278 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



spine of man, which he calls the coccygeal gland, comparing it 

 with the pineal gland. The same body, more largely developed, 

 has been since found in the macaque (Macacus cynomolgus) , and a 

 similar structure in the cat; the tails of the dog, rat, and mouse 

 do not exhibit it. Meyer regards it as similar to the caudal hearts 

 or retia mirabilia, appendages of the arterial system in many ani- 

 mals. 



Cervical Ribs in Man. Dr. Stieda, of Dorpat, records the case 

 of a woman, in whom a pair of cervical ribs sprang from the sev- 

 enth cervical vertebra; they appeared fully-formed and well- 

 marked pleurapophyses, and were attached to the sternum by car- 

 tilage. The other vertebrae were normal. 



Distribution of the feathers in Birds. According to Nitzsch, 

 there are definite regions marked out on the bodies of birds, which 

 carry different sorts of feathers, and these regions or pterylse 

 (feather forests) may be compared and identified in different gen- 

 era and species, furnishing a very natural means of classification. 

 The " Pterylography " of Nitzsch has recently been published by 

 the Ray Society of London. 



Regulation of the Heat of the Body. Bergmann and Bonders 

 made the skin the moderator of animal heat, and found that the 

 self-regulation takes place in its vaso-motor nerves. Particular 

 parts of the skin act as moderators in different animals : in the 

 dog, the nose, paws, and tongue ; in the ape, parts of the face ; 

 in cocks and turkeys, the vascular combs and gills, which, 

 though usually having a low temperature, under certain cir- 

 cumstances become very warm. The ears of the rabbit are the 

 most remarkable of these organs, being provided, according to 

 Jacobson and Laudre, with means of alternate contraction and di- 

 latation of the blood-vessels, depending wholly on the sympathetic 

 system of nerves. 



Reproduction of Limbs . According to M. Philipeaux, " Comptes 

 Rendus," June, 1867, the limbs of salamanders are not repro- 

 duced unless the basilar portion, scapula or ilium, be left in place ; 

 neither is the spleen in mammals reproduced unless a portion of 

 the organ is left with its normal connections. 



On Pendency of the Epiglottis. Sir Duncan Gibb read a paper 

 before the British Association, in 1867, on this subject. He found 

 that about 11 per cent, of Europeans had the epiglottis hanging 

 down over the windpipe, instead of erect, producing, in his opin- 

 ion, sluggishness of disposition 1 in consequence of retardation of 

 respiration, and preventing clearness in speaking and singing. 

 Of 280 Asiatics (male and female) examined by him, all had a 

 more or less pendent epiglottis, a startling fact, and probably 

 connected with their incapacity for fine singing. 



Cause of Cholera. Of all materials likely to determine an at- 

 tack of cholera, the most conclusive evidence shows that sewage, 

 introduced in water into the stomach, is the best adapted to de- 

 velop the cholera germ. Whether sewage, by affording a con- 

 genial soil, introduces the living spores into the stomach, or 

 whether it simply supplies the material for their growth in the in- 

 testines, the fact that sewage is the most effective material for the 



