Mar. 5, 1874J 



NATURE 



353 



at breakfast, they were removtd only for the purpose of being 

 read at first every 30, and then eveiy 15 minutes, and were 

 at once replaced, until 2 o'clock ; after which time the tempera- 

 tures were only taken every two hours. 



After several days' preliminary examination (during which 

 time he took no alcohol) the experiments were commenced and 

 carried on for six days without alcohol ; then during five days 

 undiluted brandy containing 50 per cent, of absolute alcohol was 

 given once daily, viz. at 11 a.m., four hours after breakfast. 



On the first day one fluid ounce of brandy (= \ ounce of 

 alcohol) was given ; on the second day two ounces, on the third 

 day four ounces, on the fourth day six ounces ( = 3 ounces of 

 alcohol), and on the fifth day also six ounces. 



The following were the conclusions arrived at : — 



1. The change in the temperature of the axilla and rectum 

 produced by brandy was very slight. It was never increased, 

 but was probably slightly lowered ; but the result is not quite 

 certain; and if any lowering occurred, it did not exceed 0° '35 

 I'ahr., and may not have been more than 0°'o7 Fahr. 



2. The pulse, which was lessened in number by long rest in 

 a recumbent position, was increased in frequency by a single 

 dose of brandy for three hours, but subsequently fell in number, 

 SO that the daily work done by the heart was the same on the 

 water and the brandy days. What occurred was accelerated 

 work for a certain time, and compensation for this by lessened 

 work afterwards. That brandy increases the force as well as the 

 number of the pulse, was shown by sphygmographic tracings in 

 the papers already communicated to the Royal Society ; and 

 in order not to disturb the state of rest, no sphygmographic 

 observations were taken in this case. 



3. The respirations appeared to be slightly lessened by 

 brandy ; but the evidence is not very strong. 



The aut'nor made another series of experiments to determine 

 the eflect of alcohol after sixteen hours' fasting. 



The following conclusions may be drawn from the observations 

 formerly recorded ("Proceedings of the Royal Society," Nos. 

 120, 123, and 136), and from those now laid before the Royal 

 Society : — 



1. When alcohol in dietetic doses ( = 2 fluid ounces, or 57 

 cub. centims., of absolute alcohol) was given to a healthy man 



I fasting and at rest, a decided though slight lowering of bodily 

 temperature (as judged of by the heat of the rectum) was 

 caused. The amount of lowering was under half a degree of 



I Fahrenheit ; and sometimes even this amount was not percep- 

 tible, being probably counteracted by the opposing influence of 

 the heat-producing changes in the body, which cause slight varia- 

 tions of temperature independent of food and movement. The 

 greatest effect was produced about from one to two hours after 

 the alcohol was taken, and the effect was evidently passing ofi' in 

 three hours. 



2. When alcohol in dietetic doses was given to a healthy man 

 I at rest, and in whom the process of digestion was completed, and 

 I whose temperature, raised by the food, was again commencing to 



fall, a lessening of temperature was also proved, but its amount 

 was not so great ; it could not have been more than o°'35 Fahr., 

 and may have been only 0^07 Fahr. 

 ' 3. When alcohol was given with food with either usual or in- 

 creased exercise, no effect on temperature was perceptible, even 

 I though the alcohol was given in large quantities, viz. from 

 ( 4 to 8 fluid ounces of absolute alcohol ( 1 14 to 227 cub. centims. ) 

 i in twenty-four hours. It is to be jircsumed that the amount of 

 I heat generated from the food and movement concealed the effect 

 j of the alcohol, which would require a more delicate method (or 



detection. 



' 4. In no case did alcohol raise the temperature. 



1 5. The effect of alcohol on the pulse "as uniform in the four 



I men experimented upon. The contractions of the heart were 



- frequent during complete rest, from five to ten beats per 



: for some time ; and when exercise was taken the increase 



,rcater. The mean pulse of the twenty-four hours was, 



iio-.ve\ cr, not increased unless the amount of alcohol was large 



i and rcjieated. In other words, the heart's beats were less fre- 



' quent than natural when the effect of the alcohol had passed off. 



The pulse became both frdler and softer to the touch ; and this 



\ relaxation of the radial artery was shown also by the spliygmo- 



I graph. That the smaller vessels were relaxed was shown by 



I the redness of the surface and by the evident ease with which the 



blood traversed the capillaries, as shown by the sphygmographic 



I tracings. 



6. The respirations were not increased innumber by alcohol ; 



they were indeed lessened, and were deeper in some of the ex- 

 periments ; buf the effect was rot very marked. 



