Notes . 
283 
1879.] 
soul of every man and animal is to be found in the specific odour 
which each exhales. The Boston “Journal of Chemistry” 
quotes from the Berlin “ Gegenwart ” a report of some alleged 
experiments made by one Dunstmaier to test the accuracy of 
this hypothesis, and which gave an affirmative result, even to 
the isolation of such principles as timidity and courage dissolved 
in glycerin. 
Hereditary Effects of Extirpation of the Spleen.— According to 
“ Medicinische Neuigkeiten,” Dr. Masoire is engaged with a 
series of experiments upon rabbits for the purpose of testing 
this question. Already the weight of the spleen in the offspring 
of the animals operated upon has been reduced to one-half. The 
experimentalist hopes to ascertain not merely the functions of 
the spleen, but to trace in how far the removal of an organ 
during a series of generations may affedt its development. 
Prof. Huxley, on behalf of Baron Ettinghausen, communicated 
to the Royal Society a valuable report on the Fossil Flora of 
Alum Bay. He has recognised at least 116 genera and 274 spe- 
cies, distributed into 63 families. Many of the forms indicate 
that the climate was at least subtropical. The number of palms, 
however, is small as compared with those found in the Sheppey 
deposits. Many of the species form connedting-links uniting 
characters which have in later epochs become separated. There 
are indications that certain Miocene genera had not become 
differentiated in the Eocene period. Thus Castanea, perfectly 
developed in the Miocene, seems to be represented in the Eocene 
by a Castanea- like oak, Quercus Bournensis , which combines in 
itself the characters of both genera, now no longer found united. 
More than fifty of the Alum Bay species are common to Sotzka 
and Haering, whilst a lesser number are common to Sezanna, 
the Lignitic of America, and to other Floras. 
Dr. W. H. Gaskell communicates to the Royal Society an 
account of researches on the “ Tonicity of the Heart and Arte- 
ries.” He finds that the heart, like the arteries, possesses what 
may be called tonicity, the variations in which play an important 
part in determining the features of the cardiac beat. The tonic 
condition is probably due to the alkalinity of the blood, as it is 
lowered by dilute acid solutions. 
Dr. C. William Siemens, F.R.S., has communicated to the 
Royal Society an account of some most interesting investigations 
on the Adtion of the Electric Light upon Vegetation. His ex- 
periments lead to the following conclusions : that eledtric light 
is efficacious in producing chlorophyll in the leaves of plants, 
and in promoting growth ; that an eledtric centre of light equal 
to 1400 candles, placed at a distance of 6£ feet from growing 
plants, appeared to be equal in effedt to average daylight at this 
season of the year, but that more economical effedfs can be 
