204 



clearly and certainly the occurrence of all the conditions required for 

 the union of the two pieces of ice under my theory. The contingent 

 occurrence of the additional conditions now specially brought for- 

 ward, was indeed from the first somewhat familiar to my mind, but 

 was left out of the explanation as being unessential and not perhaps 

 quite so clearly apparent. Their occurrence has, however, now be- 

 come essential to the explanation of Prof. Faraday's new experi- 

 ments : and by it I consider these are shown not to militate against 

 my general theory of the plasticity of ice, but to corroborate it 

 strongly, and to confirm its application to the various observed 

 cases of the union of two pieces of moist ice when placed in 

 contact. 



May 16, 1861. 



Major-General SAB1NE, R.A., Treasurer and Vice-President, 

 in the Chair. 



Sir Andrew Scott Waugh was admitted into the Society. 



The CROONIAN LECTURE was then delivered by C. E. BROWN- 

 SEQUARD, M.D., F.R.S., "On the Relations between Muscular 

 Irritability, Cadaveric Rigidity, and Putrefaction." 



The object of this lecture is chiefly to try to establish the 

 following law : The greater the degree of muscular irritability at 

 the time of death, the later the cadaveric rigidity sets in and the 

 longer it lasts, and the later also putrefaction appears and the 

 slower it progresses. 



Many physiologists have already shown that in certain cases 

 cadaveric rigidity appears late and lasts long when muscular irrita- 

 bility is powerful at the time of death ; but the great generality of 

 this result and its prevalence as a law, had not been established, 

 nor had the general relation of these conditions of the muscular 

 system to putrefaction, as stated in the above law, been enunciated 

 before my first researches on this subject*. 



* In 1849 and 1850 I published a summary of some experiments the object 

 of which was to prove the existence of the above law. In a paper read at the 

 Academic des Sciences of Paris, and in 1857, 1 related some new experiments 



