clviii Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



The Meninges. 



Dr. Wilder described with numerous illustrations the mem- 

 branous envelopes of the brain and card. We are struck with a con- 

 servativeness of statement and reservation of judgement upon many 

 points upon which those who have given the subject less study are 

 prone to positiveness. The present writer must admit that it seems 

 impossible to expect the same uniformity or consistency in the devel- 

 opment of the connective envelopes as one must logically postulate of 

 a morphologically primitive wall like that of the brain tube. Collect- 

 ed by a process of accretion around the brain, these envelopes will 

 obey mechanical rather than morphological principles and the exist- 

 ence of one or more layers in a given case is a matter to be settled in 

 that case by itself without reference to any canon of interpretation. 

 A perforation through the tela requires explanation and may justly be 

 viewed with suspicion until its origin is discovered ; a perforation 

 through the meninges is a fact of observation. We fail accordingly 

 to understand the significance of the analogy suggested between the 

 fontanels and the tela (p. 609.) 



Professor Wilder carefully reviews the evidence for the existence 

 of the metapore (foramen of Legendie) with new material and form- 

 ulates the following : "In the normal adult human brain there is a 

 considerable orifice in the roof of the metaccele whereby the liquid of 

 of the encephalic cavities may escape into the post-cisterna." In re- 

 ply to the obvious morphological inconsistency he refers to the solu- 

 tion of membranous integrity in the case of the septum between the 

 stomodeum and oesophagus (the oral plate.) Figure 423 seems to 

 make the matter very clear from the standpoint of gross dissection 

 though the writer must admit that he puzzled a long time as to the sig- 

 nificance of a curious unnamed body near the base of the figure before 

 it dawned upon him that it represented the thumb of a manipulator and 

 still longer before he felt sure that an outline above indicated a finger tip. 

 A label or reference in the description would make all clear. Though 

 probably a valueless suggestion, it would be interesting to make sure 

 that there is not in man an elaborate eversion of tela from the edges of 

 this and other openings far beneath the dura. The degree of modifica- 

 tion to which the tela is susceptible is in some cases very remarkable. 

 No final decision is reached as to the lunulate foramina described by 

 Dr. Langdon. 



The Physical Expression of Insanity. 



Dr. Charles P. Bancroft whose article in the Handbook is char- 



