G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 163 



conclusion against the truth of the theory of spontaneous 

 generation was reached by Mr. Calvert, ranging him thus on 

 the side of Professor Huxley, Professor Tyndall, and others, 

 as against Dr. Bastian and his confreres. One of his experi- 

 ments tended to show that although oxygen appeal's to favor 

 the development of germs, it does not appear to favor their 

 reproduction, and that the increase of life in an albumen so- 

 lution is not due to reproduction merely, but to the introduc- 

 tion of fresh germs from the atmosphere. 1 A, July 14, 13. 



HEREDITARY DEFORMITIES. 



Dr. Wetherill furnishes to Nature an interesting contribu- 

 tion on the subject of hereditary deformities. In referring 

 to the former practice of the squaws of the Sioux Indians, in 

 having small disks, from one eighth to one fourth of an inch 

 in diameter, tattooed upon the prominences of their cheek- 

 bones, he states that, during a visit, some years ago, to the 

 country inhabited by these people, he was informed by a 

 physician of the tribes that sometimes a child was born with 

 these marks, and the statement was confirmed by the Indian 

 agent. We regret that the doctor was unable, as he states, 

 to verify the occurrence by personal observation, as, if true, it 

 would be a fact of extreme interest. 12 A, 1870, Dec. 29,168. 



NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 



In a lecture before the University of Edinburgh, by Profes- 

 sor TVyville Thomson, the distinguished author took occasion 

 to say that while the distinction between inorganic bodies 

 and organized beings instinct with life appears clear, it is im- 

 possible to draw a definite line between the animal and the 

 vegetable kingdoms. In the course of his inquiries he dis- 

 cusses the fourth kingdom of Ernest Haeckel, the Monera, the 

 cells of which differ from others by the absence of a nucleus, 

 and the total want of differentiation of any parts, and con- 

 cludes that not only there is no satisfactory basis for such a 

 fourth kingdom, but that we must take organic nature as a 

 whole, that the animal and vegetable kingdoms are absolute- 

 ly continuous, and that a tree is scarcely distinguishable from 

 a gigantic nummulite, only building a cellulose instead of a 

 calcareous shell, and developing a special secretion in special 

 organs for the purpose of enabling it to do so. 12 A, Jane 

 1,92. 



