March 2nd, 1920.] Proceedings. xvii. 



be present if the animal is to exhibit all the finer shades of 

 behaviour which characterise the normal animal. 



There are two general methods of examination which are 

 used in the investigation of the brain. Of these the first is that 

 of experimental removal of a part of it, and the observation of 

 any subsequent change in the animal's behaviour. The second 

 method is that of stimulation whilst the animal is under the 

 influence of a narcotic. The movements then brought about 

 are studied. The two methods were illustrated by experimental 

 observations ; particularly by observations on the physiology 

 of the cortex of the great brain. 



When the great brain has been injured by experiment , 

 paralysis of a function often occurs. This is seen, for instance, 

 in the paralysis of a limb. A similar state occurs in man after 

 disease of the proper part of the cortex of the brain. A fact of 

 interest in this paralysis is its rapid, disappearance in animals. 

 The recovery is not so often seen in the case of disease of the 

 human brain. 



These observations on the brain have led to a theory of 

 " cerebral localisation of function " which in its present form 

 is open to criticism. It looks as if the cortex of the great brain 

 is not so essentially necessary to many of these functions as was 

 formerly supposed. It is perhaps possible that a more or less 

 complete mechanism of behaviour is present in lower levels of 

 the nervous system, and that the cerebral cortex is the place 

 where the most complex stimuli (sound, taste, smell, vision, 

 etc.) are compounded together. Their resultant then can affect 

 the lower centres which actually condition the behaviour. The 

 activity of the cortex would then be regarded as one which 

 directed the behaviour. 



Ordinary Meeting, March 2nd, 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. The Society now subscribes to Discovery and The 

 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. 



The President referred sympathetically to the death, on 

 Februarjr 27th, of Mr. Hermann Wooixey, who was elected an 

 ordinary Member of the Society in 1918. 



Mr. C. L. Barnes, M.A., made a short communication re- 

 lating to "Einstein's Theory of Space and Time "; and The 

 President and Mr. C. E. Stromeyer took part in the discussion. 



