TRANSACTIONS OF THU SECTIONS. 
Ill 
»m irritated, or swim away if thrown into water. Hence the conclusion, that the 
nils of the vesicular neurine act under given circumstances as adaptively and yet as 
mnsciously as in the lowest forms of animal and vegetable life. 
Dr. Laycock then extended these views to the cells constituting the vesicular neurine 
rf the human brain ; and argued that it might fairly be inferred, both it priori and 
iroobservation, that their endowments and inodes of action were not inferior to 
^of the vesicular neurine in insects. It fallowed, therefore, that they also 
*4' let adaptively and in accordance with their assigned functions independently 
1 me will or^consciousness of the individual. To this automatic action (the link 
man's spiritual nature and the external world) Dr. Laycock referred the 
i^oomcna of mesmerism, electro-biology, spirit-rapping, &c., and expressed his 
^"'jction that the derangement of the intellect which those phenomena implied 
Jl , 'e altogether harmless, hut might lead, and, indeed, had led to permanent 
to the brain. 
several rare animals from the Museum of Natural History 
^ °« t,ie Anthropoid Apes. By Professor Owen, M.D., B.R.S.*. 
:lr Richest' ai ' er known species of those large tail-less Ape*, which form 
“T^aeh to^ 0 - 11 * 1 • r orc ! cr (Quadrumann), and consequently make the nearest 
* le determined the true zoological characters of the known orangs 
• vifthe * aS ,nan 'f e sted by adult specimens ; pointed out the relative proxi- 
‘^nctions that° S ^ c ^‘ m P anzee 9 to the human species; and indicated the leading 
kqor then eatp ®!P arate the most anthropoid of those apes from man. The l’ro- 
^Itbe deerop? u P ( ? n *be subject of the varieties of the human species, and de- 
"'ificationa ofdn l i tb ° racca differed from each other in colour, stature, and 
^''Hies, and nrn ° s , , etan> He entered upon a disquisition of the causes of these 
'-tificcharacter^ 6 11 i t0 c “ xa,n ' iu ' bow far any of the known causes which modify 
lrte wcr approach t 12 V lve operated so as to produce in the chimpanzees or orangs 
^ Wntc characters f « Uinan character than they actually present. He pointed 
. Gorilla Ane T*i?-v ^eleton °f the np‘‘. e. 'J- the great supernrhital ridge in 
G !l5t Hof byanv 2 1 lch . cr) uld not. have been produced by the habitual action of 
"MS chaLe in°ti *° Wn tnfluence that , operating upon successive generations, 
Sn teeth, the r ' C , ma nn d proportions of bones. The equable length Of the 
, ! «Ual d'ifferen° n ^ 0lnltanr absence of any intcivnl in the dental series, and of 
and unnlfplvi t le development of particular teeth, were affirmed to be 
.■j, to state, " a t | e H l >t ’ r ' t ’ c peculiarities of mau. " Teeth," the Professor pro- 
us t e ? st . BUc h ns consist of the ordinary dentine of mammals, arc 
Pressure unft +k^ U0Ilce ^ in t ^ cir K rowt ' 1 by the action of neighbouring 
f t- *» 7 are protrude I* i tir bon T soc kets may affect the direction of their growth 
•ftlT 1 nf limited nmi'i 1 n ? t 8 ppcific proportions and forma of the crowns 
Ut,. . m ?’ c Tronic," '^terminate growth. The crown of the great canine tooth 
1 ° female Jt? n u ,, '’5 nn to be calcified when it* diet was precisely the 
l !* growth nmror ii botb SPXe3 Her ived their sustcimme from the mother’s 
5da. ' a< ‘ a, lvanced *n « , a °d Waa ^Hnost completed befure the sexual develop- 
% *® rc he wIiImI, .ry 5 to establish those differences of habits, of force, of rnus- 
•■'iilori is in fi,^ VRr , characterize the two sexes. 'Hie whole crown of 
^ce* i ® Predecessor • cn ' c 'd p d before it cuts the gum or displaces its small 
j ' c k it is tri’ i, e •' v T2*E on '* prepared prior to the development of the 
»h3 cb#rft cter ^ * s 1 hc-reforc a structure foreordained, a pre- 
‘^nuldj 0n P can as lie,t ,Tn P an we,.hy which it is made physically superior to 
f° 1 _ ncc ' vt ila development to be a* result of external 
** s Wr» teRtes < or thn „? C< • ‘K. tbe mUsr, dar actions, as the development of the 
j3an rofn ep ? ratia g the nr«i! riR ',, difference In the time of disappearance of 
, ' e know c tauo,^ "fr X '- ar * from thl ’ raax 'llary bone, was not explicable 
« ,i, affeclm B such character. 
of the Council at the General Anniversary Meeting of the 
