6o6 



NATURE 



[October 27, 1892 



Russian Desman {Myogale moschatd) is sometimes used 

 in this country for mantle-trimmings, but is more appre- 

 ciated in America. The Desman of the Pyrenees (Af. 

 pyrenaicd), which Mr. Poland confounds with that of 

 Russia, is a much smaller and quite different animal. 



We now come to the great group of Rodents, many of 

 which supply their skins in enormous quantities for the 

 benefit of mankind. Mr. Poland's list contains thirty-three 

 species of this Order. The Beaver, formerly of such pre- 

 eminent importance, is now much reduced in numbers, but 

 63,419 Beaver-skins were sold by the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany in 1891. Another Canadian Rodent, the Musquash 

 {Fiber zibethicus), still ranges over the " north-west " in 

 enormous armies, from three to four millions of their skins 

 being obtained every year. In 1891 the Hudson's Bay 

 Company alone sold 554,104 of them. Another much 

 appreciated little animal of the Rodent order is the Chin- 

 chilla from the highlands of Chili and Bolivia. Its fur, 

 which is remarkably soft and delicate, is principally used 

 in England, France, and America. Several allied species 

 of the peculiar South American family Chinchillidce are 

 also called by the general name of " Chinchilla." 



Of the Leporidas or Hare-family, which concludes the 

 Rodents, the Polar Hare and the Common Rabbit supply 

 the largest numbers of useful skins. Of the Russian or 

 Polar Hare {Lepus glacialis) — one of the best-known deni- 

 zens of Arctic latitudes — from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 

 skins are said to be collected annually, mostly in their 

 thick white winter coats. But Rabbit-skins are employed 

 in much more enormous quantities. Since the great in- 

 crease of this Rodent in Australia and New Zealand, 

 where, as is well known, the Rabbit has become an awful 

 pest, the number of its skins sent to London for sale 

 from those colonies has increased year by year, until, 

 according to Mr. Poland's calculations, from fifteen to 

 twenty millions are now imported. Very large numbers 

 of Rabbit skins are also brought to England from 

 France, Germany, and other countries, mostly taken 

 from domestic varieties. 



The American " Buffalo " (more correctly " Bison ") is 

 extinct as regards trade purposes, so that we need not go 

 into the quantities of" Buffalo-robes" formerly imported, 

 which in Catlin's time reached 200,000 in the year ; nor 

 will the other species of the order Ungulata, of which 

 Mr. Poland gives forty-six in his list as affording skins 

 more or less used in commerce, detain us long. The most 

 important of them are the different varieties of the do- 

 mestic Sheep and Goat, which are spread all over the world 

 and supply mankind with every variety of clothing- 

 m-.terials. The extent of this commerce is enormous. 

 Of tanned Goatskins alone 7,259,212 were imported into 

 this country in 1891, and 5,613,996 skins of " East Indian 

 Sheep " were sold in London. 



The Edentates, Marsupials, and Monotremes, with 

 which Mr. Poland concludes his volume, are of small 

 importance after the preceding orders. "Australian 

 Opossum," however, under which common name are 

 included skins of several different species and varieties 

 of the genus Phalangista, forms an exception, as the 

 annual supply of this article exceeds two million skins, 

 which are much appreciated for their " cheapness, light 

 weight, pretty colour, and general usefulness." Of Kan- 

 garoos of all sorts over 120,000 skins were imported in 

 NO- 1200, VOL. 46] 



1 891, so that, what with these and the Phalangers and 

 its twenty million Rabbit-skins, Australia has a fair share 

 of this lucrative commerce. But altogether, no doubt, 

 the Dominion of Canada and adjoining district of Alaska 

 still get the lion's share of the traffic in " furs and pelts." 

 In concluding our somewhat lengthy notice of Mr. 

 Poland's volume we may say that it is replete with in- 

 formation that a zoologist cannot obtain elsewhere in a 

 convenient form, but at the same time contains many 

 errors in the identification of the species, some of which 

 we have pointed out. In a second edition, which will 

 doubtless be called for, the author should obtain the 

 assistance of a scientific expert. He would also do well 

 to cut out of his list some of the less important species 

 (such as the Dingo, Great Anteater, and Echidna), 

 which are not really used for trade-purposes, and to bring 

 up his statistical information under every head to the 

 most recent date. 



SPINAL NERVE— IMPULSES AND ELECTRO- 

 MOTIVE CHANGES. 



The Structure and Functions of the Brain and Spinal 



Cord. By Victor Horsley, B.S., F.R.C.S., F.R.S. 



(Griffin and Co., 1892.) 



A S stated in the preface, the present volume (being 

 ^~^ the Fullerian Lectures for 1891) discusses the 

 spinal cord and ganglia alone, and is to be followed by 

 two others, dealing respectively with the brain and with 

 physiological psychology. 



Most books of this character have to be considered in 

 their relation to two classes of readers — those who are 

 experts in its subject-matter and those who are not — a 

 distinction that applies with special force to the outcome 

 of Royal Institution lectures. We shall therefore take 

 two readings of the volume before us. 



The table of contents and a cursory glance at the text 

 very soon bear out the author's modest remark that 

 these lectures have no pretensions to form a monograph 

 upon the subject of which they treat. Nor are they an 

 elementary review of it (in the ordinary sense of these 

 words), but rather a series of vignettes — historical, zoo- 

 logical, and speculative — relating to the nervous system. 

 The historical lecture is interesting ; the curious and 

 hideous figure on p. 13, from a twelfth-century manu- 

 script in the Bodleian Library, very aptly fulfils its 

 purpose, viz., to demonstrate that no advance is there 

 apparent upon the ideas of Aristotle. Prof. Horsley 

 avoids plainly asserting that Sir Charles Bell discovered 

 the sensory and motor functions of the nerve-roots ; the 

 statement is implied, not made ; at first reading we think 

 it is made, on second reading we recognize that it is 

 not made, on third reading that it is positively 

 implied. It is evident that Prof. Horsley has 

 read Bell's original pamphlet, " Idea of a New 

 Anatomy of the Brain" (181 1) ;i he does not, however, go 



I Not an easy matter — we only know of one copy in London, that at 

 the British Museum, misdated 1802— nor a superfluous matter, as any one 

 knows who has compared the "reprints" of 1824 and of i83o with the 

 original paper in the Phil. Trans, of 1821 on the nerves of the face. Correct 

 reprints of Bell's first paper have been published in " Documents and Dates 

 of Modern Discoveries in the Nervous System," (? by A. Walker). London, 

 1839, and in the "Journal of Anatomy and Physiology" for 1869, by A. 

 Shaw. 



