238 



NATURE 



[July 3, 1890 



(3) Among the receipts of the past year the Council have to 

 acknowledge the following subscriptions and donations : — ;^ioo 

 from Lord Revelstoke ; £\oo from Sir Henry Thompson ; 

 ;^ioo from the Grocers' Company ; ;iir200 from the Fishmongers' 

 Company (annual grant for five years); ;^500 from H.M. 

 Treasury (annual grant for five years). 



From annual subscriptions and compositions £,1^^ was re- 

 ceived, £,()\ interest on investments, and £iy:> for rent of tables 

 and sale of specimens. 



The expenditure, as shown in the Treasurer's account pre- 

 sented herewith, amounted to ;^2992, of which ;i^398 was paid 

 to Mr. Inglis for balance of his fees as engineer, ^^41 7 for 

 structural alterations and additions, £\li for bait investigation, 

 and ^250 for a steam-launch. 



The Association now has in hand, in cash and invested, 

 ;^I398 2^. i\d. 



The Council have great pleasure in acknowledging the 

 generous assistance which has lately been afforded to the Asso- 

 ciation by the Fishmongers' Company, by Mr. J. P, Thomasson, 

 M.P., and Mr. Frank Crisp. 



The Fishmongers' Company, in addition to substantial grants 

 which they have already made to the Association, have under- 

 taken to contribute ;iC400 per annum to the funds of the 

 Association for a period of five years from the present date. 



Mr. J. P. Thomasson has kindly offered a sum of £2^^, to 

 enable the Council to retain the services of the Naturalist, 

 Mr. J. T. Cunningham, for another year. 



Mr. Frank Crisp has kindly given a sum of £12.0 (£60 per 

 annum for two years) to meet the expenses of special investiga- 

 tions on the culture of sea fishes in inclosed ponds. The 

 Council take this opportunity of placing on record their appre- 

 ciation of the interest and confidence shown in the work of the 

 Association by these liberal donations. 



The thanks of the Association are due to Prof Haeckel for a 

 copy of his work on the Siphonophora ; to Colonel Richardson, 

 R.A., for a number of ichthyological works from the library of 

 the late Sir J. Richardson ; to Mr. J. W. Clark for back 

 numbers of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 

 and other books ; to Messrs. J. and A. Churchill for the current 

 numbers of the Quarterly yournal of Microscopical Science ; 

 and to Messrs. Agassiz, Giard, Marion, the United States Fish 

 Commission, the Naples Zoological Station, the officers of the 

 Norwegian North Atlantic Expedition, and other individuals 

 and societies for copies of their publications. 



The Council desire to express the indebtedness of the Associa- 

 tion to the Council of the Royal Society for kindly permitting 

 the Association to hold the periodical meetings of the Council 

 and Association in their rooms. 



In July and August 1889, the Council was in correspondence 

 with the Fishery Board for Scotland and the Fisheries Depart- 

 ment of the l^oard of Trade, with reference to the possibility of 

 procuring scientific information on the alleged destruction of 

 immature fish by beam trawling in deep waters. 



Subsequently the Council determined to make an application 

 to H.M. Treasury for a further grant of money in aid of special 

 researches on food-fishes. The Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 kindly consented to receive a deputation on the subject on 

 May 15. . . . 



The Council regret to have to announce that Prof. Huxley, 

 who since the foundation of the Association has been its Pre- 

 sident, has found it necessary to withdraw from the office which 

 he has held with so much honour and advantage to the Associa- 

 tion. The Council desire to express their warm appreciation of 

 the eminent services rendered by Prof. Huxley to the Associa- 

 tion, and their great regret that he should be unable to continue 

 his office. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Victoria University. — Last Saturday was Degree-day; 

 the ceremony, presided over by Principal Rendall, the Vice- 

 Chancellor, took place in the Manchester Free-Trade Hall. In 

 the course of his speech, the Vice-Chancellor gave the following 

 details as to the progress of the University : — 



" A three-fold scheme for certificates, technical, commercial, 

 and literary, has replaced the narrower project for technical 

 certificates alone, and will be the means of giving University 

 direction and attachment to numerous organizations which have 



NO. 1079, VOL. 42] 



