TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 89 



feeling assured that, tliougli tliey may beat at times rather roughly upon her, they 

 ■vrill soon calm down imder her leavening influence, and simply add too and 

 strengthen her soil. 



And we may work patiently on, not pressing liastilj' to conclusions which our 

 aspirations seem to point to, but relying on careful observation and honest rea- 

 soning to give us a solution of some of the great problems which animal life 

 presents. 



Letter communicating the result of an application to the General Medical 

 Council as to a Grant for investigating tlie Pliysiological Action of Remedies, from 

 Dr. AcLAND. — The application had been refused, on the ground that such investi- 

 gation was not within the sphere of the Council's duties. 



On the Effects of the Pollution of Rivers. Bij Col. Sir J. E. Alexander. 



RemarTcs on the so-called Catth-Plague Entozoa. By Dr. Cobbold, F.B.S. 



The author pointed out the importance of understanding the precise nature of 

 these bodies. They were not, properly speaking, Entozoa, but were psorospermial 

 sacs of microscopic size. He found them varying from j-^g" to a greater length 

 in cattle, and less than -^i-g" in sheep. They were extremely abundant in the 

 heart. The contents of the sacs displayed a complete cell-formation, the ultimate 

 particles being gi-auular. Each graniile or pseudo-navicel, as it might be called, 

 measured only the s-i^s'' ^ diameter ; some were round, others oval, a few reni- 

 fomi. Under very high powers minute refracting points or nucleoli were observ- 

 able in their interior. Practically, they were harmless and could be swallowed 

 with impunity. (At the Evening Soirt^e Dr. Cobbold exhibited specimens imder the 



microscope.) 



On the Colour of Mem. B>j Dr. J. Davt, F.R.S. 



The author first enumerated the various shades of complexion in connexion with 

 the localities in which they are found, and then went into the subject of causation. 

 The warmer the climate, the less the difference of colour of arterial and venous 

 blood. The Esquimaux are neither fair nor dark brown, but intermediate. The 

 long, continuous solar effect for one half the year associates them with the inha- 

 bitants of the tropics, whilst their liAing underground the other half does not 

 favour the depuration of their blood. With regard to the Chinese, he A-entured the 

 conjecture that their colour maybe owing to an imperfect elimination of bile ; that 

 it might become hereditarj^ and pass in course of time into that distinctive of cli- 

 mate, llo showed that the circumstances of a cold or temperate climate favour 

 fairness of the skin. Of this he gave a variety of instances : and invited discussion 

 on a subject of no ordinary interest in regard to health and beauty. 



On the Question, Is the Carbonate of Lime in the Egg-shell of Birds in a 

 Crystalline or Amorphous State. By Jonx Davy, M.D., F.B.S. , ^w 



A high authority in phj-siology, ]M. Milne-Edwards, seems to consider it in 

 the former, in a crystalline state : his expression is, that in the enveloping mem- 

 brane it has a crystalline appearance*. The gi-ounds for this, his opinion, he does 

 not give, nor does he enter into any minute details on the subject. 



From such observations as I have made on the e^g of the common fowl and on 

 the eggs of other birds, especially of the smaller, I am disposed to the adoption of 

 the opposite conclusion, viz. that the carbonate of lime in the shell is in an amor- 

 phous and finely granular state. In this state I have found it in the e^g of the 

 common fowl, taken from the oviduct when the carbonate of lime was only 

 sparingly deposited in the investing membrane. Again, in the instances of the 

 eggs of the smaller birds, which are exceedingly thin, are easily crushed and 

 reduced to a fine powder, well fitted for microscopical examination, I have never 



- " * He says, " Celle-ci (the shell) est formee par una couche plus ou moins epaisse de 

 cellules vesiculaires dans I'interieur desquelles dii caleaire carbonate ne tarde pas a se de- 

 poser et a prendre luic appareucc cristallinc." — Tom. viii. part 2, p. 027. 



