Early in December of the present winter, several specimens of Asteracanthion violaceus (L.) were procured, in the peculiar pregnant condition described by Sars. The disk was raised into a hump, and the rays drawn together at the base, to form the “marsupium” for the protection of the young. All the eggs or embryos in a single marsupium were at the same stage of development. In the least advanced, the eggs were undergoing the later stages of yelk-segmentation, while in others this process had been completed. In other individuals the embryos were partially or fully formed.

The subjects of these observations were five individuals—four females, one male—all natives of Ceylon, of its south-east salubrious coast, and the children of coloured parents.

They are described by the author as well made, as having good health, and, though all coming under the denomination of Albinos, on account of their unusual fairness, yet as varying in degree, the lightest having red eyes and almost white hair; the less light, blue eyes and light-brown hair, with a complexion that in this country would be considered merely that of a pure blonde.

An examination of the action of certain compound halogens towards some of the olefines (the results of which I hope shortly to lay before this Society), has led me to consider incidentally the preparation of some of the compound halogens in the pure state.

Of compound halogens, while the constitution of none is more invariable and definite than that of the bisulphide of chlorine, the bisulphide of iodine can scarcely be said to have been prepared, despite the so strong analogy between chlorine and iodine.

In determining the intensity of gravitation from the oscillations of a pendulum, and in estimating the directive power of the earth's magnetism from the frequency of vibration of a needle, we have to make allowance for the extent of the arc through which the motions take place.

The formula usually given for this purpose contains a series converging rapidly enough for very small arcs, but which requires a great amount of labour when the angle of deflection exceeds twenty or thirty degrees.

My attention was recalled by Principal Forbes's note (read to the Royal Society on January 7th), to his request that I should at leisure try to repeat Ampère's experiment for the mutual repulsion of two parts of the same straight conductor, by means of an apparatus which he had procured for the Natural Philosophy Collection in the University. Some days later I tried the experiment, but found that, on account of the narrowness of the troughs of mercury, it was impossible to prevent the capillary forces from driving the floating wire to the sides of the vessel. I therefore constructed an apparatus in which the troughs were two inches wide, the arms of the float being also at that distance apart.

The author obtained the pancreatic secretion at a post-mortem examination which he made of the body of a patient of Mr Spence's, who had died with a medullary tumour in the head of the pancreas, which, by compressing the biliary and pancreatic ducts, had produced dilatation of the ducts of the liver and gall-bladder, as well as dilatation of the ducts and lobules of the pancreas. The secretion was contained in the dilated parts of the gland last named, from which it was drawn off by means of a pipette. The fluid thus obtained was of an orange-yellow colour, and well-marked viscid consistency—sp. gr. 1·0105; appearance slightly turbid, owing to the presence of small white flakes, which a microscopic examination proved to consist of groups of small spherical, colourless cells, resembling, and most probably consisting of, the epithelial lining of the vesicles of the gland.

The author first adverts to the conflicting opinions respecting the nature of this fluid, and especially to one of the latest, that entertained by MM. Gratiolet and S. Cloez, that it is an active poison.

He next describes some experiments he has made for the purpose of testing their conclusion, the results of which are in opposition to theirs, and confirmatory of certain ones of his own, showing that the fluid is a simple acrid irritant, and as such well adapted to protect an animal otherwise defenceless, and, from its sluggish habits, peculiarly exposed to danger.

The mineral gyrolite was first described by Professor Anderson of Glasgow, as a new species from the Isle of Skye; it is stated by Greg and Lettsom to occur without doubt at two localities in Greenland, and according to Heddle at Faröe. The only other notice of it that I am acquainted with is by L. Sæmann, who mentions that he examined a specimen—no locality being given—mixed or interlaminated with pectolite, and suggests that this mineral, losing its alkali, becomes gyrolite, and, losing its lime, becomes okenite. No other analysis than the original one of Professor Anderson has, I believe, been published; the following account of its occurrence among the minerals of Nova Scotia shows it in such associations as affords a mode of explaining its origin by change in apophyllite.

