ROYAL INSTITUTION. A lecture was delivered on the 24th instant
by Dr. W. B. Carpenter, "On the Relation between the Vital and the Physical Forces." On this occasion, the action of heat and light on organized bodieri was specially
considered. The corelation of heat and motion was explained in the analogous examples of boiling water, and vital power was illustrated by the contractility of muscular tissue. The action of heat on the green cells of some of the simpler plants was described as at first producing motion, but as soon as development commenced, the motor power ceased, and the heat acted in the multiplication of structure. The rate of germination was shown to depend on the degree of warmth, and the application of this knowledge was exhibited in the process of malting, and in the system of forcing plants in hot-houses. The importance of heat in developing high organization was apparent in the more generally complex structure of the productions of warm climates—low and stunted forms of life being characteristic of very cold regions. Experiment had proved that the rate of development of many of the lower animals could be regulated by the amount of light and heat to which they were ex- posed, and the well-known case of the renovation of an eye in the com- mon newt, described by Spallanzani as having occurred in Italy, was now believed to be due in a great measure to the climate of that country, similar experiments having only partially succeeded in England. The heat given off by animals was derived from their food, which had before received it from the inorganic world. The lecturer then made some ob- servations on what had been called the "germ force," and stated that, like the mind of the architect, the germ had only directive power—heat was the great labourer, and the work was done by external agencies.
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