96 Mr Brindley, On the size of certain animals [Nov. 10, 



of the fact that under a constant pressure the boiling point of 

 water is constant. 



The author stated that the thermometers which were first 

 constructed by Fahrenheit were sealed alcoholic thermometers, 

 provided with a scale in which two points had been fixed. The 

 zero of the scale, representing the lowest attainable temperature, 

 was found by plunging the bulb of the thermometer in a mixture 

 of ice and salt, whilst the higher of the two points was fixed by 

 placing the thermometers under the arm-pit or inside the mouth 

 of a healthy man. The interval between these two points was, in 

 the first instance, divided into 24 divisions, each of which corre- 

 sponded to supposed well characterized differences in temperature, 

 and each being subdivided into four. In his later alcoholic and 

 mercurial thermometers, the 24 principal divisions were suppressed 

 in favour of a scale in which 96 degrees intervened between zero 

 and the temperature of man ; in these later thermometers the 

 32nd degree was fixed by plunging the bulb of the thermometer 

 in melting ice. 



The author then pointed out that Fahrenheit was led to con- 

 struct mercurial thermometers in order to be able to ascertain the 

 boiling point of water; with this object the scale constructed, as 

 has been stated, was continued upwards, in some cases so as to 

 include 600 degrees. 



It was as the result by experiment alone, that the number 212 

 was obtained as the temperature at which water boils, at the mean 

 atmospheric pressure. 



The author in conclusion argued that Fahrenheit took as the 

 basis of his thermometric scale the duodecimal scale which he was 

 constantly in the habit of employing. 



(2) On Variations in the Floral Symmetry of certain Flowers 

 having Irregular Corollas. By William Bateson, M.A., Fellow 

 of St John's College, and Anna Bateson. 



(3) On the nature of the relation between the size of certain 

 animals and the size and number of their sense-organs. By H. H. 

 Brindley, B.A., St John's College. 



[Abstract; received November 29, 1890.] 



In speculation as to the evolution of various forms it is gene- 

 rally held as a principle, that the conditions of the struggle for 

 existence are such that variations in the direction of atrophy or 

 diminution in bulk of a useless organ must necessarily be bene- 

 ficial by reason of the saving of tissue and effort which is effected 



