Scientific fntelliffence. — Z(x)fofri/. 189 



viously. In order to examine the condition of* the nerves, the 

 dog was killed on the 2d June 1829, twenty-one months after 

 the operation. They were then found to have oval swelHngs or 

 knots at the points where the pieces had been cut out ; those 

 above were larger than those below. Between these swellings, 

 and connecting them, were portions which had been evidently 

 reproduced, and consisted of bundles of white nervous filaments : 

 they were, however, thinner than the rest of the nerve. When 

 laid upon a plate of glass, and moistened with nitric acid, they 

 were not dissolved, which proves that they contained the true 

 nervous substance. This experiment affords a convincing proof 

 that nerves are capable of being regenerated, at least in the 

 lower animals. With respect to the human subject, there are se- 

 veral observations which prove it in an equally convincing manner. 

 Some of these are to be found in Swan, &c. Again, several 

 cases have been recorded in Medical Periodicals, in which por- 

 tions of a finger that had been chopped off by accident, and united 

 again, gradually recovering the power of feeling and motion af- 

 ter the healing of the wound. Lastly, the well known fact that 

 those who have had a nerve divided, or even a piece taken out 

 in cases of neuralgia, are often attacked again by their old tor- 

 mentor after some time, can only be explained by supposing the 

 reunion and regeneration of the nervous tissue. A remarkable 

 case of this description is to be found in Abernethy's Surgical 

 Works. — Dublin Medical Jmirnal^ No. iv. p. 129. 



GEOLOGY. 



11. Vienna — Meeting of' Naturalists in September 1832. — 

 You are aware that no meeting took place last year, owing to the 

 prevalence of the cholera, and that the one just finished at Vienna 

 was the result of an invitation, given two years since in Ham- 

 burgh> by Baron Jacquin and Littrow, by the authority of the 

 Emperor of Austria. The unexpected return of the cholera to 

 the Austrian capital has been the means of preventing many dis- 

 tinguished persons froni attending at this assembly, but neverthe- 

 less it has turned out the most numerous of the ten meetings which 

 have taken place in Germany. At the^r^^ meeting, it was an- 

 nounced that 350 members and upwards of 300 f^iests had been 



