British Association. 



8253 



appears from the specimens exhibited, and the fact of the external organs of genera- 

 tions of closely-allied species differing so much tends to prove that species are 

 permanent, also that some species so closely allied, in the imago as to be indistin- 

 guishable, are totally different in the larva state, and an interesting discussion 

 ensued. — G. H. Wilkinson. 



British Association for the Advancement of Science. 



[It seems desirable to preserve some record of this important gathering, although the 

 great extent to which the reports in the ' Times' newspaper have extended render any- 

 thing approaching to a concise or condensed record extremely difficult. Below I have 

 given but little more than the titles of the zoological papers, and some even of these 

 have probably been omitted through inadvertence.] 



Dr. T. Spencer Cobbold, F.L.S., offered some remarks on all the known forms of 

 human Entozoa, illustrated by an extensive series of original drawings. He stated 

 that the human body was liable to be infested by no less than thirty species of inter- 

 nal parasites, and he communicated the results of his studies and researches into the 

 history, structure, habits, mode of development, and migrations of each individual 

 form. He demonstrated the possibility of checking the progress of several fatal ento- 

 zootic diseases, and he appealed to the Association to support him in his experimental 

 researches into the mode of production of these remarkable animals. From the inves- 

 tigations which he had already carried on independently, Dr. Cobbold appeared to 

 have obtained results of great importance, both in a social and economic point of view. 



Professor Balfour read a paper by Mr. James Buckman, giving an account of ex- 

 periments with the seed of malformed roots, and on the ennobling of roots, with par- 

 ticular reference to parsneps. 



Dr. E. P. Wright read a paper, contributed by Mr. James Samuelson, " Ou recent 

 Experiments on Heterogenesis, or Spontaneous Generation.'' 



Professor Owen read a paper "On the Zoological Significance of the Brain and 

 Limb Characters of Man, with Remarks on the Cast of the Brain of the Gorilla." 

 The Professor exhibited two casts — one of the human brain, which bad been hardened 

 in spirits, and had therefore not preserved its exact form, but to all intents and pur- 

 poses it would serve as an illustration of the human brain ; the other cast was taken 

 from the interior of the cranium of the gorilla. From an examination of these the 

 difference between the brain of man and that of monkeys was at once perceptible. In 

 the brain of man the posterior lobes of the cerebrum overlapped to a considerable ex- 

 tent the small brain, or cerebellum ; whereas in the gorilla the posterior lobes of the 

 cerebrum did not project beyond the lobes of the cerebellum. The posterior lobes in 

 the one were prominent and well marked, in the other deficient. These peculiarities 

 had been referred to by Todd and Bowman. From a very prolonged investigation 

 into the characters of animals, he felt persuaded that the characters of the brain were 

 the most steadfast ; and he was thus induced, after many years of study, to propose his 

 classification of the Mammalia, based upon the differences in the development of their 

 brain structure. He had placed man — owing to the prominence of the posterior lobes 

 of his brain, the existence of a posterior cornu in the lateral ventricles, and the pre- 

 sence of a hippocampus minor in the posterior cornu — in a distinct sub-kingdom, 

 which he had called Archencephala, between which and the other members of the 

 Alammalia the distinctions were very marked, and the rise was a very abrupt one. 



