Geological Society. 147 



the dogs had been fed had transformed any of the neutral fats into 

 fattj' acids, a sample of roast meat was mixed and washed with di- 

 stilled water until the washings had comidetely lost their acid reac- 

 tion ; the meat was then mixed with alcohol and allowed to stand for 

 more than a week. After that time the fluid was found to be per- 

 fectly neutral, showing that no fatty acids had been formed. 



From these researches it appears that the presence of bile in the 

 intestines is closely connected with the digestion of fats. 



The results of recent investigations on exeretine show that this 

 substance exists on an average in the proportion of 0-460 grm. for 

 one evacuation when the exeretine is impure, and of 0-184 grm. 

 when it is pure. From the careful examination of the faeces of a 

 child one year old, I have ascertained that they invariably contained 

 no exeretine, but cholesterine ; the proportion of the latter, purified 

 by repeated crystallizations, being equal to 0-03C grm. in one eva- 

 cuation, which number is, however, a very low estimate. Nothing 

 in the food could account for this singular result. It is therefore 

 most probable that exeretine is only present in the evacuations of 

 the full-grown or adult individual. 



I have been most ably aided in these investigations by my assist- 

 ant, Mr. Frederick Dupre, Ph.D. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from p. 77-] 



January 5, 1859. — Prof. J. Phillips, President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read: — 



1. " On Fossil Plants from the Devonian Rocks of Gaspe, Canada." 

 By Dr. J. W. Dawson, F.G.S., Principal of McGill's College, Mon- 

 treal. 



The plant-bearing rocks in the peninsula of Gaspe were first 

 noticed by Sir W. E. Logan in 1843. To determine these fossil 

 j)lants accurately, it was necessary to study them in place. With 

 this view Dr. Dawson visited Gaspe last summer, and carefully exa- 

 mined the localities by the aid of the plans and sections of the Geo- 

 logical Survey of Canada. The strata referred to have a vertical 

 thickness of 70(J0 feet, as estimated by Sir W. Logan ; they rest 

 on Upper Silurian rocks, and underlie the Carboniferous conglome- 

 rates ; and some beds contain Lower Devonian Brachiopods, &c. 



Among the vegetable remains determined by Dr. Dawson is a 

 curious genus, termed by him Psilophyton, which belonged to the 

 Lycopodiacea:, and had minute adpressed leaves on slender dichoto- 

 tomously-branching stems, with circinate vernation, and springing 

 from a horizontal rhizome, which had circular areoles with cylin- 

 drical rootlets. Some of tlie shales are matted with these rhizomes. 

 Obscure traces of fructification are observable in cuneate clus- 

 ters of bracti. The fragments of the different parts of this in- 



L2 



