the sounds were perceived through the ears or through the bones of the head, as stopping the ears with vaseline did not seem to affect the perception.

Edinger and Wallenberg's Bericht.'

J. CARLETON BELL.

We heartily welcome the appearance of this Bericht printed as a Separat of convenient form. Six hundred and twenty-eight titles are noticed in two hundred and seventy-two small pages. About one-tenth of the work is devoted to vertebrates below the mammals. The greater part of the whole work is now done by WALLENBERG.

Substitution of Function after Nerve Anastomosis.

J. B. J.

Some interesting side lights on the plasticity of the associational paths within the human cerebral cortex are thrown by a recent surgical case in which, after traumatic destruction of the facialis root and resultant paralysis, the central end of the spinal accessory nerve was sutured on to the peripheral facialis and a successful union effected. There resulted total permanent paralysis of the trapezius and sternomastoid muscles and almost perfect restoration of facial symmetry both at rest and (less perfectly) in the facial movements.

The account of the case is illustrated by numerous photographs taken before the operation for anastomosis and at various stages during the restoration of the function. The case brings into unusually sharp prominence the problem involved in the resultant alterations in the central associational paths and suggests a plasticity of cortical paths quite at variance with some of the current theories.

The Cerebral Commissures Again."

C. J. H.

Professor G. ELLIOT SMITH takes as his text a remarkable aberrant commissure found only in the forebrain of Sphenodon and the true lizards and subjects the commissures of the hippocampal region of amniote vertebrates to a critical comparative examination. This aberrant commissure he finds to be "a bundle of fibers derived from

1 Bericht über die Leistungen auf dem Gebiete der Anatomie des Centralnervensystems in den Jahren 1901 und 1902. Von Prof. Dr. L. EDINGER und Dr. A. WALLENBERG. Leipzig, Verlag von S. Hirzel, 1903.

2 CUSHING, HARVEY. The Surgical Treatment of Facial Paralysis by Nerve Anastomosis. Annals of Surgery, XXXVII, 5, May, 1903.

3 SMITH, G. ELLIOT. On the Morphology of the Cerebral Commissures in the Vertebrata, with special Reference to an Aberrant Commissure found in the Forebrain of Certain Reptiles. Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 2 Ser., VIII, 12, July, 1903.

the caudal portion of the hippocampus, and therefore homologous (in part) with the psalterium of the Mammalia. But its behavior presents a marked contrast to that of the Mammalia: for, instead of pursuing an extensive forward course to cross over in the lamina terminalis, it avails itself of the primitive direct connection between the caudal lip of the cerebral hemisphere and the optic thalamus, and in this way reaches the roof of the third ventricle directly." Examination of certain amphibian brains leads the author to conjecture that here the aberrant commissure is represented, not in the dorsal commissure of the lamina terminalis, but in the superior commissure of OSBORN! Apparently there is here an interesting problem in cerebral morphology which remains to be worked out in the Ichthyopsida. C. J. H.

The Homologies of the Cerebellar Fissures.

Professor O. CHARNOCK BRADLEY attacks this intricate problem using a combination of the methods of comparative embryology and comparative anatomy, building upon the foundations laid by STROUD and KUITHAN. He recognizes that we must not begin by secking homologues of the human fissures in lower animals; but that, beginning with the smoothest and least complicated cerebellum, the fissural pattern should be worked out in the ascending series of mammalian complexity.

The paper opens with a description of the developmental stages of the cerebellar surface in the rabbit, after which comparison is made with other simple adult cerebella; viz., the hare, shrew, hedgehog, mole, rat, water-vole, bat and squirrel. The second part of the paper includes a similar description of the development of the pig, with comparison with the marten, badger, dog, fox, cat, goat, sheep, cow, horse and donkey. This is followed by a provisional application of the results to the subdivision of the human cerebellum in the light of the comparisons made. The paper is illustrated by numerous outline figures.

In a later paper Professor G. ELLIOT SMITH' controverts the author's position regarding the relations of the flocculus, paraflocculus and vermis, concluding that his views in this regard rest upon insuffi cient data, in fact upon a (presumably anomalous) hare's brain and are

1 BRADLEY, O. CHARNOCK. On the Development and Homology of the Mammalian Cerebellar Fissures. Journ. Anat. and Physiol., XXXVII, Jan. and June, 1903.

