SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.

LONDON.

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Royal Society, February 11.-"Contributions to Physiology and Pathology of the Mammalian Heart." Prof. Roy, M.D., F.R.S., and J. G. Adami, M.A., M. B. The authors have spent several years in attempting to give to the study of the intact mammalian heart the accuracy which has been attained in the study of the heart of cold-blooded animals. They described two instruments which had been found by them to be of especial value: one which they term the cardiometer (a form of cardiac plethysmograph or oncograph); the other, the myocardiograph, by means of which records were obtained of the contraction and expansion of the muscle between two points upon the surface of either ventricle, or of ventricle and auricle simultaneously. They pointed out the ease wherewith cardiac tracings may be misinterpreted if certain elements of the mechanics of the heart be not constantly kept in mind. Thus, if, when the chambers of the heart become expanded, there is a lessening of the extent to which at each systole the muscle fibres contract, this does not mean that the contractile force is weakened; for with increase in the contents of the cavities of the heart there is increased strain (or weight) thrown upon the walls, and a comparatively slight diminution in the circumference of the expanded ventricle suffices to expel the same amount of blood, whose expulsion, when the ventricle is but little expanded, is accompanied by great diminution in circumference. Thus, in considering the action of the vagus upon the heart, it was shown that stimulation of this nerve does not cause loss of ventricular force of contraction. Moderate stimulation induces weakening or paralysis of the auricles, accompanied by ventricular dilatation. This dilatation is due to the increased venous and intraventricular pressure accompanying the slowed rate of beat. And though, as shown by the myocardiograph, there is now lessened systolic contraction of the ventricular wall, and also lessened output in a given time, each individual contraction leads to the expulsion of an increased quantity of blood. The only direct action of the vagus upon the ventricles, according to the authors, is a diminution of the excitability of the ventricular muscle. Upon continued fairly strong vagus excitation the auricular rhythm is weakened or inhibited, and does not suffice to set up the normal" sinus," or post-auricular rhythm of the ventricles; so for a time the ventricles usually cease to beat; but soon the independent idio-ventricular rhythm manifests itself, the same that is to be seen when, after the methods of Wooldridge or Tigerstedt, the mammalian auricles and ventricles are cut off from one another; or, again, shows itself after muscarin poisoning. Experiments of the authors and early observations of Einbrodt were mentioned proving this contention. With a certain degree of vagus excitation, irregularity of the ventricles results in consequence of the sinus and idioventricular rhythms interfering with one another. In the dog this is the common form of irregularity; probably this is also true for man.

The authors conclude that the term nervi augmentores is better and more comprehensive than that of nervi accelerantes cordis. Excitation of these nerves in the dog leads more often to augmentation in the force than in the frequence of contraction: the two effects do not by any means go hand-in-hand.

Vagus excitation relieves the heart of work, and therefore of waste, to as great an extent as is compatible with a continuance of the circulation; the vagus may therefore be looked upon as primarily the protective nerve of the heart, and secondarily it was shown to act in the interests of the central nervous system; while the presence in the sciatic and other mixed nerves of fibres which cause reflex vagus excitation would seem to indicate that the nerve may be used by other parts of the body to diminish the output of the heart, and so to reduce the activity of the circulation as a whole. The idio-ventricular mechanism must be looked upon as a means whereby arrest of the circulation-and death-is prevented when the vagus action exceeds a certain limit.

The augmentor nerves, on the other hand, increase the work and tissue waste of the heart, this organ being sacrificed for the needs of the economy until the vagus is called into play by cardiac reflex. The output is increased, and the ventricles are enabled to pump out their contents against heightened arterial blood pressure.

Other considerations dealt with by the authors were the mode of interaction of the vagi and augmentores, and factors

other than nervous affecting the force of the heart's contractions; for example, the blood pressure in the coronary arteries; changes in the volume and in the constitution of the blood, asphyxia, fatigue, and organic disease; the part played by the nerves in all these cases being especially taken into consideration.

