character, and the improvement of those opportunities which they so abundantly enjoy. This is the great desideratum, and until this is done, no great good can be effected. The ship-captain of intelligence must know that his attention to natural history, or any other branch of science not immediately connected with ship duties, is not only not looked upon with suspicion by his owner, but is encouraged by him He must feel that his master regards his scientific studies and attainments, not as unfitting him for command and full confidence in the management of the import ant interests entrusted to him, but as absolutely rendering him more trustworthy, on the principle enunciated by a well-known member of the mercantile marine service, that a man with a hobby is always safer both at sea and on shore than a thoroughly idle man." The advantages which might be expected to accrue from such a plan are manifold. Museums such as those of Liverpool and Manchester should not lack specimens in any department, with such a staff of industrious and intelligent collectors constantly bringing contributions. But by no means the least important result would be the elevation of the mercantile marine service as a body, and their emancipation from the evils too often looked upon as inseparable from their habits of life, by giving them a rational object upon which they may expend their energies, when not called upon by pressing duties on board ship. They have no resources such as those possess whose life is passed on shore, and it cannot be otherwise than that, herding together, as they do, for months at a time, with scarce any of the amenities of life, their minds should degenerate to a dull blank, or even to a worse condition; and it too often happens that in this respect the captain is in no degree superior to his crew. Regarded, therefore, from a philanthropic point of view, it is a subject worth inquiring into, whether or not some scheme may be rendered feasible by which this opprobrium may be removed. No shipowner will deny that such an amelioration of the seaman's character would be ultimately followed with advantage to his own personal interest; but that advantage is not to be reaped suddenly, and it is too distant in its prospect to offer much inducement to take much trouble to accomplish it. The direction which I have here supposed the ship-captain's energies to take is, however, by no means the only one which may be followed with usefulness and advantage. I have made it prominent because I believe it would, in a vast number of instances, be adopted with most useful results. But men's tastes, doubtless, differ considerably, and the study of natural history would not commend itself to all. Various subjects of study might be followed out advantageously, and the sciences of navigation, meteorology, &c. would receive important accession from the intelligence which a higher standard of education would develope among our mercantile marine. Some stimulus, however, would undoubtedly be needed to carry on this work; and the nature of the rewards which might be offered to induce the cooperation of seamen should occupy our careful attention and consideration. Among the commanders of the mercantile marine there are many intelligent men, who would gladly embrace the opportunity, if it were offered to them, of distinguishing themselves in the walks of science, and raising themselves above the level to which they are at present doomed. Whether this stimulus should be in the way of honorary certificates, pecuniary or honorary rewards, association with scientific bodies already in existence, or of any other kind, would be an important matter for after consideration. I have said, however, enough to bring the matter fairly before you, and in your hands I now leave it, hoping it may not be permitted to fall to the ground, but may be taken up by the influential members of the Association connected either with science or with commerce, my own humble cooperation being always at their service.

On the Culture of the Vine in the Open Air. By J. COUBURN.

On Barragudo Cotton from the Plains of the Amazon, and on the Flax-fibre Cotton of North America. By W. DANSON, of Liverpool.

The writer states that he has known the vegetable substance called Barragudo cotton for more than twenty years, a small import having been received from Peru via Cape Horn about that time. It was represented as the produce of a very large tree, 30 feet to 40 feet high, and the cotton, when ripe, hangs down to the ground

by its own fibres connected. Yet the consumers state it will not spin-a customary objection to anything new. More recently a similar import (about half a dozen bags of 70 lbs. each) came from the River Plate via Pernambuco. Any quantity can be had from the east side of the Andes and the plains of the Amazon. As to the staple of the cotton, it is very silky and short; but by grafting, or superior technical cultivation known to naturalists, it might no doubt be improved. Large quantities must be brought to market, and then machinery will be altered to suit its working, as was the case with alpaca, which has a silky fibre. He sold one bag of the Barrugudo cotton at 3d. per fb.; but, as the Yorkshire buyer did not accept delivery, the whole of the last lot was taken by the importer for stuffing sofa cushions and mixing in feather beds, instead of purchasing swandown at 12s. 6d. per lb. Here is a large field for the use of such fibres; and if brought to this country in large quantities, it must be mixed with cotton, like Mingo or devil's dust, or be spun up with sheep's wool. Through the kindness of Mr. M. J. Whitty, of the 'Liverpool Daily Post,' the writer was authorized to exhibit a sample of new fibre from the wild flax of North America. Millions of bales, he states, can be obtained at a cost of less than 4d. per lb., so profusely does the wild flax exist. These new fields ought to command attention when there is so much anxiety to increase the supply of cotton. The author contends that six million acres of land in Ireland can be had at a nominal rent, on which good cotton can be grown, the land never having been grazed, scratched, or nibbled by cattle.

