Aiigusi 23, 1877] 



NA TURE 



555 



Bristol. — From the prospectus for session 1877-78 of 

 University College we are glad to see that that institution is 

 rapidly attaining a position to afford a complete education both 

 in literature and science. The chairs of chemistry, experi- 

 mental physics, and botany are now filled up, and as the other 

 branches of physical science are down in the programme of the 

 coming session, no doubt professors for them will soon be 

 appointed. The medical school in connection with the Uni- 

 versity is now fully organised, and we are confident that ere very 

 long Bristol will become one of the chief centres of University 

 education in the kingdom. A very satisfactory report has been 

 presented to the London Clothworkers' Company on the chair 

 of Technical Education founded by funds provided by them. 



A Northern University. — At a recent meeting of the 

 Leeds Town Council a deputation from the Yorkshire College 

 of Science waited upon them to urge them to take steps to 

 obtain Government sanction to found a university for the 

 northern counties of England. This step was undertaken in 

 consequence of the action of Owens College to obtain a charter 

 for the erection of that institution into a university. The Leeds 

 Town Council drew up a memorial to the Privy Council, in 

 accordance with the prayer of the petition, and the Parliamentary 

 Committee was instructed to watch the further progress of the 

 matter. 



Sydney. — The University of Sydney has applied to the 

 Colonial Government for an increase of endowment from 5,000/. 

 to 9,000/. With this increased income the university would add, 

 among other subjects, to its present course, all the education 

 necessary for the medical profession, a complete course of 

 natural philosophy, coupled with mechanics and engineering, 

 the addition of organic chemistry and metallurgy to the chemical 

 school, and biology. The salaries attached to these chairs would 

 be 1,000/., with assistants at 250/. each. The proposal is still 

 under the consideration of the government, but we cannot doubt, 

 if they have the best interests ot the Colony at heart, they will 

 grant the petition of the University. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



American Journal of Science and Arts, July. — Contributions 

 to meteorology, being results derived from an examination of 

 the United States Weather Maps and other sources, by E. 

 Loomis. — Germination of the genus Megarrhiza, Torr, by A. 

 Gray. — The absorption of bases by the soil, by H. P. Armsby. 

 — Double-star discoveries with the iSJ-inch Chicago refractor, 

 by S. W. Burnham. — Relations of the geology of Vermont to 

 that of Berkshire, J. D. Dana. — On certain new and powerful 

 means of rendering visible the latent photographic image, by M. 

 Carey Lea. — On the possibility of transit observation without 

 personal error, by S. P. Langley. — Observations of comets made 

 at the Litchfield Observatory ol Hamilton College, by C. H. F. 

 Peters. — On complex inorganic acids, by W. Gibl^s. 

 I Annalen dcr Physik itnd Cheinie, No. 6, 1S77. — On the electric 

 cuiTents which arise in the flow of hquids through tubes, by M. 

 Edlund.— On metallic reflection, by M. Eisenlohr. — Contri- 

 butions to an adequate determination of the plane of vibration of 

 polarised light, by M. Ketteler. — On electric induction on non. 

 conducting solid bodies, by M. Wiillner.— On the thermo- 

 electric properties of gypsum, diopside, orthoclase, albite, and 

 pericline, by M. Ilankel. — On the magnetic behaviour of nickel 

 and cobalt, by M. Hankel. — On the relation of friction of gases 

 to temperature, by M. Puluj. — On electric smoke figures, by M. 

 Antolik. — Apparatus for determination of the focal distance of 

 spherical lenses and lens systems, by M. Meyerstein. 



Bulletin de I' Academic Imperiale des Sciences de St. Fetersbourg, 

 t. xxiii.. No. 4.— Eighty-six silver coins with Pehlewy inscriptions, 

 by M. Dorn.— Observations of planets at the Academic Obser- 

 vatory of St. Petersburg ; determination of the inclination of tlie 

 orbit of the planet Neptune to the ecliptic, by M. Sawitsch.— 

 Influence of depressor nerves on the quantity of the lymph, by 

 M. Veliky.^ — Influence of temperature on the galvanic resistance 

 of Siemens wires, by M. Lenz. 



Arc/lives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, July.— 

 Cretaceous fauna of the Rocky Mountains, by M. Delafontaine. 

 — On chemical equivalents and atomic weights as bases of a 

 system of 'notation, by M. Marignac. — Observations on some 

 fossil plants of South Tessin and on the deposits which contain 

 them, apropos of the glacial controversy, by M. Sordelli.— On 



the relations between the intensity of irritation of the sciatic 

 nerve, the height of the muscular contractions, and the time 

 elapsing between irritation and contraction, by M. Lautenbach. 



