no greater service than air, whether the recovery be brought about in an atmosphere contaminated by carbonic acid or completely free of carbonic acid, and whether artificial respiration be resorted to in addition or not.

II. Pure oxygen, when inhaled by a healthy man for five minutes, produces no appreciable effect either on the respiratory rate and volume or on the pulse rate and volume.

III. Oxygen, whether pure or somewhat diluted, produced no effect on one particular patient, who suffered from cardiac dyspnoea of moderately severe type, in the direction of amelioration of the dyspnoea; and compared with air inhaled under the same conditions produced no appreciable effect, either on the respiratory rate and volume or on the pulse rate and volume.

IV. An animal may be placed in a chamber, the general cavity of which contains about 50 per cent. of carbonic acid, and retained there for a long time without supervention of muscular collapse, provided a gentle stream of a respirable gas-air or oxygen indifferently be allowed to play upon the nostrils and agitate the surrounding atmosphere.

The points which are not proved are 1st. Whether oxygen produces marked effects, toxic or otherwise, when inhaled for a long time; 2nd. Whether oxygen is of service in cases of cyanosis due to diminished respiratory surface, e.g., in pneumonia; 3rd. Whether oxygen is capable of bringing about the cure of many diseases in which it has received the credit of being a remedial agent.

Finally, since this investigation was primarily undertaken in the interests of the mining community, the Committee are strongly inclined to urge that advantage be taken of the fact, now ascertained, that oxygen is of no greater service than pure air in cases of asphyxia, and that the experiment be made of keeping a few cylinders of air, with nose and mouth pieces, ready for use in those parts of the workings where men might be most easily imprisoned. The expense of the compressed air would be much less than that of oxygen, and the effect would be equally good. It seems quite reasonable to suppose that when a suffocated person has to be dragged through a long passage, itself more or less contaminated as regards its atmosphere, the chances of ultimate recovery will be greater if the effects of this poisonous atmosphere be neutralised at the commencement and during the progress of the work of rescue than if no such attempt be made until fresh air be reached in the ordinary way.

The Legislative Protection of Wild Birds' Eggs.-Report of the Committee, consisting of Mr. THOMAS HENRY THOMAS, R.C.A. (Chairman), Rev. Canon TRISTRAM, D.D., LL.D., F.R.S., Professor ALFRED NEWTON, F.R.S., Professor ADOLPH LEIPNER, F.Z.S., Professor NEWTON PARKER, Ph.D., F.Z.S., and Dr. CHARLES TANFIELD VACHELL (Secretary). (Drawn up by the Secretary.)

YOUR Committee beg leave to report that early in the present session 'A Bill to Amend the Wild Birds Protection Act, 1880,' was brought into the House of Commons by Sir Henry Maxwell, M.P., and others, and that on April 13 it was ordered by the House to be printed. Thereupon your Committee gave this Bill their careful attention, and

found that its main clause contained a provision for the protection of wild birds' eggs. In the opinion of your Committee, however, this provision was framed on a principle that appears to them to be mistaken, in that it sought to effect the desired object by empowering local authorities to name the species the eggs of which were to be protected, thus requiring in every case of prosecution proof of identity, which in the majority of cases would be difficult, if not impossible, to supply. Nevertheless, the Bill met with favourable acceptance in the House of Commons, and with some very trifling alterations only, and without any discussion of its principle, passed the third reading, and was sent up to the House of Lords on May 2. In the House of Lords the chief objection to the Bill, which had already been observed by your Committee, was, among others, prominently brought forward by several speeches in a debate on the second reading, June 14, and accordingly a series of amendments were introduced and carried when the Bill was in committee, on June 16. In almost every point these amendments, and especially one which provided that protection should be given to birds which most required it by empowering local authorities to name areas in which for a given time the taking of eggs should be wholly prohibited, accorded with the opinion at which your Committee had previously arrived. Subsequently, the Bill was further amended by the Standing Committee of the House of Lords, and, having been read a third time, was sent back to the House of Commons for its approval of their Lordships' amendments.

These your Committee, after duly considering them, had hoped would be at once accepted by the House of Commons; but, on August 21, on the motion of Sir H. Maxwell, it was moved that consideration of them should be adjourned for three months, and therefore the fate of the Bill remains doubtful.

In view of the uncertainty thus existing your Committee would recommend their reappointment on the same terms as before.

Index Generum et Specierum Animalium.—Report of the Committee, consisting of Sir W. H. FLOWER, Dr. P. L. SCLATER, Dr. H. WOODWARD, and Mr. G. BROOK (Secretary), for supervising its compilation by Mr. C. DAVIES SHERBORN.

