Literacy Notices. Ixxvii 



same cells. From these bundles tracts develop to pass to the cortex and 

 mingled fibres to precommissure. There are also associational fibres. 

 [We still believe the precommissure fibres belong to a distinct cate- 

 gory.] 



Dr. Ediager describes the structure of the cortex as displayed by 

 the Golgi method and finds it analgous to that of higher vertebrates. 

 He accepts the writer's suggestion that the cortex has gradually been 

 transferred from the axial lobe to the cortex and has verified the state- 

 ment that in mammals the radix lateralis may be traced into the Am- 

 nion's horn. The general results of this very important paper are 

 given by the author as follows : The olfactory tract connects with 

 higher centers at an earlier stage phylogenetically than any other 

 nerve. It ends, in the fish, in a part of the axial lobe but even in 

 amphibians it passes to the rudimentary mantle cortex which in reptilia 

 acquires a rather complicated cortical structure. This has the charac- 

 ters and portion of the Amnions horn formation as recognized in 

 mammals. In the latter group the olfactory cortex attains a remarka- 

 ble development and complication. We are today justified in assum- 

 ing that the cortex is the bearer of higher psychical functions. From 

 the preceding it is evident that the earliest cortical activity, phyloge- 

 netically, was associated with perceptions of the sense of smell." 



The argument by which Dr. Edinger gathers all the various ana- 

 tomical, embryological, and histological data into a consistent theory 

 of psychogenesis is a masterly example of modern scientific generali- 

 zation. 



Therapeutic Value of Nerye Stretching in Mixed Neuralgia.^ 



The'symptoms of pain, an almost inseparable accompaniment of 

 every infirmity, attain in cases of neuritis and neuralgia an intensity 

 and obstinacy that anaesthetics afford but a temporary relief and anti- 

 neuralgic remedies fail to effect a cure. 



The operative proceedure, neurotomy and neurectomy, which 

 afford relief in the case of pure sensory nerves, cannot be applied in 

 case of mixed neuritis without producing paralysis of the muscles sup- 

 plied by the associated motor fibres. 



A new operation which cures the malady without compromising 

 the function of the tissue has been adopted under the name of nerve 



1 Calvo, Manuel. Elongaciou o alargamiento de los nervios, su valor 

 therapeutico en las neuralgias mistas. (Thesis.) Anales de la Universidad San- 

 tiago Chili, LXXXII. 1. Kindly translated for this Journal by Professor G. F. 

 McKibben. 



