gl6 Transactions of the American Institute. 



web. They even seem to have the power of directing the extremity 

 of an ejaculated thread to a given point; they seem to feel for the 

 place where it is most desirable to fix it. Certain spiders, the 

 Thomisa Bufo, for instance, will eject a bunch of threads, which, 

 curling up in the air and shining in the sun with various hues, give 

 the insect the appearance of a peacock displaying his tail. But 

 this is not all; spiders can fly and swim in the air, though they are 

 heavier than alcohol. To perform this feat they turn their back 

 to the ground, and keep their legs closely folded up on their body, 

 and in tliis posture sail about with perfect ease. 



THE CEKEBELLUM. 



In alluding to the somewhat sharp controversy which has taken 

 place between Prof. Huxley and The Pall Mall reviewer of Dr. 

 Tyndall's work on " Sound," The London Review says the point at 

 issue has been much more complicated in the course of the dis- 

 cussion than it need to have been. It is simply this: Was Dr. 

 Tyndall correct in stating that nerves have their origin in the brain, 

 or was the reviewer in The Pall Mall Gazette right in stating that 

 no nerves rise from that source ? In answering this question there 

 arises a second query, what is understood by the term brain ? To 

 this the reviewer replies, the word brain is the synonym for the 

 cerebral hemispheres only. We cannot regard this as correct; it 

 may be that one individual anatomist has confined the term " brain " 

 solely and exclusively to the cerebral hemispheres, but as to the 

 ordinary acceptation of the word, there cannot be the smallest 

 doubt. Go into any dissecting room in London and ask the demon- 

 strator to show you a brain, and he will most assuredly place before 

 you the whole nervous contents of the cranium. Look under the 

 head of "Brain" in any treatise on anatomy which our language 

 possesses, and the same general definition will be found. Hence 

 we think Dr. Tyndall's statement, that the nerves arise from the 

 brain, was nc»t only accurate as to the general application of the 

 word "brain," but that the contrary assertion is, however, equivo- 

 cally justifiable, most certainly opposed to the terminology of the 

 British School of Science, for which Dr. Tyndall was writing. 

 Indeed, the mere fact — which curiously enough the writer in The 

 Pall Mall Gazette cites in his favor — that the cerebellum is styled 

 the lesser brain, is of itself sufficient to decide the question; it 

 shows that the word "brain" is eminently generic, and includes 

 the specific divisions cerebrum, cerebellum, medulla oblongata, &c. 



