^ova Acta Academieje JSTaturce Curiosorum. 473 



doctrine of unity of composition, since so strenuously inculcated by many 

 of his countrymen, and adopted by a large and increasing school in 

 France and England, was maintained by Goethe long before the close of 

 the last century, not merely as a bold and speculative hypothesis, but as 

 a theory resting on the detailed investigation of facts. Among these 

 one of the most obvious, which forms the basis of the Memoir before us, 

 was the existence in man, as well as in other Mammalia, of inter- 

 maxillary bones, capable of ready demonstration, although at that time 

 denied by the almost universal voice of human anatomists. The plates 

 which accompany the Memoir exhibit a comparative view of these bones 

 in the roebuck, the ox, the camel, the horse, the babyrussa, the lion, 

 the polar bear, the wolf, the walruss, a monkey, and man ; and prove 

 how attentively and how successfully the youthful philosopher had studied 

 the limited materials within his reach. It is unnecessary to enter into the 

 detailsof a question on which no difference of opinion can any longer exist; 

 but it may not be uninteresting to observe, in addition, that so early as 

 the year 1791 Goethe appears to have arrived at the conclusion that the 

 bones of the head were reducible to six vertebrae, and that consequently 

 the long agitated question as to the right of priority in this hypothesis is 

 completely set at rest. 



Dr. Barkow's paper " Ueber angebornen Mangel des Unterkiefers bei 

 " Saugethieren," is an interesting addition to the history of monstrosity 

 in the higher animals. It offers a detailed account of the external 

 appearances and internal anatomy in two cases of congenital absence of 

 the lower jaw in lambs, and compares these with the particulars of 

 similar cases furnished by previous writers. The modifications in various 

 parts of the structure of the animals coincident with this mal-formation 

 are carefully described ; and figures of the head, and of the separate 

 parts, in different aspects, give a clear idea of the peculiarities observed. 

 For the details of these, which are stated with great minuteness, the 

 paper itself must be consulted. 



Dr. Rosenthal's contributions " zur Anatomic der Seehunde" are 

 interesting as the last labour of an excellent observer, whose anatomical 

 researches, especially as regards the structure of fishes, are deserving of 



