ZOOLOGY. 361 



plete the communication from the nucleiform bodies to the nerve-fibers of the 

 retina. However this may be, the authors conclude that the nerve-cells are 

 the organs for the direct sensation of light, either immediately or by the inter- 

 vention of the cones, rods, and radiary fibers ; that these cells form a true 

 ganglion or nervous center, and that the optic nerve serves merely to transmit 

 the sensations from the center to the organ of intelligence and consciousness. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE STRUCTURE OF HAIR. 



Mr. Browne, of Philadelphia, well known for his researches and theories on 

 the constitution of animal hair, has applied his theory to the question whether 

 the people whose remains are found in the mounds are identical with the ex- 

 isting race of American Indians. His conclusion is, that they are, which he 

 founds upon the identity of form between the horizontal sections of the hair 

 of the former and that of hundreds of specimens of the latter. 



Mr. Browne divides the hair of the human family into the cylindrical, the 

 oval, and the eccentrically elliptical, as characterizes the various races. Mr. 

 Browne has examined the hair of the mummy of a young American Indian, 

 supposed to be a female of about ten years old, from Pachacarnack, Temple of 

 the Sun, five leagues from Lima, South America. This cemetery has not been 

 used since the Spanish conquest, previously to which (according to Herrera) it 

 was kept sacred for the nobles and other dignitaries of Peru. The hair of 

 this Indian, which is in good preservation, is cylindrical, diameter 1-364 of an 

 inch. Mr. Browne has also examined eight other ancient specimens of In- 

 dian pile, and finds similar results. 



On the other hand, he has submitted to the most critical investigation the 

 hairs found upon the mummies of Egypt and Thebes, and has found them to 

 be oval, without a solitary exception. 



These observations of Mr. Browne bear upon the very interesting question 

 in ethnology, as to the origin of the aboriginal inhabitants of America. Pro- 

 vided the hair theory be true, the favorite doctrine with many, that the In- 

 dians of this continent are descended from the Asiatics, must be false. 



OX THE OTA OF THE SALMON. 



A paper has been presented to the Royal (English) Society by Mr. Hogg, 

 on the " External Membrane of the Unimpregnated and Impregnated Ova 

 of the Salmon." Mr. Hogg commences by mentioning the opinions which sev- 

 eral authors and physiologists hold with regard to the penetration, by the fe- 

 cundating principle of the milt of the male salmon, the semen of the common 

 frog, rabbit, and other animals, through pores or cells, or even through a cleft 

 or aperture, in the exterior membrane or envelop of the ova of the females ; 

 and then showed that the numerous spermatic animalcules, or spermatozoa, 

 which abound hi the milt and liquor seminis of the males, constitute the sole 

 fecundating agents. "With a view of ascertaining, if possible, the existence 

 of any pores or aperture in the external membrane of the ova of the salmon, 

 as well the unimpregnated as the impregnated, Mr. Hogg magnified portions 



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