Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/458

Rh puscle ; and that these fibres, after their escape from thence, consti- tute 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 efi'ect is to corrugate the edge, and to bend it alternately in op- posite 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 Commis- sioners 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.

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 bv 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 sea- sons 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 pro- fessed to explain the phenomenon on purely mechanical principles. The aim of the author, in the present paper, is to show that these