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deep gorges. The rain, brought by southerly winds, was 58.59 inches on 154 days in 1880 at Grant (3,700 feet above sea-level in the basin of Mitchell River, south of the dividing-range), and 29.92 inches on 114 days in the same year at Omeo (2,108, altitude north of the range). The article is chiefly devoted to the detailed topography of the Mitta Mitta basin north of the divide.(Trans. roy. soc. Victoria, xviii. 1882, 98.) [502

W. M. D.

GEOGRAPHY.

(Asia.)

Northern Persia. A plane-table route survey from Tehran to Astrabad, by Lieut -Col. Beresford Lovett, British consul at the latter place, gives a considerable addition to the knowledge of the topography of that region. His way led generally along the northern slope of the Elbruz mountains, continually crossing over passes between valleys opening northward to the Caspian. Notes are given on the altitudes, distances, and roads between stopping-places; the character of the towns, and the supplies they afford; and very briefly on the appearance and structure of the country. On nearing Astrabad, the northern mountain slopes were found covered with luxuriant forests of elms, oaks, and beeches; but, on crossing the Shahwar mountains, on a second trip south-east from Astrabad to Shahrud, the country was found very dry and barren. At other points it was noticed that the moist winds from the Caspian formed clouds only on the northern sides of the mountain-ranges. It was found that the plains of the Lar (Harhaz) river, southwest of the great volcano Demavend, were formed as lake-beds during a time when lava-flows south of the volcano held back the river. A gorge has since been cut through the barrier, so that the lake has now disappeared. No granite or trap rock' was seen. The mountain summits were of compact limestone; and the valleys showed marls, sandstones, and shales. A geological section of very doubtful value is given of the mountains south of Astrabad. (Proc. roy. geogr. soc., 1883, 57; map.) W. M. D. [503 Eastern Turkestan. This region was visited from India by Shaw in 1872, who was well received by the local authorities, and found good opportunities for trade; but further attempts at intercourse were stopped by the Mohammedan rebellion under Yakub Beg (Atalik Ghazi) against the Chinese. While this movement was successful, Sir Douglas Forsythe's mission crossed the mountains, and again found encouragement for commercial enterprise. A second interruption came on the defeat and death of Yakub Beg, and the reconquest of eastern Turkestan by the Chinese. Two years ago Ney Elias, British resident at Leh in Ladak, made the same trip, and met with no opposition. Lastly, Mr. A. Dalgleish, a merchant in India, conducted a trading-caravan across the mountains, and staid ten months in Kashgar, where he was well received, and successfully disposed of his goods. He has lately returned, and proposes to go again. (Athenaeum, Feb. 10.) W. M. D. [504

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Tibet and the Sanpo. One of the pundits trained for trans-Himalayan exploration has lately returned to India, with all his journals and instruments, after an absence of four years, in spite of the report, previously received, that his legs had been broken to prevent his further travels, and that his companion had been executed by the authorities at Lhassa. He was twice robbed of nearly all his property, and was twice forced to work for his support; but he took many observations for latitude, and recorded much of his route. After leaving Lhassa, the attempt was made to reach Lob-nor (Prejevalsky

had not then been there). The farthest points reached were Saithang and Saitu (lat. 40°, long. 92°), thus failing of the object only by a comparatively short distance. On returning, he went to Batang, and desired to cross into Assam, but turned back, as savage tribes were reported on the frontier, and went westward toward Lhassa, stopping short of this place, however, for fear of being recognized there, and crossing the Sanpo at Tchetang. Gen. Walker, of the Indian survey, regards the route followed from Batang as giving good evidence that the Sanpo does not join the Irawadi: for, if it did, the pundit must have crossed it three times; while he is confident that he crossed it only once, and that a great range of hills cuts it off from the rivers on the east. — (Proc. roy, geogr. soc., 1883, 99.) w. M. D.

(Pacific Ocean.)

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Arctic currents. - Professor Davidson read a paper, prepared by Capt. Hooper, who commanded the Corwin' in the Arctic, upon the currents determined in his last cruise in Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and the Arctic Ocean south of Herald Island. The data were abstracted from the records of the vessel, and demonstrated the prevalence of a current setting through the Bering Strait to the Arctic. The observations were specially directed to this point; and Capt. Hooper's experience of the previous year, and his appreciation of the difficulties attending the question, add special value to his deductions on this question. The president recalled the results of former observations, weighing their relative values, and gave the fullest credit to the Corwin's' work. (Proc. Calif. acad. sc.; meeting March 5.)

