378 Br, Waller [May 31, 



Some remarks were also made on silkworms, and the disease 

 termed Muscardine, by which they are destroyed in vast numbers 

 in the South of France and North of Italy. Through the breathing- 

 pores at the sides of the body of the worms, the sporules or seeds of a 

 very minute white fungus are inhaled, and the development taking 

 place within the worm, the fungus plants grow out through the 

 orifices and segments in the form of white mould. In New Zealand, 

 one species of fungus attacks an underground species of caterpillar, 

 and, when fully grown, the entire plant extends to the length of five 

 or six inches. 



The metamorphoses of insects were most cdmplete in the Lepi- 

 doptera, or scaly-winged tribes (butterflies and moths) ; in the cabbage 

 butterfly, for instance, out of the egg comes the caterpillar, which, 

 after living its time of feasting, attaches itself by cords across its body, 

 and then assumes the chrysalis state ; bursting forth from this, the 

 butterfly assumes its aerial condition. No wonder, then, that poets 

 have seized upon this final transformation as a striking simile to 

 express the release of the soul of man from its earthly bondage, and to 

 typify its passage through the darkness of the grave to the bright 

 realms of happiness and heaven. 



[J. O. W.] 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, May 31, 1861. 

 The Lord Wensleydale, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Dr. Augustus Waller, F.R.S. 

 On the Nutrition and Reparation of Nerves. 



[In consequence of Dr. Waller's illness, the discourse was given by 

 Dr. F. Bond.] 



The speaker commenced by pointing out that a knowledge of the con- 

 ditions by which the structure and vitality of nerves were maintained in 

 health, and their repair effected when injured by accident or disease, 

 was not only of great interest to the physiologist, as enabling him to 

 examine the distribution and functions of various portions of the ner- 

 vous system, with which he must otherwise have remained unacquainted ; 

 but was also of the highest importance in a practical point of view, as 

 providing us with the means of availing ourselves of those conservative 

 powers of the animal economy which medical science was daily seeking 

 more actively to utilize. It was not at all improbable that the practi- 



