suitable cranny. The male and female moths are figured on Plate 40 (Fig. 3, 5), and the caterpillar and chrysalis on Plate 41.

The moths emerge in June, and from their eggs caterpillars result in July. These, feeding up quickly, attain the perfect state in late July or early August. Caterpillars from this second generation usually go into hibernation when quite small, and feed up in the following April and May; in confinement they may, however, get through their metamorphosis and reach the moth state in September or October. Sometimes it happens that a part of the summer brood of caterpillars will feed up straight away and produce moths in August; others, feeding and growing more slowly, assume the winged state in November; whilst a third portion will remain small and go into hibernation.

This very local species used to be obtained in the Wimbledon district, but it has not been seen there for some years past. Other localities for it are the Norfolk and Cambridge fens, Bewdley Forest in Shropshire, and Wyre Forest, Worcestershire; it is also found in some parts of Devonshire, Suffolk, Essex, and Yorks. Its range abroad extends through Northern and Central Europe, southward to North Spain, Piedmont, and Corsica, and eastward to Amurland, Corea, and Japan.

The male has the wings rather more ample than the same sex of the last species, the colour is a more ochreous red and there is a large white spot at the lower angle of the fore wings, but no white mark at the tips of these wings. Specimens from the north of England are rather darker than southern examples. In the course of temperature experiments it has been noted that the colour of the moth is darkened if the chrysalids are put in a refrigerator for a few weeks, and then brought into a mean temperature of 40° Fahr. In the female the appendages representing wings are somewhat larger than those of the female of the Scarce Vapourer, but are quite useless as organs of flight (Plate 40, Figs. 4, 6).

In general colour the caterpillar is violet or smoky grey; the markings on the back comprise a creamy, red-dotted line along the middle area, this is edged with black, and on each side of it is a series of raised red spots; the broken line along the sides is yellowish, and the four brushes of hair on the back are yellow, sometimes merging into brown above; the pencils of longer hairs are blackish on the ring nearest the head, and dark grey or brownish on the last ring. It may be found through the summer on the leaves of most trees and bushes. Chrysalis blackish, glossy, and rather hairy. The cocoons are spun up in the crevices of bark on tree trunks, or in the fork of a twig, under the eaves of an out-house or shed, on palings and fences, etc. The hairs of the caterpillar are mixed with the silk of the cocoon; the female lays her pale brownish eggs, which are minutely pitted and have a darker ring below the sunken top, on the outside of the cocoon, and there they remain through the winter.

Generally distributed throughout the United Kingdom, but not so common in Ireland as in England and Scotland. It is quite a Cockney insect, and is found in almost every part of the Metropolis where there are a few trees. Occurs practically over the whole of Europe, and in North-east Asia Minor, Armenia, Siberia, Amurland, and North America.

The figures of the sexes of this species on Plate 40 represent the dark grey form. Sometimes the forewings are whitish grey and occasionally slaty grey; the cross lines may be stronger or fainter, and in some specimens are nearly absent; the yellowish colour usually seen on the cross lines may be missing, or, on the other hand, other parts of the wings may be stippled with yellowish. Laying her eggs in batches, the female carefully covers them with dark brown hairs from the tuft at the end of her body.

The caterpillar (Plate 41, Fig. 4) is blackish, with star-like tufts of hairs, yellow, mixed with longer blackish ones towards the head and tail, brownish grey on the middle portion; a brush of black hairs on rings four, five, and eleven, and of white hairs on six, seven, and eight. Head black. When full grown (Plate 42, Fig. 3) the hairs of the body are greyish, and those of the brushes on the back are black flanked with white. When disturbed it rolls in a ring. It feeds on hawthorn, and various species of Salix, also on broom and ling. It hibernates when still small, in a silken cocoon-like envelope which it spins in the fork of a branch, or among the twigs of a bush; growth is completed in April or May, and the winged state attained in June or July. Sometimes the young caterpillars have been found in their winter quarters about the middle of July, and this would seem to imply that they occasionally lie dormant for two winters; at least this would appear to be so in Scotland whence such individuals have been recorded, with the additional information that they did not eat through the summer and that one was still alive in the following March. The chrysalis is glossy black, and hairy (Plate 42, Fig. 3a).

This is chiefly a northern insect, occurring most commonly on the Cheshire, Lancashire, and Cumberland coast. It is more generally distributed in Scotland and is often abundant on the moorlands. In Ireland three caterpillars were found by Mr. Kane in the Bog of Allen, and the species has also been recorded from Tullamore and Mullingar. Distribution: Northern and Central Europe, extending to the Altai.

