Sept. 28, 1876] 



NATURE 



487 



stances in Drinking- Water on the Health of the Community. 

 One of the questions which has o'^ten been asked is, Whether is 

 it better to drink hard water or soft water ? The reply which has 

 been given is that at present we cannot tell, but that apparently 

 the syi^tem can accommodate itself to either, and that a soft- 

 water drinker is sometimes disordered when he begins to drink 

 hard water. He wished to call attention to the opportunity that 

 physicians had at present of discovering the effects of hard waters 

 by reason of the great use that was being made of a very hard 

 water, the Tannus water. Ordinary hard water might contain 

 from 13 to 20 grains of carbonate of lime per gallon ; but the 

 Tannus water contained, roughly speaking, 100 grains of car- 

 bonate of lime and 200 grains of common salt per gallon, besides 

 considerable quantities of carbonate of magnesia, chloride of 

 potassium, and sulphate of soda. -In the course of the discus- 

 sion which followed the reading of Mr. Wauklyn's paper, Dr. 

 Carr stated that in Kent, where the water was hard, he believed 

 the amount of salts of lime was exceedingly beneficial to chil- 

 dren, and the Kentish children wtre singularly well supplied 

 with straight legs and good bones. Mr. Wanklyn stated that 

 Kent water was one of the purest he had ever seen ; average 

 drinking-water contained ten times as much organic matter as 

 the Kent water. The real objection to the latter was that it con- 

 tained a large proportion of sulphate of lime ; whenever it was 

 met with in any volume it had something of the odour of rotten 

 eggs, due to the presence of sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphate 

 of lime. He questioned whether hard water, however useful 

 for children, was altogether desirable at a later peried of life. 



Dr. Paton's able paper On the Action and Sounds of the Heart 

 gave an account of excellent experimental researches, by which 

 he claimed to have proved that the ventricle in coming to com- 

 plete contraction itself exerts a strain on the base of the distended 

 aorta that produces the simultaneous reaction of the aorta, closing 

 the valves and completing the wave. This is contrary to the 

 usual view which considers that the aorta reacts after the conclu- 

 sion of the ventricular contraction. The influence of this new 

 conception on the comprehension of the sounds of the heart is 

 important ; for if a sound be produced in closing the semilunar 

 valves, it must terminate the first sound of the heart, and cannot 

 be the second sound. The latter arises after the first pulse-wave 

 has terminated, and is synchronous with the diastole of the ven- 

 tricle. In a series of experiments on the action of the denuded 

 heart of the terrapene during the highest temperature of the 

 season, when the action of the heart was strong and vigorous. 

 Dr. Paton distinctly identified the first sound with the contrac- 

 tion of the ventricle and the reaction of the aorta, the sound 

 being produced by the rushing of the blood through the orifice 

 and terminated by the recoil of the aorta. The second sound, 

 short, sharp, and acute, was produced by the contraction of the 

 auricles sending the blood through the auriculo-ventricular 

 orifices. The effect of these facts upon pathological sounus was 

 followed out. 



Among other contributions to this department may be men- 

 tioned Prof. Dewar's continuation of his important researches 

 On the Physiological Action of Light, Dr. Urban Pritchard's 

 paper On the Termination oj the Nerves in the Vestibule and 

 Semicircular Canals of the Ear »f Mammals, and the same 

 author's Demonstration of a New Microscope adapted for shofiuing 

 the Circulation in Man. 



The five days' session of this department was fruitful in im- 

 portant memoirs on physiology, anatomy, embryology, and 

 histology, showing that a considerable amount of good work is 

 going on in this country. The discussions were of more than 

 usual value, as many eminent anatomists and physiologists were 

 present and took part in them. 



Department of Zoology and Botany. 



Annong the botanical contributions was an mteresting one by 

 Dr. I. B. Balfour, entitled No:es on Mascarene Species of Pan- 

 danus. He said that no portion of the flora of the Mascarene 

 Islands was more peculiar than the various species of the genus 

 Pandanus, or screw Pines. There were many species endemic 

 to the islands, but many species were found all over India, and 

 they also extended into China and other places in the Malay 

 Archipelago, and a few species were to be found in Australia. 

