486 



NATURE 



{Sept. 28, 1876 



been pores in the body-wall he should have referred both forms 

 to sponges. Their development showed that they arose strictly 

 in conformity with the Gastrsea type. He then gave some 

 account of the mode of development of the chief animal stocks, 

 as explained in the " History of Creation." Dr. Allen Thomson 

 said that Prof. Haeckel had been regarded in many quarters with 

 somewhat of the same suspicion that had greeted the first pro- 

 mulgation of Mr. Darwin's theories, and he was considered one 

 of the most rash and daring speculators of the day. Those who 

 had listened to his exposition would probably take a different 

 view, and see how much of sound observation went to the esta- 

 blishment of his theories. In so extensive a field as that over 

 which Prof. Haeckel's views carried him, he might be sometimes 

 led into error, and might possibly be widely wrong, but at the 

 same time they could not but admire the manner in which obser- 

 vation of fact was always placed as the basis of his theory. 



Dr. D. J. Cunningham read a paper On the Spinal Nervous 

 System of the Cetacea. He found that while great similarity 

 prevailed between their cervical and dorsal nerves and those of 

 other mammalia, the nerves of the lumbar and caudal regions 

 differed widely. The superior and inferior divisions of those 

 nerves in cetacea were of nearly equal size. Two great longi- 

 tudinal cords or trunks are formed by their union on each side of 

 the vertebral column, and these become situated on either side of 

 the spines of the vertebrte, and on either side of the bodies below 

 the transverse processes. These great cords supply the four 

 great muscular masses which act upon the tail. 



Prof. Burdon-Sanderson gave an account of his further re- 

 searches On the Electrical Phenomena exhibited by Dionaa 

 muscipula {the Fly-trap). He had accurately investigated the 

 phenomena by means of the electrometer. He found that nor- 

 mally the whole leaf with the petiole was somewhat negative, 

 but that when excited by a stimulus, an electrical change took 

 place throughout, making every part more negative ; the greatest 

 change was on the external surface of the leaf immediately 

 opposite to the three sensitive hairs. There was no relation 

 between the pre-existing currents and the electrical disturbance 

 consequent on stimulation. The period of latent stimulation 

 was about one-sixth of a second ; the period during which the 

 disturbance lasted was one second, more or less. As the leaf 

 becomes fatigued, the period of latency gradually increases to 

 one second and three-quarters, and then most likely the next 

 stimulation would produce no effect. The change appears to 

 be a function of the protoplasm of the parenchyma of the region 

 out of which the sensitive hairs arise. Certain of the characters 

 of the change are similar to those presented by muscle and nerve. 

 Why the variation should be a negative one, Prof. Sanderson 

 had no idea. 



Prof. Struthers described the finger-muscles of several whales. 

 He concluded that such muscles existed in the whalebone whales, 

 but in ordinary teethed whales they were merely represented by 

 fibrous tissue. These muscles existing in the true bottle-nosed 

 whale had a special interest, as the teeth in that whale were 

 rudimentary and functionless. He had found these muscles in 

 the forearms of whales largely mixed with fibrous tissue, so the 

 transition was easy. He also gave an account of dissections 

 of the rudimentary hind-limb of the Greenland right-whale. 

 Prof. Macalister, of Dublin, expressed his opinion that the 

 whales were not of very ancient origin, for he thought the exist- 

 ence of the rudimentary limbs tended to show that a sufficient 

 length of time had not elapsed since the use of the limb was 

 essential to the earlier animal, to produce its complete oblitera- 

 tion. 



Mr. C. T. Kingzett read a paper On the Action 0/ Alcohol on 

 the Brain. He said the question of what became of alcohol 

 taken into the system had been extensively studied. Thudichum 

 was the first to determine quantitatively the amount of alcohol 

 eliminated by the kidneys from a given quantity administered, 

 and the result he obtained was sufficient to disprove the elimina- 

 tion theory then widely prevailing. Dupre and many others 

 continued these researches from which, according to Dupre, they 

 might fairly draw three conclusions : (i) that the amount of 

 alcohol ehminated per day did not increase with the continuance 

 of the alcoholic diet, therefore all the alcohol consumed daily 

 must of necessity be disposed of daily, and as it was certainly 

 not eliminated within that time it must be destroyed in the 

 system ; (2) that the elimination of alcohol following the taking 

 of a dose was completed twenty-four hours after the dose was 

 taken ; and (3) that the amount eliminated in both breath and 

 unnewas a minute fraction only of the amount of alcohol taken. 