February 25.-"The Electric Organ of the Skate: Observations on the Structure, Relations, Progressive Development, and Growth of the Electric Organ of the Skate." By J. C. Ewart, M.D., Regius Professor of Natural History, University of Edinburgh. Communicated by Prof. J. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S.

After referring to the observations of Stark, the discoverer of the skate's electric organ, and to the work of Robin, Leydig, Babuchin, and others, the author describes the arrangement of the muscles in the tail of Selachians with a view to determining which muscles in the skate are transformed into the electric organs.

By comparing the caudal muscles of Scyllium, Lamna, Myliobatis, and Raia, it is made out that, while the middle row of muscular cones remains unaltered in the sharks and rays, it is transformed into a more or less perfect electric organ in the skates the various members of the genus Raia. It is pointed out that, while the middle row of muscular cones is transformed in Raia into electric cones, the two adjacent rows of cones, as in the rays and certain sharks, diminish in size, and in some cases disappear about the middle of the tail.

In considering the structure of the organ, it is stated that, when the various modifications are taken into consider tion, it may be described as consisting of a series of electric cones made up of more or less completely metamorphosed muscular fibres. Twenty-eight distinct cones were counted in the organ of R. batis. The first, which in a half-grown fish measured 5 cm. in length, was all but completely invested by the last unaltered muscular cone. From the first to the tenth the cones slightly increased in length; but from the eleventh they diminished in length, the twenty-sixth measuring only o'75 cm. Beyond the twenty-eighth there were from six to eight incomplete cones.

In transverse sections the anterior third of the organ was seen to present an oval or rounded form, while the middle and posterior thirds were less regular, owing to the organ coming into contact with the vertebral column, and being grooved by the dorsal and ventral muscles.

The cones are described as consisting of numerous loculi or chambers, each having an electric di-k suspended by nerve fibres from its anterior wall, and occupied in front and behind the disk with gelatinous tissue.

It is estimated that each organ in R. batis is made up of about 10,000 electric elements, i.e. about 20,000 in the two organs. Torpedo marmorata has about 500,000, and T. gigantea about 1,000,000, elements in the two batteries, all considerably larger than those of the skate.

The layers of the electric disks, the electric, striated, and alveolar, are described in detail; and the various views as to the termination of the nerve fibrils in the disk are referred to.

In the chapter on the progressive growth of the organ a table is given to show that in R. batis the organ, after a time, grows at a greater rate than the tail in which it is lodged: eg. in fish 60 cm. in length the tail measures about 28 cm., and the electric organ 225 cm. ; well-formed disks having an area of o8 to I sq mm. In fish 225 cm. in length the tail measures 85 cm., the organ 70 cm., and the disks have an area of about 2'08 sq. mm. In fish from 255 to 30.5 cm. in length the organ is from 12.78 to 140 cm., and weighs 0'5 to 0.6 gram; in fish from 835 to 91 25 cm. the organ is from 30-50 to 34°25 cm., and weighs from 6'0 to 80 grams; in fish 157 cm., the organ measures 48 25 cm., and weighs 25'00 grams; while in 225 cm. fish the organ, which measured 70 00 cm., weighed 156 00 grams. These facts, especially the great size and weight of the organ in large skate (about 7 feet in length), do not seem to point to the skate's organ being in process of degeneration; more especially as the increase in size is not accompanied by any histological changes of a retrogressive nature, the largest organ examined being apparently as perfect as that of Torpedo and Gymnotus.

