Record. xxxi 



The Nominating Committee reported the results of the 

 election of officers for 1913, as follows : 



President E. A. Engler 



First Vice-President F. E. Nipher 



Second Vice-President A. E. Ewing 



Recording Secretary J. A. Drushel 



Corresponding Secretary Geo. O. James 



Treasurer H. E. Wiedemann 



Librarian Wm. L. R. Gifford 



Curators Julius Hurter 



Hermann von Schrenk 

 Philip Rau 



Directors Adolf Alt ■ 



H. M. Whelpley 



The death of Dr. Geo. C. Crandall and of Mr. Irwin 

 Z. Smith, active members, and of Professor G. C. Broad- 

 head, corresponding member, was reported. 



January 20, 1913. 



President Engler in the chair; attendance 24. 



The following donations to the Museum were reported : 



R. F. O'Neal. .European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). 

 ..Louisiana Centennial Medal, 1812-1813. 



Mr. S. Bent Russell read a paper on ''Demonstration 

 and Design of Apparatus to Simulate the Working of 

 Nervous Discharges." 



First Mr. Russell explained why it is that an animal provided with 

 muscles and a nervous system grows wiser with experience. For ex- 

 ample, if an animal makes a movement that is followed by pain it 

 will learn to refrain from the movement. In the same way he ex- 

 plained why the horse learns to jump at the crack of the whip without 

 waiting for the blow; why the animal learns to avoid certain obstacles 

 by turning certain ways; why a movement that is followed by a form 

 of satisfaction becomes habitual; why the movements of certain mus- 

 cles, after the proper experience, habitually occur together. 



The explanation showed that all these actions are due simply to the 

 nervous discharge following the channel that is most open at the time. 

 The more frequently the channel has been used and the more recently, 

 the more open it will be. The point was then made that if the chan- 

 nel is provided with two sensory endings and conditions are such that 

 the two endings are excited in succession from time to time, it will 

 become much more open, and movements will be made accordingly. 



