November 1, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



687 



greatly relieved by dividing the facial nerve 

 and grafting its distal end upon the spinal 

 accessory, the operation being an applica- 

 tion of results obtained by experiments in 

 nerve grafting performed on lower animals. 



Professor Keed, of Dundee, pointed out 

 that the assertion that proteids in solution 

 exerted osmotic pressure was in all proba- 

 bility due to the use of impure preparations, 

 since by using carefully washed recrystal- 

 lized proteid no trace of such pressure could 

 be obtained on a membrane formed of for- 

 malized gelatine. It would appear from 

 this result that the so-called solutions of 

 proteids were not true solutions but merely 

 suspensions. Professor Eeed also called 

 attention to an observation he had made 

 that the absorption of glucose by the intes- 

 tine was favored by the presence of potas- 

 sium salts as compared with those of sodium, 

 and attributed the result to an ionic effect. 



Dr. W. Brodie Brodie, of Glasgow, gave 

 the results of experiments he had made on 

 the action of oxalates on muscle tissue. He 

 pointed out that it had been shown that the 

 presence of calcium salts was necessary for 

 the rhythmic contraction of the heart, and 

 from his experiments it seemed probable 

 that at the moment of muscular contraction 

 there was a liberation of calcium from a 

 salt of that metal present in the muscle 

 substance. Oxalates did not destroy the 

 irritability of resting muscles, although they 

 did have that effect on muscles in a state of 

 activity, and the results of previous observ- 

 ers require to be modified to this extent. It 

 was probable that the action of the oxalate 

 was due to the precipitation by them of the 

 calcium liberated during contraction. 



Professor Noel Paton reported on the re- 

 sults of observations made in conjunction 

 with Drs. Gulland and J. S. Fowler on the 

 hsemopoietic function of the spleen, and 

 stated that they had not been able to obtain 

 any evidence that the organ took part in 

 the production of blood corpuscles. 



Dr. W. H. R. Rivers gave an account of 

 the measurement of a visual illusion in 

 the cases of thirty-eight natives of Murray 

 Island, Torres straits, compared with forty- 

 two Englishmen. The apparatus used was 

 the Miiller-Lyer line with reversed arrow- 

 heads, the standard line having a length of 

 75 mm. The illusion proved to be much 

 less, on the average, among the islanders, to 

 whom the two lines appeared equal when 

 the movable line measured 60 mm. while 

 the same appearance occurred to the Eng- 

 lishmen at 55 mm. Dr. C. S. Myers reported 

 some observations which he had made with 

 Galton's whistle on the same islanders, 

 which showed that at all ages they were 

 unable to hear as high a note as inhabitants 

 of Buchan, Aberdeenshire. 



THE BOTANICAL SECTION. 



The presidential chair of the Botanical 

 Section was occupied by Professor I. Bay- 

 ley Balfour, who selected for his address a 

 discussion of the causes which have led the 

 Angiosperms to become the dominant type 

 of the existing flora. Before the appear- 

 ance of the Angiosperms upon the earth's 

 surface there was a dense vegetation, com- 

 posed of Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms, 

 but this is now represented by a relatively 

 small number of forms, having been re- 

 placed by Angiosperms. What, then, were 

 the causes which have led to the dominance 

 of this latter type, what are the structural 

 peculiarities which have given it the advan- 

 tage over its predecessors? The climatic 

 differences of our epoch, contrasted with 

 earlier periods, naturall}"^ suggest them- 

 selves as factors in the change, and of these 

 differences perhaps the most important is 

 the great difference in the relative propor- 

 tions of the land and water areas upon the 

 globe. " The statement is warranted that 

 the Angiosperms have become dominant in 

 great measure because in their construction 

 the problem of the plant's relationship to 



