310 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
is the period to obtain specimens of the Hyla, I am anxious 
my fellow-labourers in Germany should at once be acquainted 
with the advantages of the thin muscle alluded to; and I 
cannot too strongly recommend this beautiful little frog, 
which they have the advantage of procuring more readily 
than Englishmen, for microscopical investigation. All the 
tissues are beautifully distinct, and I challenge those who 
are interested in these questions to discuss them with me, 
selecting the tissues of this animal for special study. 
British AssocriaATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 
ScIENCE. 
NewcastLe was unfortunate in the choice of its time for 
the annual meeting of this Association. It was in the midst 
of the holidays, when people have chosen their tours and 
resting places, and cannot be disturbed. The consequence 
has been that, although Newcastle did its best, the outside 
public were fewer in number and repute than usual. We 
have looked over the reports of the proceedings, but cannot 
find any matter that would interest our readers; not that 
there were not subjects brought before the section that 
would have interested them, but that it is impossible that 
scientific accounts of these meetings should be published. 
When the ‘Athenzum’ employed a scientific reporter in 
each section, its reports were complete, and could be relied 
on, but now that it merely reprints the journals of the Asso- 
ciation and copies newspaper reports, its accounts are of less 
value. We have often thought it would be worth while for 
the Council to publish an authorised report of the proceedings 
at the time, each section naming its own reporter and editor. 
The newspaper reports are admirably done, but it is too much 
to expect that ordinary reporters could competently supply 
those technical details which constitute the real value to 
scientific men of the contributions read at the section. 
Through the kindness of the author we are enabled to give 
the following abstract of a paper on ‘ Life in the Atmo- 
sphere,” read at the Physiological Section on Saturday, 
August 29th, by James Samuelson, Esq. 
The author commenced by saying that no subject in 
natural history, excepting the allied one, the origin of spe- 
cies, had of late excited greater interest than the origin of 
the lowest types of living beings on the globe, which had led 
