ZOOLOGY. 351 



pulpy corpuscles, each containing a liquor, not one of them isolated, 

 but all chained to each other by delicate conductors of moist threads, 

 uniting disk to disk, like the knots of a cord. I have many times no- 

 ticed that, under favorable circumstances, this curious pile, so well 

 and beautifully connected, cell to cell, is capable of generating or con- 

 veying voltaic influence, which agency seems to furnish another argu- 

 ment, that ' nothing was made in vain.' " Boston Medical and Sur- 

 gical Journal, August. 



\ 



EXPERIMENTS ON THE MOTOR TOWERS. 



DR. DOWLER, of New Orleans, has recently published the results 

 of some curious experiments made by him on alligators. One alliga- 

 tor, after the spinal marrow had been cut across between the shoul- 

 ders and the hips, " during a period of two hours, displayed complete 

 intelligence, volition, and voluntary motion in all divisions of the 

 body.'" The signs from which Dr. Dowler makes this inference were 

 associated and adaptive movements of the lateral muscles of the body, 

 and of the hind legs, in response to irritations applied to the viscera, 

 or above the part of the spinal marrow which was divided. Others 

 showed similar powers after decapitation, or after the brain and me- 

 dulla had been removed. In one case, these movements were pro- 

 duced by " pinching, puncturing, and burning," for three or four hours 

 after the head was cut off. The separated heads, until the brain was 

 destroyed, continued to show their vitality by biting, winking, looks of 

 anger and fear, and in one pathetic instance by affectionately recogniz- 

 ing the voice, and eyeing the movements of a fond negro ! One alli- 

 gator was decapitated with a dull hatchet, producing little hemorrhage. 

 Dr. Dowler thus relates the sequel ; " I carried the handle towards 

 the eye, to ascertain whether it would wink, whereupon the ferocious 

 separated head sprang up from the table with great force at me, and 

 alighted upon the floor six or eight feet distant from its original posi- 

 tion, passing very near my breast." Dr. Dowler, who is familiar 

 with the anatomy of the alligator, can find no muscle to account for 

 this feat. The experiments would appear to show that, after the spi- 

 nal marrow was thoroughly divided, the lower limbs moved on irri- 

 tants being applied to the upper part of the trunk. This fact, if it 

 should be confirmed by larger experience, would not be in accordance 

 with numerous and trustworthy observations of physiologists. The 

 heart was seen to beat after being freed from blood, separated from 

 the nerves, roughly handled, and considerably desiccated ; well illus- 

 trating its inherent contractile power. 



These statements, which seem almost incredible, we give on the 

 authority of the " Report of the Committee of Medical Sciences," 

 presented at the third annual meeting of the American Medical Asso- 

 ciation. Editors. 



RAPIDITY OF THE NERVOUS CURRENT. 



IN a paper presented to the French Academy on Feb. 25, " On the 