BOTANY.

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Freezing of liquids in living vegetable tissue. Mr. Thomas Meehan referred to the prevalent opinion that the liquid in vegetable tissues congeals as ordinary liquids do, and, expanding, often causes trees to burst with an explosive sound. Experiments on young and vigorous trees varying from one foot to three feet in diameter demonstrated that in no instance was there the slightest tendency to expansion; while, in the case of a large maple (Acer dasycarpum) three feet eleven inches and a half in circumference, there appeared to be a contraction of an eighth of an inch. In dead wood soaked with water there was an evident expansion; and the cleavage with explosion, noted in the case of forest-trees in high northern regions, may result from the freezing of liquid in the centre or less vital parts of the trunks. In some hardy succulents, however, instead of expansion under frost, there was a marked contraction. The joints or sections of stem in Opuntia Rafinesquei and allied species shrink remarkably with the lowering of the temperature, so that the whole surface in winter is very much wrinkled. Assuming as a fact that the liquids in plants which are known to endure frost without injury did not congeal, it might be a question as to what power enabled this successful resistance. It was probably a vital power; for the sap of plants, after it was drawn from them, congealed easily. In the large maple-tree already referred to, the juices not solidified in the tree exude from the wounded portion, and then freeze, hanging from the trees as icicles, often six inches long. (Acad. nat. sc. Philad.; meeting bot. sect., March 13.)

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Autoxidation in living vegetable cells. Traube has given the name 'autoxydable körper,' or, as we must clumsily translate the new term, autoxidizable substances, to those bodies which, at a low

temperature, and by the action of free, passive oxygen, can be oxidized, forming, in the presence of water, peroxide of hydrogen. Starting from Traube's statement of the changes which accompany oxidation, especially the formation of peroxide of hydrogen, Prof. Reinke gives the following as a sufficient basis on which to build a theory of oxidation in living cells. (He has himself shown that there exists in certain plants, notably in the beet, a very easily oxidizable body, which he has named rhodogen. This substance is one of Traube's autoxidizable bodies, and is only one of many which may be reasonably assumed to be present in cells.)

1. In every active cell, autoxidators are formed; that is, substances which, at a low temperature, and by the action of molecular oxygen, can be oxidized in the presence of water.

2. By oxidation of these substances, peroxide of hydrogen is produced.

3. This peroxide of hydrogen can, under the influence of diastase, and probably of other ferments, cause further oxidations, just as atomic oxygen can.

Lastly, the seat of this activity is the periphery of the protoplasmic body of the cell; and this body possesses an alkaline reaction. — (Bot. zeit., Feb. 2 and 9, 1883.) G. L. G. [508

Structures which favor cross-fertilization in certain plants. - Several are made known and discussed by Trelease. The protogyny, development of the anthers one after the other, and usual cross-fertilization by the jostling of the little plants caused by surface-currents of the water, are well made out. The singular arrangement in Hakea and other Proteaceae is worked out with new particulars; also a curious explosive arrangement in certain heaths, a new study of Salvia, and some remarkable arrangements in two Acanthaceous flowers, in one of which a slow change of position, in the other an irritable movement, insures cross-fertilization. The flowers were studied at the Botanic garden, Cambridge. (Proc. Bost. soc. nat. hist., March, 1882.) A. G. [509

(Fossil plants.)

Fossil wood from India. - Prof. A. Schenck enumerates the specimens of fossil wood collected in the East Indies by the brothers Schlagintweit. The greater number of these specimens, twenty, pertain to gymnospermous trees; one species represented by six specimens being identified as Nicolia aegyptiaca, Ung., which was originally described from the wood of the fossil forest of Egypt. Of the other specimens five are conifers, and two monocotyledonous, - palms. Of the conifers four specimens are described under the name of Araucaroxylon Robertianum, the other as Cedroxylon Hermanni. The two specimens of palms represent different species. (Engler's bot. jahrb., iii. 353.) L. L.