In discussing the organ from a physiological point of view, reference is made to the investigations of Sanderson and Gotch, and it is pointed out that, when the electric plate is taken as the unit, the value per square millimetre of the single plate of the skate is in all probability equal to, if not greater than, that of the torpedo.

of the Caves of Gower are shown to be contemporaneous with the raised sand-dunes between the beaches and the "head," and reasons are given for supposing that the elevation of land which preceded their formation need not necessarily have been greater than 120 feet. The mammalian fauna of these caves is the last fauna of the Glacial or post-Glacial period, and the “head”_or_rubble-drift marks the closing chapter of Glacial times. Evidence is given for considering that the "rubbledrift" has a wide inland range, and that to it are to be referred the "head" of De la Beche, the subaerial detritus of GodwinAusten, the angular flint drift of Murchison, and in part the "trail of Fisher and the "warp" of Trimmer, as well as other deposits described by the author. The accumulation is widespread over the south of England, and occurs in the Thames Valley, on the Cotteswold Hills, and on the flanks of the Malverns. The stream-tin detritus of Cornwall and the ossiferous breccia filling fissures (which must be distinguished from the ossiferous deposits of the true caves) are held to be representatives of the "rubble-drift," which is of a variable character. The author discusses the views of previous writers on the origin of the accumulations which he classes together as "rubble-drift," and points out objections to the various views. He considers that they were formed on upheaval after a period of submergence which took place slowly and tolerably uniformly; and that the absence of marine remains and sedimentation shows | the submergence to have been short. This submergence cannot have been less than 1000 feet below present sea-level, and was shortly brought to a termination by a series of intermittent uplifts, of which the "head" affords a measure, sufficiently rapid to produce currents radiating from the higher parts of the country, causing the spread of the surface-detritus from various local centres of higher ground. The remains of the land animals killed during the submergence were swept with this debris into the hollows and fissures on the surface, and finally over the old cliffs to the sea- and valley-levels. Simultaneously with this elevation occurred a marked change of climate, and the temperature approached that of the present day. The formation of the "head was followed in immediate succession by the accumulation of recent alluvial deposits; so that the Glacial times came, geologically speaking, to within a measurable distance of our own times, the transition being short and almost abrupt. In this paper only the area in which the evidence is most complete is described. The author has, however, corroborative evidence of submergence on the other side of the Channel. The Pleistocene deposits of the Sussex coast, and their equivalents in other districts, by Clement Reid. (Communicated by permission of the Director-General of the Geological Survey.) The gales of last autumn and early winter exposed sections such as had not before been visible in the Selsey Peninsula. Numerous

large erratic blocks were discovered, sunk in pits in the Brackles ham Beds. These erratics included characteristic rocks from the Isle of Wight. The gravel with erratics is older, not newer as is commonly stated, than the Selsey "mud-deposit " with southern Mollusca. Numerous re-deposited erratics are found in the mud-deposit, which is divisible into two stages-a lower, purely marine, and an upper, or Scrobicularia-mud, with acorns and estuarine shells. At West Wittering a fluviatile deposit, with erratics at its base and stony loam above, is apparently closely allied to the mud-deposit of Selsey; it yields numerous plants, land and fresh-water Mollusca, and mammalian bones, of which lists are given. The strata between the brick-earth (= Coombe Rock) and the gravel with large erratics yield southern plants and animals, and seem to have been laid down during a mild or interglacial episode. A similar succession is found in the Thames Valley and in various parts of our eastern counties. After the reading of these papers there was a discussion, in which the President, Dr. Evans, Mr. Ussher, Mr. J. Allen Brown, Prof. Hughes, Dr. Hicks, and others took part.

Linnean Society, February 18.-Prof. Stewart, President, in the chair.-The President exhibited specimens of Cystocalia immaculata, an orthopterous insect from Namaqualand, in which the female is far more conspicuously coloured than the male (which is unusual), and the stridulating apparatus of the male differs in certain important details from that of other species. A discussion followed on stridulation in insects and the various modes of producing it, in which Messrs. C. Breeze, E. M. Holmes, and B. Daydon Jackson took part.-The President also exhibited some specimens of a Crustacean, Ocypoda ceratophthalma, and communicated some interesting information thereon.-A paper by Prof. Groom was then read, on bud- |

protection in Dicotyledons, and, in his unavoidable absence, the author's views were expounded by Mr. B. Daydon Jackson.Mr. W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, C.M.G., F.R.S., communicated a paper by Herr F. Stephani, entitled "A Revision of Colenso's New Zealand Hepatica."

