XXXii SIXTH REPORT — 1836, 



2ndly. That they think it desirable not to deviate in the manner 

 of notation from algebraic usage, except so far as convenience requires. 



And 3dly. That it would save much confusion If every chemist would 

 state explicitly the exact quantities which he intends to represent by 

 his symbols. 



But I must hasten on to those few other Reports which the present 

 volume contains, but on which I shall have the less to say, as they re- 

 late to subjects connected vdth Anatomy and Physiology, of less general 

 interest to a mixed audience. 



Dr. Jacob has replied to a query proposed by the Zoological Com- 

 mittee at a former meeting with respect to the uses of the infra-orbital 

 cavities in Deers and Antelopes, and has pronounced them to be de- 

 signed as the receptacles of a peculiar odoriferous secretion. 



Dr. Hodgkin and Dr. RoupeU have detailed a series of experiments 

 and observations relative to the specific mode of action of acrid poisons, 

 which, whether at once introduced into the stomach, or the circulation, 

 by injection into the veins, seem to operate primarily in the same man- 

 ner, as irritants to the mucous membrane. 



The Dublin Sub-Committee appointed for the purpose, have given 

 in a report connected with a subject of great pathological interest, 

 respecting which none, but the experienced medical practitioner, ought 

 to pretend to pass a decided judgment. 



Nevertheless, when I look back to the early period of my own pro- 

 fessional studies, and recollect the obscurity in which diseases of the 

 heart appeared then to be involved, when their remedy seemed so de- 

 sperate, as to suggest to one of the most distinguished writers on the 

 subject the motto " Hceret lateri lethalis arundo " as appropriate to his 

 work, and as significant of the probabilities of cure, and when their 

 very nature was known but partially, and could only be guessed at by 

 methods purely empirical, — ^^vhen I recollect all this, I cannot refrain 

 from congratulating those of my brethren who are engaged in the duties 

 of the profession from which I am myself a deserter, on the discovery 

 of a new instrument of investigation in diseases of this nature, the use 

 of which, being foimded on physiological principles, seems susceptible 

 of greater improvement, and more extended application, in proportion 

 as our knowledge of the animal ceconomy advances. 



But in order properly to avail ourselves of the indications of disease 

 afforded by the differences of sound transmitted through the integu- 

 ments by the heart, it is necessary that we should be acquainted with 

 the nature of its pulsations, and of the sounds occasioned by them in a 

 healthy state, and this information it has lieen the object of the Dublin 



i 



