CHAP. XL] MR. NEWPORT'S RESEARCHES. ' 327 



whole of the fibres of the inferior longitudinal series are traceable, 

 says Mr. Newport, in the lulidae, directly through each enlargement 

 of the cord which they mainly assist to form. Two other sets of 

 fibres are distinguished by this anatomist in these animals, which do 

 not take a longitudinal course. These are, first, the cummissural 

 fibres, which pass transversely between corresponding nerves of 

 opposite sides of the body; and secondly, the fibres of reinforcement of 

 the cord, which communicate between nerves of the same side of the 

 body, passing from a nerve which arises from a superior ganglion to 

 one that comes from an inferior one. These nerves do not appear 

 to penetrate the cord : judging from Mr.Newport's description, they 

 merely pass from nerve to nerve, forming loops which are convex to- 

 wards the cord, and constitute the lateral portion of the cord in the 

 intervals between the points of emergence of the nerves with which 

 they are connected. These two sets of transverse and lateral fibres 

 agree in the fact that they do not pass upwards to the brain ; but 

 of their connexion with the cord nothing is known. Indeed it is by 

 no means apparent that the lateral fibres form any junction with the 

 vesicular matter of the cord, or with any other than peripheral por- 

 tions of the nervous system ; Mr. Newport's researches shew only 

 that they are in juxtaposition with the margins of the cord, but we 

 cannot infer from them that they mingle with its elements. More- 

 over it is far from being proved that the longitudinal fibres pass up 

 to the brain. The brain, indeed, is not necessarily the largest of 

 the ganglia, and it must be admitted to bear a most inadequate pro- 

 portion to the number of longitudinal fibres. Let any one compare 

 the size of the cerebral ganglia of the scorpion (as figured by Mr. 

 Newport) with the size of the animal and that of its cord, and it 

 will be evident to him how disproportionately small such a centre is 

 to the number of sensori-volitional fibres which must be distributed 

 over so large a surface, and to so many muscles. When, too, it is 

 stated that the observations of these physiologists were made with low 

 powers of the microscope, it must be confessed that there is as 

 much obscurity as to the origin of the nerves in invertebrata as in 

 vertebrata ; and that we are not yet entitled to conclude that the 

 existence of two orders of fibres has been actually demonstrated in 

 the former class. Anatomy offers no objection to the hypothesis 

 that the roots of the nerves are implanted in the ganglia, and that 

 the longitudinal fib res act as commissures between different segments 

 (both adjacent and remote) of the cord. 



And we may add here, that Mr. Newport's experiments on 

 the myriapods and other articulata throw no light on the question 