Keale Istitufo Lomhardo di Scienze e Lettere, Rendiconti. 

 Vol. yi. Fasc. VII. — Two new parasitic mycetes on vines, by 

 M. Cattared. — On a cause little estimated in pathogenesis of 

 some female diseases, by M. de Giovanni — The molecular 

 velocity of gas and the corresponding velocity of sound, by M. 

 Brusotti. 



Fasc. XII.-XIV. — On more economical composition of elec- 

 tromotors capable of a given effect, by M. Ferrinl. — Experi- 

 mental researches on heterogenesis (second paper), by MM. 

 Canloni and Maggi. — On the existence of monera in Italy, by 

 M. Maggi. — On a particular reaction of saliva, by M. .Solera — ■ 

 On the state of sulphur in milk and on the normal existence, in 

 vaccine milk, of sulphates and sulphocyanates, by M. Ma^so. — 

 On a Selachian recently caught in the Mediterranean, by M. 

 Pavesi. — On a new differential function in the theory of elliptic 

 functions, by M. Brioschi. — On diflferential equations, by M. 

 Casorati. — Quali-quantitative researches on carbonic anhydride, 

 by M. PoUacci. — Resume of meteorological observations at 

 Milan in the Brera Observatory in 1S76, by M. Frisiani, jun. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, June 21. — "The Relationships of the 

 Nerve-cells of the Cortex to the Lymphatic System of the 

 Brain." By Bevan Lewis, F.R.M.S., Pathologist and Assistant 

 Medical Officer at the West Riding Asylum. (Communicated 

 by Dr. Ferrier, F.R.S.) 



The anatomical relationships of the nerve-cells of the cortex 

 to their immediate environment, and es; ecially to the surround- 

 ing lymphatic structures, is a subject of such weighty importance 

 to the pathologist and physiologist that too much consideration 

 cannot well be paid to what must necessarily be involved 

 in the solution of those mysterious problems connected with 

 the statics and dynamics of the brain. The author of this 

 paper has detailed the results of personal investigations, in 

 which he has been able to confirm the observations of 

 Obersteiner.i He alludes to the confusion on this subject 

 traceable in the writings of several English histologists, some of 

 whom, whilst recognising the existence of peri-cellular spaces, 

 do not attempt an explanation of their significance, others openly 

 express their dubiousness with regard to their import, whilst a 

 limited class regard them as morbid productions due to the 

 atrophy and shrinking of the nerve-cell. His attention was first 

 attracted to their significance by (a) "the presence in certain 

 morbid conditions of numerous nuclei arranged in definite 

 directions around the nerve-cell, (/') the presence of undoubted 

 lymph-corpuscles in clear spaces around the nerve-cells, and (<■) 

 the appearance of peri-cellular spaces in healthy brain occa- 

 sionally when the cells appeared perfectly normal, and certainly 

 not atrophic." 



This disposition of nuclei {a) is most strikingly evident around 

 the nerve-cells of the third layer, and around the still larger 

 cells found at a lower level in the ascending frontal and parietal 

 convolutions of man which have been termed "giant-cells." 

 These "giant-cells," the hypertrophied cells of some writers, 

 are stated by Mr. Lewis to be undoubtedly normal, and to a 

 great extent constant, elements in these regions. In order to 

 appreciate the significance ol this arrangement of nuclei, the 

 non-nervous elements of the cortex are considered, allusion being 

 made to the proliferation of connective elements so frequently 

 met with. These latter are .shown not to be free nuclei, but to 

 have a delicate investment of protoplasm around them. The 

 non-nervous cellular or nuclear elements are described as dis- 

 posed in three definite situations : (a) irregularly in the neuroglia 

 network ; (^) regularly around the nerve-cells ; (c) following 

 directly the course of capillaries. 



In the two last positions they are shown to be connected 

 with the lymphatic channels and sacs surrounding the blood- 

 vessels and nerve-cells, and the author regards them as origin- 

 ating in the endothelial elements of these structures. The 

 spindle-cells of the deepest cortical layer in the frontal region are 

 said to be peculiarly prone to the growth around them of these 

 attendant satellites. He continues : " The recognition of these 



■ " Ueber einige Lymphraiime im Gehiriie " (Silzb. d. k. Akad. d 

 Wissensch. I Ablli.,!Jan, Heft, 1870). 