Fel). 26.— "The Winds of Northern India, in relation to 

 the Temperature and Vapour-constituent of the Atmosphere " 

 by Henry F. Blanford, F.G.S., Meteorological Reporter to the 

 Oovemment of Bengal. 



Geological Society, Feb. 20.— His Grace the Duke of 

 Argyll, k.T F.R.S., president, in the chair. In handing the 

 VVollaston Gold Medal to the foreign secretary, Mr. W. 

 W. Smyth, for transmission to Prof. Heer, of Zurich, the pre- 

 sident referred to the fact that last year the council had awarded 

 the balance of the proceeds of the Murchison Geological Fund 

 to Prof. Heer, and remarked that it g.ive him much pleasure that 

 the \yollaston Medal, the highest honour which the Society had 

 It in Its power to confer, should be so worthily bestowed. He 

 alluded briefly to the labours of Prof. Heer in the difficult 

 departments of Fossil Botany and Entomology, and to the admi- 

 rable works in which he had given to the world the results of his 

 indefatigable researches. 



Mr. W. W. Smyth, in reply, said :— " My Lord President, it is 

 witli a great pleasure that I undertake the transmission to Prof. 

 Heer of this new testimony of the importance attached by this 

 Society to his long-continued labours. I have received from our 

 valued foreign member a letter stating that my announcement of 

 the award had found him extended on the bed of sickness, and 

 begging me to assure the Society that, but for this misfortune, 

 nothing «-ould have given him greater pleasure than to have been 

 present at this meeting, and to have thanked the Society person- 

 ally for the high honour which has now been awarded to him." 



The President then presented the balance of the proceeds of 

 the Wollaston Donation Fund to the foreign secrelaiy for trans- 

 mission to Dr. H. Nyst, of Bi-ussels, remarking that this dis- 

 tinction had been well earned by Dr. Nyst by his admirable 

 researches upon the Molluscan and other fossil remains of his 

 native country.— Mr. W. W. Smyth briefly thanked the presi- 

 dent on behalif of Dr. Nyst. 



The president next presented the Murchison Medal to Dr. J. J. 

 Bigsby, F.R.S., and remarked in so doing that there was a 

 peculiar fitness in this award, which would have met the ap- 

 proval of the distinguished geologist in accordance with whose 

 last wishes this medal was given. It was awarded to Dr. Bigsby 

 in recognition of his long and valuable labours in that depart- 

 ment of geology and palaeontology with which the name of 

 Murchison is more particularly connected.— Dr. Bigsby replied, 

 thanking the Society for the honour conferred upon him, and 

 the president for the terms in which he had spoken of his 

 labours. 



The president then handed half the balance of the proceeds 

 of the Murchison Geological Fund to R. Etheridge, F.R.S., 

 for transmission to Ralph Tate, F.G.S., expressing a hope that 

 It would be regarded by him as a testimony of the value set by 

 the Society upon his pal.xontological researches, especially on 

 the Fauna of the Liaf;, and that it would enable him to enlarge 

 the sphere of his investigations. — Mr. Etheridge, in reply, read 



the following letter of acknowledgment from Mr. Tate : ' 



"My Lord President and Gentlemen, To say that I am unworthy 

 of the honour that you have awarded me by the bestowal of the 

 ' Balance of the Proceeds of the Murchison Fund,' would be to 

 call into question your judgment, and would render nugatory its 

 value to me. The encouragement that such an award conveys 

 is ample recompense for labour bestowed in pala'ontological re- 

 search, and is a real incentive to more diligent work. It is in 

 this spirit that I accept the award, and tender my warmest thanks 

 to you for the distinction it confers. It is now twelve years 

 since I \yas led to select for special study the geological histoiy 

 of the Lias, which appeared to me not to have received that 

 attention at home that it had upon the Continent, and which it 

 claimed by offering the earliest phase of Mesozoic life, and pre- 

 senting a number of physical problems that seemed upon the 

 threshold of the inquiry to reward even the casual observer with 

 a rich harvest. I have published from time to time frao-ments 

 relating to the stratigraphy and pala'ontology of this period, but 

 I hope soon, in conjunction with my friend Mr. J. F. Blake 

 F.G.S., to submit, in a work entitled 'The Yorkshire Lias ' a 

 comprehensive review of the chief characteristics of the period, 

 embracing the remarkable variation of mineral conditions, and 

 the particular distribution of organic life, as indicative of 

 peculiarities of depth of ocean, the direction and proximity of land 

 &c. Despite all these efforts, the ambition to acquire the position 

 of an expositor of the life of this interestmg group of strata urges 



