August 1 6, 1877] 



NA TURE 



327 



80S fathoms ; its geographical extension is equally great, and it 

 has also not a slight amount of variation in shape and sculpture. 

 But I am not disposed to unite the two species. In T. striata 

 the ribs are much narrower than in the typical T capiU-Sirpentis 

 and are finely beaded or tuberous, especially towards the beaks, 

 and they are not so close together as in the variety septentrionalis. 

 This question of identity depends, however, on the capability of 

 hereditary persistence which some species possess ; and although 

 a certain degree of modification may be caused by an alteration 

 of conditions in the course of incalculable ages, our knowledge 

 is not sufficient to enable us to do more than vaguely speculate, 

 and surely not to take for granted the transmutation of species. 

 We have no proof of anything of the kind. Devolution, or 

 succession, appears to be the law of nature ; evolution (in its 

 modern interpretation) may be regarded as the product of human 

 imagination. I am not a believer in the fixity of species, nor in 

 their periodical extinction and replacement by other species. 

 The notorious imperfection of the geological record ought to 

 warn us against such hasty theorization. We cannot conceive 

 the extent of this imperfection. Not merely are our means of 

 geological information restricted to those outer layers of the 

 earth which are within our sight, but nearly three-fourths of its 

 surface are inaccessible to us, so long as they are covered by the 

 sea. Were this not the case, we might have some chance of 

 discovering a few of the missing links which would connect the 

 former with the existing fauna and flora. It is impossible even 

 to guess what strata underlie the bottom of the ocean, or when 

 the latter attained its present jiosition relatively to that of the 

 land. The materials of the sea-bed have been used over and 

 over again in the formation of the earth's crust ; " Omnia 

 mutantur, nihil interit ; " ' and the future history of our globe 

 will, to the end of time, repeat the past. What does Shakespeare 

 say, as a geologist, to such cosmical changes ? 



" O heaven ! that one might read the book of fate, 

 To see the revolution of the times 

 Make mountains level, and the continent 

 (Weary of solid firmness) melt itself 

 Into the sea I and, other times, to see 

 The beachy girdle of the ocean 

 Too wide for Neptune's hips," 



There is also the difficult problem of submarine light, evidenced 

 by the facts of deep-sea animals having conspicuous and well- 

 formed eyes, and of the shells of deep-sea moiiusca being some- 

 times coloured, which is yet unsolved. 



Much more remains to be done ; and probably many genera- 

 tions, nay, centuries, must elapse before the very interesting 

 subject which I have now ventured to submit to your considera- 

 tion will be mastered or thoroughly understood in all its varied 

 aspects. Let us then confess our ignorance, and conclude in the 

 sublime words of the Psalmist : — " Thy way is in the sea, and 

 thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. "^ 



THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 

 TP\URING the past week the British Medical Association 

 ■^ held its forty-fifth annual , meeting in Manchester. The 

 Committee of Management for the reception of the Association 

 deserves hearty congratulations on the success which has foUowe 1 

 their hospitable effort. For although they were under no dis- 

 advantages of position or room, but rather the contrary, they 

 had spared no pains whatever to secure the comfort of their 

 guests, and they may Jairly be said to have equalled or outdone 

 their opportunity. 



The class-room and lecture theatres of the Owens College 

 and Medical School, were placed at the disposal of the Com- 

 mittee, and gave the Association most convenient means of 

 holding iis general business and sectional meetings. The large 

 museum at the Medical School, the dissecting room, the 

 physiological laboratory, the chemica' laboratories and the 

 engineering drawing room were set aside for the purposes 

 of the Annual Museum. The museum — very extensive this 

 year — included besides pathological and surgical specimens, 

 plates, casts, &c. , an unusually large number of histological 

 specimens, chiefly of morbid tissues. In addition there was 

 the usual display of surgical and scientific instruments, the 

 latter being reinforced by the collection of physiological 

 apparatus belong to the Medical School. The general meetings 

 except the first were^held in Prof Roscoe's lecture theatre, and 

 there also were delivered the special addresses in medicine, 

 ' I3vid, Met. XV. 165. 



