Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/869

Rh nauplius, which after a time fastens its head to a piece of wood and adopts an immobile life. It then loses its organs of touch and sight and power of locomotion its legs being used simply to bring any floating particles of food to its mouth. A more remarkable case of loss of structure is that of the ascidian phallusia, one of a class of sea-animals found incrusting rocks, etc., on the sea-bottom, the individuals being often joined together, forming a plant-like mass. The individual is a tough, leathery mass, shaped somewhat like a bottle, with an opening at each end, through which water continually passes, and possessed of little internal structure. Most of the young of ascidians differ widely from their parents, that of the phallusia the most markedly. The egg of this gives rise to a tadpole which bears a close resemblance in outward form and internal structure to the tadpole of the common frog, both possessing the four distinctive structures of the vertebrata. But, while the tadpole of the frog ascends in the scale of organization, that of the ascidian descends to a form in which its origin is unrecognizable. Without the recapitulative development in this case of the ascidian, Professor Lankester avers that no naturalist would have suspected that it belonged to the vertebrata, and, as this recapitulation is so frequently wanting, and when it exists is often shorn of its "most important part," it is not safe to set limits to the possible occurrence of degeneration. Many forms now supposed to be improvements upon their ancestors may, upon further investigation, be shown to be degenerate. The conditions that he thinks predispose to degeneration are parasitism, fixity or immobility, vegetative nutrition, and excessive reduction of size; and when, therefore, organisms are characterized by these habits or peculiarities, degeneration may be suspected. While Professor Lankester's discussion is confined to zoology, he recognizes the bearing of the hypothesis upon evolution in general—upon man and the arts perfected by him. The general conclusion he reaches is, that while the former universal belief that man and other creatures had degenerated from a previous perfect condition is untrue, the contrary opinion, that development has been a continuous progress from lower forms, is also untrue. The truth lies between the two; there have been both progress and retrogression, and both movements will probably take place in the future as in the past. The constant cultivation of those things that make for progress will alone secure any race from the possibility of degeneration. Full illustrations accompany the text to afford a ready comparison of the forms pointed out. Notes on the relation of the doctrine of development to the theological doctrine of a soul, and on some further cases of degeneration, are appended to the text.

newspapers last spring reported that stones bearing masonic emblems had been discovered in the foundations of the Egyptian obelisk that has since been brought to this city. A description of the emblems by Grand-Master Zola, of the Grand Lodge of Egypt, and a letter from Consul Farman, at Alexandria, confirming the fact that discoveries had been made, were also published. Dr. Weisse, who fully believes in the antiquity of masonry, was presented by Mrs. Belzoni, widow of the celebrated Egyptian traveler, in 1850, with manuscripts, drawings, etc., assuming to show that an institution similar to freemasonry existed in Egypt before pyramids and obelisks. All of these evidences, with other matter and illustrations bearing upon the same point, have been combined in this work, which is curious and interesting if not historical and scientific.

report shows progress in the triangulation of Lake Erie, the triangulation connecting Lake Erie with Lake Michigan,