On the Functions discharged by the Roots of Plants; and on a Violet peculiar to the Calamine Rocks in the neighbourhood of Aix-la-Chapelle. By Professor DAUBENY, LL.D., M.D., F.R.S.

This violet, although its petals are of a uniformly yellow colour so long as the roots are in contact with the zinc, seems to be a mere variety of the common Viola lutea, which has purple petals when it grows on ordinary soil; and accordingly, on the confines of the two strata, the petals of the plant are partly yellow and partly purple. The author made some further remarks upon the absorption of mineral bodies by the roots of plants, and in conclusion gave it as his opinion, that the selective power possessed by them indicated a force independent of any physical cause, and which he therefore regarded as of vital origin.

On the Influence exerted by Light on the Function of Plants.
By Professor DAUBENY, LL.D., M.D., F.R.S.

The author referred to certain principles established by him in a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions' for the year 1836, in which it was laid down, first, that the decomposition of carbonic acid and the consequent disengagement of oxygen was influenced by the luminous rays of the spectrum, and not by the calorific or actinic ones; secondly, that under particular circumstances nitrogen is emitted during sunlight from the leaves of plants; and thirdly, that other functions of plants, such as the greenness which the leaves assume, the peculiar property which belongs to certain ones, as to the sensitive plant, of collapsing on the application of stimuli, the exhalation of water from the leaves and its absorption by the roots, are probably dependent upon the same influence.

On the Method of Mr. Darwin in his Treatise on the Origin of Species.

By H. FAWCETT, M.A.

He said that, as he could not conform to what he believed was the rule, that communications should be read (Mr. Fawcett being blind), he would promise to keep as close to his subject as though he had written his paper. The title which he originally fixed upon was, "That the method of investigation pursued by Mr. Darwin, in his Treatise on the Origin of Species, is in strict accordance with the principles of logic." He feared that he might be charged with presumption in attempting to say anything on Mr. Darwin's great work, which had already engaged the attention of the most accomplished naturalists of the day. He had been

