311 



Spallanzani, Bonnet, and Blumenbach, in their experiments with 

 Salamanders, assert, that the spinal cord is not reproduced ; but 

 there is no reason, histologically, why it should not be, for the 

 nervous tissue is not unfrequently reproduced in the higher 

 animals ; and in experiments on the renewal of the legs with 

 Salamanders Rudolphi found the nerves in the newly-formed 

 part perfect and continuous, with no distinct limit with the old 

 trunks. 



These observed conditions show that the phenomena of repair 

 and reproduction are manifestations of the exercise of the same 

 power as that by which the body was developed from the impreg- 

 nated germ. This power is the type, or germ-power of the 

 animal, which, in the lower forms of animal life, does not 

 seem entirely expended in the formation of the individual, but 

 lies over in excess, waiting these contingencies of life. The 

 higher the animal the more completely is this power expended 

 in the formation of the adult form ; so that in man, when fully 

 grown, there is no tissue which is exactly repaired after injury, 

 but the new formation is only a conventional one. On the other 

 hand, but in accordance with this same view, the young of the 

 higher animals possess this power to a certain extent, for the 

 germ-force is still in excess ; this is the reason why wounds 

 in very young children heal without a cicatrix. 



Moreover this germ-power is something more than a manifest- 

 ation of the process of nutrition, for it may be drawn upon so 

 extensively as at last to be entirely expended. Thus, if the 

 animal in question, the Glass Snake, be repeatedly broken, the 

 newly-formed part is, at last, only an abortion. 



Mr. H. R. Storer read a comoiunication from Dr. W. I. 

 Burnett, entitled Notes on the Rattle Snake, as follows : 



By the kindness of my friend. Dr. William E. Dearing, of 

 Augusta, Ga., (Mayor of that city, and corresponding member of 

 this Society,) I have had placed at my disposal several living 

 reptiles for anatomical and physiological uses. Among these 

 were two quite large and beautiful Rattle Snakes (Crotalus 

 durissimus) with which I lost no time in making many experi- 

 ments. The longest, a little more than four feet in length, and 



