162 report — 1859. 



I am afraid that I may not have heen sufficiently explicit as to the means by 

 which the severance between matter and mind may be bridged over by an affinity, 

 or a force ; but I consider that, in addition to the seven physical forces, of which 

 Mr. Grove has so ingeniously proved the correlations, mind and vitality are equally 

 forces, as I have attempted to prove in former papers, and that these— mind and 

 vitality — have such correlations with the physical forces as to form the communica- 

 tion which bridges over the apparent severance between mind and matter. 



On the Comparative Action of Hydrocyanic Acid on Albumen and Caseine. 



By A. Gages, M.Ti.I.A. 



There is scarcely any problem in Physiological Chemistry of more importance 

 than to find satisfactory means of distinguishing the various albuminoid bodies from 

 one another. The processes hitherto employed are very unsatisfactory when the 

 substances are in solution, and are almost wholly valueless when the substances are 

 in a coagulated state or in solution in acids. The great similarity between the reac- 

 tions of all albuminoid bodies, their almost identity of per-centage composition, led 

 to the belief that they were but modifications of one another. The action of 

 deutoxide of hydrogen upon fibrine shows us, however, that there is a positive mole- 

 cular difference between fibrine and albumen and caseine. The author has found 

 that this opinion is fully borne out by the peculiar reaction of hydrocyanic acid with 

 albumen. If pure caseine be put into a solution of hydrocyanic acid, it remains 

 unaltered in colour and other properties. If hydrocyanic acid is added to milk, it 

 coagulates it in the same manner as other acids do ; and if the quantity of acid be 

 large and the mixture be kept in a well-stoppered bottle, the caseine remains 

 unaltered for a long period of time, and even after three years hydrocyanic acid may 

 be detected. If, on the other hand, the white of an egg is introduced into a concen- 

 trated solution of hydrocyanic acid, it first coagulates, and after some time dissolves, 

 the solution gradually darkens until it becomes a blackish muddy-looking mass ; 

 nevertheless, as in the former case, hydrocyanic acid may yet be detected even 

 after three years. 



On Reproduction in Gasteropoda, and on some curious Effects of 

 Endosmosis. By Robert Garner, F.L.S. 



In the shell- covered, water-breathing, creeping mollusks, with one or two excep- 

 tions, reproduction is simple enough, there being male and female individuals 

 without or with sexual congress. In a chiton or limpet we have the former arrange- 

 ment, the testes in the male and the ovaries in the female opening in the chiton 

 between the branchial processes, and in the limpet near the rectum. This dispo- 

 sition was pointed out by the author a quarter of a century back, though one of the 

 latest and best general treatises on comparative anatomy asserts that these openings 

 have never been detected. In fact, the disposition in the limpet was known to 

 Cuvier. The common Paludina is a species where the sexual congress takes place. 

 We only refer to this animal (dining the last few years introduced, with the American 

 weed, into districts where it was before wanting), that we may mention the very 

 curious spermatozoa to be found in the male, and occasionally, of course, in the 

 female. They have indeed been figured by Leydig, and perhaps by others, but I 

 believe imperfectly. As'seen by a high power, they present a truly wonderful and 

 beautiful appearance. They may be from the eighteenth to the twentieth of a line 

 in length, and are not strictly locomotive, but are moored by six or eight fine fila- 

 ments at the tail, the rest of the thread-like body bending or extending in various 

 ways ; having also, at the same time, a wavy appearance, seemingly due to the 

 spiral rotation of its length. When water is applied to them, the posterior part of 

 the body gradually swells into a globular form, and by degrees absorbs the linear 

 part; this still continues to show motion ; finally, we have nothing but a globular 

 sac with the finer caudal filaments sticking from its side, and this at length bursts. 

 Mixed with these are other extremely fine filaments, so fine that they are liable to be 

 overlooked with even a high power; they appear to be corkscrew-like towards one 

 extremity, and have a less active but progressive movement ; though with water 

 they double themselves up with a loop, and move extremely rapidly. That these are 





