4 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Jan. 



Medical Society ; member of the Erie County Medical 

 Society ; one of the founders and. first secretary of the 

 Buffalo Academy of Medicine 1892-94 ; Secretary of the 

 Buffalo Obstetrical Society 1890-92 ; member of the 

 Buffalo Medical Club, also of the Buffalo Liberal and Uni- 

 versity Clubs, Hospital Associations, Neurologist of the 

 Erie County Hospital, Buffalo Hospital of the Sisters of 

 Charity ; Asylum and hospital of the Sisters of St. 

 Francis, and Lexington Heights Hospital. Pathologist 

 to the Charity Eye, Ear and Throat Dispensary and of 

 the Grrove Eye and Ear Hospital. 



Comparative Morphology of the Brain of the Soft-shelled 

 Turtle and the English Sparrow. 



By SUSANNA PHELPS GAGE, 



ITHACA, N. Y. 



The points touched upon in this paper are : 



1. The importance of comparing through all stages of 

 development widely different forms of brains in order to 

 gain from exaggerated form and specialized function more 

 light upon the truths of morphology and evolution. 



2. The overlapping and crowding of parts of the brain 

 in these, which are, in comparison with others of the same 

 groups, highly specialized forms. 



3. A degenerate condition of the olfactory lobes resul- 

 ting in union due to crowding, not to a crossing of fibers 

 from one lobe to the other. It is a feature incident to 

 other specializations. 



4. Although the parts connected with vision in the spar- 

 row are highly developed, the union of the gemina across 

 the meson by a relatively small commissure would in- 

 dicate an independence of action of the two sides in con- 

 trast with the condition in the turtle and other forms 

 where the connection between the two sides is far more 

 intimate. 



