172 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



in the higher primates the tenth, ninth, and eighth are suc- 

 cessively lost in the transition from their lower to the higher 

 forms. In the carnivore the sternal ribs are usually nine, al- 

 though the Esquimaux dog, the arctic wolf, and the proteles 

 have only eight. The common badger of Europe has ten 

 true ribs. 12-4, 1871. 



DIFFERENCE IX THE BLOOD OF THE EUROPEAN AND THE 



BENGALEE. 



According to Dr. Bird, the blood of the Bengalee contains 

 far fewer red corpuscles than that of the European ; and it is 

 to a deficiency in these corpuscles that the doctor ascribes 

 the apathy of the Bengalee and his consequent subjection to 

 the more sanguine European. The difference in question is 

 believed to be due chiefly, if not wholly, to the circumstances 

 in which the lot of each has been cast, since the inhabitants 

 of swamps and jungles are supposed to be necessarily of 

 lower organization than those of breezy and well-cultivated 

 uplands. In farther comment upon this statement, it is re- 

 marked that throughout the animal kingdom generally the 

 presence of these globules in greater or less proportions indi- 

 cates a higher or lower organization, as they are absent from 

 the blood of mollusks, but appear in increasing numbers at 

 every upward stage in the scale of vitality, and in this way 

 making one of the physical distinctions between man and 

 woman. The moral elevation, therefore, of the Bengalee, as 

 well as of woman, according to this theory, must depend 

 largely upon some treatment which may tend to increase the 

 amount of red corpuscles, and this is a problem which ought 

 not to be difficult of solution in this day of extended physio- 

 logical discovery. 6 A, October 29, 1870, 559. 



SKIN-GRAFTING. 



Several successful operations of so-called skin-grafting have 

 lately been performed in Paris and London, as well as in New 

 York. This consists in transplanting portions of healthy skin 

 from one part of the body to some other which is in a dis- 

 eased condition. In one instance fourteen patches were trans- 

 ferred on the same patient so as to produce a very great im- 

 provement in her personal appearance. Care should be taken 

 to transplant no fat, but only the skin, which must be accu- 



