462 "Proceedings of Philosophical Socieiies. [Dec. 



ments relative to the use of the epiglottis. This .cartilage placed 

 at the base of the tongue before the glottis in man and quadrupeds 

 is generally regarded as destined by nature to hinder the substances 

 swallowed from felling into the tracheae. Birds and reptiles indeed 

 have no epiglottis, and experience no inconvenience from the want 

 of it ; but their glottis is preserved by other means, such as the 

 indentments with which it is usually surrounded, so that no objec- 

 tion against the received opinion can be drawn from them. Persons 

 deprived of the epiglottis by accident, and yet capable of swallowing 

 as well as ever, furnish a stronger objection ; and some anatomists 

 have even concluded that the epiglottis is rather subservient to the 

 voice than to deglutition. 



M. Magendie having removed the epiglottis of dogs, found that 

 they could swallow as well as ever. He has ascertained likewise by 

 actual inspection that the glottis contracts completely at the instant 

 of deglutition, so that nothing would enter it, even supposing the 

 epiglottis not to exist ; and on cutting the nerves which go to the 

 muscles that contract the glottis, he observed that it remained open, 

 and admitted the aliments, notwithstanding the presence of the 

 epiglottis which he had preserved. 



It is difficult not to yield to experiments which agree so well 

 with each other and with known facts. It is the business of phy- 

 siologists to ascertain what may be the real use of the epiglottis, 

 which is too large and too constant in a whole class of animals not 

 to have some essential use. 



M. Magendie has been led by his researches to examine the 

 particular distribution of the laryngeal and recurrent nerves in 

 different muscles of the larynx, and this part of his labour adds 

 some precision to that part of anatomy. 



The necessity in which Europe is at present of drawing all its 

 resources from itself, and to produce in its territory all that has 

 become essential to luxury and the arts, has induced different 

 persons to endeavour to discover among the plants that may be cul- 

 tivated in Europe species capable of furnishing the productions of 

 the warm climates ; and the principal efforts have been directed to 

 the objects which are wanted in greatest abundance, because they 

 promise the most immediate profit. 



We have spoken already sufficiently of the sugar of beet-root, 

 the preparation of which has been so much simplified as to render 

 it likely that it will become for the Continent a durable object of 

 industry. 



M. Marsan, Professor at Padua, has read a memoir on another 

 plant which yields sugar. It is more analogous to the sugar-cane 

 in its botanical properties, and the sugar which it yields is equally 

 good. It is a large grass, originally from the south of Africa, 

 described for the first time in 1775 by Peter Arduino under the 

 name of holcus cafer, and well characterized by its having glumes 

 and its round seeds. It has begun to be cultivated in some parts of 

 Italy, Bavaria, and Hungary. 