Entomological Society, February 24.-Mr. Frederick DuCane Godman, F.R.S., President, in the chair. The President referred to the loss the Society had recently sustained by the death of Mr. Henry Walter Bates, F. R.S., who had twice been its President; and he also read a copy of the resolution of sympathy and condolence with Mrs. Bates and her family, in their bereavement, which had been passed by the Council at their meeting that evening.-Mr. Frederick C. Adams exhibited a monstrous specimen of Telephorus rusticus, taken in the New Forest, in which the left mesothoracic leg consisted of three distinct femora, tibiæ, and tarsi, apparently originating from a single coxa. He also exhibited specimens of Ledra aurita. -Mr. G. A. James Rothney sent for exhibition a series of specimens of two species of Indian ants (Myrmicaria subcarinata, Sm., and Aphanogaster (Messor) barbarus, L., var. punctatus, Forel) He which had recently been determined for him by Dr. Forel. also communicated notes on the subject, in which it was stated that Myrmicaria subcarinata, Sm., was not uncommon in Bengal, and formed its nest by excavating the earth round trees, and throwing it up in mounds of fine grains. The author also stated that both sexes of this species swarmed early in the "rains," from about July 7 to July 10. Of the -econd speciesAphanogaster barbarus var. punctatus, Forel-Mr. Rothney observed that it, like the bee, Apis dorsata, seemed to have a great partiality for the gardens and buildings of the old Mogul Emperors in the North-West Provinces and in the Punjab, the bee disfiguring the arches and roofs with its huge nests, and the ant frequenting the gardens and steps.-The Hon. Walter Rothschild communicated a paper entitled "On a Little-known Species of Papilio from the Island of Lifu, Loyalty Group." The paper was illustrated by a beautifully coloured drawing of the male, variety of the male, female, and under side of the species.

EDINBURGH.

Royal Society, February 15.-Sir W. Turner, VicePresident, in the chair.-The Astronomer-Royal for Scotland read a paper on the new star in the constellation Auriga discovered recently by the Rev. Dr. T. Anderson, of Edinburgh. Dr. Anderson believes that he first saw the new star on January 24, but he did not recognize it as new until a few days later, when it struck him that its right ascension did not agree with that of 26 Auriga, for which he had mistaken it. When the Astronomer-Royal first examined the spectrum in the beginning of this month, its general appearance was that presented by new stars soon after their first outburst. Since then the spectrum has gradually become more continuous. Only one of the characteristic nebular lines (F) was present. Two other lines nearly coincide with characteristic nebular lines; but one has too great, the other too small, refrangibility, so that the displacement cannot be due to motion of the star, even if it had probable explanation in this way. not been (as it is) too great a displacement to admit of The brightness of the star increased gradually after its first observation, then decreased more rapidly, and finally became nearly steady. The brightdiminishes gradually to zero. ness of new stars usually increases rapidly at first, and finally The general phenomena presented in the present case resemble those of a variable star, such as R Andromedæ or R Cygni, rather than those of a new star which rapidly burns out.-Sir W. Turner read a paper on the lesser rorqual (Balanoptera rostrata) in the Scottish seas. After giving a brief account of the occurrence of this whale in Scottish seas, Sir W. Turner proceeded to discuss the specimen which was captured near Granton, in the Firth of Forth, in 1888. The lesser rorqual is characterized externally by a dorsal fin, by a large white patch on the front aspect of each flipper, and by great apparent distension anteriorly on the ventral aspect, the distension being prolonged to the extreme anterior end. The whalebone is also characteristic, the extremities of the plates being broken up into thin fibres. The author points out a distinction between whales belonging to the dolphin class and other whales, in respect of the stomach. In the former the first compartment of the stomach does not fulfil a digestive function; in the latter all the compartments have a digestive function. The number of compartments varies from

