NOTICES AND ABSTRACTS 



OF 



MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS TO THE SECTIONS. 



Addendum to the Report of the Transactiotis of the Sections 



in 1839. 



At the Meeting of the British Association in Birmingham in August 1839. 

 Mr. Nasmyth communicated three papers, one to the Geological Section, 

 on the Structure of Fossil Teeth ; a second to the Medical Section, on 

 the Microscopic Structure of the Teeth ; and a third to the Medical Section, 

 on the Structure of the Epithelium. 



Agreeably to the practice of the Association, the paper read to the Geo- 

 logical Section was delivered to the Secretaries of that Section, Dr. Lloyd 

 and Mr. Strickland ; and an abstract of its contents having been prepared 

 by Dr. Lloyd, for insertion in that portion of the annual volume which con- 

 tains notices of the proceedings of the Sections, the original memoir and the 

 abstract were transmitted to the Assistant General Secretary (Mr. Phillips), 

 by whom the memoir was returned to Mr. Nasmyth. 



With respect to the two papers read before the Medical Section, the prac- 

 tice above mentioned was not followed: no abstract of the contents of these 

 papers was furnished by or through the Secretaries of the Section to the 

 Assistant General Secretary. 



Notices of Mr. Nasmyth's papers appeared in the Athenaeum and Literary 

 Gazette of the period: those journals usually obtain such notices either from 

 authors themselves or from reporters of their own : in the present case the 

 Council have been informed by the respective editoi's, that the report in the 

 Athenaaum of the two papers read to the Medical Section was supplied, and 

 the proofs corrected, by Mr. Nasmyth himself, and the notice of the geo- 

 logical paper by the reporter of the Athenaeum ; and that the report in the 

 Literary Gazette was drawn up by the reporter of that journal, from a rough 

 manuscript fui'nished to him by Mr. Nasmyth. 



In the October following the meeting, Mr. Nasmyth applied to Mr. Phil- 

 lips to know whether the papers read by him at the meeting would be printed 

 entire, or in the form of abstracts ; and was acquainted in reply, that, accord- 

 ing to usage, brief abstracts only could be inserted in the notices published 

 by the Association, and unaccompanied by diagrams ; the original memoirs 

 and drawings being the author's own property, and at his own disposal. 



On January 28, IS^O, Mr. Nasmyth informed Mr. Phillips that he was 

 preparing abstracts of his papers, and desired to know whether the papers 

 read to the Geological and Medical Sections on nearly the same subject 

 should be reported on as one, or kept separate. He also requested Mr. Phil- 

 lips to obtain for him, from the Secretary of the Geological Section, the 

 original memoir read at that Section, as an application which he had made 

 for it himself remained unanswered, and he had only rough notes of that 

 paper from which to make the abstract. Mr. Phillips informed him in reply, 



1841. B 