assured that the discussion on the subject at the last Meeting of the Association had never been surpassed in the interest it excited or in the talent which it called forth. Indeed, the work had divided the scientific world into two great section Darwinite and anti-Darwinite were almost the badges of opposite parties. Profess Owen, Professor Sedgwick, and Mr. Hopkins had given to the new theory a decided opposition; Sir Charles Lyell, Professor Huxley, and Dr. Hooker had given to its support more or less decided. All who took an interest in the subject had a right inquire whether the theory-whatever might be thought of its details-had been logically brought forward. The province of logic was not to discover new faca but to decide whether facts were legitimately used to establish that which it w pretended they proved. It was constantly alleged that Mr. Darwin was illogical: that he had not followed the Baconian method. The Quarterly Review' assured us that Mr. Darwin had not followed in the steps of Newton and of Kepler; but nothing was more easy than to make such charges, which often only concealed pretentious assumptions of scientific knowledge. It was more pertinent to inquire What is the method of solution of which such a problem admits? He insisted that if ever solved it could only be by a method analogous to that attempted by Mr. Darwin. It could only be solved in this way:-An hypothesis, resting upon more or less perfect induction, must be started; from that hypothesis certain deductions must be drawn; these deductions must be tried, by seeing whether they would explain the phenomena of nature, and they must be verified by seeing whether they agreed with what can be observed in nature. If this explanation and verification was complete, the hypothesis was advanced from an unproved to the position of a proved and established theory. The Bishop of Oxford last year said that the they was so absurd that no scientific man could for a moment think that it was in any degree worth considering. But Dr. Hooker, than whom a more eminent authority could not be quoted, at once disposed of the Bishop by saying, that as he believed the theory worth considering, he ought to "apologise for addressing the meeting a man of no scientific authority." Dr. Hooker added that he knew of the theory five years before; that, at first, no one more opposed it; but five years' devotion to natural history had convinced him that the theory was worthy of the most careful consideration and examination. Mr. Darwin, with the most perfect candour, explained in his work that his theory did not yet explain all the facts of nature; but it must not be supposed that his twenty years' labour had done nothing to advance the ends of science. Mr. Darwin had strictly followed the rules of the deductive method as laid down by John Stewart Mill. When Kepler inferred his law of the connexion between the major axis of the planets and the times of their revolution, he so inferred from observation, which he could strictly verify by mathematical calculation. The origin of species does not admit of such a verification. In chemistry there was much more power of proof or verification by experiment than was possible in phy siology; so with other sciences. When laws of nature cannot be discovered by experiment, we are obliged to go to deductive reasoning. Newton had only an hypothesis, and not a theory, as to the law of gravitation; the law he first tried was an incorrect one. He tried again; and then, as Professor Whewell said, by a tentative process he discovered the correct law. Mr. Darwin had told him (the speaker) that his hypothesis was not at once suggested to him. He found in his studies that there was something wanted to explain many of the observed phenomena; years passed, and at length his hypothesis was very indirectly suggested— for he said that it came from reading Malthus's 'Essay on Population. Twenty years of unremitting labour he had devoted to the endeavour to verify the conclusions which might be deduced from this hypothesis by the facts observable in nature. He believed that Mr. Darwin's second work, for which the author had accumulated a great mass of knowledge, would prove beyond doubt that no one could have been a more conscientious or laborious observer than he had been. Newton could verify his hypothesis by the simplest experiment he had but to drop a stone from a tower and to note the time occupied in its descent. But the problem of the origin of species is concerned with an epoch of time associated with geological epochs; there fore experiment could only be made during so short a time, that nothing more could be obtained than an argument resting on a, comparatively speaking, unsatisfactory analogy. Darwin had been able to show that by a system of artificial natural selec

tion two organisms, originally descending from the same form, could be made to differ so much, that if they were found as fossils they would undoubtedly be classed as distinct species; and, therefore, how a morphological species could be produced. But his experiments had failed to show how a physiological species could be produced; for no one could show that two varieties from the same form could be made to differ so much that they would possess the quality of infertility. This was too often forgotten by objectors. The Egyptian sculptures were pointed to to prove that during 3000 years the causes looked to by Darwin had done nothing to alter the form of animals. But what would be said to him who, by discovering that 3000 years ago Mont Blanc was of the same altitude as now, should think that he had thus disposed of the theories of modern geology, that the stupendous peaks of Switzerland were lifted from their ocean bed, and that every change on the surface of the earth had been produced by an indefinite continuation of physical causes which are in ceaseless operation? Mr. Darwin admitted that geology did not show that in animal life there had been those transitional links that ought to exist according to his theory, and according to any other of gradual transmutation. He (the author) could not see that this theory detracted one iota from any of the attributes of the Creator. If we suppose that the introduction of every new species required a distinctive act of creative will, then, of course, the Creator must have interposed every time a new species was introduced. But, if we supposed that every living organism has descended from those forms in which life was first placed upon this planet, it does not in the slightest degree dispense with the necessity of supposing that life could only first be so placed by the act of Omnipotent Creative Will. It was a favourite illustration in religious works, the discovery of Newton which explains how planetary motions are produced; and he (Mr. Fawcett) believed that if ever the day came when the origin of species should be explained in fulness and simplicity, he who so explained it would be considered not only to have advanced science, but to have conferred a benefit upon religion. The attackers of Darwin forget that he has not attempted to displace a theory received as right, but merely to throw some light where all before was dark. We should, therefore, be all the more ready to welcome the conscientious labours of one who like Mr. Darwin had unremittingly devoted himself to explain to some extent what had been aptly termed the "mystery of mysteries."

