790 



In this preparation the distribution of the ganglia and nerves over 

 the entire surface of the heart, and the relations of these structures 

 to the blood-vessels and muscular substance, are considered by the 

 author to be far more fully displayed than in any of his former dis- 

 sections. He states, that on the anterior surface there are distinctly 

 visible to the naked eye, ninety ganglia or ganglionic enlargements 

 on the nerves, vrhich pass obliquely across the arteries and the mus- 

 cular fibres of the ventricles from their base to the apex ; that these 

 ganglionic enlargements are observed on the nerves, not only where 

 they are crossing the arteries, but where they are ramifying on the 

 muscular substance without the blood-vessels ; that on the posterior 

 surface the principal branches of the coronary arteries plunge into 

 the muscular substance of the heart near the base, and many nerves 

 v/ith ganglia accompany them throughout the walls to the lining 

 membrane and columnse carnese. 



The author considers that, in the accompanying beautiful draw- 

 ings, Mr. West has depicted with the greatest accuracy and minute- 

 ness the whole nervous structures demonstrable in this preparation 

 on the surface of the heart ; but that the ganglia and nerves repre- 

 sented in these drawings constitute only a small portion of the 

 nervous system of the heart, numerous ganglia being formed in the 

 walls of the heart which no artist can represent. 



4. " On the Aurora Borealis which occurred on the evening of 

 Friday, the 17th of November, 1848." By Mr. R. Smith, Black- 

 ford, Perthshire. Communicated by P. M. Roget, M.D., F.R.S. 



The author states that the 17th of November was a fine day with 

 a clear sky and bright sunshine : towards evening the sky became 

 cloudy and a few drops of rain fell, but it soon again became clear, 

 with the exception of a few fleecy clouds that here and there dimmed 

 its brightness. At 6^ 45"^ a soft and gentle light began to illumine 

 the northern region of the sky; and at 7 o'clock a considerable 

 portion of it was covered with dark-red streams of light towards 

 the east ; while streamers moving to and fro, arrayed in colours of 

 golden and silvery hues, overspread the south and north. About 

 8 o'clock there appeared near the zenith, and upon the magnetic 

 meridian, a ring of an elliptical form, from which proceeded in all 

 directions towards the horizon, beams or columns of light, giving to 

 the heavens the appearance of a splendid vault, with its top adorned 

 with a crown or wreath ; while around and within the vault were to 

 be seen clouds of brilliant light flashing towards and from the crown 

 or central circle of the aurora, sometimes tinged with prismatic rays, 

 at other times intensely white and lucid. About half-past nine' 

 nearly the whole of the aerial canopy was clad with clouds of a 

 bright red colour, casting a curious reddened hue over the objects 

 on the surface of the earth. After a short period of time had 

 elapsed, the red colour began to diminish in intensity, and was again 

 replaced by the white dome. Plowever, in various parts of the sky 

 the red colour still remained, principally in the north-west, south- 

 west, and north-east. Between the hours of twelve and one beams 



