1887.] Torpedo marmorata. Thermal Radiation. 3.57 



IV. " The Electromotive Properties of the Electrical Organ of 

 Torpedo marmorata." By FRANCIS GOTCH, B.A., B.Sc. 

 London, M.A. Oxon. Communicated by Professor BuRDON 

 Sanderson, F.R.S. Received May 5, 1887. 



(Abstract.) 



After an introduction, in which the author sets forth the present 

 state of knowledge with reference to the electromotive properties 

 of the electrical organ of Torpedo, he gives an account of his own 

 experimental investigations in three sections. 



The first section relates to the nature of the changes produced in 

 the electrical organ by mechanical injury and by heat, and the relation 

 of these changes to those which manifest themselves under similar 

 .conditions in muscle and nerve, a subject which has not hitherto been 

 inquired into. 



In the second, the duration and the character of the response of the 

 electrical organ to stimulation of its nerve are investigated for the 

 first time by means of the rheotome and galvanometer. 



In the experiments which are recorded in the third section, the 

 author has entered on the examination of the after-effects which are 

 produced in the organ by the passage through it of voltaic or induc- 

 tion currents, a subject which has been recently investigated by 

 du Bois-Reymond. 



The author is led by his experiments to believe that the physiologi- 

 cal effects produced in the organ by injury, by the passage of currents, 

 and by the stimulation of the electrical nerve, are, notwithstanding 

 that they differ so widely from each other in distribution, duration, 

 and intensity, all phenomena of excitation. 



V. " On Thermal Radiation in Absolute Measure." By J. T. 

 BOTTOMLEY, M.A. Communicated by Sir W. THOMSON, 

 Kpt, F.R.S. Received April 23, 1887. 



(Abstract ) 



The investigation, of which a detailed account is given in the paper, 

 was commenced in 1883, and some preliminary results were commu- 

 nicated to the Royal Society in June, 1884. 



The radiating body used up to the present time has been a metallic 

 wire ;* and the general method of experimenting consists in keeping 



* I propose, however, as soon as may be, to repeat and extend the experiment of 

 D. Macfarlane (' Roy. Soc. Proa' vol. 20, 1872) on radiation from metallic globes. 



