420 Drs. C. J. Martin and T. Cherry. 



Petrie, and measured by Mr. Warren. The modern populations 

 occupying the same districts of Europe as Palaeolithic and Neolithic 

 man appear to be taller, but in the case of both south Germany and 

 France there appears to be a slight, but sensible, decrease of stature 

 since prehistoric times. Modern English do not seem to have 

 decreased in stature since the ancient Anglo-Saxons. In the esti- 

 mates of stature for the above races, the author differs, in some 

 cases very considerably, from previous writers. 



9. Beyond the range of normal population (say from 157 to 

 175 cm. for ^), the line of regression ceases to be linear. An 

 attempt is made, such as existing data will allow of, to express the 

 line of regression by the equation to a curve. The constants of this 

 curve are determined for measurements of the four chief long bones, 

 and the results exhibited in a diagram, from which it is possible to 

 deduce the probable stature corresponding to a given length of any 

 long bone by inspection. The prediction of the stature of dwarfs 

 from the curve obtained from the data of giants shows only 2'25 cm. 

 mean error, and must be considered satisfactory. Application is 

 then made of the results to reconstruct the stature of Bushmen, 

 Andamanese, and Akkas. These give sufficiently good results to 

 lead us to believe that a fair estimate can be made of the stature of 

 European neolithic dwarfs. 



The memoir concludes with a table of reconstructed statures and 

 sexual ratios. 



" The Nature of the Antagonism between Toxins and Anti- 

 toxins." By C. J. MARTIN, M.B., D.Sc. Lond., Acting 

 Professor of Physiology, and THOMAS CHERRY, M.D., M.S. 

 Melb., Demonstrator and Assistant Lecturer in Pathology 

 in the University of Melbourne. Communicated by W. 

 D. HALLIBURTON, F.R.S. Received May 7 Read June 9, 

 1898. 



In the * Deutsche Med. Wochenschrif t ' for 1894 appeared a contro- 

 versy on this subject between Bearing and Buchner. Behring 

 maintained that the antagonism was of a chemical nature, and that 

 the antitoxin neutralised the toxin much as an alkali neutralised an 

 acid. Buchner, on the other hand, adduced results opposed to this 

 view, pointing to the interpretation that the action was an indirect 

 one, due to the antitoxin operating in some indirect way through the 

 medium of the cells of the organism. Since this controversy many 

 investigations have been made with the object of deciding this funda- 

 mental point. At the present time, however, opinion is still divided ; 



