TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 73 



cylinder process always ends free, and usually breaks up at the tip into a brush of 

 fine fibrils, which may be called the "terminal brush." 



As to the relations of these nerve units to each other, it must first be borne in 

 mind that, according to these authors, no nerve fiber passes directly into a cell at 

 each end; second, that no ganglion cell has more than one axis-cylinder process 

 springing from it; and, third, that each of these units is anatomically quite distinct 

 from all the others. They do, however, come into very close relations. They may 

 be adjacent and intertwine their processes, but actual continuity cannot be demon- 

 strated. All this leads so conservative a writer as Professor Obersteiner to remark: 

 "Hence, although we were before obliged to assume a continuity of the elements for 

 the uninterrupted propagation of the nervous excitation, now we may no longer 

 utterly reject the view that possibly even their contiguity may have the same func- 

 tional significance.''* 



While our own observations lead to the belief that Golgi's method is very unre- 

 liable as a histological process, yet the relations here described are very strongly 

 suggested, even by some of our hfematoxylin preparations; and there can be but 

 little doubt that mere proximity or contiguity is sometimes sufficient for nervous 

 transmission. It would seem, then, that the neuroglia, or ground substance of the 

 brain, must be in some way able to act as a conductor of nervous force, or else the 

 process of transmission is analogous to induction rather than conduction. 



The same anatomical relations have been very recently discovered in the inverte- 

 brates. If these positions can be substantiated, what a revolution it will work in 

 our conceptions of the nervous system! Our whole theory of the nervous mechan- 

 ism must be reconstructed. 



Much might be said of the recent advances in the localization of brain functions, 

 particularly in man and the higher apes. But more significant still is the fact that 

 attention is being directed from the brains of the lower animals to the mental 

 processes of which they are the organs; and the day is not far distant when we 

 shall have a science of comparative psychology. As our knowledge of the func- 

 tions of the human brain have been derived chiefly from comparison with lower 

 animals, it seems not unreasonable that the same method should bear good fruit in 

 the study of the mind. 



A BREATHINCI WELL IN LOOAN COUNTY. 



BY J. T. WILLAED, KANSAS STATE AGKICULTUEAL COLLEGE. 



For a number of years Mr. R. L. Smith, of Winona, has noticed that two wells 

 there blow out air at times and draw it in at other times. He has also noticed a close 

 connection between their action and the weather. One well he has noticed more es- 

 pecially, and became so satisfied that the movement of air was connected with the 

 state of the atmosphere that he called it a natural barometer. He was very desirous 

 that the well should be observed by some scientific man with the necessary instru- 

 ments. An aneroid barometer was sent him to make observations with, at the same 

 time recording the state of the well. His observations indicated quite clearly that 

 the movement of air in and out of the well was dependent on the pressure of the at- 

 mosphere. As the case seemed interesting, the writer visited the well, taking with 

 him an excellent mercurial barometer and such other apparatus as seemed likely to 

 be useful. 



*Kecent Views on the Structure of the Nervous System, Naturwissenschaftlichen Rundschau, VII, 

 1 and 2. Translated in Jour. Comp. Neurol., II, pp. 73-84. 