 Of the twenty-two species which occurred in the Mascarene 

 Islands, twenty were endemic to the islands ; their generic cha- 

 racters were exceedingly well marked, and the definition of 

 species was a very difficult matter. An investigation of the 

 whole genus was very much wanted, but this had hitherto been 

 rendered difficult by the want of knowledge of the Mascarene 



species. The descriptions of the first author who wrote anything 

 about these Mascarene species were exceedingly short, and just 

 now the confusion in regard to the whole genus was something 

 extraordinary. There were nine species at least endemic to 

 the Mauritius, and in the Bourbon they had record of four 

 distinct species, three of which were peculiar to the island. He 

 had examined the fruits and leaves of these plants, but the leaves 

 afforded veiy few characters. They were dioecious plants, and 

 the male flowers would furnish them with very good characters 

 for distinction. Three species had been grouped together by 

 their carpels never or at least very rarely being united. Two 

 of these were endemic to Mauritius, and one to Bourbon. 



Prof. W. C. Williamson gave an address on his recent re- 

 searches on the structure of the coal plants, especially Calamites, 

 Lepidodendron, and Sigillaria. He considered that the accurate 

 determination of the true nature of each of the coal plants was 

 of the utmost importance to the theory of evolution. He com- 

 bated the view which would divide the genus Calamites into 

 two, Calamites and Calamodendron. He described some new 

 forms of lepidostrobi or cone-fruits of fossil lycopods, and con- 

 cluded by showing the remarkable tendency of many of these 

 coal plants to develop into a very uniform type, making it almost 

 impossible to identify small fragments either of their wood or of 

 their bark. Hence it was absurd to attempt to establish genera 

 and species upon such unrecognisable fragments. 



Mr. C. W. Peach read a paper On Ctrcinate Vernation of 

 Sphenopteris affinis, and on the Discovery of Staphylopteris in 

 British Rocks. Mr. Peach has found Sphenopteris affinis in the 

 black shale at West Calder, near Edinburgh, in a series of speci- 

 mens showing its vernation from the earliest stage till the com- 

 plete development of the plant ; he believed that other observers 

 had described several species of Sphenopteris from this one 

 form in its various stages. The genus Staphylopteris, which he 

 had also found at West Calder, was well known as occurring in 

 the carboniferous rocks of Illinois and Arkansas. Prof. McNab 

 gave an account of the structure of the leaves in several species 

 of Abies (larches), which will be fully illustrated in the PrO' 

 ceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Prof Leith Adams described the fossil remains of the Maltese 

 caves, with especial reference to the gigantic land- tortoises, simi- 

 lar to those of the Galapagos and Mascarene Islands, but much 

 larger still. Nevertheless they were very much alike in oste- 

 ology, so that there had been great difficulty in determining that 

 the species were distinct. Another notable animal was a dor- 

 mouse as large as a guinea-pig, so numerous that five or six 

 specimens could be obtained out of one spadeful of mould. 

 Among the fossil-birds was a swan one-third larger than any 

 modern one. Altogether 150 terrestrial vertebrates had been 

 found in Malta, and it was impossible that they could have lived 

 in that locality unless Malta was part of a continent. 



Mr. Spence Bate, in continuing his report on the structure of 

 the Crustacea, dealt especially with the eyes, pointing out that 

 these organs were in some cases covered by, and received support 

 from, the carapace, and in others they were supported by a 

 jointed peduncle. The chief modifications of the appendages 

 of the head were examined, and they led Mr. Spence Bate to 

 the conclusion that the seven sections of which the head was 

 composed should be regarded as completely different from the 

 other parts of the body. 



Dr. W. B. Carpenter reported the result of further researches 

 On the Nervous System of Antedon (Comatula) rosaceus, and also 

 read a paper by his son, Mr. P. H. Carpenter, On the Anatomy 

 of the Arms op Crinoids. He maintained that the tract of tissue 

 in the axis of the arms, by which motor impulses were conveyed 

 to the arm- muscles, was equivalent to a nerve, although it did 

 not present the microscopic structure of nerve-fibres. 



Dr. D. T. Cunningham read a paper On a Specimen of Del- 

 phinus albirostris which he had procured this spring. Prof, 

 Cohn, of Breslau, made a number of beautiful experiments to 

 show the artificial formation of silica shells. 



Prof. Young gave a description of the novel arrangements 

 adopted by him in the new Ilunterian Museum. The cases were 

 arranged so that visitors could walk around them on the outside 

 while curators or students were at work upon them on the inside. 

 The cases were to contain skins, skeletons, soft parts, and fossil 

 remains in close proximity, so that the whole of what was known 

 about one series of forms might be brought together, instead of 

 being scattered as usual. The fittings had been made with great 

 skill by Messrs. D. and T. Robertson of Glasgow. 



A discussion on spontaneous generation arose on a paper by 

 Dr. Carmichael, of Glasgow, entitled Spontaneous Evolution 