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Cotta's species of Perfossus.-Prof. A. Schenk records the result of his researches on the original specimens, which Cotta had compared or referred to palms from the distribution of the fragments of fossil wood in the tertiary. The specimens do not appear to have been critically examined since Cotta, the names only being changed: Perfossus angularis, Ung. and Stenzel, for Perfossus; and Palmantes perfossus, Schimper, for Fasciculites perfossus. Perfossus costatus, Cotta, has not been mentioned by Schimper and Stenzel; Unger refers it to corals. From the researches of Prof. Schenk, it appears that the specimens from which Perfossus punctatus has been constituted by Cotta, represent two different species, -Stenzelia elegans, Goepp. (medullosa, Cotta) of

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Observations on Australian hydroids. — Dr. Lendenfeld writes that he has independently discovered in Australian Campanularidae the glandular ring which has been described in Eudendrium by Weissman and Jickeli. He has also verified the existence of Jickeli's 'ganglion-cells;' and he finds similar cells in the endodermal lining of the proboscis, where they are very numerous. The processes which they give off anastomose with each other so as to build up a definite nerve-ring' around the mouth. Lendenfeld regards this as the true central nervous system of hydroids. If these star-shaped corpuscles of hydroids are really nerve-cells, we have in these animals a central nervous system which is endodermal in its origin, and which is not homologous with the nervering of the hydro-medusae. In the Campanularidae the endodermal ganglion-cells of the proboscis are joined to sensory cells, each of which carries a sensory hair projecting into the digestive cavity. (Zool, anz., No. 131.) w. K. B. [513

Mollusks.

Soft parts of Ammonites. At the November meeting of the Liverpool geological association, a paper on Ammonites and the Aptychus was read by Mr. F. P. Marrat. That gentleman, after reviewing the subject as treated by others, concluded that it is prob able that some species of Ammonites, perhaps those protected by a deep-water habitat, were destitute of these appendages, while others, perhaps littoral in their range, and more subject to attacks from predacious enemies, were provided with them. He considers them as opercular attachments to a 'hood' such as exists in Nautilus. Both calcareous and horny Aptychi have been found in situ. They are generally smooth or slightly striated; but in the Free public museum of Liverpool is a very fine example, from the lithographic slate of Solenhofen, with a distinctly granular surface, recalling that of the thick, granular hood of Nautilus. The appearance of the edges of the valves in this specimen, beautifully preserved, indicates that its margin was not free, as in gastropod opercula, but that it was partly imbedded in a cartilaginous lobe which fitted the margin of the aperture like the wavy margin of the hood in Nautilus. In this view the hypothesis that Ammonites were internal shells, like Spirula, would seem to be quite untenable, as no internal shell is known which has any opercular apparatus. W. H. D. [514

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parasitic copepod, which he refers to the genus Braydia. (Amer. nat., Feb., 1883.) S. I. S. [515 Supposed larva of Limulus. In his letters from the Challenger, the late Dr. von Willemoes-Suhm referred to a larva taken in the East Indies, supposed to be that of Limulus, but which he is said to have concluded afterwards to be the larva of some cirriped. Willemoes-Suhm's original figures and description of the larva are now published with a brief preface by E. Ray Lankester. The figures show that the later conclusion was undoubtedly correct, though the larva is very different from any cirriped larva previously figured. (Quart. journ. microsc. sc., Jan., 1883.) [516

S. I. S.

Insects.

Sexual dimorphism in Psocidae and their salivary glands. Besides the doubtful case mentioned by Westwood (Lachesilla), no instance of sexual dimorphism has so far been noted in the Psocidae. Bertkau now describes Psocus heteromorphus, in which the female has very rudimentary wings, while the male has wings longer than the body. Two new genera, Trocticus and Lapithes, are described and figured in the same paper. Kolbe, however, a few months earlier, described P. heteromorphus as Neopsocus rhenanus, and Lapithes as Bertkauia. - (Katter's ent. nachr.; Arch. f. naturg., xlix. 97; Herbstcersamml. naturh. ver. Bonn, 1882.)

In the latter place Bertkau also discusses Burgess's so-called 'lingual glands' of Psocus and Atropos, regarding them simply as strongly chitinized areas of the mouth-cavity, possibly serving as salivary accumulators. Bertkau succeeded in finding in Psocus the true salivary glands, which Burgess, in alcoholic specimens, could not demonstrate. There are two pairs of them, each pair with a common duct. No figures are given; and the short notice does not seem to settle satisfactorily either the nature or the structure of the peculiar organs in question. — E. B. [517

VERTEBRATES.

