37: 



NATURE 



{Sept. 2, 1S75 



or reports read before the Section?, has been well 

 stocked, and superintended by Mr. J. E. Taylor. 



In accordance with resolutions presented at the Belfast 

 meeting, the Council this year memorialised Govern- 

 ment to take action in reference to several subjects con- 

 nected with the advancement of science. First, in 

 March this year. Prof. Tyndall addressed Government 

 in the name of the Council, urging upon them the de- 

 sirableness of continuing solar observations in India. 

 In accordance with this request. Lord Salisbury urged 

 upon the Governor-General of India the advisability of 

 establishing at Simla a Solar Observatory to continue 

 the work which is to be carried on at Roorkee in 1875-6. 

 Secondly, the Council urged upon Government the im- 

 portance of appointing naturalists to vessels engaged 

 on the coasts of little-known parts of the world. The 

 Admiralty thanked the Council for their suggestion. 

 The third resolution was that the Council be requested to 

 take such steps as they may think desirable with the 

 view of promoting any application that may be made to 

 her Majesty's Government by the Royal Society for a 

 systematic physical and biological exploration of the seas 

 around the British Isles. The Council have deferred the 

 consideration of this resolution until action be taken by 

 the Royal Society. The fourth resolution supported the 

 equipment of an Arctic Expedition : with what success the 

 efforts in this direction have been crowned, everybody 

 knows. 



The balance-sheet of the Association for 1874-5 shows 

 a balance in hand, at the commencement, of 714/. ; 

 receipts from subscriptions, 2,324/. ; dividends, 238/. Pay- 

 ments were — for Belfast meeting, 405/. ; Report of Brad- 

 ford meeting, 689/. ; salaries, 470/. ; rent, &c., 104/. ; 

 grants, 960/, ; balance in hand, 624/. The estimate for 

 1875-6 was as follows .-—Receipts at Bristol, 2,316/. ; sup- 

 posed additional members' subscriptions, 230/. ; total esti- 

 mated income, 3,438/. ; probable expenses at Bristol, 

 430/. ; printing Belfast Report, 720/. A balance of 1,713/. 

 was shown, from which grants might be made. The 

 number attending the meeting is approximately as 

 follows : — Life members, 265 ; annual members, 385 ; asso- 

 ciates, 860 ; ladies, 670 ; foreign members, 16 ; total, 2,196. 

 Number at Belfast, 1,938. 



Glasgow has been chosen as the place of meeting for 

 next year, and Plymouth for 1877. 



Sir Robert Christison has been chosen President-elect of 

 the meeting at Glasgow. The Vice-presidents for the 

 Glasgow meeting were elected as follows : — The Duke of 

 Argyll, Sir W. Stirling Maxwell, Sir William Thomson, 

 the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Dr. Allen Thomson, 

 and Prof. A. C. Ramsay. The general secretaries and 

 treasurer were re-appointed, and the Glasgow meeting 

 was fixed to commence on Wednesday, Sept 6, 1876. 



REPORTS 



The Report of the Comfnittee on Specific Volumes, consisting of 

 Professors Roscoe, Balfour Stewart, and Thorpe, was presented 

 by Dr. Thorpe. — The committee have undertaken to report on 

 the validity of Kopp's laws concerning the specific volumes of 

 liquids. The greater portion of the experimental part of the 

 investigation has been finished, but the reduction and calculation 

 of the results have still to be completed, and the committee will 

 not be able to present their final report until the next meeting of 

 the Association. 



Report on Dredging off the Coast of Durham and North York- 

 shire in 1874, by David Robertson and G. S. Brady. — The 

 greatest number of novelties occurred among the Copepoda, 

 twenty-eight species being new to science, and eleven others new 

 to British records. Twenty-one species are added to the list of 

 testaceous moUusca prepared by the late Mr. Alder ; other 

 orders afforded new species. Much interesting information was 

 obtained about the distribution of the species. While the tes- 

 taceous mollusca show distinctly boreal characters, in the Ostra- 

 coda and Foraminifera this is by no means so apparent. The 



reporters do not suppose that a cold arctic current is the only or 

 even perhaps the chief agent in the continued existence of this 

 peculiar Northumbrian molkiscan fauna ; consequently some 

 more local circumstances must be looked to as the chief causes 

 of the retention of the species in question over particular circum- 

 scribed areas. Copious particulars of jthe dredgings are given, 

 with full lists of species. 