Surgery, Obstetrics, and Physiology. The first general meeting, 

 and the address of the President of the Association took place in 

 the Concert Hall, none of the college rooms being large enough 

 for the purpose. A temporary covered way joined the Medical 

 School to the College, and on the ground between the two 

 buildings was erected a tent or series of tents in which were ex- 

 hibited a large number of sanitary appliances under the auspices 

 of the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association. 



The meeting of the Association was inaugurated on Tuesday 

 morning by the Bishop of Manchester who preached a sermon 

 in the Cathedral ; and in the afternoon of the same day the 

 first general meeting was held for the election of the president 

 for the year and for hearing the Report of Council. The retiring 

 president Dr. DeBartoloine,,of Sheffield, alluding to the events of 

 his official year, spoke with much spirit of the manner in which 

 the public services of the medical men engaged in the rescue of 

 entombed miners after the Pont-y-pridd colliery accident had been 

 ignored by the Government and the nation ; and he announced 

 that the Council, having regard to the fact that there was no 

 provision for the recognition of heroic or meritorious services 

 uhen performed by medical men as such, had determined to 

 confer upon the medical men concerned In the accident a medal 

 and a testimonial scroll, and had recommended that the medal 

 should be perpetuated as the Medal of the British Medical 

 Association, to be awarded for like acts in the future. The 

 latter suggestion was afterwards adopted at the second general 

 meeting. 



The president. Dr. M. A. Eason Wilkinson, Senior Physician 

 to the Manchester Royal Infirmary, having been elected, 

 delivered an address on Hospital Defects and their Remedies 

 a subject which is greatly engaging the attention of local 

 medical men. lie gave a history of the Manchester Royal 

 Infirmary and spoke with satisfaction of the union of the 

 School of Medicine and the Owens College. 



In the evening there was a reception by the President of the 

 Association and the Senate and Council of the Owens College, 

 held at the College. 



On Wednesday a general meeting of the Association assembled 

 to hear the special address in Medicine, by Dr. William 

 Roberts, F.R.S., on the subject of Spontaneous Generation and 

 the doctrine of Contagium Vivum. Dr. Roberts' treatment of 

 the subject may be considered to fall into three divisions- 

 physiological, pathological, and theoretical. 



In the first, after alluding to the analogy which may possibly 

 be real, between contagious fever and the action, say, of yeast in 

 fermentation, he proceeded to consider two propositions. The 

 first proposition is : That organic matter has no inherent power 

 of generating bacteria, and no inherent power of passing into de- 

 composition. To substantiate this he exhibited specimens of 

 decomposable organic fluids which, having been sterilized, had 

 remained in his possession undecomposed for many months or 

 even years. SteriUzation had been effected three ways : — 



1. By prolonged boiling, the exclusion of germs being after- 

 wards secured by plugs of cotton-wool. 



2. By filtration through unglazed earthenware previously 

 heated to redness, into flasks sterilized by the heat of boiling 

 water. 



3. By transferring the organic decomposable fluid, such as 

 blood, urine, pus, etc., directly from the interior of the body to 

 well sterilized flasks and subsequently defending them. from 

 germs by plugs of cotton-wool. 



The second proposition is : — That bacteria are the actual 

 agents of decomposition. This Dr. Roberts considers to be 

 proved by the following considerations : — 



<i. That which originates decompojition comes from the air ; 

 since removal of the plugs in any of the above cases is infallibly 

 followed by decomposition. 



/'. That which originates decomposition consists of solid 

 particles floating in the air ; since filtration of the air (as above) 

 is able to prevent decomposition : and air which is optically 

 pure (Tyndall) has no fecundating power. 



c. That which originates decomposition has not the nature of 

 a soluble ferment ; since decomposable fluids in which putrefac- 

 tion has already set in yield filtrates through earthenware, which 

 do not decompose, while pepsin, diastase, c&c, readily pass 

 through the same medium. 



But it is nevertheless true that certain liquids, as neutralized 

 hay, infusions, and milk, often proJuce bacteria even after 

 they have been boiled for two or three hours, and when there 

 is no possibility of subsequent infection. And it is equally true 



