After alluding to the comparatively superficial manner in which physiologists, with the exception of the brothers Weber, have hither-to investigated the structure and movements of the joints, the author gave an abstract of the general results which he had formerly obtained in an examination of the knee-joint, made with reference to Meyer's valuable observations. He had found that, as stated by Meyer, the thigh and leg rotate on one another in opposite directions,—at the close of extension, and at the commencement of flexion; and that the co-ordinated movements in the patella, the ligaments, and muscles correspond generally with the account given by that observer; but in addition he had ascertained what had previously escaped notice,

1. That the articular surfaces of the femur, tibia, and patella are not continuous but faceted surfaces.

In papers previously read before the Society, the behaviour of sulphur when heated has been the subject of investigation. It has been shown that the transition from a pale-yellow mobile liquid to a deep-brown viscous one, which occurs as the temperature rises in the neighbourhood of 160°, is due to the production from the mobile sulphur (Sλ) of another distinct variety (Sμ). The proportion of the viscous variety (Sμ) is about 4 per cent, at the melting point (114·5°). At 160° it has become 11 per cent., at 170° 19 per cent., and at the boiling point 34 per cent.

In various parts of Western Africa it appears to be the practice to subject to the ordeal by poison persons who come under suspicion of having committed heinous crimes. On the banks of the Gambia river the poison used for the purpose is the bark of a leguminous tree, the Fillœa suaveolens of MM. Guillemin and Perottet. In the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone it is the bark of Erythrophleum guinëense, which some botanists have considered identical with the former species. On the Congo river, Captain Tuckey found that either this species, or an allied species of the same genus, was in constant use for the same purpose.

For some time back I have been endeavouring to prove, by experiment, through great ranges of temperature, the result announced by me in December last, viz., that the electro-motive force of a thermo-electric circuit is in general, unless the temperature be very high, a parabolic function of the absolute temperature of either junction, that of the other being maintained constant.

When I first saw Le Roux's account of his very singular discovery of the abnormal refraction of iodine vapour, I was inclined to attribute the phenomenon to something similar to over-correction of an achromatic combination. In fact, if a hollow prism be filled with a mixture of two gases or vapours, one of which is more refractive than air, the other less refractive; while the second body is more dispersive than the first; it is easy to see that Le Roux's result might be obtained, although each of the substances employed is free from anomalous refractive properties. In a recent conversation with Mr Talbot, I happened to mention the subject, and I learned from him his remarkable observation just laid before the Society.

The investigation was undertaken to discover what changes, if any, were produced in the development and structure of the uterus by various diets.

The animals employed in the research were rats. The uteri of 86 animals were examined, both macroscopically and microscopically. The tissue for microscopic examination was removed in all cases from, as nearly as possible , the same area, viz., the junction of the distal and middle thirds of the uterus.

The discussions which arose about four years ago on the animal reported to have been seen on 6th August 1848, by Captain M'Quhae, the officers and crew of H.M.S. Dædalus, in the Southern Atlantic, between the Cape of Good Hope and St Helena, about 300 miles off the African shore, recalled my attention to the materials I had collected respecting the vast animal cast ashore on Stronsey, one of the Orkneys, in 1808.

I was not there at the time, but copies of the depositions made by those who had seen and measured it were transmitted to me by order of Malcolm Laing, Esq., the historian of Scotland, on whose property it was stranded; and I obtained other notes from several individuals resident in Orkney.

Before beginning the account of the present state of the Plague Research Laboratory, it may be interesting to glance rapidly at the history of Mr W. M. Haffkine, C.I.E., its originator and present Directorin-Chief.

The author gave, in continuation of a former paper (see Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 3d Dec. 1838), an account of the continued systematic prosecution and annual reduction of the observations of temperature at different depths (3, 6,12, and 24 French feet) below the surface of the ground, in various geological formations near Edinburgh, viz. the trap rock of the Calton Hill, the incoherent sand of the Experimental Garden, and the coal formation sandstone of Craigleith Quarry. The weekly observations at all these stations have been projected into curves, which present the most remarkable concordance of general features for the four years now complete, and give a just confidence in the comparability of the results obtained. The thermometric readings have all been rigorously corrected for the expansion of the alcohol in the tubes; and, starting from these data, the results in the following tables have been obtained, partly by graphical methods, partly by calculation.

The terrestrial magnetic field will in general be disturbed in the neighbourhood of an electric circuit; but if the circuit be a plane set at right angles to the terrestrial lines of force, the direction of the field will remain unchanged at all points in the plane of the circuit. To determine the magnetic meridian, we have only to place a plane circuit in such a direction that, when a current in the circuit is started and stopped, no change takes place in the position of a small magnet hung at a point in the plane of the circuit, and free to turn in azimuth. The plane of the circuit will then lie magnetically east and west.

These three firths denote different parts of an arm of the sea which has two constrictions;—one between Craigton Point and Longman Point, and the other between Fort George and the Chanonry Point. The upper part is known as the Beauly Firth, the intermediate portion as the Inverness Firth, and the outer part as the Moray Firth. Two rivers discharge their contents into this arm of the sea; the Beauly River, which flows in at the head of the Beauly Firth, and the Eiver Ness, which joins at the head of the Inverness Firth.

Only a small number of salmon smolts (Salmo salar) that leave the river for the sea return for spawning (Calderwood, 1930, p. 180; 1931, pp. 36, 56; Menzies, 1931, p. 60; and others). The large loss of adolescent fish seriously affects the stock of salmon in the rivers, so that the question of possible causes of the death of salmon in the sea is one of some practical interest.

In Professor Whittaker's highly interesting and suggestive application of my model the postulated structure is a system of magnets rigidly connected like the spokes of a wheel, having poles of the same name at the circumference, the corresponding poles of contrary name being all at the centre. He shows that when a bombarding electron, moving in the direction of the axis, approaches such a wheel it sets the wheel turning, the rotation of the poles constituting what he calls a “magnetic current.” If the initial velocity of the bombarding electron falls short of a certain limiting value, the encounter is perfectly elastic, and the electron is reflected back without loss of energy; the point at which its direction of motion becomes reversed may be on either side of the plane of the wheel, depending on the electron's initial velocity of approach. If the initial velocity exceeds the stated limit, the electron passes clear through the system and escapes, but with a definite reduction of velocity, corresponding to a quantum of energy which it has given up to the wheel. When the encounter is elastic, the angular velocity which the wheel acquires during the approach of the electron is lost during the return of the electron. When the encounter is not elastic, and the electron has passed clear through, the wheel is left with an angular velocity ω; and the energy which that represents is the source of the consequent radiation.

Let S11× V1 be a direct product of a cyclic monoid S11with S1 not a group, and a semigroup V1 with an adjoined identity. We prove thatboth the lattice of congruences on (S11 × V1)/{(1,1)} and the lattice of congruences on (S11 × V1) are neither lower semimodular nor uppersemimodular. We then prove that the lattice of congruences on a free finitely generated commutative semigroup with more than one generator is neither lower semimodular nor upper semimodular.