Report on the Zoological Station at Naples.— Ai present the 

 station possesses twenty-one working tables, of which seventeen 

 are occupied or bespoken. Each table is in itselt a condensed 

 laboratory ; it is supplied with a number of small working 

 aquaria, with a constant stream of sea-water. The animals for 

 study are provided by the station. The large aquarium of the 

 station can also be used by students for suitable purposes. The 

 library has already become a fairly extensive one, being espe- 

 cially rich in embryological works. Students may accompany 

 and take part in the fishing and dredging expeditions of the 

 station. The large aquarium is partly a popular exhibition, 

 which helps to support the station. The staff consists of Dr. 

 Dohrn, the general director ; Dr. Eisig, his responsible assistant; 

 two other scientific assistants, one -to superintend the large aqua- 

 rium and the fishing, and the other to arrange for the collection 

 and preservation of animals ; three engineers, four house ser- 

 vants, and four fishermen. The work facilitated by the station 

 is of the following kinds : — i. Morphology and embryology 

 of marine animals ; this requires that students should visit the 

 laboratory at the periods when the specimens required can be 

 obtained. 2. Physiological investigation of marine animals, so 

 little worked at hitherto. 3. Study of the habits of marine 

 animals. 4. Systematic investigation of marine fauna and flora 

 of the Mediterranean in the vicinity of Naples. Few tasks are 

 more promising than a thoroughly systematic dredging of the 

 Bay of Naples. Animal forms naturally occupy the chief atten- 

 tion at the station, but no less facilities are offered for the study 

 of marine vegetable forms. This is [significantly indicated 

 by the fact that Prof. Cohn, of Breslau, and Prof. Reineke, 

 are to visit the station next session to carry on algolo- 

 gical researches. 5. Physical investigation of the sea in the 

 neighbourhood of Naples, v;ith the periodic appearance and dis- 

 appearance of certain animals in shoals or large numbers. 6. 

 Experiments on breeding and preserving delicate marine organ- 

 isms in a healthy condition. 7. Transmission of specimens to 

 investigators at home. 



The scientific results of the station have been very consider- 

 able, and the students have included some of the most distin- 

 guished biologists. Next winter Dr. Dohrn proposes to begin a 

 series of annual accounts of the work done at the station. When 

 all the tables are taken up, it is calculated that with strict eco- 

 nomy the institution will pay its working expenses. But it would 

 be of the highest value if governments,' universities, and public 

 institutions would support the station to a much greater extent 

 than at present. 



Intestinal Secretion. — A second report was presented by the 

 Committee on Intestinal Secretion — Dr. Brunton and Dr. Pye 

 Smith. The report detailed a number of experiments which 

 the committee had undertaken, and which were considered to 

 prove the absence of influence on Intestinal Secretion through 

 the splanchnic nerves, the pneumogastrics, the sympathetic 

 above the diaphragm or the spinal marrow ; and the probable 

 influence of the ganglia contained in the solar plexus, though 

 certainly not of the two semilunar ganglia exclusively. Also 

 the independent occurrence of haemorrhage and of paralytic 

 secretion appeared, in the view of the committee, to point to a 

 separate nervous influence on the blood-vessels and the secret- 

 ing structures of the intestines. They also observed the occur- 

 rence of vomiting after section of both splanchnics and vagi. 



SECTIONAL PROCEEDINGS 

 SECTION A— Mathematics 

 The Section was well fijled to hear Prof. Balfour Stewart's 

 address, in spite of the great counter attraction offered by Mr. 

 Froude's address and experiments which were taking place 

 simultaneously in the room underneath. Section G. Atter the 

 conclusion of the address, and after a cordial vote of thanks, 

 moved by Col. Strange and seconded by Rev. R. Mason, had 

 been accorded to Prof. Stewart, Prof. Everett gave in a few 

 words the report of the Underground Temperature Committee, 

 specially referring to the observations recently made at the 

 St. Gothard Tunnel, at Chiswick, and at Swinderby near Lincoln. 

 Prof. Guthrie then showed his experiments on the measure- 



