Jan. lo, 18S9] 



NATURE 



249 



the cartilage that is usually found below the seventh rib being 

 fully developed into a rib." This description is somewhat am- 

 biguous, but I presume it refers to the occasional elongation of 

 the eighth costal cartilage in man, and its direct articulation with 

 the sternum. At the time when I read this notice I was or- 

 ganizing a system of "collective investigation " in my class of 

 practical anatomy, in Trinity College, Dublin, and I asked Mr. 

 O. L. Robinson, one of my assistant demonstrators, to under- 

 take the investigation of this point. During the last two months 

 he has examined thirty subjects, and he has found the eighth 

 costal cartilage united to the sternum in no less than five of 

 these. In four subjects (two males and two females) the eighth 

 cartilage of the right side alone showed this condition ; in the 

 remaining case (a male) the eighth cartilage on each side reached 

 the breast-bone and articulated with its fellow in front of the 

 upper part of the ziphi-stemum. The anomaly is therefore 

 one of some frequency, seeing that it has been noted by Mr. 

 Robinson in about 17 per cent, of the subjects which he has 

 ■examined. I may mention that all the specimens are now in 

 tny possession. 



But my object in making this communication is not so much 

 to record the results obtained by Mr. Robinson, seeing that 

 these will be more fully dealt with elsewhere, as to call atten- 

 tion to a remarkable statement which is made by Nature on 

 the authority of Science. It runs as follows :— " Dr. Lamb has 

 made a thorough search of anatomical literature for references 

 to this peculiarity. In the English books there is only a single 

 incidental reference to it, and in that case the author does not 

 say that he has ever seen a specimen. In German books there 

 are two references, one of them being the one mentioned by the 

 English authority." Certainly this is not my experience of the 

 literature on this subject. There is hardly a German text-book 

 of importance in which the anomaly is not referred to.^ Thus 

 Gegenbaur, Aeby, Luschka, and Henle, all mention it, and the 

 two last enter into the question at some length. Henle likewise 

 <luotes the observations which have been made upon this point 

 by Hyrtl and Prof, Oehl of Pavia. It is true that our own text- 

 l)Ooks are for the most part silent on the subject, but Prof. 

 Humphry in his classical work on the human skeleton, 

 p. 323, remarks: " In a specimen in the Cambridge Museum, 

 which measures seven inches, there are eight cartilages of ribs 

 separately united to the sternum." This is not the description 

 of a man who has never seen such a specimen. 



It is interesting to note that, of the ten cases recorded by Dr. 

 Lamb, nine occurred in Negroes and one in an Indian. Luschka, 

 referring to the assertion that the anomaly is more frequently 

 observed in black races, says: " Im Verlaufe weiterer Nach- 

 forschungen hat es sich jedoch herauseestellt, dass bei den 

 Negern nicht haufiger als bei anderen Menschenstiimmen und 

 immerhin nur in Ausnahmsfallen acht Rippenpaare an das 

 Brustbein angeheftet sind " ("Die Anatomie der Brust," 1863, 

 p. 119). 



Another feature of interest in connection with this anomaly is 

 centred in the fact that in the lower apes, and also in the chim- 

 panzee, it is the typical condition. As a rule, they present eight 

 true ribs on each side. The orang, however, resembles man 

 in this respect, and normally possesses only seven true ribs. 

 Curiously enough, the transition stage between man and the 

 orang on the one hand, and the chimpanzee on the other, is to 

 be found in the gibbon. In this ape, so far as my experience 

 goes, the cartilage of the eighth rib, although it is long and 

 rests by its tip against the ziphi- sternum, does not articulate with 

 the sternum. A condition similar to this is occasionally seen in 

 man. D. J. Cunningham. 



Trinity College, Dublin, January 2. 



" The Cremation of the Dead." 



In your excellent article on the above subject (p. 219), it 

 is stated that a provision contained in the will of a testator 

 directing the cremation of his remains has no legal effect. This 

 is no doubt correct, for, although the law permits a man to dispose 

 of his property by will, it does not permit him to dispose of his 

 own corpse. 



