ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 473 



lation of the cerebral cortex of mature fowls l)y tberino-cautery produced a 

 torpid condition, tliouirh the sexual impulse was retained. Various degrees of 

 sterility resulted. Pullets were less affected than males. When the eggs were 

 fertile the development of the embryonic chick was retarded and often i-emained 

 uncompleted. When the operation was performed on young fowls the develop- 

 ment of secondai'y sexual characters w'as arrested. 



On the influence of alcohol upon the g-erm plasm, G. Kabrhel (Arch. Hyg., 

 11 {WOO), No. 1, pp. 121,-130; abs. in Arch. Rassen u. Gcsell. Biol., 7 (1910), 

 Xo. 2, pp. 2.'/9, 2')0), — In these experiments with dogs the offspring, born of ani- 

 mals which had been trained to drink beer. preferre<l beer to water, hence the 

 author concluded that the beer affected the germ plasm. The reviewer suggests 

 that the changed appetite of the offspring was due to the fact that the bitter 

 principle in the beer was carried to the milk of the mother, and that the off- 

 spring readily drank beer because they had been accustomed to it through the 

 milk rather than because of any effect on the germ cell. 



The structure and life of animals. — I, The animal body as an independent 

 organism, R. Hesse {Tierhau und Tierleben. — 1. Band: Der Tierkorper als 

 ,ScU)stiiiidigcr Organisinus. Leipsic and Berlin, 1910, pp. XVII+189, pis. 15, 

 pljs. J/80). — This is a treatise on animals from a biological point of view. 

 Special attention is given to the relation between the form of an animal and its 

 environment, and to the harmony between the structure of organs an<l the 

 functions which they perform. 



The influence of nutrition upon the animal form, H. J. Waters (Proc. Soc. 

 Prom. Agr. Sci., 30 {1909), pp. 70-98; Separate, pp. 29, figs. 6).— This is a pre- 

 liminary report on the study of the effect of limiting the quantity of feed upon 

 the size, form, and development of immature unsexed high-bred beef cattle 

 which were mostly crosses between Shorthorns and Herefords. 



In the first experiment reported the calves w'ere fed until about 6 months of 

 age all they would eat of whole milk, mixed grain, and alfalfa. The data re- 

 ported covered a feeding period which continued on the average for about 9 

 months to 30 months of age. The character of the feed was the same for all 

 animals, but the amount was varied to secure the different ratios of increase 

 in live w^eight required. 



For each centimeter of increase in width of hip, made by the full-fed group, 

 the increase w-as 1.4S cm. in height at the withers, whereas in the case of the 

 groups so fed as to gain only A lb. in live weight per day, there was an increase 

 of 2..31 cm. in height for each centimeter increase in width of hip. In the main- 

 tenance animals the ratio of gain in width to height was 1 : 3.11. The ratios 

 of increase in width of hip, increase in length of foreleg, and in width of chest 

 to length of leg also showed that the height grov/th of poorly fed animals was 

 relatively much more rapid than the width growth. 



.Measurements were also made on young growhig animal.s, beginning in some 

 instances at birth and continuing up to from S to 14 months. The results gave 

 further evidence that a decreased sup!)ly of nourishment manifested itself more 

 quickly in width than in height develojiment. Histological examination showed 

 that there was but little difference between the diameter of the muscle fibers 

 from animals in average farm condition and those in a highly fatted or show 

 condition, but that when an animal w%ns held for a long period of time on a very 

 low nutritive plane the diameter of the muscle fiber was much reduced. The 

 increase in the thickness of the flesh covering and the difference in the outline 

 or form of the body of an animal that has been fattened, or changed from an 

 ordinary farm conditi(m to a market or show condition, was due chiefly to the 

 increase in the number and volume of the fat cells rather than to increased size 

 of muscle fiber. The diameter of the fat cells was found to range from 20 



