April pit, igi6.] Proceedings. xxxvii 



Ordinary Meeting, April 4th, 1916. 



The President, Professor Sydney J. Hickson, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S.* 

 in the Chair. 



A vote of thanks was accorded the donors of the books 

 upon the table. Amongst these were : — " The Subantarctic 

 Islands of New Zealand" edited by Chas. Chilton, Vols. 1 and 2 

 (4to., Wellington, N.Z., 1909), and "Index Faunce Novas Zea- 

 landice" edited by F. W. Hutton>(8vo., London, 1904), presented 

 by the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, Christ Church, 

 N.Z. ; and " Latitude Observations with Photographic Ze7iith 

 Tube at Gaithersburg, Md." by F. E. Ross (Special Publication 

 No. 27) (4to., AVashington, 191 5), presented by the United 

 States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



Professor G. Elliot Smith, M.A., M.D., F.R.S, read a 

 paper entitled "The Origin of the Cerebral Cortex." 



The cerebral cortex was called into existence during the 

 process of evolution of the vertebrates ; and, even though it is 

 difficult to detect it in certain fishes, it is to be regarded as a 

 distinctive and inherent feature of vertebrate structure. The 

 microscopic formatio pallia/is of the Cyclostomes represents 

 the undifferentiated rudiment of the whole of the pallium 

 (hippocampal formation, piriform area and neopallium of the 

 highest vertebrates), and not merely the hippocampus, as most 

 modern anatomists believe. In this respect Professor Elliot 

 Smith reaffirmed the views set forth by Studnicka more than 

 twenty years ago, and adversely criticised the divergent in- 

 terpretations maintained respectively by Edinger and Ariens- 

 Kappers and by Herrick, Johnstone and Sheldon on the other. 



He discussed the nature of the factors which were responsible 

 for calling into existence a cortical formation, citing the cere- 

 bellum as the simplest case, uncomplicated by the phenomena 

 of consciousness, such as associative memory, feeling and dis- 

 crimination. The cerebellum grew up around the central 



