cxxxviii Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



device by which a beam of light is obscured at a proper moment in 

 the fall of the rod. The observer sits with his finger on the key which 

 opens the current, clamping the rod as it falls, and presses the key 

 when the signal selected is made by the falling rod. It is only neces- 

 sary to read off the time upon the rod, for the figure at the clamp gives 

 it directly. 



In the improved instrument the release of the rods is silently 

 accomplished by electro-magnets. The rods fall on sand bags and 

 each rod in its fall strikes a key, releasing the next, and thus contin- 

 ues the record for a length of time, greater than could be conven- 

 iently be recorded by the fall of a single rod. The mechanism de- 

 pends upon the familiar laws of falling bodies. It is not stated what 

 degree of accuracy may be expected.' 



Arrangement of the Sympatliic Nervous System.* 



Using the cat as a subject, the author traces the pilo-motor 

 nerves. The spinal nerves contaming pilo-motor nerve fibres in their 

 roots are usually the fourth thoracic to the third lumbar inclusive. 

 The spmal pilo-motor fibres run into the syrapathic trunk, there they 

 become connected with nerve cells ; on leaving the sympathic chain 

 they run to their peripheral endings. In the body they accompany 

 those dorsal cutaneous branches of the spinal nerves which supply the 

 skin near the vertebrae. In general, the fibres issuing from any gang- 

 lion are connected with nerve cells in that ganglion and with no other 

 sympathic nerve cell. Each ganglion supplies in any individual a 

 definite area of skin. The areas supplied by the ganglia from above 

 downward are successive with some overlapping. 



The details must be sought in the paper, which is illustrated. 

 The author thinks it probable that the fibres of the gray ramus of a 

 nerve (viz. the postganglionic sympathic fibres of a spinal nerve) 

 have in the main the same distribution as the sensory fibres of the 

 nerve. He finds less overlapping than Sherrington did in the sensory 

 fibres. 



Record of Brain Examinations. 



Dr. Goodall of West Riding Asylum has composed a table for 

 guidance in the superficial examination of the brain which seems well- 

 adapted for use in autopsies where brain lesion is expected. See 

 Journ. Mental Science, CLXIV, N. S. 130, p. 437. 



^Langlev, J. N. Preliminary account of the arrangement of the sympathic 

 nervous system, based chiefly on observations upon pilo-motor nerves. Proc. 

 R»y. Soc. LIl, 320. 



