RECENT APPLICATIONS OF THE SPECTRUM ANALYSIS. 



57 



A Paper will be read on the 17th February on 



OUR BRAINS. 



By Mr. W. Square, Junr. 

 PROGRAMME. 



Lecture naturally divided into two sections, abstract and phy- 

 sical — Nervous system not all contained in the skull — Roughly 

 divided into two parts, white and grey matter — White fibres 

 described — Grey matter described — Anatomy — Spinal cord — 

 Medulla oblongata — Sensory ganglia — Reflex action — The cere- 

 bellum — Functions of the cranio - spinal axis — I'he cerebrum — 

 Anatomy — The convolutions — Termination of fibres — Connexion 

 with the external world — Comparative anatomy — Instinct and 

 reason — The skull — Psychology — Large brain an evidence of 

 intellectual power — Genius generally a small brain, but active — 

 Causes of development — The nerve cells reservoirs of thought — 

 Memory — Reason not confined to man, nor instinct to animals — 

 Phrenology — Science vulgarized — Dr. Gall's discovery — Argu- 

 ments pro and con — The organ of acquisitiveness — The influence 

 of experience and education — The future of the physiologist — 

 Conclusion. 



RECENT APPLICATIONS OF THE SPECTRUM ANALYSIS. 



ABSTRACT OF MR. R. BISHOP'S PAPER. 



The lecturer commenced his Paper with a sketch of the history of 

 discovery of the properties of the solar spectrum. The dark lines 

 of the spectrum first seen and described by Dr. Wollaston in 1802. 

 The celebrated German optician, Fraunhofer, in 1814, publislicd 

 his map of the solar spectrum containing 576 lines. He ascer- 

 tained that all solar light, whether direct or reflected, as the light 

 of the moon and planets, contained the same lines, while the light 

 of the fixed stars varied in this particular. 



The spectra of various kinds of bodies were then noticed; 

 important difference of character in the spectra of solid, liquid, 

 and gaseous bodies. 



