Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/406

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��|Vc.L. v., No. 118.

��iiKliv'uliiiU of all those contaiacd in the ptntc. It would be iiiteivsting to know what effect on the coini>09ite its abseacc would produiso. This element of what we may peihaiia cull prepotpnuj- ia most likely to disturb these com- posite dfliiicatioiis ; for. though iu itself a very interesting plienomeiioQ, it seems to he some- whiit or an obstadc in lliis use of the new art. With this great contribntion of Gallon well in hand, we may at length hope that we shall be able to enter upon the study of that unex- plored realm of the human face, and physiog- nomy become a tolerably exact science. Some such process as this seems to offer the only chance of obtaining valuable generalizations in this Held of inquiry.

��The citizens' committee of Montreal, formed to arrange for the entertainment of ttic British association last summer, has every reason to be congrntuliited on the success of its enter- prise. Nut only was the meeting a marked success in every jmint in which the citizens' commiLiec had ixtwer to contribute to it, but the re|>ort presented at its final meeting a fort- night ago showed with what care it Imd era- ployed the funds inlrasted to it. Parliament granted $20,000 towaid passage-money to the Britisli members ; and this was so carefully ex- pended and accounted for, that there remains a considerable sum (about $2,600) to cover in to the treasury, — a new experience for a par- liamentary grant of this sort. The Dominion government furthervoted *5,000 for general ex- penses, the corporation of Montreal an equal sum, and the citizens subscribed S4,580.!>7. This, too, has been managed with such care, that, apart from the expenses of the meeting, the committee is able to publish nn edition of fifteen hundred copies, largely for gratuitous circuhition, of a volume of economic pajKrs, and then have on hanil a surplus of 8l,.')00. This the committee recommended should be given to McGill college in recognition of, and partial compensation for, its liberality in pla- cing the building and grounds of the universitv at the diaiMJsal of the association. This was

��voted with the understanding that it should be nsed in some special way, such as for prizes or scholarships, to commemorate the nieeliug of the llritish association in Montreal. The success of the work of the committee was be- lieved to be largely due to the escelleiit judg- ment and unwearied service of Mr. D. A, P. Watt and Lieut. -Col. Crawford, to the former of whom his associates presented a pleasing memento.

��LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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��'p^l'i/"'/g'S/:.il\.'"

��It e&nnot be otherwise than gralltying when two hivestlgalori, triivelliiig alnn° entirely <M«tlnet pittbs, u[iknowu to eaeli other, Ontt themselves siiiliienly brought fnce to face upon the same stand-poiul, nacckel's dictum, that the ontogeny of ao; form is a brief recapllulation of Its phylcmeiiy, is contliiunlly receWing confirmation, and, taking inio &in»iilera- liiju ceiiogeiittio modifications, may be accepred as a do^ia. If, then, a theory as to the past history of any form or or^aii which has heeit deduced from embryolosieal data Is also tti be deduced (and tlint. too. Independently) from comparative anatomical studies of adult forma, there are strong rensous for Ha ac- cept ance.

A C39I! of this kind hat occurred quite recently. Since van Wljlie's hiteresting and important obser- vallims on the mesoderm segments of the elasmo- branchfl. the view that the hypoglossal nerve has been derived by a separation of fibres from the ven- tral roots of the vagus has very generally been ac- cepted. In a paper very shortly to appear in the ' Studies from the biological laboratory of the Johns nopkhis iiulveraity,' an entirely dlttBreiil view will l)e supported.

Prom a comparative study of the origin and dis- tribution of the anterior cervical nerves in the various orders of the class Pisces, 1 have been led to the conclusion that the potrtH^ccipital nerves, as the; may be termed, of Amia and other ganoid forms, are compar.tble to the anterior cervical nerves of the elasiaobranchs, and In the teleosts and mar- stpobranchs have passed tiackwanl^, and become in- corporated with the first spinal nerve. The apparent first spinal, therefore, represents three nerves. Id the urodeloux Anipbibla. one finds, however, an arrange- ment more similar to wiial obtains in the elasmo- branehs, there being in the anterior spinal reijiou three distinct nerves, whose coinliined distrlbuilon resemble.t very clo-^ely that of the first spinal nerve of the lelcosts, and may therefore be considered lis equivalent. In the Anura there Is a reduction In the nuralier. ttic first nerve disappearing, or fusing with the second, so that two nerves here fulfil the function of the original three, lu all thene ichthvnpsldan formi there is no true hypoglossal, this nerve making Its nppearanee In Ihn Sanropsldo. From Us dlstrlbu- .,_ ,. ■, ... , _ ._ uij jjig jjji^ ^u_

s Amphibia. As

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