TKANS ACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 145 



Nearly all the marine inyertebrates of the noiiherii part of the Gulf of the St. 

 Lawrence are purely arctic specie,?. 



Three fourths of the Mollusca of Greenland, for example, range as far south as 

 Gaspe Bay. Quite a number of cliaracteristic Nc-w-England species are found off 

 the coasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick : a few of these, such as the oyster^ 

 tind their northern limit in the southern part of the Bay of Chaleurs. 



An irregular line of shallow soundings extends from near the northern extremity 

 of the island of Cape Breton, round the Magdalen group, and thence in a westerly 

 direction to Bona\euture Island. To the north, north-east, and north-west of this 

 line the water deepens suddenly, and perhaps even precipitously. To the south 

 and south-west of this line the water is shallow, and never exceeds -50 fathoms in 

 depth. Principal Dawson suggests that possibly the Subcarboniferous limestone 

 (of which the Magdalen Islands are composed, and which appears again on the 

 mfiin shore in Bonaventure County and elsewhere) may crop up under the sea 

 in this shallow area. The line of shallow soundings may form a natural banier to 

 those arctic currents, if there be such, which sweep down the straits of Belle Isle 

 in a south-westerly direction, and may delicct their course in a bold curve into 

 and up the river St. Lawrence. In the same way this line may form the sepa- 

 ration between a purely arctic fauna and one of a more southern character. 



The species which belong exclusivelj' to the deep sea in Canada have a decidedly 

 Scandinavian aspect. Most of the specimens collected, which are new to the 

 American side of the Atlantic, arc well-known Norwegian, Spitzbergeu, or Scotch 

 species. 



It is proposed to continue these investigations through the present summer, the 

 Canadian Government having voted a small simi of money to defray the expenses 

 of the expedition. 



Anatomy and Physiology. 



Address to the Dejuoivient of Anatonnj and Physiology. 

 By Professor Euedon Sandeeson, M.D., F.li.S. 



We are met here for the purpose of hearing papers on Anatomy and Physiology. 

 It would not have been inappropriate to have given you some account of the limits 

 of the two very distinct sciences which are so designated ; but as I am anxious to 

 occupy your time for as short a period as possible, I shall content myself with 

 saying that the few observations I have to make will have reference only to the 

 science to which I am myself attached. I make this preliminary explanation, for 

 the positions of the two sciences in England are so different that much that I may 

 say about Physiology is not applicable to Anatomy. 



I should have been glad if it had been possible to have occupied the time in 

 giving you a retrospective account of the progress of phj'siological research during 

 the past year. I had intended to do so, but was led to abandon mj' intentions on the 

 groimd that although the work done has not been inconsiderable, we in England have 

 taken very little part in it. If I had attempted the task, I should have been but 

 chronicling the doings of our friends in Germanj', who are now holding their own 

 scientitic assembly in Leipzig. As I do not wish to talk about German physio- 

 logists to-day, I find it more agreeable and more encom-aging to look forward 

 than to look back; for although we English physiologists (I say physiologists 

 advisedly, because the anatomists are not in the same position) must admit with 

 regret that we have had very little to do with the rinprecedented development of 

 our science during the last two decades, we do not intend to continue in the same 

 inactive condition in future. 



Considering that half tlie pni"pose of our meeting in this Section is to promote 

 the progress of physiology, I do not thinlc I can more properly occupy your time 

 than in endeavouring to .'^how in what direction cftbrts must be made to improve 

 its position, and particularly to secure a future more fruitful of substantial results 

 than the past has been. 

 . I shall begin by asserting a general principle, which, as I go on, I shtiU endea- 



