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SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



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[July 6, 1888. 



as we ascend in the scale of life the paths along which 

 the impulses travel become more defined, and at 

 the same time the results are quicker and more 

 definite. In the Polyzoa (as illustrated by the Hydra) 

 the sense organs are on the surface of the body, and are 

 connected with the muscles in the interior. The outer 

 cells of the Hydra are nervous, and are the most primi- 

 tive form of a nervous system. The outer part of the 

 cell is nervous and the inner part contractile, but there 

 are no nerves, their place being taken by the medium 

 part of the cell. The nervous cells are equally developed 

 over the whole of the body, forming a nerve sheath, as 

 from its habit the whole of the body of the Hydra is ex- 

 posed equally to the environment. Where the parts of 

 the animal are unequally exposed there is a variation in 

 the development of the nerve cells. An example of this 

 may be seen in the worms, where, from their habit of 

 crawling on the ground, the nerve sheath is more fully 

 developed on the ventral side. Turning to the Verte- 

 brates he pointed out that in these the nerve sheath gives 

 place to a localised nervous centre, the brain, from 

 which nerves radiate to all parts of the body. He also 

 described the development ofthe nervous system in the 

 chick, and pointed out the important part the develop- 

 ment of the nervous system plays in bearing out the re- 

 capitulation theory, in that, beginning as a single cell, it 

 passes through the various conditions in which we find 

 it in successive grades as we advance up the scale of 

 life. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 

 At the meeting held on June 21st a paper on "Mus- 

 cular Movements in Man, and their Evolution in the 

 Infant : A Study of Movement in Man, and its Evolu- 

 tion, together with Inferences as to the Properties of 

 Nerve-centres and their Modes of Action in expressing 

 Thought," by Francis Warner, M.D., F.R.C.P., Physi- 

 cian to the London Hospital, and Lecturer on Botany in 

 the London Hospital Medical College, was communicated 

 .by Professor J. Hutchinson, F.R.S. 



Every one knows that children are fidgety, and babies 

 smile, and crow, and move their thumbs and 

 fingers. Many people do not know that seedling plants 

 are also full of constant movement, but this has been 

 demonstrated in plants of all the principal natural orders 

 by Charles Darwin, in his " Movements of Plants." Dr. 

 Francis Warner, while looking at infants, was struck 

 with the fact that here, as in all other young living 

 things, the parts are always moving in the young, but 

 that older subjects present less movement. In fact, just 

 as in the seedling it has been demonstrated that the con- 

 stant spontaneous movements (circumnutation) result 

 from healthful conditions of growth, and are succeeded 

 by complex and highly important movements, such as 

 bending to the light and away from the earth (heliotro- 

 pism and apogeotropism), so in man this spontaneous 

 movement becomes gradually co-ordinated and brought 

 under the influence of surrounding forces, and the move- 

 ments thus become so well fitted to the surroundings 

 as to be considered useful, intelligent, and voluntary. 

 The conditions of movement at ages from birth to ten years 

 are described, and to do this much previous work on the 

 part of the mother was needed. Dr. Warner has em- 

 ployed an apparatus which he invented (see author's 

 " Anatomy of Movement " ) for recording movement 

 ofthe child by lines on a revolving drum. It was also 

 necessary to describe many kinds of movements and to 



classify them on physiological principles. The purpose 

 in view in this study of spontaneous movements in in- 

 fants is to report the first signs of the manifestation of 

 mental faculty as seen when those movements are 

 arrested or controlled by impressions made upon the 

 child. 



All expression of mind is by movements, and from 

 observations made descriptions are given of the modes 

 of action and properties of nerve-centres in adult age. 

 Properties similar to those described in brain centres 

 may be illustrated in modes of growth. 



This part of his general work Dr. Warner illustrated 

 in his work on " The Study of Nerve-Centres and 

 Modes of Growth," which he delivered as Hunterian 

 Professor of Physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons. 



Graphic tracings were shown indicating the amount of 

 spontaneous movement in an infant nine days old, and 

 the controlability of such action in an older child by 

 light and sound. 



The author concluded by saying, " Intelligence is, then, 

 not a property of the brain, per se, but for its manifesta- 

 tion certain modes of brain action are necessary. 



LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 

 At the meeting held on June 14th, Sir J. Cockle, Presi- 

 dent, in the chair, the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge 

 University read a paper " On the Determination of the 

 Circular Points at Infinity." Professor M. J. M. Hill 

 followed with a paper " On the c and p Discriminants 

 of Integrable Differential Equations of the First Order." 

 Mr. Tucker (Hon. Sec.) communicated the following 

 papers by Lord Rayleigh, " On Point-line and Plane- 

 sources of Sound " ; by Mr. H. Fortey, " Note on 

 Rationalisation " ; and by Prof. G. B. Mathews, " Appli- 

 cations of Elliptic Functions to the Theory of Twisted 

 Quartics." Prof. Greenhill read a paper on " Co- 

 efficients of Induction and Capacity and Allied Problems." 

 The following were taken as read : — " Electrical Oscilla- 

 tion," by Prof. J. J. Thomson, and a demonstration of 

 the theorem that the equation x 3 + y= + s 3 = o cannot 

 be solved in integers, by Mr. J. R. Holt. 



ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

 The concluding meeting of this Society for the present 

 session was held on the 20th ult., Dr. W. Marcet, F.R.S. , 

 President, in the chair. 



The following papers were read : — 



(1) "First Report of the Thunderstorm Committee." 

 This report deals with the photographs of lightning 

 flashes, some sixty in number, which have been received 

 by the Society. From the evidence now obtained, it 

 appears that lightning assumes various typical forms, 

 under conditions which are at present unknown. The 

 Committee consider that the lightning flashes may be 

 arranged under the following types: — 1. Stream; 2. 

 Sinuous ; 3. Ramified ; 4. Meandering ; 5. Beaded or 

 chapletted ; and 6. Ribbon lightning. In one of the pho- 

 tographs there is a dark flash of the same character as 

 the bright flashes, but the Committee defer offering any 

 explanation of the same until they get further examples 

 of dark flashes. As the thunderstorm season is now 

 coming on, the Committee propose to publish their report 

 at once, along with some reproductions of the photo- 

 graphs by the autotype process, in order that ob- 

 servers may be prepared to notice the various forms of 

 lightning. 



(2) " The Cold Period from September, 1887, to May, 