2 Notes on the Morphology of the Cerebellum. Journ. Anat, and Physiol.. XXXVII, July, 1903.

not consistent with the data of comparative anatomy generally. And this is followed by a more extended series of notes' supplementary to the same author's paper, "The Primary Subdivision of the Mammalian Cerebellum," in Journal of Anatomy and Physiology for 1902, and illustrated by a large number of figures, including a useful diagrammatic schema. C. J. H.

Mendel and Jacobsohn's Jahresbericht.2

The sixth issue of this admirable annual is similar in plan to its predecessors and equally indispensable. It contains 1333 pages, including 61 pages of author's and subject indexes.

Allis on the Anatomy of the Mackerel.3

C. J. H.

This splendid memoir (which has appeared as yet only as an author's separate) follows closely along the lines of the same author's well-known monograph on the cranial anatomy of Amia. In deed it dates from about the same period, having been finished and submitted for publication in July, 1899, and now published without alteration. It is characterized by the same accuracy, thoroughness and beauty of illustration and will doubtless prove a standard of reference for the teleost as the earlier work has done for the ganoid, though one cannot repress a shade of disappointment that it has not been possible for the author to revise the work at the time of publication so as to correlate the findings with the changed conceptions of cranial nerve morphology which the last five years have brought about. For instance, the full significance of the following criticism of GORONOWITSCH (p. 249) comes out much more clearly now, I opine, than when this was written in 1899: "That a careful study of the course and ultimate distribution of the cranial nerves of fishes can, in the present state of the literature of the subject, have but little morphological importance, and that all important results are to be obtained

1 SMITH, G. ELLIOT. Further Observations on the Natural Mode of Subdivision of the Mammalian Cerebellum. Anat. Anz., XXIII, 14-15, 1903, pp. 368-384.

2 Jahresbericht über die Leistungen und Fortschritte auf dem Gebiete der Neurologie und Psychiatrie. VI. Jahrgang. Bericht über das Jahr 1902. Berlin, S. Karger, 1903.

3 ALLIS, EDWARD PHELPS, JR. The Skull and the Cranial and First Spinal Muscles and Nerves in Scomber scomber. Reprint from the Journal of Morphology, XVIII, Nos. 1 and 2, April, 1903.

only by a study of the central origin of the fibers, seems to me certainly an error. To know where a nerve goes, and what it does, is absolutely necessary in all attempts to establish its homologies, and is hence equally as important as to know where it comes from, what character of fibers it contains, or how it is developed. Its peripheral distribution should, in fact, be, first of all, definitely known." By way of practical illustration of this contention, Mr. ALLIS has here for another type carried the study of peripheral distribution as far as the most refined dissection methods can do and in some of the cases (such as the relations of the post-vagal nerves) whose interpretation has still baffled him the subsequent microscopical study of these nerves has already solved the problem.

C. J. H.

Comparative Neurology and Psychology

Volume XIV

1904

Number 2

PHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE FLUIDITY OF THE CONDUCTING SUBSTANCE IN THE PEDAL NERVES OF THE SLUG-ARIOLIMAX

COLUMBIANUS.

By O. P. JENKINS and A. J. CARLSON.

(From the Physiological Laboratory of Leland Stanford, Jr., University.)

In measuring the rate of the nervous impulse in the slug Ariolimax columbianus1 the fact of the remarkable extensibility of the pedal nerves, which were used for the pupose by us, was a matter of constant observation, as it gave us no little trouble in making the determinations. This slug reaches a large size, individuals being frequently met with which, when extended in the act of crawling, are 25 centimeters in length.

A workable distance of 8 cm. or more of the pedal nerve can be obtained in such slugs. Now this nerve in the uninjured living animal is extended during its act of crawling and contracted during its time of rest and during these changes it, obviously, remains functional. We found that when the pedal nerve is freed from its ganglia and allowed to contract without hindrance it would shorten to about one-half the length maintained in it when the animal was fully extended in the act of crawling. In a muscle-nerve preparation made as described in the paper referred to, this nerve could be repeatedly stretched to this extent and allowed to contract and at each of these positions and at intermediate ones, normal contractions were obtained. Thus the stretching of the nerve through these limits

1

1 JENKINS, O. P. and CARLSON, A. J. American Journal of Physiology, 1903, Vol. VIII, p. 251-268.