May 21, 1874J 



NATURE 



45 



I 



THE U.S. ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



Session at Washington 



'yHE U.S. National Academy of Science held its 

 ^ meetings this year at the Smithsonian Institution, 

 the venerable Prof. Henry, secretary of the Institu- 

 tion, presiding over the deliberations of the Academy. 

 The session commenced on April 2 1 and lasted four days. 

 By favour of the scientific editor of the Nc-.u York Tri- 

 bune wc have obtained advanced reports. Our space per- 

 mits us to give only the titles of the more important 

 papers ; but as Dr. Brown-Scquard's paper on the func- 

 tions of the brain is of very great interest in reference to 

 recent researches on the subject, we shall give a longish 

 abstract of it. 



Among the papers of importance were the following : — 

 Dr. J. L. Le Conte read a paper On a classification of the 

 Rliyiiclwphoroiis colcoptera. Prof. Fairman Rogers de- 

 scribed an automaton to play tit-tat-too, which he had 

 constructed. 



Prof. A. M. Mayer read three papers, one entitled "Sug- 

 gestions as to the functions of the spiral scala; of the 

 Cochlea, leading to an hypothesis of the mechanism of au- 

 dition." The second paper was headed " Abstract of a re- 

 search in the determination of the law connecting the pitch 

 of a sound with the duration of its residual sensation, and 

 on the determination of the number of beats — throughout 

 the range of musical sounds— which produce the most 

 dissonant sensations ; with applications of these laws to 

 the fundamental facts of musical harmony, and to various 

 phenomena in the physiology of audition." Prof Mayer 

 gave the particulars of a series of experiments by which 

 it was ascertained what must be the frequency of succes- 

 sive sounds to have them blend indistinguishably together. 

 The third described a series of experiments on the reflec- 

 tion of sound from flames and heated gases. 



Prof. Simon Nencomb, the astronomer in charge of the 

 Wasliington Observatory, gave a description of the pre- 

 parations in America for the observation of the coming 

 transit of Venus. These are most thorough and com- 

 plete. 



Prof. Wolcott Gibbs, of Harvard University, read a 

 paper On metamerism in organic chemistry. Prof. Gibbs 

 has discovered six metameric bodies, a seventh having 

 been discovered by Prof Erdmann. 



Comparative velocity of light in air and in vacuo, by 

 Prof. Stephen Alexander of Princeton College. This 

 brief paper merely contamed a few interesting suggestions 

 on a small correction of the velocity of light as deduced 

 from experiment. 



In accordance with the undulatory theory the velocity 

 of light must be less in atmospheric air than in vacuo, in 

 the inverse ratio of the index of refraction of atmospheric 

 air to I ; that is, as I to rooo2g4. The velocity then as 

 ascertained by experiment under the air should be in- 

 creased by just about o'ooo294 of itself to be equal to that 

 in vacuo ; i.e. to the extent, almost exactly, of 55 miles per 

 second ; a very small quantity indeed in comparison with 

 the whole velocity of 185,000 miles per second ; and yet, 

 small as it is — and so small as to be below the limits of 

 error of the experiments in question— it is yet very 

 closely equal to three times the velocity of the earth 

 in its orbit. 



It is an outstanding excess, and no more, with which 

 we often have to do, as, for example, in the measurement 

 of temperature ; but the scale on which those differences 

 sometimes present themselves makes them, small as they 

 may be in their original comparison, grand in comparison 

 with ordinary standards. Prof Alexander was not aware 

 that anything has yet been put forward elsewhere on 

 this subject. 



Prof Hayden gave a general account of the scientific 

 explorations and survey in the West in which he has been 



engaged. With the results of these our readers are already 



pretty familiar. 



In a paper On the laws of cyclones, by Prof. William 

 Ferrel of the Coast Survey, the author gave a resume of 

 our knowledge on the subject and of some of the theories 

 which have been advanced. 



Dr. E. Bessels read a paper entitled " The History of 

 Smith's Sound from a Geographical and Geological Point 

 of View, and some other General Results of the Polaris 

 Expedition." Dr. Bessels thinks that Smith's Sound must 

 be regarded as the best of the three gateways to the 

 pole. The land found between 81° and 82' seems to Dr. 

 Bessels to be of great importance in demonstrating that 

 Greenland has been separated froin the continent in a 

 south-north direction. Dr. Bessels stated several im- 

 portant facts bearing on the rising and sinking of the land 

 on the Greenland coast. 



Prof Simon Newcomb gave a description of the great 

 telescope at Washington ; and a paper by Prof. S. 

 Alexander of Princeton, N.J., On three of Jupiter's satel- 

 lites, was read. 



Prof J. S. Newberry of Columbia College, New York, 

 read a paper On Lower Silurian fossils. This was a 

 memoir on the so-called land plants of the Lower Silurian 

 in Ohio. Taking all the characters of these interesting 

 fossils into consideration. Prof Newberry is disposed to 

 regard them as casts of the stems of fucoids. 



The following papers were read by title only : — A memoir 

 on the zodiacal light, by Prof. S. Alexander ; On some 

 points in Mallet's theory of vulcanicity, by Prof E. W. 

 Hilgard; The polarisation of the zodiacal light, by Prof 

 A. W. Wright. An exceedingly interesting and valuable 

 paper on the mode of formation of the earth, its condition 

 as to interior fluidity, and the probable limits within 

 which it was reduced from a fluid state to its present con- 

 dition, under the title of "A Criticism on the Contrac- 

 tional Hypothesisof the Earth's Surface Changes," was read 

 by Capt. Clarence Dutton of the Ordnance Corps, U.S.A. 



Dr. Brown-St^quard began his paper On the pre- 

 tended localisation of the mental and the sensorial 

 functions of the brain, by saying that the subject 

 has been rendered more difficult by assumptions of 

 physiologists upon insufficient data. Among the views 

 which have been recently brought forward upon the 

 localisation of nervous power in certain parts of the brain, 

 there are two of importance : one relates to the seat of 

 power actuating muscles, and the other is as to the seat 

 of sensation for different nerves. In the latter particular, 

 after noticing several exploded theories, some still per- 

 tinaciously adhered to by physicians. Dr. Brown-Sequard 

 reviewed especially the assumption in respect to the seat 

 of power for speech : — 



" Let us consider the question of the locality ot the 

 intelligence of the brain. Most physiologists are agreed 

 that this is the grey matter of the upper parts of the 

 brain. But the method of communication is still open 

 to research." (Here the lecturer went to the blackboard 

 and drew a figure somewhat like a sheaf of wheat without 

 a band around it ; the stalks representing the nerves, the 

 heads of wheat representing the cells.) "Now you may 

 subtract from this, by disease or otherwise, say the 

 upper third, and still you have the nerves and the neive 

 cells, and the processes can be carried on ; but in the 

 progress of such destruction downward there would 

 eventually be reached a point where the functions of the 

 brain could no longer exist. This view would explain 

 the facts as we find them. But there is no case on 

 record where the grey matter on both sides of the brain 

 has been destroyed without the loss of intelligence, and 

 we must regard the grey matter as the seat of the in- 

 telli"ence. But vast portions may be removed before 

 the foss of intelligence becomes apparent. This I have 

 myself tested and proved by vivisection of the lower 

 animals. 