hitherto lacked clearness of aim or recognition of results. The 

 Manchester Chamber of Commerce has entrusted the examina- 

 tions for its commercial certificate to the University. The local 

 lectures scheme continues to thrive vigorously. In the last three 

 sessions 21 courses, with an average attendance of 130, the large 

 majority in or near Manchester, have been delivered under 

 University auspices. The three colleges of the University are 

 taking action, more or less concerted, for the establishment of 

 day training colleges for primary teachers under the provisions 

 of the new Education Code. Thus step by step the University is 

 comprehending her mission and entering upon her heritage. Those 

 who are forwarding the work may feel that impatience for quick 

 returns which comes of convictions confident and energetic, but 

 the observer and the historian will agree that in content and 

 scope Victoria University has advanced with unparalleled 

 rapidity. In all the colleges of the University building is in 

 progress or in contemplation. At University College the 

 Victoria Building for the arts department is advancing towards 

 completion ; at Yorkshire College funds have been raised for the 

 erection of a medical department and other needed extensions ; 

 at Owens College further enlargement of the Medical School 

 buildings is now under consideration." 



As at Cambridge, the women students have done remarkably 

 well this year, three out of four "first classes" in the B.A. 

 honours schools and the Thomasson Prize for English Essay 

 falling to their share. 



St. Andrews University. — A Scholarship of the value of 

 ;r^30 a year has just been placed at the disposal of Prof Percy 

 Frankland at University College, St. Andrews University, by 

 Miss E, F. Forster, of London. It is intended that the student 

 holding the same shall devote the whole of his time to the 

 prosecution of original research. The Scholarship, which will 

 be known as " The Forster Research Scholarship," has been 

 awarded for this year to Mr. John MacGregor, M.A. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, June 12. — " On the Position of the Vocal 

 Cords in Quiet Respiration of Man, and on the Reflex-Tonus of 

 their Abductor Muscles." By Felix Semon, M.D., F.R.C.P., 

 Assistant Physician in charge of the Throat Department of St. 

 Thomas's Hospital, and Laryngologist to the National Hospital 

 for Epilepsy and Paralysis, Queen Square. Communicated bv 

 Prof. Victor Horsley, F.R.S. 



The final conclusions arrived at by the author are as 

 follows : — 



(i) The glottis in man is wider open during quiet respiration 

 (inspiration and expiration) than after death or after division of 

 the vagi or recurrent laryngeal nerves. 



(2) This wider opening during life is the result of a permanent 

 activity of the abductors of the vocal cords (posterior crico- 

 arytsenoid muscles), which therefore belong not merely to the 

 class of accessory, but of regular respiratory, muscles. 



(3) The activity of these muscles is due to tonic impulses, 

 which their centres receive from the neighbouring respiratory 

 centre in the medulla oblongata. It is very probable that these 

 impulses rhythmically proceed to the respiratory centre from the 

 stimulation of certain afferent fibres contained mainly, but not ex- 

 clusively, in the trunks of the pneumogastric nerves, and that they 

 are in the respiratory centre changed into tonic impulses. The 

 regular activity of the abductors of the vocal cords during life, 

 therefore, belongs to the class of reflex processes. The per- 

 manent half- contraction of these muscles, in which form their 

 tonic innervation is manifested, can be further increased, in con- 

 cord with the general laws of the mechanism of respiration, by 

 either volition or other reflex influences. 



(4) In spite of their extra-innervation, the abductors of the 

 vocal cords are physiologically weaker than their antagonists. 



(5) These antagonists, the adductors of the vocal cords, have 

 primarily nothing at all to do with respiration, and ordinarily 

 serve the function of phonation only. Their respiratory functions 

 are limited to — 



{a) Assistance in the protection of the lower air passages 

 against the entry of foreign bodies. 



{b) Assistance in the modified and casual forms of expiration 

 known as cough and laughing. 



