A few words on Mr. Ogilby s Remarks. 555 



of Belladonna there is difficulty in distinguishing near ob- 

 jects; while, as has been observed by Professor Tully of New- 

 haven, aged persons can do without their spectacles during 

 the operation of strychnine. 



I have demonstrated the way in which the eye is adjusted 

 to distances in different animals, to many gentlemen of the 

 highest rank in the profession, and there was no difference of 

 opinion about the structure and uses of the various parts of 

 the organ. An attentive examination is all that is required 

 to make the adjustment of the eye as plain as any other truth 

 in physiology. 



New York, 3rd August, 1838. 



Art. VII. — A few words of explanation in reference to Mr. Ogilbys 

 Letter at p. 492. By H. E. Strickland, Esq. 



Mr. Ogilby' s remarks in the last No. of this Magazine, com- 

 pel me, much against my inclination, to say a few " more last 

 words" on this exhausted subject. In the first place I must 

 express my regret if anything I have written has given pain 

 to Mr. Ogilby, for whom I have the greatest respect, and whom 

 I never had the slightest wish to offend. Indeed so far am 

 I from intending it in this instance, that I cannot yet perceive 

 any just cause of offence in the passage which he has quoted. 

 All that I said was, " I believe I am correct in stating that 

 Erxleben does apply the term Simla to the orang outangs." 

 This, which I stated on belief, Mr. Ogilby admits to be the 

 fact, and yet he terms it a " flat contradiction " of his own 

 assertions. All this misconception arises from my having 

 inadvertently used the restricted term orang outangs, instead 

 of the more general one apes or tailless Quadrumana. All 

 that I intended to assert, and which I still maintain, is that 

 the term Simia of Erxleben is, on the whole, equivalent to 

 the term Pithecus of Ogilby, and ought, therefore, on the 

 ground of priority, to supersede it. It is true that Mr. Ogil- 

 by in his last letter makes mention of the genera Troglodytes 

 and Hylobates, as forming part of Erxleben's genus, but it 

 will be seen that in his arrangement of the Cheiropoda, vol. 

 i., n. s., p. 525, as well as in the ' Penny Cyclopaedia/ article 

 Ape, he includes them in his genus Pithecus. Therefore to 

 state the case algebraically, let Simia, Erx., ==#; Pithecus, 

 Og., ==P; Pithecus, Geoff. =p ; Troglodytes, =t ; Hyloba- 

 tes, =h. Then, 



Vol. II.— No. 22. n. s. 3 i 