This moth is much commoner and more widely distributed in England than that last mentioned. The central area of the greyish white fore wings is subject to variation in width and also in tint; this latter may be darker or lighter than the example shown on Plate 40, and the cross lines are in some specimens black and very distinct. The colour of the female ranges from pale greyish white through various tones of grey, and the bands on the hind wings may be as well defined as in the male. Black males of the species have been recorded.

The hairy caterpillar is green or yellow, the former mottled with whitish and the latter with greenish; on rings 4 to 7 are thick brushes of yellow hairs, and on ring 11 there is a tuft of reddish hair; the back is marked with black between the brushes, and there are black spots on the sides of the hind rings. Sometimes the caterpillar is light or dark brownish and the brushes are then greyish, or tinged with pale reddish or blackish. Altogether it is a pretty creature, and as it is, or was previous to the modern "washing," common in hop gardens at picking time, it was christened the "hop dog." It may be found from July to September on the foliage of birch, hazel, oak, and many other trees, as well as on hop. The moth appears in May and June, and rests by day on herbage, especially on bracken in woods (see Fig. 6, p. 7); at night it comes readily to light, but specimens so obtained are generally of the female sex.

It is most at home in the southern portion, but occurs throughout England and Wales, to Cumberland. Only doubtfully recorded from Scotland, but in Ireland it has occurred in Galway, Kerry, Waterford, Cork, and Wicklow.

Distribution: Central and Northern Europe eastward to North-east China and Japan.

Although sometimes found in the East and West of England, and even in Yorkshire and Durham, this appears to be essentially a coast species in Britain, and confined at that to Kent and Sussex, the former especially. Even in these favoured localities where it is usually abundant, it is, however, not always in evidence. The moths sit about at the end of July and early August on leaves of hawthorn, sloe, sea-buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides), and wild rose, generally on the underside. Near the females will be found batches of eggs, which are covered with "fur" from the anal tuft of the female. The caterpillars hatch out in August, and while still very small go into hibernation in a common nest. In the spring, when active again, they construct a new habitation, and another or perhaps two more before they are full grown, about June. The chrysalis is very dark, almost blackish-brown, with tufts of hair, and the fairly substantial brownish cocoon in which it is enclosed is composed of silk and caterpillar hairs, and is spun up on the food-plant, often singly, but not infrequently, several are made up in a common silken covering.

The caterpillar is blackish with brownish warts, each bearing a tuft of brownish hairs; a row of tufts of white downy scales on each side of the back of rings four to eleven; the central line on the back is black, edged on each side by a red line of variable width from rings six to ten; a vermillion round spot on nine and ten. Head blackish.

The moth is shown on Plates 43, 45, and the caterpillar on Plate 42, Fig. 1.

Distribution, Central and South Europe to North-west Africa and Asia Minor.

In 1897 an appeal was made to British entomologists to refrain from taking many specimens of this species; while American entomologists were seeking power to compel local authorities to suppress the Brown-tail, which about that time was a new, and no doubt introduced, insect pest in the State of Massachusetts.

The male has usually only one black mark on the fore wings, but sometimes there are two, as seen in Fig. 5, Plate 43; more rarely there is a dot or two towards the tips of the wings. The habit of the moth is to sit upon the foliage of bushes and the branches of trees, where it might easily be passed over for a fluffy white feather; occasionally it may be found on palings or even iron railings. About dark it is on the wing, and light has then a great attraction for it. The caterpillar is black with black and grey hairs; a vermillion stripe down the middle of the back has a black central line, and is expanded on rings four, eleven, and twelve; along each side there are tufts of snowy white fluffy scales; the back of rings four, five, and eleven is velvety black and slightly raised, especially on ring four. Head black and glossy.

The caterpillars hatch from the eggs, which are laid in batches, in August, hibernate, each in a silken case, and recommence feeding in the spring (Plate 42, Figs. 1, 1a). In May, when nearly full grown, they separate and are then common objects on hawthorn hedges in many districts. They also feed on the foliage of oak, beech, birch, sallow, rose, apple, pear, and other fruit trees. Sometimes a nearly fully mature caterpillar has been found in August, this has pupated and produced a moth the same year. The chrysalis is rather hairy and of a brownish colour; the cocoon is similar to that of the last species. In late June and through July the moth is generally common throughout the Southern part of England, and as far northwards as Lancashire and Yorkshire. It has been very rarely seen in Scotland, and not at all in Ireland.

