TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 167 



water-system, aud to the blood-system ; and, after enteiin^ at some length into the 

 anatomy of the parts, concludes his remai-ks with the following summary, giving 

 the results at which he had arrived, though in some respects they are not to be 

 considered final. 



First, That the so-called abdommal or visceral chamber, in the Dibranchiate 

 Cephalopoda, is a veritable venous sinus, formed by the expansion of venous trunks ,: 

 and that it is provided with proper walls. 



Second, That, apparently, capillary vessels exist, uniting the arterial and venous 

 branchlets; and that the blood-system is composed of vessels and sinuses with 

 proper walls, therefore constituting a closed system. 



Third, That the so-called water-system, for the ingress of water fi'om the exte- 

 rior, does not exist ; but that the chambers to which this function has been attri- 

 buted compose a diffused Iridney — the glandular appendages in the renal chamber 

 being for the pui-pose of eliminating peculiarly m-inary matters, while the fluids 

 pass off througn the agency of the capillaries of the various organs that lie in the 

 several chambers. 



Fom-th, That a rudimentary absorbent system exists in these animals, the in- 

 testinal veins assuming, in addition to their own, the function of lacteals, and the 

 so-called fleshy appendages of the branchial hearts acting, probably, in the capacity 

 of a general lymphatic system. 



Fifth, That there is no pericardium properly so called. 



Sixth, That the muscular fibre of the systemic heart is of the striated variety, 

 as is also, apparently, that of the branchial hearts. 



Seventh, That the cephalic arteries and those supplying the fins are provided 

 ■vs-ith bulbous muscular enlargements, probably for the purpose of regulating the 

 flow of the blood. 



Eighth, That the surface of the brain of Octopus vulf/aris exhibits inequalities 

 resembling rudimentaiy convolutions, and that the pedal nerves arise by double 

 roots ; both conditions approximating to the higher standard of the Vertebrata. 



Ninth, That the results of analysis of the nervous system corroborate the de- 

 ductions derived from embryology as to the homological import of the parts. 



On Nerves without End. By Professor Htrtl. 



On the Pnewmatic Processes of the Occipital Bone. By Professor Htetl. 

 On Portions of Lunys without Blood-vessels. By Professor Htktl. 



On Chloroform Accidents, and some new Physiological Facts as to their 

 Exj)lanation and Removal. By Chakies Ejdd, M.D. 

 The author held that " there is every reason to hope that, in consequence of more 

 conect opinions now entertained in hospital practice on the administration of 

 chloroform, the deaths from that agent will disappear altogether, as they have 

 been manifestly diminishing in proportionate frequency during the last twelve 

 months, now that these accidents are better understood." His conclusions were — 

 " All which the author submits goes to prove that in place of attending solely to 

 the pidse, as hitherto, those who administer chlorofoi-m should for the futm'e paj 

 equal attention to the respiration of the patient, and in case of accident direct theix 

 first attention to it. The coiToborative facts as bearing on his former views, as ex- 

 plained at Oxford, which the author wished to submit, were tlie following : — 1st. 

 That from a large number of experiments since published on animals, there is now 

 no reason to doubt that cardiac syncope is a mere accident. The death arises, as 

 carefrilly obserAed in such animals, by a fonn of tetanic fixture of the respiratory 

 muscles' in the early stages of the chloroform administration ; and the best means 

 of 8a\'ing the life of such a patient is founded on that view of such accidents, 

 namely, by the immediate adoption of such means for resuscitation as artificial 

 respiration, tracheotomy, with the intermittent ' Faradisation ' electric current, to 

 imitate or assist respiration. 2ndly. Respiration has its earliest point of departure, 

 not from tiie phremc neiTe and diaphrag-m dii'ectly, but from certain fibres in the 



