222 



subject, but particulai'ly those of Bremner, Laennec, and 

 Owen, by which acephalocystic reproduction is referred to 

 imperfect ovation or generation. Dr. Kennedy went on to 

 show that the uterine hydatid or hydrometra hydatica of 

 Wiesmantel, which should more correctly be termed the 

 " Acephalocystis Hysterobiaveluterina,"multiplies hjjissipa- 

 rous generation, and that the creatures still continue adherent 

 to, or connected with each other by filiform bands or elon- 

 gations of the strictured parts of their bodies. Dr. Kennedy 

 exhibited several preparations and drawings in which this 

 mode of reproduction by subdivision was perceptible in dif- 

 ferent stages of progress, and having alluded to an imperfect 

 division, observed also to occur in infusorial animalcules, re- 

 commended that the system of reproduction which he de- 

 scribed should be termed " fissiparo-coherent." 



Apaper " on the coloui'ing Matters of the Persian Berries" 

 was read by Dr. Kane. 



These berries, the fruit of the dyer's buckthorn, Rhamnus 

 l^inctoria, are imported from the Levant, and from the south 

 of France, for the use of dyers, to whom they furnish a yel- 

 low colour of great brilliancy, though not so permanent as 

 some others. The appearance of the berries, as found in 

 commerce, varies considerably ; some samples, and those the 

 most valuable, being larger, fuller, and of a light greenish 

 olive colour, whilst others are smaller, as if shrivelled, and 

 dark brown in tint. The former Dr. Kane considers to hkve 

 the appearance of being gathered before complete ripening, 

 whilst the latter owe their altered character to being allowed 

 to remain longer on the stem, or to having been incautiously 

 dried. 



The colouring matter in these two kinds is essentially 

 different. The unripe berries yield but little colour to pure 

 water, and when digested in ether give abundance of a rich 



