300 Proceedings of Societies. 
Owen, on being requested to point out the principal distinctions between 
man and the gorilla, drew attention to the fact of its inability to stand on 
its hind legs, and the multitudinous points of adaptation in structure 
which such an incapability demanded. He also went into the details of 
the anatomical structure of the brain in the monkey tribes, and insisted on 
the great differences of structure which that organ presented in man and 
the quadrumana. Independent of the great size of the brain in man, it 
possessed certain parts, as the hippocampus minor, which existed only in ~ 
an undeveloped or rudimentary condition in the monkeys. 
Dr Wright of Dublin then read a communication from Dr J. E. Gray, 
‘On the Height of the Gorilla.” 
These papers were followed by others on the interesting results of 
dredging on various coasts ; by one on the Anatomical Characters of Cy- 
prea, by Dr T. Alcock, another on the relations between Pinnate and Pal- 
mate Leaves, by T. M. Masters ; and a brief summary of a Report on the 
Flora of the North of Ireland, by Dr G. Dickie. During the Friday 
meeting, aloug with other points of interest, an animated discussion arose 
as to the principle of life suggested by papers by Dr Daubeny in vege- 
table physiology. ‘The Doctor was favourable to the idea of life as some 
power distinct from the physical forces in which view he was opposed by 
Dr Lankester, and supported by Professor Williamson of Manchester, 
who begged to contradict Dr Lankester with all the force which might be 
considered parliamentary. This led on the part of the latter to an itera- 
tion of his former opinion stronger than before, and in which, in the 
language he used, he probably went farther than he intended. 
In the sub-section of Physiology, Dr Davy presided, and himself read an 
interesting paper “‘ On the Question, whether the Hair is or is not subject 
to Sudden Changes of Colour.’’ This he decides in the negative, explain- 
ing away the evidence on whieh the contrary belief has become popular, 
and also maintaining with regard to seemingly analogous phenomena, such 
as the becoming white of the ptarmigan, and many animals and birds in 
winter, that it is through moult and not change of colour in feather or 
hair. Besides this, there was on Saturday a paper by Professor L. Beale 
on the Structure and Growth of the elementary parts (cells) of living 
Beings. 
Section E. (Geography and Ethnology). Among other papers, Pro- 
fessor Owen read one of great interest on the ‘‘ Osteology and Dentition 
of the Natives of the Andaman Islands.’’ Having noticed the geography 
of the Andaman Islands, he quoted evidence to show that the diminutive 
black aborigines of these islands had no notions of a deity, of spiritual 
beings, or a future state ; that both sexes went naked, without any sense 
of shame. He then gave an extract from the writings of Dr Mouatt in 
corroboration of the destitution of civilisation prevalent amongst the 
Andamanners. Their chief weapons were bows and arrows, some of the 
males also carrying a kind of spear. They appeared to be devoid of fear, 
were powerful for their size, were swift runners and exeellent swimmers 
and divers. Three or four of them had been known (according to an 
account given by a Sepoy) to dive into deep water and bring up a fish six 
or seven feet in length, which they had seized. ‘They were also gifted 
with extraordinary powers of vision. By their acute sense of smell they 
often detected afar off the existence of fruit in the neighbouring lofty 
trees. They span ropes, made wicker baskets, nets for catching turtle 
and fishes, and scooped out canoes with a small kind of adze. Thus for 
all their immediate wants invention had supplied the instruments called 
for by the nature of the surrounding objects and sources of food. But 
their life was still little beyond that of the brute animal; and their low 
