86 Journal of Comparativk Neurology. 



In this work, the plates of which have not been surpassed for 

 elegance and accuracy, a vast number of details, especially with 

 reference to the fibre tracts, are recorded. When it is consid- 

 ered that serial sections were cut and mounted without recourse 

 to the adhesive fluids and modern staining reagents, these re- 

 sults afford another evidence of the patience and skill of this 

 veteran neurologist. The views advanced respecting the ho- 

 mologies of the several segments of the brain, were urged with 

 much cogency and have long been defended. That some of 

 these yield to a more extensive application of the comparative 

 method and l)etter technitjue, is no discredit to the author, than 

 whom no one will welcome more eagerly all genuine advance. 



After the death of the lamented Dr. Sachs, who had collect- 

 ed a large amount of material in South America, the task of 

 editing the numerous notes toward a monograph of the electric 

 eel, fell upon Professor E. Du Bois Reymond and at his instance 

 Professor Fritsch undertook an independent mvestigation of the 

 neuro-anatomy of this interesting animal. This study resulted 

 in two papers entitled "Das Gehirn und RLickenmark von 

 Gymnotus electricus," and " Vergleichend-anatomische Betrach- 

 tung der electrischen Organe von Gymnotus electricus," which 

 form apendix I and II of Dr. Sachs' " Untersuchungen am Zit- 

 teraal.'' 



This more or less accidental diversion has led to the pro- 

 duction of a generous series of investigations on the anatomy of 

 the electrical fishes in general. The first paper above men- 

 tioned was the first accurate description of the spinal cord and 

 large electrical cells of Gymnotus, which, however, had been 

 cursorally examined by Max Schulze ; the second paper proposed 

 the theory that electrical organs are simply modified muscles. 



The first part of the elaborate monograph so well known 

 under the title "Die Electrischen Fische," appeared in 1886, 

 and was occupied with a description of Malopterurus electricus, 

 in which the origin of the electrical axis-cylinders from the fu- 

 sion of protoplasmic processes of the cells was described. The 

 second part, 1890, was devoted to the Torpedo Group, from a 

 systematic as well as neurological point of view. 



The last number of this series "Weitere Beitrage zur 

 Kenntniss der schwach elektrischen Fische," appeared in 1891, 