This legal difticulty may, however.be surmounted by an indirect 

 method. Most testators bequeath legacies to their executors, 

 and also to their nearest relatives ; and the legacies bequeathed 



' It is not referred to by Krause. Hermann Meyer, or Pansch, but in 

 these books, as in our English text-books, the omission is evidently due to 

 want of space and not to want of knowledge. 



to the latter are not unfrequently of considerable value, even 

 when the testator is a man of only moderate means. If, therefore, 

 each of the legacies are made condiiional upon (he legatee taking, 

 or concurring in taking, the necessary steps to procure the crema- 

 tion of the testator's remains, the wishes of the latter would in 

 the majority of cases be carried into effect ; since any attempt 

 on the part of a legatee to interpose any obstacle would involve 

 the forfeiture of his legacy. A. B. Basset. 



Conservative Club, S.W., January 6. 



"Degradation" of Ener^/y. 



It may perhaps have occurred to others besides myself that 

 the term "degradation" — as applied to the transmutation, for 

 instance, of mechanical energy into heat energy — is a rather 

 stronger one than our present knowledge warrants us in using: 

 that it casts, in fact, an unmerited slur on the chaiacter of that 

 eminently respectable concep', energy. We seem hardly justified 

 in supposing that any intrinsic deterioration of the enei^y takes 

 place in such transmutations as the above. 



Might not " depreciation " be a rather preferable expression ? 

 This would imply nothing more than a lowering in the value of 

 energy in relation to the particular needs and mere agencies of 

 man, and not any absolute change in its character for the worse. 



Similarly, money securities are said to t)e " depreciated " in 

 a particular market, while they may not be at all lessened in 

 absolute value, H. G. Madan. 



Eton College. 



Hares Swimming. 



In Chatterbox of May 12, 1879, published by Wells Gardner, 

 Paternoster Buildings, is an account by J. G. Fennell of several 

 instances in which he has seen hares swim across both fresh and 

 salt waters. OcTS. DEACON. 



Loughton, Essex, January 5. 



THE RECENT SOLAR ECLIPSE. 

 ■^ITITHIN the next few days we may expect detailed 

 * ' news of the various parties organized to observe 

 the eclipse of January i. in the meantime, the following 

 telegram from Mr. Pickering, chief of the Harvard Eclipse 

 Expedition, who was at Willow, California, will be read 

 with interest : — 



" The sky was clear during the whole of totality. The 

 corona was larger and more irregularly shaped than 

 usual, exhibiting great detail in its filaments. Three of 

 the geometric contacts were observed. The duration of 

 totality was 118 seconds, or three seconds longer than had 

 been predicted. 



" Capital drawings were obtained of the whole corona. 

 Eight negatives were obtained with a 13-inch refracting 

 telescope, and six with an 8-inch telescope, and seven 

 photometric observations were made of the corona's light. 

 The drawings show the corona extending outwards from 

 the sun for two of its diameters — that is, 2,000,000 miles 

 in both directions. The corona somewhat resembled that 

 of the eclipse in July 1878." 



Another account of the doings of Prof Pickering's 

 party states as follows : — 



" During yesterday's eclipse of the sun twenty-five 

 negatives were taken at Willow, California, to measure 

 the brightness of the corona and its surroundings. Five 

 of these were obtained to search for intra-Mercurial 

 planets, and twenty to study the spectrum of the corona 

 in order to determine its composition. These nega- 

 tives will reach from the yellow rays to the extreme 

 ultra-violet. 



" The general illumination during the period of totality 

 was found to be lighter than during the eclipses of 1878 

 and 1886. The corona was similar to those of 1868 and 

 1 878, but showed much more detail than the latter, and was 

 exceptionally fine, extending usually on one side to two 

 solar diameters. A striking characteristic was two forked 

 wings of light. The polar rays were well defined and con- 