Fatigue and nutrition of the heart. - Gaule has shown that a frog's heart, washed out with dilute solution of common salt until it ceases to beat, is rendered capable of further pulsation when dilute alkaline solutions are sent through it. Martius confirms this, but dissents from Gaule's view, that the alkali nourishes the heart. Its administration leads to a certain number of beats; but these soon cease, and a fresh supply of alkali is then inefficient, while other liquids, especially blood serum, lead to renewed cardiac contractions. Martius concludes that the frog's heart-muscle has in itself no store of energyyielding material which it can call upon, but works at the expense of food-matters yielded it constantly by the liquid circulating through it. When the heart, irrigated with salt solution, ceases to beat, this is due to the saturation of its tissue with carbon dioxide while still some nutrient matter (blood) remains not washed out from the ventricular network. The salt solution, acting merely as a medium for physical diffusion, cannot remove the carbon dioxide as fast as it accumulates, and consequently the heart ceases to beat while it still has some available food. The alkali, on the other hand, chemically removes the injurious carbon dioxide; and the heart beats for a short time, using the food-stuff in the blood still present in its meshes. When the heart, treated with dilute alkali, ceased to beat, new pulsations could only be obtained when it was supplied with liquids containing serum albumen. Solutions of syntonin, glycogen, peptone, egg-albumen, casein, or myosin, were useless. Gaule

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Influence of different blood-constituents on the beat of the heart.-Ringer withdraws his previous paper (Journ. of physiol., iii.) on this subject in consequence of his discovery that the sodiumchloride solution with which he worked was not prepared, as he had believed, with distilled water. It was made with water supplied by the New river company of London, and containing salts, not only of sodium, but of calcium, magnesium, and potassium. When solution of Na Cl in pure distilled water was used, the results previously obtained failed to appear. On the other hand, the rounding of the apex of the curve of ventricular contraction, the prolongation of the curve, and the slow diastole previously described as due to sodium chloride, are all brought about by solutions of minute quantities of calcium salts in distilled water. A very minute quantity of potassium chloride prevents this effect of the limesalts. A solution of Na Cl, K Cl, and Ca Cl2 in distilled water is perfectly neutral, yet makes an excellent artificial circulating liquid for the frog's heart. This shows that alkalinity of the circulating medium is not necessary for contractibility. A lime-salt, the author concludes, is necessary for the manifestation of cardiac contractility; but, in the absence of potassium, calcium so prolongs the diastole as to lead to fusion of the beats, and imperfect action of the heart. Sodium bicarbonate cannot take the place of the lime-salts in maintaining the beat of the heart. — (Journ. of physiol., iv. 291.) H. N. M. [519

Fish.

A remarkable deep-sea fish type. - A fish exhibiting a most remarkable combination of characters has been found by the naturalists of the Travailleur expedition off the coast of Morocco, at a depth of 2,300 met. It has a length of .47 met., and a height of 2 cm., the body tapering backwards like that of a macrurid. The cranial part of the head is short (3 cm. long); but the suspensorium and jaws are excessively elongated, the jaws being 9.5 cm. long. The mouth is consequently enormous. A long, slender style constitutes the upper jaw, and is supposed to represent the intermaxillary alone, or possibly the intermaxillary and maxillary amalgamated. The branchial apertures are represented on each side by a very small orifice forming a simple, rounded, cutaneous perforation situated towards the level of the termination of the bucco-pharyngeal funnel." No fins are described. But the strangest features are revealed by dissection. The respiratory apparatus presents, it is truly said, a constitution which is at present unique in osseous fishes. We find six pairs of interior branchial clefts, and consequently five branchiae, each of which is provided with a double series of free lamellae. No hyoidean apparatus is developed. (Perhaps the hyoidean apparatus is represented by the anterior pair of branchial arches.) It is also asserted that there are no opercular pieces. Further, the suspensorium is said to be "composed of only two pieces, -a basal piece, the analogue of the temporal; and an external piece, no doubt representing a tympano-jugal." No pneumatocele was found. The form thus characterized has been named by Vaillant Eurypharynx pelicanoides, and is considered as the type of a new family (the Eurypharyngidae). Not only, indeed, does it represent a new family: its affinities are by no means

obvious. By Vaillant it is thought "that the fish presents relations with the Anacanthini, with certain Physostomi (such as the Scopelidae and Stomiatidae), and also with the Apodes.' It has, in fact, features of resemblance with the forms noted, as well as with the Saccopharyngidae, but they are wholly superficial. Assuming, of course, the correctness of the characters attributed to Eurypharynx, we are compelled to regard it as the representative of a primitive type of fishes, and perhaps of a peculiar order related to the dipnoan and ganoid series. The examination of the brain, heart, viscera, and skeleton, especially the skull and scapular apparatus, will doubtless definitely determine its relationships. — (Comptes rendus, Dec. 11, 1882; Ann. mag. nat. hist. (5), xi. 67.) T. G. [520

Reptiles.

