SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— I. 371 



or twenty years old. She stated that about five years previously, after having blisters 

 applied to her neck and other parts, she was quite deprived of her sight. Robert 

 Boyle continues ' that sometime after she began to perceive the light, but nothing 

 by the help of it : That then she could see a Window without discerning the Panes or 

 the Barrs : That afterwards she grew able to distinguish the Shapes of Bodies, and 

 some of their Colours : And that at last she came to be able to see the Minutest Object.' 

 After giving some further details, Robert Boyle continues : — ' But the other, which is 

 more Strange and Singular, is this, that she can distinguish some Colours, as Black 

 and White, but is not able to distinguish others, especially Red and Green : And 

 when I brought her a Bag of a fine and glossie Red, with Tufts of Sky-Colour'd Silk ; 

 she look'd attentively upon it, but told me, that to her it did not seem Red, but of 

 another Colour, which one would guess by her Description to be a Dark or Dirty one : 

 and the Tufts of Silk that were finely Colour'd, she took in her Hand, and told me they 

 seem'd to be a Light-colour, but could not tell me which ; only she compar'd it to 

 the Colour of the Silken Stuff of the Lac'd Peticoat of a Lady that brought her to me ; 

 and indeed the Blews were very much alike. And when I ask'd her, whether in the 

 Evenings, when she went abroad to walk in the Fields, which she much delighted to 

 do, the Meadows did not appear to her Cloathed in Green ? She told me they did 

 not, but seemed to be of an odd Darkish Colour ; and added, that when she had a 

 mind to gather Violets, tho' she kneel'd in that Place where they grew, she was not 

 able to distinguish them by the Colour from the neighbouring Grass, but only by the 

 Shape, or by feeling them. And the Lady that was with her, took thence occasion 

 to tell me, that when she looks upon a Turky Carpet, she cannot distinguish the 

 Colours, unless of those parts that are White or Black.' 



The second case is that of a mathematician eminent for his skill in optics who 

 found, ' that there are some Colours he constantly sees amiss,' but no colours are 

 mentioned by names, though an instance is given of a mistake. 



Tuesday, September 6. 



Miss W. J. Wadge and Mr. W. H. Newton. — Rapid Colorimetric Method 

 for Measurement of -pH. 

 The method consists of the neutralisation of British Drug Houses' ' Universal 

 Buffer ' with sodium hydroxide until its colour exactly matches that of the unknown 

 solution, when the two are treated with equal volumes of a given indicator and 

 examined in a colorimeter. A measured quantity of indicator is added to 1 cc. of 

 ' Universal Buffer,' to which is added N/10 NaOH from a burette to the nearest 

 0-1 cc. before the colour matches that of the unknown. N/50 NaOH is added in the 

 same way until the colours exactly match. The ^H of the unknown is then read 

 from a composite graph which shows the hydrogen-ion concentration of ' Universal 

 Buffer ' when given amounts of both N/10 and N/50 NaOH have been added. The 

 range of the method is from pK 3-1 to pll 11-4. 



Mr. A. Wormall. — Some Properties of Complement. 



The complement system consists of four factors, all of which are necessary for 

 the haemolysis of sensitised red cells. Two of these factors are heat labile and are 

 destroyed at 56°C. in half an hour, while the other two are relatively heat-stable. 

 The destruction of complement by yeast, ammonia, pancreatic extracts, acids and 

 alkalies and ultra-violet rays, is due to the inactivation of one or more of these 

 components, and the inactivated serum can be reactivated fully by the addition of 

 the missing component or components. The properties of the separate components 

 and the relationship, if any, between complement and the opsonic system of serum, 

 are being investigated. 



Demonstrations : — 



(a) Mr. G. Wilkinson. — Model of Cochlea. 



(b) Prof. B. A. McSwiney and Dr. Berenbloom. — Apparatus for 



regulating pff of Solutions for Smooth Muscle Experiments. 



(c) Miss W. J. Wadge. — Methods for determining H-ion Concentration. 



(d) Dr. H. W. Davies. — Apparatus for Oxygen and C0 2 Adminis- 



tration. 



BB 2 



