MISCELLANY. 



381 



the numerals, or rather of the figures sym- 

 bolizing them, perhaps I am right in sup- 

 posing that nothing satisfactory is known 

 of it. In that case the following may be 

 interesting to your readers : The first col- 

 umn contains the original figures, each con- 



I 



3 



G 

 1 



taining as many lines as the number which 

 It is intended to represent. The other col- 

 umns show the transitions likely to result 

 from quick writing. W. Donisthorpe iti 



Nature. 



Location of Sensory Centres in tlie 

 BraiUf At the recent meeting of the Brit- 

 ish Medical Association, Dr. Brunton read 

 a paper communicated by Dr. Ferrier, en- 

 titled " Abstract of Experiments on the 

 Brains of Monkeys, with special reference 

 to the Localization of Sensory Centres in 

 the Convolutions." The experiments, which 

 were conducted by trephining and the de- 

 struction of the sensory centres by means 

 of a red-hot wire, led to the following re- 

 sults, as stated by the Lancet : These cen- 

 tres are bilateral, so that when, for instance, 

 one of the centres of touch was destroyed, 

 there was loss of tactile sensibility in the cor- 

 responding half of the body. Stimulation of 

 the centre of hearing caused the animal to 



prick up its ears as if it heard something, 

 while destruction of the whole of this cen- 

 tre rendered the creature totally deaf. De- 

 struction of the centre of vision correspond- 

 ing to one eye only, rendered the animal 

 temporarily blind in that eye, the function, 

 after twenty-four hours, being carried on 

 by the opposite centre. In the discussion 

 which followed. Dr. Nairne pointed out that 

 other observers had arrived at conclusions 

 different from those of Ferrier, and that the 

 brain of a monkey could not be taken as 

 exactly similar to that of a man ; but Dr. 

 Brunton thought the mistake made by Ger- 

 man and other investigators who differed 

 from Ferrier was, that they took the brains 

 of animals lower even than the monkey to 

 correspond with that of man. Dr. Dupuy 

 said that he had found, when the centres 

 of motion on one side of the brain were 

 removed, that paralysis followed for a short 

 time throughout the corresponding part of 

 the body, but that, when the centres were 

 removed from both sides of the brain, there 

 was no paralysis at all. 



Health of Children in Ftah. In a report 

 made by Surgeon E. P. Vollum to the Sur- 

 geon-General on " Some Diseases of Utah," 

 it is stated that the adult population of that 

 Territory is as robust as any within the lim- 

 its of the United States. The children fur- 

 nish two-thirds of all the deaths, most of 

 which occur under five years of age. In 

 Salt Lake City, as appears from the register 

 kept by the undertakers, the male deaths 

 exceed the female in number about 50 per 

 cent., but Surgeon Yollum could not get the 

 relative proportion. The polygamous chil- 

 dren are as healthy as the monogamous, and 

 the proportion of deaths about the same, 

 the difference being rather in favor of the 

 former, who are generally, in the city espe- 

 cially, situated more comfortably as to resi- 

 dence, food, air, and clothing, their parents 

 being in easier circumstances than those in 

 monogamy. It is perhaps still too early to 

 form an opinion as to the influence of po- 

 lygamy on the health, or constitutional or 

 mental character of the Anglo-Saxon race in 

 Utah ; but Surgeon Vollum has been unable 

 to detect any difference in favor eiiher of 

 monogamy or polygamy. So far as he can 

 learn, polygamy in Utah furnishes no idiocy, 



