Literary Notices. cxxxv 



ist in all of our public asylums, that where they do occur the fault 

 lies largely with the board of control and their constituents rather 

 than with the physicians and that the heroic attempt to introduce more 

 modern methods of treatment and research often meets with obstacles 

 which sometimes amount almost to persecution. This Dr. Mitchell 

 would probably freely grant, though there are some sweeping pass- 

 ages in his address in which it is apparently lost sight of. 



C. J. H. 



Audition Without the Labyrinth. 1 



A dove whose labyrinth and tympanum had been previously de- 

 stroyed on both sides reacted to auditory stimuli just like another ani- 

 mal whose peripheral sensory apparatus was normal, except that for 

 tones above 440 vibrations no positive results, or only doubtful results 

 could be obtained. Some tone-qualities, at least, could be distin- 

 guished. 



Alterations in Nerve Cells from Birth to Old Age. 2 



Sections of the first cervical ganglion of a still-born babe (osmic 

 acid preparations) compared with similar sections from a subject who 

 died at 92 years of age show that in the latter case the nucular 

 granules do not stain with osmic acid; that the nuclei are shrunken 

 in size, have irregular contours and (unlike fatigued nerve cells) stain 

 no darker than the cytoplasm. Sections of the nervous system of 

 young and old bees give much more emphatical testimony to the same 

 alterations. The number of cells is also greatly reduced in the old 

 specimens. A fuller paper with plates is announced for The Journal 

 of Physiology. 



A New Cranial Nerve in Protopterus. 3 



The author describes a nerve hitherto undescribed arising near 

 the median line on each side immediately ventrad of the anterior com- 

 missure at the extreme cephalic limit of the "recessus praeopticus" 

 of Burckhardt. The nerve is non-medullated and very small. It 



1 Wundt, Wm. Akustische Versuche an einer labyrinthlosen Taube. Phi- 

 los. Studien, IX, pp. 496-509. 



2 Hodge, C. F. Die Nervenzellen bei der Geburt und beim Tode an 

 Alterschwache. With 4 figures. Anat. Anz., IX, 23, 1 Aug., 1894. 



3 Pinkus, Felix. Ueber einen noch nicht beschriebenen Hirnnerven des 

 Protopterus annectens. Vorlaufige Mitteilung. Anat. Anz., IX, 18, 23 June 

 1894. 



