Wellington Philosophical Society. 563 



dominating colour in the word. The letter B is in my mind connected with 

 varying shades of green. As the adjoining vowels are dark in hue, the 

 green of the B will be dark- bluish-green. On the other hand, in the word 

 " been " the two E's, which are yellow, cause the B to appear of vivid 

 leaf-green. In another word, " bite," the juxtaposition of the I (white) 

 renders the B dull-green in colour. 



I may add that, while some persons experience coloured hearing as 

 a fully developed objective sensation, I have it merely as a spontaneous 

 mental association of colour with sound. 



The account from which I obtained some information on this subject 

 concludes with the statement that it is doubtful whether the occurrence 

 is pathological or physiological. While I have made some conjectures, 

 I will not trouble you with these, merely mentioning the fact that, while 

 my own sense of colour is not, so far as I know, defective, I come of a 

 family in which several cases of colour-blindness exist. 



2. " On Family Marks," by Joshua Rutland ; communi- 

 cated by T. W: Kirk. 



The following curious case of heredity has recently come under my 

 notice. One of my neighbours, Mrs. R. S., has on the left side of her 

 head, close to the ear, a small opening. Into this opening a pin can be 

 inserted head foremost about \ in. without causing pain. From the 

 opening a small quantity of wax-like matter is at times discharged. Mrs. S. 

 inherited the opening referred to from her mother. Mrs. M., now residing 

 at Nebraska, U.S.A. In addition to the opening described, Mrs. M. has 

 in the white of the left eye a round dark spot resembling a second pupil, 

 but smaller than the true pupil. The second pupil and the opening near 

 the ear Mrs. M. inherited from her mother, who died in Denmark. Of 

 Mrs. S.'s large family, only one son, N., inherited the ear-opening : but he 

 has two openings — one close to the left eai, like his mother, and the other 

 close to the right ear. His infant son, three months old, has the opening 

 near the left ear. Another of Mrs. S.'s sons, G., is the father of twin boys, 

 one of whom has inherited the opening near the left ear. Mrs. S.'s daughter. 

 Mrs. R., has two pupils in the left eye, like her grandmother, but she has 

 not got the ear-opening. These are all the members of the family about 

 whrin I can get trustworthy information, though probably others have 

 the family marks. It can be seen that for five generations, commencing 

 with Mrs. M.'s mother, these marks have come down, missing the children 

 and reappearing in the grandchildren. Mrs. M. and her granddaughter 

 have both good sight in the left as well as in the right eye. The marks 

 referred to do not affect them. 



Dr. C. Monro Hector said that a case similar to the one described had 

 recently come under his own notice. 



3. " On Right-sidedness," by Joshua Rutland ; communi- 

 cated by T. W. Kirk (p. 339). 



Fifth Meeting : Uh September, 1907. 

 Professor H. B. Kirk, President, in the chair. 



Papers. — 1. " Notes on the Development of a Polvchaete," 

 by the President (p. 286). 



2. " Notes on the Spread of Phytophthora infestans [the 

 Irish potato-disease], with Special Reference to Hybernating 

 Mycelium," by A. H. Cockayne (p. 316). 



