Flint Implements in Maccagnono Cave 145 



chloric acid, diluted to one- tenth per cent., caused the 

 muscle to contract, and ammonia produced the same result, 

 even when more diluted. 



Mr. Paget mentioned a case of a patient whose tendon 

 Achilles had been divided. The thermometer in the ward 

 stood at 65 F. ; on the surface of the foot and in the wound 

 itself only at 70. He thought this due to the sluggish 

 movement of the circulating fluid. 



Sir B. Brodie said that, in the case of dogs, where life was 

 prolonged by artificial respiration, the circulation might 

 continue till the temperature throughout the body had 

 fallen to about 70 F. 



It was mentioned at the ii2th meeting (May 26th) that 

 Dr. Falconer had discovered flint implements among the 

 bones of preglacial animals in the cave of Maccagnono ; on 

 which Professor Huxley observed that the absence of strati- 

 fication in the deposit reduced the value of its evidence in 

 regard to the extreme antiquity of the human race, while 

 Mr. Grove thought the non-occurrence of human bones to 

 be singular. 



At the next meeting (ii3th) Dr. Falconer was present, 

 and gave a description of the cave. 1 Charcoal and rude 

 flint implements occurred beneath stalagmite in a breccia 

 containing bones of Elephas antiquus, the hyaena, a large 

 bear, a Felis (probably F. spelaea), and numerous bones of 

 the Hippopotamus. " The vast number " of the last shows 

 that " the physical condition of the country must have 

 been greatly different, at no very distant geological period, 

 from what obtains now " ; yet, since then, the top of the 

 material filling the cave had been cemented to the roof by 

 stalagmite, after which the greater part of its contents had 

 been cleared out. 



Dr. Perthes 2 (a guest) said he had discovered among some 



1 The Minute corresponds in all important respects with the account 

 given in Lubbock's Prehistoric Times, pages 260-262. 



: This is probably one of the noted publishers at Gotha. He might be 

 a son of F. C. Perthes (born in 1772 at Rudolstadt), who, after establishing 

 himself at Gotha, became noted as a publisher of historical and patriotic 

 P.C. K 



