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PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 
“ On the Inner Layer of the Connective Tissue of the Eye.” Both 
papers are of interest. 
The Microscopic Anatomy of Skin Grafting. — In Part iv. of the 
‘Proceedings of the Swedish Society of Physics,’ M. Misterton gives 
the results of six cases of skin grafting. He says that in all these, 
even where the transplanted piece of skin seems to disappear com- 
pletely, the operation succeeds if only a few cells of the Malpighian 
layer of the cuticle remain possessed of life, so as to form a nucleus 
for a fresh epidermis formation. The operation of skin grafting is 
graphically and physiologically described in the paper. 
The Embryology of Fossil Cephalopoda. — In vol. ii., No. 5, of the 
‘Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology’ (U.S.A.), Mr. 
Alpheus Hyatt describes the results of a careful investigation with 
respect to the embryology and structure of ammonites and related 
cephalopods, by a study of the shell in its different stages of develop- 
ment, and also by a comparison of its characters with those of the 
living nautilus. 
The Eozoon : Dr. Dawson and Professors King and Downey. — Our 
readers are perhaps aware that Messrs. King and Rowney have 
attempted to prove that this unquestionably animal form was merely 
a peculiar mineral. They wrote a long paper setting forth their 
views. This has now been replied to by Dr. Dawson, and his answer is 
to be found in substance in ‘Silliman’s American Journal’ (July, 1872). 
He (Dr. Dawson) says, that in opposition to the facts stated by him, 
the authors of the paper under consideration maintain that the 
structures are mineral and crystalline. “ I believe that in the present 
state of science such an attempt to return to the doctrine of ‘ plastic 
force ’ as a mode of accounting for fossils would not be tolerated for 
a moment, were it not for the great antiquity and highly crystalline 
condition of the rocks in which the structures are found, which 
naturally create a prejudice against the idea of their being fossiliferous. 
That the authors themselves feel this is apparent from the slight 
manner in which they state the leading facts above given, and from 
their evident anxiety to restrict the question to the mode of occurrence 
of serpentine in limestone, and to ignore the specimens of Eozoon 
preserved under different mineral conditions. With reference to the 
general form of Eozoon and its structure on the large scale, I would 
call attention to two admissions of the authors of the paper, which 
appear to me to be fatal to their case. First, they admit, at page 533,* 
their ‘ inability to explain satisfactorily ’ the alternating layers of 
carbonate of lime and other minerals in the typical specimens of 
Canadian Eozoon. They make a feeble attempt to establish an 
analogy between this and certain concentric concretionary layers ; 
but the cases are clearly not parallel, and the laminin of the Canadian 
Eozoon present connecting plates and columns not explicable on any 
concretionary hypothesis. If, however, they are unable to explain 
the lamellar structure alone, as it appeared to Logan in 1859, is it 
not rash to attempt to explain it away now, when certain minute 
* ‘ Proceedings R. I. A.,’ vol. x. 