Distribution, Central and South-eastern Europe, extending to Amurland, China, Corea, and Japan.

This insect (Plate 45) was formerly abundant in some parts of fenland, and was first met with, as a British species, at Whittlesea Mere about 1819 or 1820. It was subsequently found in Yaxley and Burwell fens. Up to 1860 it continued to occur freely in all stages, but by 1865 larvæ at a shilling per dozen, the price at which they had been sold by the reed cutters, were no longer obtainable, and they became so scarce that in the year 1871 or thereabouts, only two caterpillars were seen. The species was at that time seemingly on the decline, but a year or two later a good many males were attracted by the rays of a powerful lamp that had been set up at Wicken. Then the moths became fewer and fewer until at last, somewhere about 1880, even the lamps would not draw a single specimen, and soon it appeared probable that the last of the Reed Tussock had been seen in the fens, its only known habitat in Britain.

Caterpillar, dusky with a blackish stripe along the middle of the back; the raised dots are ochreous grey with pale yellowish brown hairs arising from them; there are four brushes of yellow hairs on the back, bunches of long hairs on the first ring extended over the brownish head, and a pencil of similar hairs on ring eleven directed backward. The food plants given are bur-reed (Sparganium), Stephens; Cladium mariscus, Barrett, and reed (Phragmites communis). Stephens states that the caterpillar and the moth were found at the end of July and beginning of August, but other authorities give August to June for the caterpillar, and July for the moth. The caterpillar described above, and of which a figure is given on Plate 44, was obtained, together with eggs and cocoon, from Dr. Staudinger and Bang Haas, of Dresden. All are preserved examples.

Abroad this species is found in Northern Germany and France, Hungary, Bulgaria, Amurland, China, Corea, and Japan.

The English name of this species dates back to about 1773, and is a very suitable one for it, the fore wings being especially glossy and satin-like. It seems to be less generally distributed over the country than formerly, but it is still common in most years, and in many places; more particularly in the south of England, and on the Lancashire coast. Even yet it occurs in the suburbs of London, and on the southern side is sometimes not uncommon. In Scotland it appears to be rare; Barrett mentions it from Aberdeen, Pitcaple, Inverurie, Peterhead, and Ayrshire. Kane states that in Ireland the species, so far as he knew, only occurred in a locality near Ahascragh.

The caterpillar, which is hairy and variegated with reddish and black and white, may be recognised by the large bright white marks on the back. It is often seen in the daytime on the boles or branches of poplars, as well as on the foliage. It frequently falls a victim to the parasitical flies, and it is probably due to these enemies that the species is less common in some years than in others. Besides poplar, it will feed upon sallow and willow. Hibernating when quite tiny, it reappears in April, and, feeding up, is ready to enter the chrysalis state in June or July, when it spins a flimsy silken cocoon among the leaves, or in some suitable cranny on the tree or bush. The moth is shown on Plate 43, Fig. 6, and the caterpillar and chrysalis on Plate 44, Fig. 2, 2a.

The moth emerges in July or August, and may be found resting on or under the leaves, and on stems and branches of the trees upon which the caterpillar fed, or on palings, etc., adjacent thereto.

Distribution, Northern and Central Europe, Iberia, Corsica, Italy, Balkan Peninsula, South-east Russia, North-east Asia Minor, and Armenia. In the Far East, including China, Corea, and Japan, it is represented by the var. candida, Staud.

Up to some sixty-five years ago, this species (Plate 46, Figs. 1 ♂, 2 ♀) seems to have flourished in a wild state in the fens of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, and also in Huntingdonshire. Just how long it had been common in those localities history does not inform us, but about 1792 Donovan was unable to obtain a native specimen to figure. Stephens, however, writing in 1828 states that at that time it abounded in the Huntingdonshire fens. "It is said," he remarks "to have been introduced into Britain by eggs imported by Mr. Collinson, but the abundance with which it occurs near Whittlesea, and the dissimilarity of the indigenous specimens (which are invariably paler, with stronger markings) to the foreigner, sufficiently refute that opinion." There appears to be no doubt that some time near 1840 the Gipsy moth began to decrease in numbers, and that about 1850 it had almost or quite ceased to exist, as a wildling, in England. At the present time, and probably since the date last mentioned, the species has been semi-domesticated, and so reared year by year, at first possibly direct from the original wild stock, but afterwards from fresh stock derived from eggs of foreign origin. Futile attempts have been made to re-establish the species in various parts of England, and also in Ireland. Such failure is curious, seeing that in America the accidental introduction of a few moths has resulted in the species becoming so numerous that at least one state has been expending thousands of dollars in endeavouring to destroy it. The eggs are laid in batches and covered with the down-like scales from the anal tuft of the female.

