TWENTIETH ORDINARY MEETING. 275 



Mr. Boyle doubted the statement that the digestive process 

 in snakes is rapid ; his experience with snakes and alligators 

 was to the contrary, 



Mr. Loudon also held this opinion. 



Mr. Macallum replied that animals in captivity or fear do 

 not digest rapidly ; otherwise they do. 



Mr. J. A. Livingston then read a paper on " New Dis- 

 coveries in Gravitation and its Correlations." 



The physical circumstances which modify or enhance the digestive 

 process do not differ in any marked characteristic from those of the 

 Jiigher animals save one : the temperature required is considerably 

 lower. The enzymes seem to have more vigorous action than those 

 ■of mammals and birds. In the sturgeon, digestion is very rapid, 

 resembling in this i-espect the process as found in reptiles. In the 

 case of the latter, several specimens of Storeria digested frogs of 

 small size in less than an hour ; and similar experiments were made 

 with the sturgeon with quite the same results. 



TWENTIETH ORDINARY MEETING. 



The Twentieth Ordinary Meeting was held on Saturday, 

 28th March, 1885, the President in the Chair, 



The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed. 



Messrs. Carpmael and Livingston were appointed auditors 

 for the year. 



The following list of donations and exchanges was read : 



1. Report on Canadian Archives by Douglas Brymner, Archivist, 1884. 



2. The Pennsylvanian Magazine of History and Biography, Nos. 30 and .31. 



Vol. VIII., Nos. 2 and 3, June and October, 1884. 



3. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, December, 1884. 



4. Selected Papers of the Rensselaer Society of Engineers, Troy, N.Y., Vol. 



I., No. 2, March, 1885. 



5. Science, Vol. V., No. HI, March 20, 1885. 



€. Annual Report of the Trustees of the American Museum of Natura 

 History, Central Park, N.Y., for 1884-'85; 



