309 



Jackson was of the opinion, that when chloroform must be ad- 

 ministered, it should be largely diluted with ether ; but the latter 

 agent alone is a much safer anaesthetic, and should always be 

 preferred when it can be obtained ; for no death is as yet known 

 to have been produced by its proper administration, mingled with 

 air; while chloroform, in spite of all proper precautions in its 

 administration, has destroyed life. 



The chloroform inhaled in this case was found to be perfectly 

 pure. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson remarked, that in the last number of 

 Silliman's Journal, (January, 1856,) in a description of a 

 new species of Fossil Footmarks, found in the sandstone 

 of the Connecticut Valley, Prof. Hitchcock states that he 

 has found unmistakable evidence of a tail. Elie de Beau- 

 mont expressed the opinion, some time since, that many of 

 these tracks might have been made by bimanous Saurians, 

 but no traces of a tail had been at that time discovered. 

 Prof. Hitchcock, having looked carefully for traces of quad- 

 rupedal character in this animal, and having found impres- 

 sions of two feet only, has given it the name of Gigandihus 

 caudatus, or tailed giant-biped. 



The President observed that he had some beautiful slabs 

 bearing these impressions, which he would exhibit to the 

 Society at an early opportunity. 



Dr. J. N. Borland exhibited the Genito-Urinary Organs 

 of the Boa Constrictor, and explained their remarkable 

 peculiarities. 



The specimen was dissected from a fine male serpent, about 

 twelve feet long. 



The testes, kidneys, and their tubes, lay one on each side of 

 the abdominal cavity, being loosely, yet strongly, confined within 

 the peritoneal folds, by very tough cellular tissue. The arrange- 

 ment of these parts was similar on each side ; those on the 

 right being larger throughout. The testes lay nearest the 

 centre of the animal, and were long, almond-shaped bodies, the 