Development of the caudal region in lizards. -H. Strahl publishes a renewed investigation of the development of the neurenteric canal, allantois, and tail, in lizards. His researches were made on Lacerta agilis. The early embryonic disk consists of an anterior field in which the medullary groove is subsequently developed, and a posterior field containing the mass of cells forming the primitive streak. From the ectoderm of the front part of the streak is formed an invagination, which deepens and descends obliquely forwards. For some time the cells lining the invagination do not present a distinctly epithelial character, which leads Strahl to consider this lining mesodermic. The lower wall of the canal, thus formed, breaks through, establishing a connection with the entodermic cavity. The axial row of cells in the dorsal wall of the canal becomes elongated, making a thickened epithelial band, which is the anlage of the notochord. This anlage gradually extends itself farther forward. The neurenteric canal marks the hind limit of the medullary canal and of the chorda, and moves backward during further growth. It is entirely surrounded by mesoderm of the primitive streak. After the complete closure of the neural tube the neurenteric canal closes also. The primitive streak is directly concerned in the formation of the tail and of the allantois. The latter first appears as a solid mass of cells, which afterwards grows out into the pleuro-peritoneal space, and becomes hollowed. The chorda becomes separated from, and overgrown by, the entoderm, in the same manner as has been previously observed in other vertebrates. The caudal gut (schwanzdarm) lasts relatively long. Its communication with the intestine is aborted, but the connection with the neurenteric canal continues longer. Strahl argues against Küpffer's view that the neurenteric canal is directly concerned in the formation of the allantois. He also believes the homology drawn by Balfour between the primitive streak and neurenteric canal on the one hand, and the blastopore of fishes and amphibia on the other, to be erroneous. (His arguments on the latter point seem very defective, nor does he appear to thoroughly grasp the problem.) (Arch. anat. physiol.; anat. abth., 1882, 242.) C. s. M. [521 Permian reptiles. - Professor E. D. Cope exhibited additional remains of Permian reptiles belonging to the genera Diadectes, Empedias, and Helodectes. The scapular arch of Empedias molaris resembles that of the carnivorous type in having a very small coracoid bone. The episternum is very robust, and, ceasing at the anterior part of the arch, does not separate the clavicles below. The claws approach the ungulate type, and are admirably fitted for digging and shovelling. The vertebrae possess the hyposphen first observed in the Jurassic reptilia. In

the Permian diggers this process formed a strong articulation between the vertebrae for the purpose of resisting shock; while, in the swimming Jurassic forms, it served to counterbalance the necessary lightness of the bones. The presence of such a structure in these two very distinct forms of life furnishes an interesting example of the employment of the same means to provide for varying necessities. The basioccipital presents the usual reptilian articulations, and was lost from the specimens before described, which were supposed to have four articulating facets. -(Acad. nat. sc. Philad.; meeting March 13.) [522

Mammals.

Tongue of Perameles; origin of taste-bulbs. -The tongue of Perameles nasuta, a rare marsupial, contains numerous and remarkable sensory organs, which have been investigated by Edward B. Poulton. Towards the base of the tongue are three circumvallate papillae; the taste-bulbs, numbering 700 or more, lying in the papillary wall of the valla. In the papillae and around them are numerous serous glands. The axis of each papilla is formed by large ganglion, which contains only a few but very large cells, and gives off non-medullated fibres to the taste-bulbs. This is an important observation, since in the organs of sight and hearing there always intervene ganglion cells between the sensory apparatus and the central nervous system. May it not be also the case with all the gustatory organs? The taste-bulbs are comparatively simple, and appear to contain only one kind of cell. The fungiform papillae are chiefly arranged on each side in a single, irregular line; they very rarely contain taste-cells; but occasionally a few are found, which may lie close together, but are not united into a distinct taste-bulb. His observations have led Poulton to formulate the following theory of the origin of taste bulbs: the terminal organs in the mouth would be placed like similar organs in the skin; namely, in papillary ingrowths of the mucosa; hence the cells would lie together, and, in assuming the columnar form, they would converge towards the outer surface of the skin. The convergence of the cells would soon lead to their union into a bulb. One more step: differentiation of the central and peripheral colummar cells of the bulb would produce the gustatory organ of the bigher mammalia. "This account of the origin of taste-bulbs explains one important difference between them and the other structurally related end-organs, as those of the olfactory region, or sacculi and ampullae; i.e., in the fact that the gustatory cells are massed together in little groups surrounded by protective cells, while the auditory cells in the positions above mentioned, and the olfactory cells, are isolated, each being separately protected by columnar cells. This difference, it appears, is simply due to the latter elongating from a tolerably plane surface, while the gustatory cells have elongated from the curved surface of an interpapillary process, and therefore have met and penetrated the surface in a group."

