180 Meeting of the British Association. [Jan., 



carcases of dogs and other animals had been thrown should especially 

 be avoided. 



Dr. Boyd communicated an elaborate statistical paper on the 

 measurements of the head and weight of the brain in 696 cases of 

 insanity, of which it would be difficult to give a satisfactory account 

 without constant reference to the tables with which the paper was 

 illustrated. 



Dr. William Turner related an example of that very rare descrip- 

 tion of cranial deformity, termed by Welcker, Trigonocephalus, 

 which he had met with in a boy azt. five and a half years, the son 

 of Irish parents. The peculiarity of this form of skull consisted in an 

 absence of frontal eminences and consequent flattening or even hollow- 

 ness above the eyebrows, together with a very remarkable beak-like 

 projection of the forehead in the middle line. The characteristic 

 shape was noticed in the head of this boy at the time of birth. His 

 intelligence was quite on a par with that of children of his age and 

 condition of life. 



In a paper " On Obliteration of the Sutures in one class of Ancient 

 British Skulls," Dr. Thurnam pointed out that in British dolico- 

 cephali there is a great tendency to obliteration of the sutures gene- 

 rally, but that such obliteration is not of so frequent occurrence in 

 the sagittal suture as to warrant the conclusion that the dolico-cepha- 

 lism depends on the synostosis. In the great majority of cases the 

 obliteration is of the prematurely senile description. The oblitera- 

 tion was compared with obliteration of the sutures seen in the African 

 race, and referred to the same cause, viz. an exuberant ossification. 

 The author was of opinion that the post-coronal depression frequently 

 observed in dolico-cephalous skulls, may, in some instances, of ancient 

 British skulls from the long barrows, be produced by artificial com- 

 pression. 



It was argued by Mr. J. S. Prideaux in a paper " On the Functions 

 of the Cerebellum," that there is a constant relation between the size 

 of the median lobe of the cerebellum and the motor power of the 

 animal, and between the size of its lateral lobes and its sensibility. 



Mr, Alfred Haviland communicated a paper " On the Hour of 

 Death in Acute and Chronic Disease," in which he stated that the 

 greatest mortality took place in the early hours of the morning when 

 the powers of life were at their lowest ebb. 



Dr. T. A. Carter gave an account of the origin and arrangement of 

 the superficial branches of the lymph vessels in the liver of man and 

 of the pig. His object was to show that there is a direct communica- 

 tion between the capillaries and the finest lymph vessels in this 

 organ. In favourable sections he had seen very minute injected pro- 

 cesses coming off from the hepatic capillaries and uniting with others 

 to form a primary lymphatic radicle. He also described a peculiar 

 relation between the hepatic artery and the lymphatics of the liver, 

 two lymph vessels united at intervals by short transverse branches 

 accompanying each branch of the artery. With each expansion of the 



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