THIS index, commenced in 1890, was continued by the compiler unassisted until 1892, when the British Association made a grant of 201. in aid of the work. The compilation continues to progress satisfactorily, about 200 volumes having been searched through, and over 10,000 species having been indexed during the past year. The work is extremely laborious, chiefly by reason of the difficulty in many cases of determining the exact date of publication of the book under examination; but the results of the solution of difficult problems of this kind are invariably made public so soon as their accuracy has been satisfactorily proved. Of these results the publication of the dates of Schreber's Sängthiere' by the Zoological Society of London in their 'Proceedings' for 1891 may be cited. Of the books examined this year the accurate determination of the dates of the 'Encyclopédie Méthodique ' is, perhaps, the most important

result attained. These dates will also be published in the Zoological Society's Proceedings.'

The plan of work adopted by the compiler has been favourably commented upon, among foreign specialists, by Professor J. Victor Carus, Professor Sven Loven, and Mr. S. H. Scudon. The Committee ask for their reappointment, with a grant of 301. in aid of the continuance of this most useful compilation.

Scottish Place-names.-Report of the Committee, consisting of Sir C. W. WILSON, F.R.S. (Chairman), Dr. J. BURGESS (Secretary), and Mr. COUTTS TROTTER. (Drawn up by the Secretary.) THE Committee have to report that at their suggestion a Place-names Committee of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society was appointed to consider the orthography of the Place-names on the survey maps of Scotland, and specially to revise the spellings in the Gaelic-speaking districts of the country.

This committee, which had power to add to their number, consisted of Professor James Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S., Sheriff Æneas Mackay, LL.D., Professor Julius Eggeling, Ph.D., Mr. A. Silva White, Secretary, R. Scot. Geog. Soc.; and James Burgess, LL.D., Chairman. It met on November 20, 1891, and arranged the forms to be used in collecting information, agreed to appoint local committees in each parish, and to make additions to the committee of gentlemen specially qualified to aid in the work.

After correspondence there were subsequently added to the Committee the following gentlemen:-Rev. Dr. Masson, M.D., Ex-Sheriff Alex. Nicolson, LL.D., W. J. N. Liddall, Esq., Advocate, Sheriff D. Mackechnie, Dr. D. Christison, Professor Blackburn, Hew Morrison, Esq., J. M. Rusk, S.S.C., W. C. Smith, Esq., Advocate, Dr. Bannerman.

The Committee were of opinion that, whilst names referred to them by the Ordnance Survey from Lowland districts might be satisfactorily dealt with by correspondence, personal knowledge, and references to records, it would be desirable to proceed otherwise with the great mass of Gaelic names in Highland districts, and for these it was decided that it would be necessary to prepare lists of all the names in each parish, and to submit them, in the first place, to local or parish committees appointed for the purpose of pointing out and correcting all supposed errors in spelling. The local arrangement of names in the survey books greatly facilitated the identification of the spots intended; and the Chairman was empowered to correspond with ministers and local gentlemen to form such committees. The islands of Islay and Jura were then undertaken, and the following instructions were issued to the local committees:

DIRECTIONS.

(1) The Place-names to be revised are written out under Column I. Against those correctly spelt a x should be affixed in Column II. Correspondents will distinguish names of Norse or English origin by adding the initial letter N or E to the x under Column II.

'(2) Those names which are incorrectly spelt should be rewritten, in a clear legible hand, on the same line under Column III. Such corrections should be attested by at least three local authorities in Column IV.

(3) In those instances where there are alternative forms of spelling the same name, the alternative form or forms should be given under Column III., and attested in the usual way in Column IV.

(4) Names of Norwegian origin are prevalent, more especially in Arran, Jura, Islay, Morvern, Skye, the Outer Hebrides, &c. The utmost care should be taken to discriminate all such names, and to give under Column III. their proper spellings, with or without the Gaelic spellings that may be in use for the same-to be attested in Column IV. Names of Norse and English origin have the generic element after the specific, as in Oak-field, Helms-dale, Lidi-strom; whereas Gaelic names almost always have the generic first, as Auchindarrock, Glen-shee, Inch-keith. (5) Special information by correspondents can be communicated on separate sheets of paper.'

The first lists were for Kilchoman parish, containing about 970 names, and were undertaken by a local committee, consisting of Rev. J. Barnet, Mr. Wm. Campbell, Mr. Donald McGilp, Mr. John Campbell, Rev. James Macmillan, Mr. Neil Orr, Portnahaven; and Mr. John Brown.