four in the porpoise to fourteen in Sowerby's whale. The stomach of the lessser rorqual has five compartments, the first of which has not a digestive function, so that in this respect it resembles the dolphin's. The third compartment is very small, its existence being indicated externally only by a faintly marked line on the surface of what seems to be the third, but is really the fourth. The size of the openings connecting the various compartments diminishes rapidly from the anterior to the posterior end.-Prof. Tait read a paper on the relation between kinetic energy and temperature in liquids. He showed how, by considering (in the usual pressure-volume diagram) a Carnot's cycle formed by the horizontal part of an isothermal below the critical temperature, the lines of constant volume passing through the extremities of that part, and the portion of the critical isothermal intercepted between these lines, we can calculate the difference between the average specific heats of the liquid and the vapour at constant volume throughout the given range of temperature in terms of known quantities, the vapour, of course, starting from the condition of saturation at the lower temperature. In this cycle the substance is except when in the state corresponding to the horizontal part of the lower isothermal-either entirely liquid or entirely vapour. In the case of carbonic acid, it appears that the average specific heat at constant volume throughout a given range is greater in the liquid condition than in the state of vapour. In the liquid state (judging from Amagat's results) the average at constant volume seems to be about equal to the specific heat of the vapour at constant pressure. He gave also a number of thermal details about CO, mainly based on Amagat's experiments. These included the latent heat of the vapour which (taking the volume of I pound of CO2 at o° C. and I atmosphere as 8 cubic feet) was shown to fall from 53 units at o° C. to 178 at 30° C.

DUBLIN.

Royal Society, February 17.—The Right Hon. the Earl of Rosse, F. R.S., President, in the chair.-Note on the basal conglomerate of Howth, by Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S. The author discussed the characters of these lowest-lying deposits of the Hill of Howth, and stated that he could find no evidence for the volcanic origin attributed to them by Sir A. Geikie: they had been formed in more than one way; a considerable part arose from the dislocation, fracture, and crushing of the Cambrian slates and quartzites in situ, the broken fragments being subsequently rounded by intratelluric flow; but some appeared to be true conglomerates, which had been powerfully affected by crust movements. This is only what one might expect when one considered that from the higher beds of Bray there was an increased development of arenaceous material downwards into the lower beds of Howth: the approximation to a shore indicated by the frequency of sandy shoals, leads at length to an actual beach, indicated by the basal conglomerates.-The variolite of Annalong, Co. Down, by Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole. This rock occurs as a dyke north of Annalong, exposed above low water for about 80 feet, and 4 feet wide. The mass consisted, at the time of its consolidation, of spherulitic tachylyte through; out, being a very remarkable development of basic glass, and probably the crest of an olivine-basalt dyke. The extreme edges still retain their glassy character. In the interior of the devitrified mass the spherulites are 1 cm. in diameter. This is the second recorded occurrence of variolite in the British Isles: a specimen, correctly named, and collected by the Irish Ordnance Survey some fifty years ago, led to the author's search for the rock on the coast of the Co. Down. -Mr. J. Joly read a paper entitled "On a Speculation as to a pre-Material Condition of the Universe."

OXFORD.

University Junior Scientific Club, February 17.-Mr. J. A. Gardner, of Magdalen College, President, in the chair.Mr. F. R. L. Wilson, Keble College, exhibited some Telugu Palmyra leaf manuscripts from the north-east of the Madras Presidency. Mr. H. H. G. Knapp, Non-Coll, read a paper on muscular fatigue. A discussion followed, in which various members took part.-A paper was read by Mr. R. E. Hughes, Jesus College, on the nature of solution. A lengthy discussion followed this paper.

CAMBRIDGE.

