301 



A collection of Fossil Organic Remains from Touraine was 

 presented by Sir George Mackenzie, Bart. 



Specimens of Fossil Vegetables and Shells from Shetland 

 and Skye, by Professor Necker of Geneva, Hon. F. R. S. Ed. 



The following Communications were made : — 



1. " Sir Charles Bell requested leave to withdraw his paper 

 on the fatal effects of air admitted into the veins of the neck during 

 surgical operations, in order to make additions. 



" He stated some interesting facts from veterinary practice. 

 But the principal addition he desired to make was the notice of 

 certain experiments made on the human subject after death, and 

 which Dr Reid repeated and verified. 



" A small incision being made in the lower part of the neck, 

 the external jugular vein was found flat ; but an incision being 

 made into it on raising the shoulder and clavicle of that side, the 

 vein opened. On holding open the integuments so that the wound 

 might hold fluid, milk was poured into it: the milk remained sta- 

 tionary as in a cup ; but on elevating the shoulder and clavicle, 

 the milk descended into the vein and disappeared. 



" The experiment was repeated and varied, but always to the 

 effect of shewing that, by the elevation of the shoulder and clavicle, 

 and the mastoid muscle attached, pressure was taken off the veins 

 of the neck ; while on the descent of these parts, the fluid sucked 

 into the vein was conveyed downwards. 



" These experiments Sir Charles maintained fortified the con- 

 clusion to which he had come by process of reasoning in his paper, 

 viz. that air enters the veins of the neck during surgical opera- 

 tions when the veins are opened, and the patient shrinks and in- 

 spires deeply." 



2. On the Origin and Progress of Grecian Sculpture. By 

 Dr Traill. Part I. 



" The author adduced arguments to prove, that the Egyptians 

 were the real masters of the Greeks in the arts of Design. The 

 Greek writers admit that, when their ancestors were barbarous, 

 the Egyptian colonists of Argos and Athens imported with them 

 the arts of a more polished people ; that they brought into Greece 

 images of the Gods ; and that the most ancient sculptures men- 

 tioned by Pausanias and Pliny bore the impress of an Egyptian 

 character; especially the wooden statues ascribed by Pausanias 