 In 1839 Dr. Percy published a research on the presence of 



alcohol in the ventricles of the brain, and, indeed, he concluded 

 ' ' that a kind of affinity existed between the alcohol and the 

 cerebral matter." He further stated that he was able to procure 

 a much larger proportion of alcohol from the brain than from a 

 greater quantity of blood than could possibly be present within 

 the cranium of the animal upon which he operated. Dr. Marcet, 

 in a paper read before the British Association in 1859, detailed 

 physiological experiments which he considered to substantiate 

 the conclusions of Dr. Percy, inasmuch as they demonstrated 

 that the alcohol acted by means of absorption on the nervous 

 centres. Lallemand, Perrin, and Duroy had, moreover, suc- 

 ceeded previously in extracting alcohol from brain-matter in cases 

 of alcoholic poisoning. But all these researches left them en- 

 tirely in the dark as regarded the true action, if any, of alcohol 

 on cerebral matter, and no method of investigation was possible 

 until the chemical constitution of the brain was known. Thudi- 

 chum's researches in this direction, together with some more 

 recent and published investigations by Thudichum and the 

 author, had placed within reach new methods of inquiry regard- 

 ing the action of alcohol on the brain. In his research he (Mr. 

 Kingzett) had attempted this inquiry by maintaining the brains 

 of oxen at the temperature of the blood, in water, or in water 

 containing known amounts of alcohol. The extracts thus ob 

 tained had been studied in various ways, and submitted to quan- 

 titative analysis, while the influences exerted by the various fluids 

 on the brain had been also studied. These influences extended 

 in certain cases to hardening and to an alteration in the specific 

 gravity of the brain-matter. Water itself had a strong action on 

 brain matter (after death) for it was capable of dissolving certain 

 principles from the brain. It was notable that water, however, 

 dissolved no kephaline from the brain. Alcohol seemed to have 

 no more chemical effect on the brain than water itself, so long 

 as its proportion to the total volume of fluid did not exceed a 

 given extent. The limit would appear to exist somewhere near 

 a fluid containing 35 per cent, of alcohol. But if the percentage 

 of alcohol exceeded this amount, then not only a larger quantity 

 of matter was dissolved from the brain, but that matter included 

 kephaline. Such alcoholic solutions also decreased to about 

 the same extent as water the specific gravity of brain substance, 

 but not from the same cause ; that was to say, not merely by 

 the loss of substance and swelling, but by the fixation of water. 

 Many difficulties surrounded the attempt to follow these ideas 

 into life, and to comprehend in what way these modes of action 

 of water and alcohol on the brain might be influenced by the 

 other matters present in blood. On the other hand, it was diffi- 

 cult to see how any of the matters known to exist in the blood 

 could prevent alcohol, if present in sufficient amount, from either 

 hardening the brain (as it did after death) or dissolving traces of 

 its peculiar principles to be carried away in the circulation ; 

 that was to say, should physiological research confirm the stated 

 fact that the brain in life absorbed alcohol and retained it, it 

 would almost follow of necessity that the alcohol would act as 

 he had indicated and produce disease, perhaps delirium tremens. 

 Dr. McKendrick said Mr. Kingzett's researches into the che- 

 mistry of the brain and the action of various agents upon it were 

 a valuable step in the right direction. This was essential if the 

 mode of working of the brain were ever to be understood ; but 

 it would be a long way from the knowledge of the dead tissue 

 to the comprehension of its vital action. No doubt alcohol had 

 a marked effect upon the convective-tissue elements in the brain. 

 He suggested as a useful method of research the submitting a 

 certain class of anunals for a length of time to the action of a 

 definite amount of alcohol, and then examining their brains to 

 discover what effect was produced. The investigation was of 

 very great importance as regarded the treatment of drunkards j 

 no doubt in many cases where it was thought that they had to 

 do with merely moral evil, there was a fundamental change in 

 physical organisation. Prof. Burdon-Sanderson said the ques- 

 tion was one that ought certainly to be taken up by Govern- 

 ment, and the best men in the country should be engaged upon 

 the inquiry. It had a most important bearing upon the welfare 

 of the community and the diminution of human suffering. 



Surgeon-Major Johnston, in a paper On the Diet 0/ the Natives 

 of India, came to the conclusion that the natives require much 

 more nitrogen and carbon than Europeans, and also took much 

 more salt, owing to the comparative absence of salt from the 

 substances which form a large part of their food. The natives 

 took more dry food than tlie Europeans, and those who 

 lived on food from the tables of the Europeans enjoyed a con- 

 siderably greater immunity from cholera than others, 



Mr. Wanklyn read a paper On the Effects of the Mineral Sub' 



