Abstract
LONDON Mineralogical Society, October 21.—Anniversary meeting. —The Rev. Prof. Bonney, F. R. S., President, in the chair.— The Hon. Sec., Mr. R. H. Scott, read the Report of the Council.—The scrutineers reported that the following were elected Officers and Council:—President: Rev. Prof. T. G. Bonney, D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S., K.S.A., Pres.G.S.; Vice-Presidents: Rev. S. Haughton, M.D., F.R.S., W. H. Hudleston, J.P., F.R.S.; Council: T. W. Danby, M.A., F.G.S., J. J. Dobbie, D. Sc., L. Fletcher, M.A., Prof. W. J. Lewis, M.A.; Treasurer: R. P. Greg, F.G.S., &c.; General Secretary: R. H. Scott, M.A., F.R.S.; Foreign Secretary: T. Davies, F.G.S.—The President delivered an address, in which he congratulated the Society on the satisfactory character of the Report just presented by the Council. This mentioned three topics, all for congratulation: First, it announced that the fusion of the Society with the Crystallological, thanks to the good offices of the Honorary Secretary, had been accomplished. Next, it announced that the finances of the Society, which three years ago were in a condition far from satisfactory, were now restored to a healthy tone. Lastly, it spoke of the great success which had attended the meeting held in Edinburgh last June. He trusted that in future one of the meetings of the Society would always be held in Scotland. He then proceeded to criticise two defects which in his opinion existed in systematic mineralogy as set forth by many authors. To some extent these were questions of nomenclature, but in his opinion they involved questions of principle. The one was the extreme proneness of mineralogists to give distinctive names to slight and often very ill-defined varieties of existing species, thus leading students to mental habits of dissociation rather than of correlation. The other at first sight appeared exactly the converse of this, namely, the laxity with which certain substances were classed as minerals. For instance, obsidian, pitchstone, &c., were often placed in text-books under the head of ortho-clasc feldspar, but they could not be brought under any received definition of a mineral. He pointed out how, in consequence as he believed, of the defective habits of reasoning thus engendered, the contributions to petrology, even of skilled mineralogists, were sometimes of little value.-Mr. R. H. Solly read a paper on five specimens of lilac calcite from Tankerville Mine, Salop.-Mr. Semmons read some further notes on "Euargite."-M. Guyot de Grandmaison exhibited a very fine crystal of "Parisite."-Mr. Rucller and Mr. T. Davies also exhibited several interesting minerals.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 30, 650–652 (1884). https://doi.org/10.1038/030650b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/030650b0