TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 131 
On Pathological Cell-Development. By W.'T. Gatrvner, MD. FRCP; 
δ Pathologist to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. 
The object of the author in reading the paper was to demonstrate the existence in 
morbid fluids and structures (and more particularly in pus) of a number of cell-forms 
not usually described, and difficult of interpretation, either upon the theory of 
Schleiden, Schwann and Valentin, of exogenous cell-development, or on that of Barry 
and others, of endogenous growth. The author maintained that it was impossible in 
the case of the structures described, either to refer the formation of the cell-wall to 
the activity of a pre-existent nucleus, or to consider the latter as springing from the 
former. The only view which appeared to meet the case was, that the nucleus and 
cell-wall had each an independent power of organization, and that the one was super- 
imposed on the other when they happened to be formed in juxtaposition. The author 
said that this was only one proof out of many which had been afforded by recent 
observations, that the cell-theory, at least in its original form, was not sufficiently 
comprehensive for the facts of modern physiology. [he paper was accompanied by 
drawings, without the aid of which the details would be unintelligible. ] 
On the Geometrical Basis of Beauty in general, and more particularly as 
applied to Architecture and the Human Form. By D.R. Hay, F.RSE. 
(Communicated by Professor KetLanp.) 
The basis of harmony in music is the fact that the ear is pleased with a mixture 
of sounds, when the vibrations which constitute them severally recur with a fre 
quency expressed by some very simple arithmetical relations. Thus, when the notes 
C and G are struck together, a pleasing sensation is experienced, arising from the 
circumstance that the string which produces the one note makes two vibrations whilst 
the other makes three, On the other hand, if the notes C and C sharp, which vibrate 
nearly in the relative rapidity of 20 to 21, are struck together, the combination is exs 
ceedingly disagreeable even to the most uneducated ear. The first position laid down 
by Mr. Hay is, that the eye is influenced, in its estimation of spaces, by a simplicity 
of proportion similar to that which guides the ear in its appreciation of sounds. It 
may at first appear that this analogy between sight and hearing is not admissible, 
inasmuch as the eye judges of effects by passing from point to point, whilst the ear 
judges of them only by receiving them all at the same moment. This difficulty is 
obviated by two simple considerations ; the one, that the standard of comparison is 
always present to the eye in ordinary cases*, which is equivalent to the key-note of 
a harmony being constantly ringing in the ear; the other, that all the faculties of 
man are from his birth under the influence of education, involuntary or constrained, 
by means of which their powers tend to become analogous. Thus the eye, the hand, 
and the ear are daily acquiring greater certainty in the estimation of intervals. Few 
persons are acquainted with the extent to which their faculties are capable of culti- 
vation. In early life, necessity teaches us their simpler uses. The child is learning 
to judge, by muscular action, of distances and positions. Its hand soon finds the way 
to its mouth, and by degrees it can at once touch any part of the body, even in the 
dark ; and there its education ceases. The blind fiddler, having heard none but the 
most simple performances, never ventures to quit the easiest position of his instru- 
ment, from ignorance of his possessing that sense of distance which, with a little 
cultivation, would enable him to trace his way to any part of the string. The ap- 
pearance of a great executant, such as Paganini, proves to others that their faculties 
may be taught beyond what they have been accustomed to ; and, although none may 
have his genius, many may acquire his art. And the same is true of our other facul- 
ties. The ear, perhaps, receives less involuntary education than any other faculty ; 
but that it is capable of cultivation, so as to be able not merely to estimate sounds 
in succession, but with extreme accuracy to judge even of independent sounds, is 
well known to every musician. The involuntary education received by the eye usu- 
ally enables it to form a tolerable judgement as to positions and relative magnitudes. 
Its estimate of the symmetry of an object is equally accurate with that formed, by 
a person unused to music, of the correctness or incorrectness of a note in the scale. 
* It is usually four right angles, or the angles about a point. 
KQ 
