changes in affinity between the fibrillae and fibrillar substance; they therefore interfere seriously with nervous transmission. The state of increased sensitiveness to stimuli, which is one of the first symptoms of narcotic action, is due to the destruction of a substance peculiar to the elements of the central nervous system, which normally inhibits reflexes to a certain degree. In chapter 20 it is shown that there are two types of muscle tonus. The tonus of striated muscle is due to the action of the central nervous system; in the case of certain non-striated muscles tonus is independent of the nervous system, and represents a state of rest. Such muscle passes into a state of tetanus when the central nervous system is removed (gastropod mollusks); the nervous system normally inhibits such a condition. A brief review of the factors concerned in the inhibition of reflex action (chapter 21) is followed by a description in chapter 22 of the author's important work on the rhythmical contractions of muscle. It is shown that the number of respiratory movements in fishes is not regulated by the amount of O or CO, present in the water, but that if the sense organs of the mouth cavity are paralyzed by cocain the movements will soon cease completely. The rhythmical muscular contractions during respiration are due to peripheral stimuli, not to a special power with which the muscle is endowed, nor to the influence of the cells of the central nervous system. From the physiological standpoint the vertebrate heart and the bell of the medusa are very similar. If the sinus venosus of the heart, or the sense organs of the medusa are removed, rhythmical contractions cease, but in each case may be maintained by prolonged artificial stimulation; the contractions are true reflexes produced by definite stimuli. The transmission of the stimuli from the sinus venosus to the ventricle has been assumed to be a purely muscular function because the heart of the embryo chick begins to contract before the nervous structures have developed. BETHE points out that muscle fibers are not yet differentiated at this stage. The weightiest argument against the assumption of nervous transmission in the heart, is the slow rate of conduction (only 30 mm. per second in the frog). But BETHE shows that the rate of transmission in the dog's heart is about 300 mm. per second; also that if the muscle fibers of the atrium are rendered functionless by exposure to low temperature, or by the action of muskarin, stimulation of the atrium will cause contraction of the ventricle, although the muscle fibers of the atrium exhibit not the slightest reaction. It has been observed, too, that the apex of the ventricle often con tracts sooner than its base, and that a strip of heart muscle stimulated at one end may begin to respond first at the other extremity. All of the above facts point toward nervous transmission of definite stimuli. In the case of the medusae the stimuli originate in the sense organs of the bell; the source of the stimuli regulating the heart's action is practically unknown. Following the text of the book is a valuable list of the recent literature on the nervous system. Much of the original work described by BETHE is necessarily incomplete, and as he himself states, the theories advanced are but preliminary, and will undoubtedly be subjected to future correction. They have already proved of value, however, in stimulating research along similar lines; and the many valuable results of the author serve to emphasize the importance of combining histological and physiological methods in attacking the abstruse problems of neurology. C. W. P. Goldschmidt, R. Ueber die sogenannten radiärgestreiften Ganglienzellen von Ascaris. Biolog. Centrbl., Band XXIV, No. 5, pp. 173-182, 1904. Discusses the radially striped ganglion cells of Ascaris. He finds them in all parts of the nervous system. The striped appearance is due to radial projections from the glia capsule extending into the cell for some distance, finally disappearing in the cytoplasm. He believes these to be characteristic of all ganglion cells and supposes the GOLGI nets of mammalians to be of the same nature. They are probably not trophic. Their elastic nature may serve to suspend the cells in such a manner as to respond easily to vibrations. According to this supposition, a tearing of these projections is suggested as an explanation of the serious disturbance of the nervous system caused by severe mechanical shock. G. WAGNER. Kolmer, W. Eine Beobachtung über vitale Färbung bei Corethra plumicornis (Vorläufige Mittheilung). Biolog. Centrbl., Band XXIV, No. 6, pp. 221223, 1904. Larvae kept for weeks in methylene blue solutions showed no staining. After feeding on Stentor killed with methylene blue, they showed staining of nervous elements. This staining appeared and disappeared at intervals. As the animal remained alive for many hours afterward, the staining was probable truly intra vitam. G. WAGNER. Coggi, A. Sviluppo dei organi di senso laterale, delle ampolle di Lorenzini, e loro nervi rispettivi in Torpedo. Archivio Zoologico, Vol. I, Fasc. 1, pp. 59-107, 1902. A detailed discussion of the development of the lateral line and. Lorenzinian ampullae and their nerve supply in Torpedo. The Lorenzinian ampullae are homologous with the "terminal buds" of other authors. There are no "pit organs" in Torpedo. There is no genetic re. lation between the ampullae and the lateral line organs. There is no morphologic distinction between the lateral line and the organs of Savi. The latter are mere modifications of the former. G. WAGNER. Spitzka, Edward Anthony. Contributions to the Encephalic Anatomy of the Races. First Paper :-Three Eskimo Brains, from Smith's Sound. The American Journal of Anatomy, II, 1, pp. 25-71. Well illustrated with figures of the different surfaces of the brains, with very full descriptions and measurements. G. E. C. Dexter, Franklin. The Development of the Paraphysis in the Common Fowl. The American Journal of Anatomy, II, 1, pp. 13-24. The paraphysis first appears in the 6.7 mm. embryo, and persists in the