Sept. 8, 188?.' 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



241 



disposed to rest too. At the closing some, given by the 

 Mayor and Corporation of the "good old town," as the 

 former, with startling originality, calls Southampton, there 

 was a crush, and finally a dance, in which somehow the 

 dancers seemed to be shaking the dust of science from 

 their feet* 



The next meeting is to be held at Southport, opening 

 on September 19 ; and according to present plans, the 

 meeting of 1S8-1 is to be held in Canada! One of the 

 greatest mathematicians living, Professor Cay ley, of Cam- 

 bridge, will be present at the meeting of 1883, which, had 

 an Oxford man been appointed president, was to have been 

 held at Oxford : as it is, the invitation of Oxford has been 

 "postponed." TanUf, kc. 



Geology. 



From the address of Mr. Etheridge, I extract the 

 following passage, as of interest : — 



"In Selsea I draw attention to a locality where historical 

 evidence is based upon physical causes and changes that 

 have long been, and still are going on, to modify the form, 

 extent, and structure of the Sussex coast, from the mouth 

 of Chichester Harbour to Littlehampton and Bognor. The 

 peninsula of Selsea is celebrated in English history as one of 

 the places where Christianity was first taught in this country. 

 It was one of the most ancient Saxon establishments. This 

 peninsula was granted by Edilwalch, King of the South 

 Saxons, to Wilfred, the exiled Bishop of York, about the 

 year 680. At that time it is stated to have contained 5,220 

 acres of land, with 85 families and 250 slaves. The parish 

 now contains only 2,880 acres; 2,340 having been slowly 

 denuded away by the action and encroachment of the sea. 

 This encroachment and destruction during the past 800 

 years has been very extensive. The creek called Pagham 

 Harbour, on the south-east side of the Bill or peninsula, 

 was due to an irruption before the year 1345, when 2,700 

 acres of land were destroyed. The site of the ancient 

 cathedral and episcopal palace of Selsea, believed to have 

 been situated to the south-ea^t of the present church of 

 Pagham, is no longer to be determined, but there is no 

 reason to doubt but that it stood nearly a mile out in what 

 is now sea. We are led to believe that when Selsea 

 became known to the English nation it was an island, and 

 that in Bede's time the process of silting up the estuary 

 must have commenced, and the completion of this process 

 would seem to have been before the Conquest. The action 

 of the tides on this coast carries tlie sancl and shingle from 

 west to east, therefore the gradual wasting which has 

 taken place on the shore of Bracklesham Bay has served 

 to supply a large portion of the material of which these 

 marshes are formed. The ground on which Selsea, Bognor, 

 Littlehampton, Worthing, and other places on the Sussex 

 coast westward of Brighton are built, is of very recent 

 formation, being composed of gravcl.«, sands, and loam 

 belonging to the post-i>leiocene or pleistocene series." 



Biology. 

 Professor Ganigec, in his opening address, gave a long, 

 elaborate, and, to say the truth, rather wearisome account 

 of scientific researches into the process of secretion. Our 



• In passing it may be noted tliat, hail it boon possible, some 

 other place than tlio Hartley Institution slumld linvo been chosen 

 for the soirCts, as the Institute had to be closed for a whole day 

 before each, and it is tho only place in the " good old town" where 

 there is anything like a library, with such works of reference as 

 men of science value. " Closed for decorations," tho janitor's 

 anawer to visitors at these times, led to the suggestion that tho 

 Institute was not primarily intended for soiri-s ; though, indeed, 

 there was nothing iu tho way of decorations which might not have 

 Ijcen arranged by active assistants in an hour or two. 



readers, except specialists (who, however, we trust, read 

 Knowledge rather for simple accounts of matter outside 

 their special department, than for such specialistic papers 

 as would weary all otlier readers) would not thank us for 

 more than the following brief summary : — 



" Elaborate studies made by science into the process of 

 secretion "have brought into greater prominence the 

 dignity, if one may use the expression, of the individual 

 cell. The process of secretion appears as the re- 

 sult of the combined work of a large number of 

 these units. Each, after the n. miner of an independent 

 organism, uses oxygen, forms CO,, evolves heat, and 

 derives its nutriment from the medium in which it lives, 

 and performs chemical opera; i ns of which the results only 

 are imperfectly known to us, and which depend upon pecu- 

 liar endowments of the cell ' rotoplasm, of which the causes 

 are hidden from us. So 1 ing as the protoplasm is living, 

 the gland cell retains its power of discharging its functions, 

 and in many cases does so, so long as the intercellular liquid 

 furnishes it with the materials required In some cases, 

 however, the gland cells are specially sensitive to a varia- 

 tion in the composition of the nutrient liquid, certain con- 

 stituents of which appear to stimulate the protoplasm to 

 increased activity. In the higher animals the cells, par- 

 ticularly in certain glands, are in relation to nerves which, 

 when stimulated, afiect in a remarkable manner the trans- 

 formations of their protoplasm, leading to an increased 

 consumption of oxygen, an increased production of carbonic 

 acid, an increased evolution of heat, and an increased pro- 

 duction of those matters which the cell eliminates, and 

 which constitute its secretion." 



Zoology. 

 Professor Lawson, in his address on Zoolog}-, chiefly of a 

 very technical character, made the following remarks on 

 the work of the great naturalist we have lately lost : — 

 " Many now present would never forget the intense excite- 

 ment which took place in the early days of the doctrine of 

 evolution, and the manner in which Darwin's views were 

 met at the meetings held at Oxford, Cambridge, Norwich, 

 and Exeter. In those days whatever Darwin advanced 

 was viewed with hatred and suspicion, and the popular 

 mind only saw in his works that which tended to over- 

 throw established beliefs in the existence of a Creator. But 

 all the bitter attacks made upon him he met with silence, 

 and never resorted to angry retort, for he could alibrd to 

 disregard contumely and misrepresentation. The mem- 

 bers of this department would also remember how, year by 

 year, these attacks grew less frequent and bitter, anil wliole- 

 sale denunciation gave place to intelligent questioning, 

 until at last Darwin's views were generally accepted by all 

 scientists and inquiring minds as accurate, and a few 

 months ago his coffin was followed, not only by scientists 

 and laymen, but by clergymen of all denominations, many 

 of whom, no doubt, thus sought to atone for the many un- 

 just things which they themselves thought and said about 

 him when they themselves were not really acquainted with 

 the object of his labours. Darwin had the good fortune to 

 live to sec his doctrines promulgated, and almost univer- 

 sally accepted. All naturalists regarded him witii an ad- 

 miration and respect accorded to no naturalist since the 

 days of Linnteus." 



iNTKLiifiEN-CF. IN Anmmals.— An acquaintance placed his parrot 

 on the lawn to watch the people. A large cat walked up to malce 

 its acquaintance. " Thwish, wish, go away!" Cat declines, goes 

 closer. " Uuugh, Eough, como hero ! " (whistles). liough comes, 

 cat departs.— John Alex. Ollakd, F.R.il.S. 