At the sides of the tongue are long filiform papillae with an axial non-medullated nerve; and over the upper surface are very numerous peculiar papillae, of small size, and surrounded on the summit by a ring of fine, hair-like papillae, generally ten in number; but towards the back of the tongue the hairs disappear on the anterior side, and at last, on the papillae farthest back, there are only two hairs left. The top of the main papilla is concave. The author describes the interesting histology of these organs; but for further details we must refer to the valuable original.-(Quart. journ. microsc. sc., xxiii. 69). C. S. M.

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The arrangement of the turbinal bones in the fissiped carnivores.-E. D. Cope divides this group of mammals into two tribes, according to the arrangement of the turbinals. The Hypomycteri, including the families Cercoleptidae, Procyonidae, Mustelidae, Aeluridae, Ursidae, and Canidae, have the external nostril occupied by the complex maxilloturbinal bone. The Epimycteri, comprising the remaining families, have the external nostril occupied by the inferior ethmoturbinal and the reduced maxilloturbinal. (Proc. Amer. philos. soc., xx. 1882, 471.) F. W. T. [524

ANTHROPOLOGY.

The prehistoric antiquity of man. -In his recent work (reviewed in this issue) Mortillet says, "Palaeoethnology is the study of the origin and development of humanity, before the occurrence of historic documents. This science is divided into three parts: 1°. The study of tertiary man, or the origin of humanity; 2°. The study of quaternary man, or the development of humanity; 3°. The study of man in the present epoch, the prolegomena or first horizon of history." The following scheme, of which the work is an elaborate development, will convey some idea of the patience and originality of the author, whatever may be our opinion concerning the durability of his work.

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(chapters i.-xv., p. 25-125) relates to tertiary man; part II. (chapters i.-xxiii., p. 127-476), to quaternary man; and part II. (chapters i.-xii., p. 479627), to recent man. One feature of the book will be viewed with favor, that is, the addition of the author's name, in parentheses, to significant discoveries; as, Deposits containing gashed bones of Balaenotus (Capellini), Calaveras skull (Whitney), Delaware gravels (Abbott), etc.-J. W. P. [525

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The cerebral convolutions of man. - In 1839 Leuret ascertained that the number and the disposition of the primary convolutions of the brain were constant in different species of mammals. Arrested by disease, on his way to the tomb he confided his work to Gratiolet, who, actuated by the comparative method, extended his researches to the entire series of primates, and succeeded in bringing order out of the chaos of convolutions in the human brain. The labors of these two brilliant investigators were followed up by many as talented as they, such as Arnold, Bischoff, Ecker, Flower, Huschke, Huxley, Marshall, Meynert, Pansh, Rolando, Rolleston, Turner, Vogt, and Wagner, but by none with more zeal and care than by Paul Broca of Paris. Even from his tomb he reaches forth his hand to cast one more ray of light upon this obscure subject; for we find, in the January number of the Revue d'anthropologie, a paper entitled "Elementary descriptions of the cerebral convolutions of man explained by the brain-chart." Broca was nothing if he was not laborious and painstaking. He had hundreds of brains cast. He examined them all to ascertain the forms that were typical. By means of painted casts and charts he taught his pupils the geography of the brain, as one might teach children the map of Europe. He introduced a system of nomenclature for the hemispheres, the fissures, furrows, lobes, convolutions, and branches, so that the student could follow up his work with a description as accurate as that of the anatomist dissecting a bird. Indeed, this paper is a text-book upon human cranio-cerebral topography. — (Rev. d'anthrop., Jan.. 1883.) J. W. P. [526

The skulls of criminals. - Drs. Corré and Roussel have communicated to the French anthropological society the results of their researches upon 202 criminals whose crania are preserved in the museum of anatomy at Brest. They have arrived at the following conclusions:

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4. The deformations of the transverse vertical curve are very remarkable among thieves. Among them, as well as on those condemned for attempted violations of virtue, are to be found a certain number of carinated crania.

5. The deformations of the antero-posterior median curve are common in all the groups: they arise mostly from the flattening of the bregma and of the posterior parietal region.

6. These results confirm and complete those already obtained by several investigators (Broca, Bordier, etc.). (Revue d'anthrop., Jan. 15, 1883.) o. T. M.

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