TWENTIETH ORDINARY MEETING. 275 
Mr. Boyle doubted the statement that the digestive process 
in snakes is rapid ; his experience with snakes and alligators 
was to the contrary. 
Mr. Loudon also held this opinion. 
Mr. Macallum replied that animals in captivity or fear do 
not digest rapidly ; otherwise they do. 
Mr. J. A. Livingston then read a paper on “New Dis- 
coveries in Gravitation and its Correlations.” 
The physical circumstances which modify or enhance the digestive 
process do not differ in any marked characteristic from those of the 
higher animals save one: the temperature required is considerably 
lower. The enzymes seem to have more vigorous action than those 
of mammals and birds. In the sturgeon, digestion is very rapid, 
resembling in this respect the process as found in reptiles. In the 
ease of the latter, several specimens of Storeria digested frogs of 
small size in less than an hour; and similar experiments were made 
with the sturgeon with quite the same results. 
TWENTIETH ORDINARY MEETING. 
The Twentieth Ordinary Meeting was held on Saturday, 
28th March, 1885, the President in the Chair. 
The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed. 
Messrs. Carpmael and Livingston were appointed auditors 
for the year. 
The following list of donations and exchanges was read : 
1. Report on Canadian Archives by Douglas Brymner, Archivist, 1884. 
. The Pennsylvanian Magazine of History and Biography, Nos. 30 and 31. 
Vol. VIII., Nos. 2 and 3, June and October, 1884. 
3. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, December, 1884. 
4, Selected Papers of the Rensselaer Society of Engineers, Troy, N.Y., Vol. 
I., No. 2, March, 1885. 
5. Science, Vol. V., No. 111, March 20, 1885. 
6. Annual Report of the Trustees of the American Museum of Natura 
History, Central Park, N.Y., for 1884-’85. 
bo 
