McDonald and Leslie : For Pedestal for Mrs. Somerville's Bust.... Tuckett: Bookbinding Pouncey and Sons : For Stationery Saunderson : For Shipping Expenses Brecknell and Turner: Wax Lights, Candles, and Lamp Oil Cubitt: For Alterations in Library, Lower Library, laying Carpets, &c. Clerks Christmas Fee.. 4 4 54 10 8 11 10 0 68 18 0 11 12 9 9 15 1 34 17 0 43 5 0 1 1 0 The Balances in hand, now belonging to the several trusts, are as under: The following table shows the progress and present state of the Society, with respect to the number of Fellows : The MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON, President, in the Chair. The following papers were read, viz.:— 1. "Observations on the Blood-corpuscles, particularly with reference to opinions expressed and conclusions drawn in papers On the Corpuscles of the Blood,' and 'On Fibre,' recently published in the Philosophical Transactions." By T. Wharton Jones, Esq., F.R.S. The author points out what he considers to be important errors in the series of papers by Dr. Martin Barry, which have lately appeared in the Philosophical Transactions, and are entitled, "On the Corpuscles of the Blood," and " On Fibre." He alleges that Dr. Barry has generally confounded the colourless corpuscles contained in the blood with the red corpuscles of the same fluid; each of which latter kind consists of a vesicle or cell, with thick walls, but in a collapsed and flattened state, and having therefore a biconcave form, and in consequence of its thick wall being doubled on itself, presenting under the microscope a broad circumferential ring, which is illuminated or shaded differently from the depressed central portion, according to the focal adjustment of the instrument: while the colourless corpuscles, on the other hand, are of a globular shape, strongly refractive of light, and granulated on their surface, and are of less specific gravity and of somewhat larger size than the red corpuscles. The author quotes various passages from Dr. Barry's papers in proof of his assertions, and refers particularly to fig. 23 of his second paper on the corpuscles of the blood. He farther states, that Dr. Barry's description of the appearances of what he terms the red corpuscles, in paragraphs 53, 68, and 76 of his second paper, can, in fact, apply only to the colourless corpuscles: and he observes, that even when Dr. Barry does, at last, in his "Additional Observations," advert to the distinction between the red and the colourless globules, he considers the latter as being merely "the discs" contained in the red globules appearing under an altered state. The author regards as wholly erroneous the notion which Dr. Barry entertains that a fibre exists in the interior of the blood-cor puscle; and that these fibres, after their escape from thence, constitute the fibres which are formed by the consolidation of the fibrin of the liquor sanguinis. The beaded aspect presented by the double contour of the thick wall of the red corpuscle when it has been acted upon either by mechanical causes or by chemical reagents, of which the effect is to corrugate the edge, and to bend it alternately in opposite directions, has, in the opinion of the author, given rise to the illusive appearance of an internal, annular fibre. The appearance of flask-like vesicles presented by some of the red corpuscles, with the alleged fibre protruding from their neck, the author ascribes altogether to the effects of decomposition, which has altered the mechanical properties of the corpuscle, and allowed it to be drawn out, like any other viscid matter, into a thread. In conclusion, he remarks, that if these statements of Dr. Barry should be recognised as fundamental errors in his premises, the whole of the reasonings built upon them must fall to the ground. 2. “Wind Table, from observations taken at the summit of the Rock of Gibraltar." By Colonel George J. Harding. Communicated by Captain Beaufort, R.N., F.R.S., by order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 3. "Spermatozoa observed within the Mammiferous Ovum." By Martin Barry, M.D., F.R.S. L. and Ed. In examining some ova of a rabbit, of twenty-four hours, the author observed a number of spermatozoa in their interior. December 15, 1842. FRANCIS BAILY, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. His Grace the Duke of Norfolk was balloted for and duly elected a Fellow of the Society. A paper was read, entitled "Experimental Inquiry into the cause of the Ascent and Continued Motion of the Sap; with a new method of preparing plants for physiological investigations." By George Rainey, Esq., M.R.C.S., Communicated by P. M. Roget, M.D., F.R.S. The ascent of the sap in vegetables has been generally ascribed to a vital contraction either of the vessels or of the cells of the plant : the circumstances of that ascent taking place chiefly at certain seasons of the year, and of the quantity of fluid, and the velocity of its motion being proportional to the development of those parts whose functions are obviously vital, as the leaves and flowers, have been regarded as conclusive against the truth of all theories which professed to explain the phenomenon on purely mechanical principles. The aim of the author, in the present paper, is to show that these objections are not valid, and to prove, by a series of experiments, that the motion of the sap is totally independent of any vital contractions of the passages which transmit it; that it is wholly a mechanical process, resulting entirely from the operation of endosmose ; and that it takes place even through those parts of a plant which have been totally deprived of their vitality. The lower extremity of a branch of Valeriana rubra was placed, soon after being gathered, into a solution of bichloride of mercury. In a few hours a considerable quantity of this solution was absorbed, and the whole plant, which had been previously somewhat shrunk from the evaporation of its moisture, recovered its healthy appearance. On the next day, although the lower portion of the branch had lost its vitality, the leaves and all the parts of the plant into which no bichloride had entered, but only the water of the solution, were perfectly healthy and filled with sap. On each of the following days additional portions of the stem became affected in succession; but the unaffected parts still preserved their healthy appearance, and the flowers and leaves developed themselves as if the plant had vegetated in pure water and the whole stem had been in its natural healthy state. On a minute examination it was found that calomel, in the form of a white substance, had been deposited on the internal surface of the cuticle; but no bichloride of mercury could be detected in those parts which had retained their vitality; thus showing that the solution of the bichloride had been decomposed into chlorine, calomel, and water, and had destroyed the vitality of the parts where this action had taken place; after which, fresh portions of the solution had passed through the substance of the poisoned parts, as if they had been inorganic canals. Various experiments of a similar kind were made on other plants, and the same conclusions were deduced from them. As the addition of a solution of iodide of potassium converts the bichloride of mercury into an insoluble biniodide, the author was enabled, by the application of this test to thin sections of the stems of plants into which the bichloride had been received by absorption, to ascertain, with the aid of the microscope, the particular portion of the structure into which the latter had penetrated. The result of his observations was, that the biniodide is found only in the intercellular and intervascular spaces, none appearing to be contained within the cavities of either cells or vessels. As the fluids contained in the vessels and in the cells hold in solution various vegetable compounds, their density is greater than the ascending sap, which is external to them, and from which they are separated by an intervening organized membrane. Such being the conditions requisite for the operation of the principle of endosmose, the author infers that such a principle is constantly in action in living plants; and that it is the cause of the continual transmission of fluids from the intervascular and intercellular spaces into the interior of the vessels and cells, and also of the ascent of the sap. |