1864.] Letter o/Capt. Skogman on the Spitzbei'gen Survey. 551 



in one case being derived from the placenta, in the other from the 

 mamma of the mother kangaroo. 



" From the foregoing facts certain conclusions may be drawn. 



" 1 . With regard to the placenta. 



" Since the organs of the foetal bird are in the same condition as in the 

 human foetus, the nature of the blood supplied to them is probably the 

 same. If so, the umbilical vein of the human foetus contains blood highly 

 nutritious and arterial in character, and therefore the function of the 

 placenta corresponds to that of the chorion membrane, yelk, and white 

 combined ; it is in fact the means of absorption, as the veins absorb 

 the yelk and white, and the substitute of the lung in adult life. There is 

 no need of lymphatic vessels in the placenta. 



" 2. With regard to the liver. 



" That the function of this organ is to separate a highly nutritious sub- 

 stance from the blood of the portal vein ; and this is true both of the liver 

 of the foetal bird and of the human foetus. 



" 3. That this albuminous substance is not in a condition to be directly 

 absorbed from the umbilical vein, but is elaborated and separated for 

 absorption by the lacteal vessels. 



4. That there is reason to believe that this function of the liver con- 

 tinues to a great extent during adult life ; for the portal vein in that state 

 receives veins which correspond to the umbilical vein in the fact that they 

 proceed from the source of nutrition. That the liver must be actively 

 engaged after the introduction of food into the intestinal canal, and its 

 secretion then more plentiful than at other times." 



II. " Completion of the Preliminary Survey of Spitzbergen, under- 

 taken by the Swedish Government with the view of ascer- 

 taining the practicability of the Measurement of an Arc of the 

 Meridian.^' In a letter addressed to Major-General Sabine 

 by Captain C. Skogman, of the Royal Swedish Navy : dated 

 Stockholm, Nov. 21, 1864. Communicated by the President. 

 Received December 15, 1864. 



"On the receipt of your letter of the 12th of November, I started 

 immediately in quest of Professor Nordenskjold, to obtain from him the 

 materials for the fulfilment of your wishes in respect to the Spitzbergen 

 Expedition. The Professor, with his usual obliging frankness, at once 

 complied with my request, and communicated to me the Minutes from 

 which I have compiled the subjoined brief Report of his proceedings. You 

 must excuse the hasty manner in which the Report itself, as well as the 

 accompanying map, has been put together, as time presses if my letter 

 has to reach you before your Anniversary on the 30th. The map has no 

 pretensions to exactness, but must be viewed merely in the light of a dia- 



VOL. XIII. % T 



