24-7 



and flourished in the countries in which its remains are now found, 

 at a period of time which, in the history of the earth, may be con- 

 sidered only as modern ; and that the extinction of the species is at- 

 tributable rather to the continued persecution it endured from its 

 enemies, accelerated by incidental local causes, than to any general 

 catastrophe that overwhelmed the surface of the globe. 



The spot examined by the author containing these remains, is 

 near the village of Dundrum, in Down : it appears formerly to have 

 been a lake, and is now covered with peat lying upon a bed of marl. 

 The bones are invariably found between these two substances, and 

 from the examination of the shells contained in the latter, it appears 

 that they are exclusively fresh-water species. 



The peat bog of Rathcannon, in the county of Limerick, has also 

 furnished abundance of the same bones, similarly situated. These 

 were examined by the Rev. Mr. Maunsell before they were displaced. 

 Some of them showed marks of disease and fractures, and in one case 

 the rib was singularly perforated, as if by a sharp instrument. Mar- 

 row, having the appearance of fresh suet, was found in the cavity of 

 one shank- bone, and they appeared generally to contain all the prin- 

 ciples found in fresh bones. 



These and some other concurrent circumstances seem, says the 

 author, to remove all idea of the remains of the Irish elk being of 

 any other than comparatively recent origin ; and in seeking for a 

 cause of the nearly constant distribution of these remains in Ireland 

 in swampy spots, he conjectures that the animal may [have often 

 sought the waters and the marshy land as a place of refuge from its 

 enemies, and thus not unfrequently found a grave where it looked 

 for protection. 



Microscopical Observations on the Materials of the Brain, and of the 

 Ova of Animals, to show the analogy that exists between them. By 

 Sir Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S. Read at the Society for pro- 

 moting Animal Chemistry, April 12, 1825. Read at the Royal 

 Society June 3, 1822. [P7*t7. Trans. 1825, p. 436.] 



The author first details the results of some experiments made with 

 a view to ascertain whether frogs, that had been completely frozen, 

 could, under any circumstances, be restored to life, which he found 

 never to be the case when the brain had been entirely congealed, 

 the substance of which, after such process, never regains its former 

 appearance, but is dissolved into a watery fluid, mixed with some 

 gelatinous matter. In the act of freezing, the human brain was 

 found to suffer a similar decomposition ; the molecule of a pullet's egg 

 is also resolved during the process of freezing into materials corre- 

 sponding with those of the brain, and the testicular secretion was 

 found to be similarly constituted, and in no instance to contain ani- 

 malcules, as Leuenhoek and other more recent authors have affirmed. . 

 Magnified drawings, executed by Mr. Bauer, of the various sub- 

 stances described in this paper, accompany the communication. 



