xvi. Proceedings. [February ifth, 1920, 



Empires when domesticated animals were first introduced 

 amongst them. Human sacrifices were to a certain extent 

 discontinued, but the rites were continued. The religious 

 animal sacrifices of the ancients were therefore an after effect 

 of human sacrifices. Even our practice of saying grace before 

 meat and not before drink, though water coming from the skies 

 is more of the nature of a heavenly gift than the meat of 

 animals which have to be killed, may possibly be one of the 

 after effects of cannibalism of 4,000 years ago. 



General Meeting, February 17th, 1920. 



Sir Henry A. Miers, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S. (President), 



in the Chair. 



Dr. W. J. Walker, B.Sc. (St. Andrew's), A.M.Inst.C.E., Lecturer in 

 Mechanical Engineering in the College of Technology, Manchester 

 Arbroath, Westcourt Road, Ashton-on-Mersey, was elected an Ordinary 

 Member of the Society. 



Ordinary Meeting, February 17th, 1920. 



Sir Henry A. Miers, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S. (President), 



in the Chair. 



A vote of thanks was passed to the donors of the books on 

 the table. 



Dr. T. Graham Brown read a paper entitled " The Func- 

 tions of the Brain." 



The activity of an animal, as seen by an observer, consists in 

 movements of its limbs, changes of its attitude, changes in its 

 expression (movements of the face and of the hair, etc.), and 

 so on. This activity is usually called the " behaviour " of the 

 animal. In itself the action of the animal is a physiological 

 one. It may be analysed and described in terms of physio- 

 logical mechanism. But it is also used as an index of the 

 mental processes of the animal. These two manners in which 

 behaviour may be examined — as a thing in itself and as an 

 index of another sort of phenomenon — are not mutually antagon- 

 istic. They are complementary, and the facts found by either 

 of them may assist research in the other. 



The separate movements of the parts of the body are integ- 

 rated by the nervous system in the total behaviour. This 

 integration may occur at different levels in the central nervous 

 system At the lowest level — the " spinal level " — the integra- 

 tion is a comparatively simple one. At an intermediate level 

 the integration is a more complex one. The great brain must 



