806 REPORT— 1894. 



second to 0'1906 second in the different cases. The shortest touch reaction time 

 is that following stimulation of the cheek: it varied from 0141 second to 0'157 

 second. When tiie skm of a finger was stimulated the reaction time varied from 

 0'142 second to O'lOO second, but was mostly from 010 second to 018 second in 

 the different cases ; there was no evident relation between age and length of reac- 

 tion time in the ca^^es under observation. In a limb the reaction time is generally 

 longer the greater the length of sensory nerve traversed by the impulse; but there 

 may be considerable variations in the reaction times for different districts in the 

 fiehi of touch not explicable by difference in the length of sensory nerve traversed, 

 but probably due to difference in the closeness of relation between centres lor tactile 

 sense in the brain and the motor centre for the hand. It may therefore happen 

 that a response is given sooner by the hand when its skin is stimidated than 

 ■when the mucous membrane of the tongue is stimulated, although in the latter 

 case the impulse has a much shorter tract of sensory nerve to traverse. When the 

 right hand gives the response the shortest reaction times for hearing and touch are 

 obtained by stimulating the right ear and right side of cheek. In the experiments 

 on sight both eyes were ii-ed at the same time. The influence of fatigue on 

 reaction time and the remarkable restorative effect of tea were demonstrated in the 

 photographs. 



5. On the Microsco2nc Appearance of Striped Muscle in Rest and in 

 Contraction. By Professor W. Rutherford, M.D., F.R.S. 



6. On Effects of Suprarenal Extract, 

 By Professor E. A. Schafer, F.R.S. 



7. On Epithelial Changes produced hy Irritation. By D'Arcy Power, M.A., 

 M.B. Oxon., F.R.C.S., Lecturer on Histology at the Royal Veterinary 

 College. 



Mr. Power showed a series of preparations of the conjunctival and vagina) 

 mucous membranes taken from rabbits and guinea-pigs which had been subjected 

 to mechanical and chemical irritation. Many of the epithelial cells presented 

 appearances which were identical with those described as being parasitic when 

 they were met with in cancer. The changes in the epithelium were summarised 

 as a general vacuolation of cells ; various forms of intracellular oedema ; epithelial 

 ' pearls,' collections of leucocytes, and the spaces left after these leucocytes had 

 migrated. These changes he had already described and figured in the 'British 

 Medical Journal ' for 1893. The series of preparations shown on the present 

 occasion indicated that many squamous epithelial cells had the power of phago- 

 cytosis, for in no other way could the remarkable intracellular appearances be 

 explained, and he showed cells containing a leucocyte, and others containing a 

 microcyte. Partial necrosis of the cell also took place as a result of irritation, 

 and there was an invasion of large eosinophile cells into the conjunctival epi- 

 thelium. 



The full text of the paper, with illustrations, is published in the 'Journal of 

 Pathology and Bacteriology ' for October 1894. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 11. 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. On Vowel and Consonant Sounds. By D. L. Hermann, Professor of 

 Physiology in the University of Kunigsherg. 