The caterpillar hatches in April, and in warm weather feeds up pretty quickly. It is grey, covered with black dots and fine marks; the hairs arising in spreading tufts from the raised warts, are longer on the sides than on the back; these warts on the back on each side of the pale central line are bluish on rings one to five, and reddish thence to eleven. Head, pale brown marked with black. Feeds on the foliage of most fruit trees, also on oak, elm, sallow, hawthorn, and sloe.

Chrysalis rather hairy, brownish in colour, in a fairly strong silken cocoon, which is spun up in any suitable angle.

The moths appear in August, and there is a striking difference in the size and coloration of the sexes. The male is pale or greyish brown, lined and clouded with darker brown on the fore wings, and the female is whitish with brownish cross lines, and a black central V-mark on the fore wings.

Distributed over the whole of the Palæarctic Region, except the most northern, and, as adverted to, it has now become a pest in parts of North America.

Two examples of each sex of this moth are figured on Plate 46, and these show the normal form of the species; the central markings of the fore wings vary in width and intensity, and in some specimens the whole of the central area is more or less filled up with black or sooty black. Sometimes the wings are partially suffused with blackish, and the normal markings are consequently somewhat obscured. Examples wholly suffused with black are referable to var. eremita, a form not uncommon on the continent, and modifications of it are found in a wild state in this country. By selecting parents showing a tendency to vary in the direction of this dark form, it has been found possible to obtain a good percentage of darkened specimens, some of them closely approximating to var. eremita.

The early stages are figured on Plate 47.

The eggs of this species are laid in August in the chinks of bark on tree trunks, and do not hatch until the spring.

Caterpillar, whitish varying to greyish, a deep brown stripe along the middle of the back with an irregular black line on each side of it; the stripe is interrupted by a whitish or greyish patch on rings seven to nine; on ring two there is a black mark, and occasionally red dots appear on eight and nine; black dots on the back and sides are furnished with hairs. Head, brownish marked with a paler tint. It feeds from April to July on the leaves of oak and various other trees, including apple and pine.

The chrysalis, which is enclosed in a somewhat transparent silken cocoon spun up in a fissure of the bark, is brownish, hairy, and has a very glossy metallic appearance.

The moth emerges at the end of July and in August. It flies at night, and may be seen resting by day on the trunks of trees. Although it occurs in most of the counties of England from Yorkshire southwards, and in some parts of Wales, it is nowhere so often met with as in the New Forest, Hants.

Distribution, Central Europe extending to parts of Northern Europe, and southwards to North Italy and Greece, and eastwards to Ussuri and Japan.


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 (glass bulbs floating in a vessel of water), that puzzled many philosophers; in 1649 he sent one of these to Athanasius Kircher and one to Raphael Magiotti at Rome, with a challenge to explain the paradox, and both the Roman scientists published correct solutions. These instruments, of both the closed and the open forms, found many imitators, Guericke, Kircher, Dalencé, and Pasumot, but are not sufficiently accurate for thermometrical purposes.

In 1657 Ferdinand II, of Tuscany, and his brother, Prince Leopold de Medici, made a most valuable contribution to physical science in promoting the establishment in Florence of a society destined to become famous. The Accademia del Cimento, as its name indicates, was founded for the express purpose of ascertaining by experiment the facts and laws of nature; it numbered only nine members, most of them pupils of Galileo (who had died in 1642), besides a few foreign correspondents, and they devoted themselves to experimental research for truth's sake, taking as their motto "Provando e Riprovando." They did not even seek personal renown, for the results of their investigations were published in the name of the academy only, no individual being


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. The meetings were held in the palace of Prince Leopold, who also presided. The ecclesiastical authorities did not, however, approve of the enterprise, and the same power that persecuted Galileo caused the academy to be dissolved after ten years of useful activity.

The results or the members' joint researches were published in 1667 in a volume fascinating to the historian of science; the "Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento," which was translated into Latin and into English, the latter by Richard Waller, F.R.S., and published at London in 1684; this edition is the one used in these chapters.

Five instruments for measuring heat were described by the academy:

I. The first is described as a long tube having a spherical bulb and closed with "Hermes' seal" at the flame of a lamp. The tube is filled with "spirit of wine up to a certain mark on the neck, so that the simple cold of