Philosophical Society, February 8.-Prof. Darwin, President, in the chair.-The following communications were made:

On long rotating circular cylinders, by C. Chree, Fellow of King's College. A solution is found for a long cylinder of isotropic elastic material, with its cross-section bounded by a circle or by two concentric circles, rotating with uniform velocity about its axis. The solution is not exact, save when Poisson's ratio is zero, but is approximate in the same way as SaintVenant's solution for beams. Formulæ are given on which are based tables showing the shortening of the cylinder and the increase in its radius or radii under rotation. Formulæ are also found for the limiting safe speeds according to the stressdifference and greatest strain theories, and these are compared with the formulæ arrived at by Prof. Greenhill on his theory of instability. The results appear to be of considerable practical importance. On the theory of contact and thermo-electricity, by J. Parker, St. John's College. The phenomena are deduced by analytical thermodynamics solely from expressions for the energy and entropy functions of the system. These are of the most general type, in that they include all kinds of terms that are formally possible, the coefficients of these terms being the measures of physical properties of the system which may or may not have an actual existence. Thus there will occur terms which indicate, after Helmholtz, affinity between electricity and different kinds of matter. The results are just sufficiently wide to include the known facts of thermo-electricity. Considerations of a cognate kind have been treated by Lorentz, Duhem, and Planck.

February 22.-Prof. Darwin, President, in the chair.-The following communications were made :-Preliminary notes of some observations on the anatomy and habits of Alcyonium, by S. J. Hickson. Between the cœlentera of Alcyonium there is a dense, transparent gelatinous mesogloea. This is penetrated (1) by endodermal cords connected with the endoderm of the coelentera, and (2) a plexus of very fine nerve (?) fibrils connected with a number of very small uni-, bi-, or tripolar ganglion cells. The endodermal cords are not hollow canals, as they are usually described, and all attempts to inject them failed. At the periphery these endodermal cords come into contact with ectodermal invagination at places between the old polypes, and give rise to the buds. When the young buds have nearly developed all the characters of the older polypes, canals are formed which communicate with the cœlentera. The plexus of fine nerve fibrils can only be made out in fresh specimens stained with osmic acid. It could not be traced in the peripheral parts of the colony in consequence of the great quantity of the calcareous spicules in this region. Some experiments were made to determine whether in these animals the expansions and contractions of the polypes occur rhythmically. During the first two or three days after Alcyonium is placed in the tank it contracts completely with tolerable regularity twice in every twentyfour hours. After that time it either remains expanded or contracts irregularly. Of six Alcyoniums that were placed in a tank with an artificial tide that rose and fell every twelve hours, only three unfortunately survived for more than a fortnight, and these contracted with tolerable regularity once in twenty-four hours. These experiments seem to prove that Alcyonium contracts normally twice in every twenty-four hours, and that the rhythm of the action of the tides, and that a new rhythm may be induced by subjecting them to the action of an artificial tide of a different period. On the action of lymph in producing intravascular clotting, by Dr. L. E. Shore. The sudden injection into the vascular system of a rabbit of a small quantity (4 c.c. to 15 c.c.) of lymph drawn from the thoracic duct of a dog causes death with more or less complete intravascular clotting. The lymph loses this property after it has itself clotted. The injection of even large quantities of lymph-serum produces no such effect. Proteid bodies in the apparently normal lymph to which the power is due have been isolated.-On the fever produced by injection of Vibrio Metschnikovi, by E. H. Hankin and A. A. Kanthack.-On the method of fertilization in Ixora, by J. C. Willis. The flowers are massed together and thus rendered conspicuous. Honey is secreted by a nectary upon the disk, and protected by the length (3-4 cm.) and narrowness of the tube. The The mechanism resembles that of Campanula. anthers dehisce in the bud, covering the style, whose stigmas are closed up with pollen. The stamens bend away when the flower opens, nnd the style presents the pollen to insects. Later the stigmas separate, but never bend back so far as to effect autogamy. In I. Westii autogamy occurs in the bud, but the flower appears to be self-sterile.

these contractions continues for some time after it is removed from