adult. G. E. C. Hardesty, Irving. The Neuroglia of the Spinal Cord of the Elephant with some Preliminary Observations upon the Development of Neuroglia Fibers. The American Journal of Anatomy, II, 1, pp. 81-103. The so-called "neuroglia cell" is a reduced syncytium, and the origin of the fibril is intrasyncytial rather than intracellular or intercellular. G. E. C. Bardeen, Charles Russell. The Growth and Histogenesis of the CerebroSpinal Nerves of Mammals. The American Journal of Anatomy, II, 2, pp. 231-258. The author has employed the method of isolating the nerves in early embryonic stages and studying them in teased preparations. This procedure gives important data on structures the nature of which in section is more or less doubtful. The paper strongly supports the theory of His. The nerve fiber unites with the muscle before the development of the sarcolemma, which becomes so intimately fused with the sheath of SCHWANN that the boundary between the two structures is indistinguishable. Schlapp, M. G. The Microscopic Structure of Cortical Areas in Man and Some Mammals. The American Journal of Anatomy, II, 2, pp. 259-281. A comparative study of functional centers according to structure and localization. Centers differ not so much in the characters of the individual cells as in the composition of the entire cortex of the regions. G. E. C. G. E. C. 1 he Streeter, George L. Anatomy of the Floor of the Fourth Ventricle. agree in the main with the descriptions by RETZIUS, but the author's studies are concerned with the significance of these markings in rela tion to the underlying structures of the medulla. G. E. C. Mall, Franklin P. On the Transitory or Artificial Fissures in the Human Cerebrum. The American Journal of Anatomy, II, 3, pp. 333-340. The fissures are produced by the disintegration of the walls of the brain vesicles. A table is compiled from over fifty brains to show the relation of different hardening agents, especially formalin and alcohol, to the occurrence of these fissures. G. E. C. Mellus, E. Lindon. On a Hitherto Undescribed Nucleus Lateral to the Fas ciculus Solitarius. The American Journal of Anatomy, II, 3, PP. 361 364. In the dog this nucleus consists of "large, oval or pear-shaped cells" extending upward 2 mm. from the level of the calamus scriptorius. A corresponding group of smaller cells occurs in man. G. E. C. Holmgren, Emil. Einige Worte zu der Mitteilung von Kopsch: "Die Darstellung des Binnennetzes in spinalen Ganglienzellen und anderen Körperzellen mittels Osmiumsäure." Anat. Anz., XXII, No. 17-18, pp. 374-381, Jan., 1903. The author reviews and, in certain points, corrects KOPSCH'S criticism of his work on intracellular canaliculi. By way of illustration he introduces two new figures, with descriptions, of the "Trophospongium" and Saftkanälchen in the nerve cells of birds. G. E. C. Holmgren, Emil. Ueber die sog. "intracellulären Fäden" der Nervenzellen von Lophius piscatorius. Anat. Anz., XXIII, No. 2-3, pp. 37-49, April 8, 1903. A review of the author's previous publications on the nerve cells of Lophius with special reference to SOLGER'S paper on Torpedo. The author denies the existence of a pericellular lymph space normally, and abandons the idea that the intracellular fibrils are nervous. G. E. C. Wolff, Max. Ueber die Kontinuität des perifibrillären Neuroplasmas (Hyaloplasma, Leydig-Nansen). Anat. Anz., XXIII, No. 1, pp. 20-27. March 17, 1903. The finer structure of the axone terminals upon the muscle supports HELD's theory regarding the pericellular net of GOLGI, and af"fords a morphological basis for the LEYDIG-NANSEN theory of hyaloplasm. G. E. C. Kronthal, P. Zum Kapitel: Leuocyt und Nervenzelle. Anat. Anz., XXII, No. 20-21, pp. 448-454, Jan. 30, 1903. The author reviews his theory of the origin of the perikaryon and dendrites from leukocytes, with special reference to the GOLGI method, the histogenesis of the nerve, and the theory of FRAGNITO. G. E. C. Zuckerkandl, E. Die Rindenbündel des Alveus bei Beuteltieren. Anat. The dorsal part of the commissura superior receives fibers through the alveus from the pallium. It represents, therefore, the primitive corpus callosum. G. E. C. Zugmayer, Erich. Ueber Sinnesorgane an den Tentakeln des Genus Cardium. Zeit. f. w. Zool., Bd. LXXVI, Heft 3, pp. 478-508, 1904. Agabow, A. Ueber die Nerven der Sclera. Heft 4, pp. 701-709, 1904. Archiv f. mık. Anat., Bd. LXIII, Kallius, E. Sehorgan. Merkel u. Bonnet's Ergebnisse. Bd. 12, (1902) pp. 348-441, 1903. Kölliker, A. Die Entwicklung und Bedeutung des Glaskörpers. Zeits. f. w. Zool., Bd..76, H. 1, pp. 1-25, 1904. Police, G. Sul sistema nervoso stomatogastrico dello Scorpione. Zoologico, Vol. I, Fasc. 2, pp. 179-198, 1903. Archivio Meigs, E. B. On the Mechanism of the Contraction of Voluntary Muscle of the Frog, Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., April, 1904. Attention is called to the resemblance that muscle fibers in water rigor have to those in tetanus. In both instances the fibers assume a beaded appearance and since in water rigor the form is dependent upon the absorption of water, it is supposed that in tetanus a like absorption takes place. That contraction would result from this is demonstrated by an ingenious model consisting of a closed rubber tube attached to an air-pump and encircled at short intervals by metal rings; these are attached one to another by numerous longitudinal inelastic threads. When air is forced into the tube, the segments between pairs of rings become spherical and the inelastic threads change their form from straight to curved lines, thus shortening the fiber as whole. Ingenious as this hypothesis is, it scarcely touches the real problems of muscle action. Why do muscle fibers at rest fail to take up fluid which they are supposed to absorb when stimulated and how does a contracted muscle ever relax? These and like questions that must arise in the mind of the reader, show at once the incompleteness of Dr. MEIGS' hypothesis and place it in unfavorable light in comparison with the older theories of muscle action such as those advanced by ENGELMANN and others. G. H. P. |