164 SUMMARY OK CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



trabecule run from cell to cell-forming an alveolar system. Later on, 

 the cells begin to elaborate concentric layers around each cell, and the 

 cartilage takes on the features of the adult cartilage. 



Neuroglia Syncytium.* — R. J. Terry finds that the neuroglia of the 

 brain of Batrachus (opsanus) In a is a syncytium comparable in form and 

 structure with that of human and pig embryos. 



Theory of Malignant Tumours.j — Emil v. Dungern and Richard 

 AVerner discuss the influence of external stimuli on the growth and 

 multiplication of cells, and expound the following thesis. All cells have 

 in themselves several regulation-mechanisms which inhibit a persistent 

 increase of the growth and multiplication. By diverse stimuli these 

 inhibitory arrangements may be temporarily weakened or put out of 

 gear, so that exaggerated assimilation and proliferation set in. The 

 inhibitory arrangements may be regenerated, but it is not possible 

 experimentally to render them permanently futile without destroying 

 the rest of the cellular organisation. Thus it is not possible to induce 

 experimentally an unlimited proliferation of cells, such as occurs in 

 malignant tumours. 



'■to* 



./Esthetic Aspect of Animals.}— Karl Mobius discusses the aesthetic 

 value of the various forms of animal life. A pleasant aesthetic emotion 

 at the sight of a beautiful animal has an objective and a subjective basis, 

 both very complex. On the one hand, there are definable qualities of 

 symmetry, proportion, balance, coloration, which please us ; on the other 

 hand, we read into the animal the qualities of a human artist, and we 

 praise the freedom and individuality, the unity and harmony, and fre- 

 quently the effectiveness and significance which its beauty expresses. 

 In estimating an animal's aesthetic value, it is very important to see it in 

 its natural setting and to see it alive. Beauty of form pleases us more 

 than beauty of colour — it goes deeper, it has more meaning. A large 

 part of Mobius's beautifully illustrated book is devoted to a consideration 

 of what might be called the canons of animal architecture. All styles 

 are not equally pleasing, and there are reasons for this. Thus the 

 human eye does not like to look, we are told, at animals which are un- 

 symmetrical, whose bodies lack unity, whose parts are monotonously 

 repeated, which lack a centre for the eye to rest on, which are so un- 

 conventional, like crabs, as to be broader than they are long. Whether 

 one agrees or not with the illustrious author, who has been for so long 

 familiar with beautiful animals, and with the display of them in the 

 museum at Berlin, one cannot but be interested in his discussion of a 

 fascinating subject. 



Weight of Brain in Man and Woman. § — L. Lapicque notes that 

 the average weights of the brains in adult Europeans are 1360 grm. for 

 men and 1220 for women. But the average weights of the body are 



* Anat. Anzeig., xxxi. (1907) pp. 27-30 (2 figs.). 



f Das Weseti der bdsartigen Geschwiilste, erne biologische Studie. Leipzig : 

 1907, 159 pp. See Biol. Centralbl., xxvii. (1907) pp. 767-8. 



\ Astbetik der Tierwelt. By Prof. Karl Mobius. Jena : Fiscber (1908) 128 pp., 

 (3 pis., 195 figs.). § C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxiii. (1907) pp. 432-5. 



