ASSOCIATIONS FOR TIIK ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



29 



"Alleged Proofs of Submergence in Scotland 

 during tin- (ilacial Epoch," by Dugidd Hell; 

 A Widespread liadiolarian ( 'lu-rt. l'\)rmation of 

 Arenig Age in th<> Southern I'plands of Scot- 

 laiiti," I iy II. N. Peach ; and " Physical Geology 

 of Sinai and Palestine," by Prof. I']. Hull. 



The third report of the committee to arrange 

 for the collection, preservation, and systematic 

 registration of photographs of geological interest 

 in the United Kingdom, also the report of the 

 com inittee on erratic blocks, and the report of the 

 underground water committee, were read anddis- 

 onsaed. 



D. Biology. The presiding officer of this sec- 

 tion was Prof. William Rutherford, who holds 

 the chair of the Institutes of Medicine in Edin- 

 burgh University, and who chose for his subject 

 " Color Sense." lie said : 



" The subject I propose to discuss on this oc- 

 casion is not the cause of the different kinds of 

 sensation proper to the different sense organs, 

 but the cause of some qualities of sensation pro- 

 ducible through one and the same sense organ." 

 After dealing with different theories of hearing 

 and smell, he proceeded: "The sensory mechan- 

 ism concerned in sight consists of the retina, the 

 optic nerve, and the center for visual sensation 

 in the occipital lobe of the brain. In the verte- 

 brate eye the fibers of the optic nerve spread out 

 in the inner part of the retina, and are connected 

 with several layers of ganglionic cells placed ex- 

 ternal to them. When a beam of white light is 

 dispersed by a prism or diffraction grating, the 

 ether waves are spread out in the order of their 

 frequency of undulation. The undulations of 

 radiant energy extend through a range of many 

 octaves, but those able to stimulate the retina 

 are comprised within a range of rather loss than 

 one octave, extending from a frequency of about 

 805.000,000.000 a second at the extreme red to 

 about 757.000,000.000 at the extreme violet end 

 of the visible spectrum. The ultra-violet waves 

 in the spectrum of sunlight extend through 

 rather more than half an octave. Although 

 mainly revealed by their chemical effects, they 

 are not altogether invisible; their color is bluish 

 gray. The only optical that is, strictly phys- 

 ical difference between the several ether waves 

 in the visible or invisible spectrum is frequency 

 of undulation, or, otherwise expressed, a differ- 

 ence in wave length. The chromatic that is, 

 the color-producing effects of the ether waves 

 depend on their power of exciting sensations of 

 color, which vary with their frequency of undu- 

 lation. Colors are commonly defined by three 

 qualities or constants hun. purity, and bright- 

 ne-s. Their hue depends upon the chromatic 

 effect of frequency of undulation or wave leiiLrt li. 

 Their purity or saturation depends on freedom 

 from admixture with sensations produced by 

 other colors or by white light. Their brightness 

 or luminosity depends on the degree to which 

 the sensorv mechanism is stimulated." Prof. 

 Rutherford then discussed the theories of color 

 sense propounded by Sir Isaac Newton, Clerk 

 Maxwell, Young, and Von Helmholtz, and then 

 proceeded to deal with the important question of 

 color blindness. 



So many important and interesting papers 

 were submitted to the organizing committee of 

 Section D this year that it was found necessary 



to divide it into t he t hree depart ments of Zoology, 

 Botany, and Physiology. 



The following reports by committees appointed 

 at the Card ill meeting were submitted: (l)The 

 Zoology and Botany O f the West India Islands; 

 (V!) i lie Naples Zoological Station ; (3) ZoOlogy of 

 the Sandwich Islands; (4) Botanical Laboratory 

 at Ceylon ; (5) Migration of Birds ; (G) Plymouth 

 Laboratory ; (7) Deep-sea Tow-net ; (8) 'Protec- 

 tion of Wild Birds' Eggs. All these commit- 

 lees were reappointed with or without grants. 



Among the papers were the following: "On 

 Secondary Tissues in Monocotyledons,'" by D. 

 H. Schott and G. Brebener; " Vital Absorption." 

 by E. Way mouth Reid ; " The Social Habits of 

 Spiders," by II. C. McCook ; "The Method of 

 Comparative Psychology," by Prof. Lloyd Mor- 

 gan. 



In the botannical department James Brit- 

 ten proposed a reform in botanical nomen- 

 clature. After commenting on the number of 

 confusing and unnecessary changes introduced 

 of late years into botanical nomenclature, many 

 of them by the younger portion of American 

 naturalists, he proposed an adherence to the 

 resolutions of the Berlin botanists viz., that 

 the starting point of priority in the names both 

 of genera and species is the year 1752 ; that no- 

 mina, nuda, and seminiida are to be rejected, and 

 that similar names are to be conserved ; and that 

 the names of certain larger or universally known 

 genera are also to be conserved. Also, Prof. 

 John C. Arthur, of Lafayette, Ind., brought 

 forward the subject of a proposed World's Con- 

 gress of Botanists at Chicago in 1893. The 

 American committee wished to have on this 

 proposal the views of British' botanists. A 

 special excursion was projected, which was to 

 take in the Yellowstone Park and include a tour 

 of from 3,000 to 4,000 miles, it was to be hoped, 

 at little more than nominal expense. 



E. Geography. The presiding officer of this 

 section was Prof. James Geikie, LL. D., D. C. L., 

 F. G. S., brother of the president of the associa- 

 tion. He chose as the subject of his address 

 " The Geographical Development of Coast 

 Lines," in whicn he considered the causes which 

 determined the general trend of the world's 

 coast lines, and then discussed the particular 

 development of those of the Atlantic, the Pa- 

 cific, and other oceans. The more striking con- 

 trasts between the coast lines of these regions and 

 the origin of such contrasts were considered. It 

 was shown that the coast lines of the globe are 

 of very unequal age ; that some long ago 

 reached a stage of comparative stability, while 

 others were younger and had not as yet attained 

 a relatively stable condition. He suggested that 

 the accepted doctrine of great regional eleva- 

 tions was insufficient to account for the devel- 

 opment of continental areas. His final re- 

 marks were: "I ought perhaps to apologize 

 for having trespassed so much upon the domains 

 of geology; but in doing sol have only fol- 

 lowed the example of geologists themselves, 

 whose divagations in territories adjoining their 

 own are naturally not infrequent. From much 

 that I have said it will be gathered that with 

 regard to the causes of many coastal changes we 

 are still groping in the dark. It seems not un- 

 likely, however, that as light increases we may 



