LITERARY NOTICES. 



Goldstein, Kurt. Kritische und experimentelle Beitrage zur Frage nach dem 

 Einfluss des Nervensystems auf die embryonale Entwicklung und die Re- 

 generation. Three plates and two text-figures. Arch. f. Entwkmech., 



1904, 18, sy-i'o. 



Schaper's experiment which showed motihty in a frog larva in 

 which he had destroyed the brain and found the spinal cord in a state 

 of disorganization, left a certain desire for more evidence. Wolff 

 failed to obtain the same decisive result, and Moskowski actually con- 

 sidered the claim refuted. Goldstein, a pupil of Schaper, now 

 supplements the first description by a drawing which is more convinc- 

 ing than Schaper's original one, and he adds new experimental ma- 

 terial, which shows Wolff's error and firmly establishes very import- 

 ant data in harmony with Schaper's observations. 



Wolff divided frog larvae of less than 5 mm. so that the dorsal 

 part contained the entire neural tube, and failed to corroborate Scha- 

 per. Goldstein succeeded in keeping both parts alive for five days, 

 through the use of Locke's solution, and he showed that they recover 

 motility in two days. Hence, spontaneous and reflex motility in an 

 early embryonic period does not depend on the existence of nerve 

 conduction of a central organ. Moreover, the ventral piece showed 

 further development ; notwithstanding the elimination of the neural 

 tube it reached the size corresponding to a larva of about 6.5 to 7 .0 mm. 

 Against these facts any arguments based on laws of regenerative pro- 

 cesses have absolutely no weight, since we deal here merely with a pri- 

 mary condition of development. 



Goldstein next turns against certain views of Neumann. The 

 latter had concluded that at least for a start in the development of mus- 

 cles, nervous centers were necessary ; that, once started, they would 

 develop independently from the central organ, and, in post-embryonic 

 life the trophic center of cord and brain would again put them into a 

 dependent position. The first point is contradicted by various facts. 

 Bardeen found that muscle differentiation began before the nerves 

 grew forth from the tube. Also Harrison demonstrated an inde- 