These gentlemen did their work with much care and attention, and returned the revised list by June, 1892. The Committee then held frequent meetings in examination of the revised names, and approved of the great majority of the changes proposed.

Meanwhile, the lists for Killarow and Kilmeny, Kildalton and Oa, and for Jura, had been issued. The Killarow and Kilmeny list contained about 940 Place-names, and was undertaken by a local committee, consisting of Rev. John McLachlan, Kilmeny; Rev. Peter Stewart, Killarow; Mr. W. McFadyen, Ballygrant; Mr. P. Macintyre; Rev. P. McIver, Bowmore; Mr. Murdoch McTaggart, solicitor; and Mr. D. Macbean, Public School, Bowmore.

The returns from this parish were discussed by the Committee at meetings held in November and December, 1892.

The list for Jura has not yet been returned. That for Kildalton and Oa contained over 1,200 names, and the local committee were Rev. Wm. Campbell, Mr. Colin Hay, Mr. Lachlan McCuaig, Rev. D. McMaster, Mrs. Ramsay, and Mr. Colin Campbell. This list occupied the Committee at a series of meetings, and was disposed of during the early half of the present year.

From the officers of the Ordnance Survey were also submitted, from time to time, for the opinion of the Committee, local Place-names, such as Auchendinny or Auchindinny; Glencorse or Glencross; Roslin, Roslyn, or Roslyne; Machars or Machers; Rinns or Rhynns; Garwald and Bara or Garwald; St. Monance or St. Monans.

In deciding on the spellings of these and such names the Committee were guided largely (1) by what has been the prevalent spelling in deeds. and records of every kind up till a recent date, when names have frequently been altered in spelling in an unaccountable way, possibly through the influence of non-residents, railway and post-office officials, newspaper writers, &c. For postal and other common purposes, it may be quite sufficient to indicate a parish by the single name of 'Garwald'; but the Ordnance map may be regarded and used as legal evidence, and

in united parishes the inhabitants of the portions which formerly were separate parishes may each have burial and other rights of which the double name-Garwald and Bara-is primâ facie evidence, and for this and for historical reasons the Committee considered that the full name ought in all such cases to be preserved.

(2) Where more spellings of a name than one have been long prevalent, and about equally so, it may be allowed, especially where local feeling is in favour of it, to adopt that one which is nearer the older or original form. If the people in Wigtownshire prefer Machars' to 'Machers,' the Committee could only approve of such a spelling.

(3) On the other hand, they could not attempt to enforce in a case like that of 'New battle' (which is well known to be a misnomer) a reversion to a better form unless it were to be acceptable to the proprietor.

(4) The Committee, however, would strongly object to all new and fanciful spellings having no authority in the records of the last three centuries. Some such have crept into our best maps, and have been copied into popular gazetteers, almanacs, and the like: these have seldom any authority, and misrepresent the historical Place-names.

In Gaelic names the Committee had to deal with different circumstances. A large class of these had never appeared in any record; they were so distinctly descriptive of the places that a person understanding Gaelic could make no mistake about their meaning, and the only question was the correct writing down of the name. Gaelic spelling, as well as pronunciation, differs in districts lying apart: the enunciation and spelling of a Ross-shire man will often differ from those of a native of Argyll or Arran. There are also refinements of spelling that good scholars do not consider necessary in Place-names. It has, therefore, been the aim of the Committee not to give prominence to such refinements, but to deal with the names on broad principles. This course the late Sheriff Nicolson, who attended the Committee's meetings very regularly, and with the weight of his extensive scholarship and local knowledge, was ever ready to support. His death during the early part of this year has been a serious loss to the Committee.

In such of the Highland names as occur in valuation rolls and other records there appear to be fully a larger proportion of variants than in the same class of names in Lowland districts, and there was consequently more scope for choice, but also more frequent calls for deliberation and investigation. This made the work more arduous and troublesome, and seemed to demand the services of a person qualified to collect the various forms with the authorities for them to be weighed by the Committee; for it is just this class of names that require the most careful consideration.

The result of the examination of over 3,100 names in Islay has been the revision or correction of about 520, or 16 per cent., of them, varying from about 11 per cent. in Killarow to nearly double that proportion in Kildalton.

The grant of 107. made in 1892 was too small a sum to enable the Committee to engage any needed help, and was kept for stationery, postage, necessary printing, and to procure a good Gaelic dictionary.