On the Arrest of Puparial Metamorphosis of Vanessa Antiopa or Camberwell Beauty. By GEORGE D. GIBB, M.D., M.A., F.G.S.

After making a few remarks upon deformities and arrest of development amongst the insect tribe, the author proceeded to describe some examples occurring in the Vanessa Antiopa, which were exhibited to the Section. Of twenty-eight specimens which he had obtained in the month of July, all underwent complete metamorphosis, with three exceptions. These to some extent illustrated the progress of the process of emersion of the imago from the pupa-case.

In the first specimen, the first stage of emersion was accomplished, i. e. a part of the wings had protruded from each lateral fissure throughout its whole length to the extent of ths of an inch, permitting a view of the anterior part of the thorax. Metamorphosis then became arrested, and existence terminated.

In the second example emersion was more advanced; the left wings had emerged a of an inch only, whilst the right almost wholly protruded, but remained in contact with one another. The puparial case is on the point of freedom, and the lower part of its abdominal segment is empty. Here further metamorphosis became arrested, and life ceased.

In the third, emersion was complete; metamorphosis, however, was not so, and it was associated with malformation. The right anterior wing was fully expanded, whilst the posterior was crumpled up. The left anterior wing was almost wholly wanting; a mere rudimentary appendage existed two lines long. The left posterior wing was only partly expanded posteriorly, the remainder being crumpled up.

The author entered into the probable causes of these arrests of change and development, and believed that they did not depend upon injury, from the care taken when the chrysalides were first collected.

On the Height of the Gorilla: a Letter from Dr. J. E. GRAY, F.R.S. Much difference occurs in the statements of travellers and others with reference to the height of the great African ape. Bowdich, the first traveller by whom it was mentioned, under the name of the Ingeña, states it, on the authority of the natives of the Gaboon, to be generally 5 feet high; but in some recent notices it has been asserted to reach the height of 6 feet 2 inches; and the specimen exhibited at the meeting of German naturalists at Vienna is said, on good authority, to have measured more than 6 feet in height. The measurement of a stuffed skin without bones is necessarily delusive, depending as it does, first, on the mode in which the skin has been originally prepared, and, secondly, on the extent to which the artist may be disposed to stretch it. Such measurements are not to be relied on unless they are in accordance with those of the bony skeleton; and it therefore occurred to me that it would be desirable to measure the long bones of the limbs of the different skeletons existing in the British Museum, the osseous structure giving the only certain dimensions on which reliance can be placed. The skeletons in the British Museum are six in number, viz.-1. A skeleton, obtained from Paris by Prof. Owen, and mounted in the best French manner. 2, 3, 4. Skeletons of male, female and young, purchased from M. Du Chaillu. 5. A skeleton of a male, purchased at Bristol, of which we have also the stuffed skin. 6. An imperfect skeleton, parchased from M. Parzudaki, of Paris. The measurements of the several bones of each of these skeletons are given in the following Table :—

They were taken by Mr. Gerrard with a tape measuring inches and quarters of inches only, but are quite sufficient for a comparison between the specimens themselves, and as affording materials for determining the actual height of the animal. As the largest of these (viz. the Paris specimen, photographed for the Trustees of the British Museum by Mr. Fenton) stands 5 feet 2 inches in height, we are justified in concluding that to be in all probability the extreme natural height of the fullgrown animal.

A letter was read from Dr. Gray, of the British Museum (dated Sept. 6, 1861), to Professor Babington, in reference to Professor Owen's paper on the Gorilla, in which it was stated that the skin of the great Gorilla, now in the British Museum, exhibits two opposite wounds, the smaller in front of the left side of the chest, the larger close to the lower part of the right blade bone. Two of the ribs in the skeleton of this animal are broken on the right side, near where the charge has passed through the skin in its course outwards. Dr. Gray and other naturalists having examined the specimen, found two holes in the nape of the neck (now filled with putty); there are also two large holes in the thin portion of the hinder part of the skull belonging to the same skin which pass through the bone, and are quite sufficient to have caused death. In neither skin nor skeleton is there any evidence of a gun-shot entering on the left side of the chest; and the fracture of three (not of two) ribs on the right