About three years and a half ago, I showed the existence of Natro-boro-calcite in the gypsum of Windsor, N.S. I was not aware at that time that Dr Hayes of Boston, U.S., had announced his conviction that the soda which had been attributed to this mineral was an impurity, and had given, as the true expression of the composition of the pure mineral, the formula CaO 2 BO3 + 6 HO.

This paper is supplementary to, and forms the sequel of, a series of papers which have been published in the “Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society of London.”

In continuing the examination of the behaviour of the olefines towards compound halogens, certain compounds previously described have been submitted to a test of homogeneity, of which the following is the principle:—

“If a body be partly dissolved in a solvent, and if the dissolved part and the undissolved part, or the dissolved part and the whole, or the undissolved part and the whole, have the same composition, then the body is a simple one.”

Parodying the celebrated expression of Harvey, viz., Omne animal ex ovo, it has been attempted to formularise the law of development by the expression omnis cellula e cellula, and to maintain “that we must not transfer the seat of real action to any point beyond the cell.” In the attempts which have been made to support this exclusive doctrine, and to give all the tissues and all vital properties a cell origin, the great importance of the molecular element, it seemed to the author, had been strangely overlooked. It becomes important, therefore, to show that real action, both physical and vital, may be seated in minute particles, or molecules much smaller than cells, and that we must obtain a knowledge of such action in these molecules if we desire to comprehend the laws of organization. To this end the author directed attention: 1st, To a description of the nature and mode of origin of organic molecules; 2d To a demonstration of the fact that these molecules possess inherent powers or forces, and are present in all those tissues which manifest vital force; and 3d, To a law which governs the combination, arrangement, and behaviour of these molecules during the development of organised tissue.

The common opinion that Scotland was at one time closely wooded, is at least questionable, and some circumstances lead to an opposite belief: as,

The careful stipulations found in the most ancient deeds, about giving or withholding a limited use of wood for building and fuel.

The use of foreign timber for our greater buildings, when to be had; thus, Norway timber used for building the Abbey of Arbroath, in the 15th century.

The importation of bow-staves and spear-shafts, such long straight timber not being procurable at home.

In a communication made to the Society last session, the author stated the results of a series of explorations among the trap-rocks of Scotland, and showed that, at successive periods, during the deposition of the Lower Silurian, Old Red Sandstone, Carboniferous, Oolitic, and Tertiary formations, there were contemporaneous eruptions of volcanic material. During the year 1860, the investigation was continued across the Highlands into the Inner Hebrides, and throughout a large part of the central counties southward to the Cheviot Hills. The author was now able to fill in more fully what had only been sketched in outline in the previous paper, and to prepare a series of maps to illustrate the volcanic areas of Scotland during the successive geological periods.

With reference to the Mer de Glace, the author described the great transported blocks on the slope of the hill above Montanvert Inn; the smoothed rocks about 250 to 300 feet above the glacier; the two ancient lateral moraines on the east side of the valley; the action of the ice on a perpendicular wall of rock near foot of glacier; the old moraine of Lisboli, which must have formerly crossed and blocked up the valley, and the transported blocks on the hill of Flegère, about 2700 feet above Chamouni, and probably deposited there by glacier, when it was at the level of the blocks above the Montanvert.

In this paper the author referred to the labours of Dr William Smith, who published his “Tabular View of the British Strata” in 1790, and remarked that since that period geology had been studied mainly in the direction of Palæontology. Physical, chemical, and dynamic geology, were left almost unregarded by the great masters of the science, who generally accepted the speculations of Hutton and the experiments of Hall, as demonstrating the igneous origin of the primary rocks.

The southern ranges of the Anamalai (i.e., Elephant) Hills having been little explored, and only known through the manuscript report of Captain J. Michael, 39th N.I., formerly of the Forest Department, the author was induced to project an excursion to these heights, in concert with Dr D. Macpherson, Inspector-General of Hospitals, and the Collector and Engineer of the Coimbatore District (Messrs Cherry and Fraser). The arrangements were made under the auspices of the Right Hon. Lord Harris, Governor of Madras, and His Excellency Sir P. Grant, complied with the request that Major Douglas Hamilton, 21st N.I., should accompany them as artist, to delineate the characteristic features of the country. (This officer's sketches, seventeen in number, some of them panoramic, were exhibited. A selection will appear in the Transactions).