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structures they would be placed in different groups, the one 
being normal though often varying, the other only occasional, 
they are on the same footing for the purposes of this argu- 
ment. It is known to bea vestige of the structure joining the 
intestine by which, at an early stage of the evolution of the 
animal frame, nourishment is introduced. All trace of it usually 
_ disappears, but occasionally part of it remains as a pouch open- 
_ ing from the small intestine. It has the usual coats of intestine, 
_ the inner coat presenting the same food-absorbing villi. It is 
therefore acting, but no one will argue that it is designed for use 
in those comparatively few persons who possess it. Unfortu- 
nately it is sometimes the cause of death. The author had met 
with cases of this, and it is well known to surgeons. It may be 
unable to expel its contents ; or by adhering to a neighbouring 
part a noose is formed, a most dangerous condition, a sort of 
bowel-trap, through which a knuckle of intestine slips, and 
strangulation, followed by death, is the result. Here then we 
have an elaborate structure which is useless, or worse because 
dangerous. Were a railway contractor to leave open a siding 
which he had used in the construction of the line, the train might 
dash into it and a fatal accident result. This is exactly what is 
done when this diverticulum of the small intestine is left un- 
closed, and the fatal accident occasionally occurs. Were further 
illustration necessary we might refer to the fact of disease some- 
times attacking that functionless structure the rudimentary breast 
in the male. a 
The consideration of such structures as the diverticulum may 
be said not to take us farther than to clear the ground, showing 
us that we have been on the wrong path. But a survey of 
rudimentary structures generally carries us farther. On the 
hypothesis of the independent origin of species they are unin- 
telligible, while the hypothesis of evolution furnishes a clue to 
the whole. The facts of embryology, of paleontology, of rudi- 
mentary as well as developed structures are harmonised, and 
the whole present themselves as the result of the operation of a 
great law, the equivalent in the organic world of the law of 
vitation in the inorganic. Although we do not as yet see so 
well how this biological law operates, the anatomist sees enough 
to make him feel that he is shut up to some form or other of the 
theory of evolution, and that the notion which we imbibed in 
our early years, and have long cherished, that so-called species 
arose independently of each other, must be a mistake. 
The slow progress which this view has made in this country 
compared with Germany, the author attributed partly to the 
teleological bias which anatomy early received among us, but 
mainly to the fact that anatomy has been taught in the medical 
schools of this country for the most part as a mass of detail in 
its professional application, without reference to the ideas which 
it suggests when more widely and profoundly studied as a 
science. 
Be eae a ee ee ee ee 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
Ocean Highways, October.—The principal article in this 
month’s number is one by Lieut. Salaverry, of the Peruvian 
Navy, on the ‘Navigation of the Upper Amazon and its 
Peruvian Tributaries,” in which he gives some very interesting 
particulars of the measures that have been adopted by the Peru- 
yian Government to open up and encourage the flow of com- 
merce along the great fluvial highways which connect the rich 
provinces of the Andes with the Atlantic, The amount of work 
done by the Peruvian Government during the last few years in 
the exploration of the region with which the article is concerned 
is wonderful, and we are sure quite unknown even to many of 
those who take an interest in geographical discovery. Captain 
Davis contributes a second article on the Challenger, which is 
followed by one on the Pacific Railways of the South, 7.2 the 
Southern United States. Two very interesting narratives are 
“A Visit to the Kuh-I. Khwajahin Sistan,” the place mentioned 
being a remarkable hill to the west of Naseribad, the chief city of 
Sistan; and ‘A Visit to Kuloja,” by Mr. Ashton Wentworth 
Dilke, the plain of Kuloja being “‘a continuation of the Seven 
Rivers country running up between the Ala Tau and Thian- 
Shan Mountains.”—Mr. E. G. Ravenstein contributes a paper 
on “Elmina, and the Dutch Gold Coast ;” which is followed by 
an article on the Polaris, the usual reviews, proceedings of 
societies, &c. There are Maps of the former Dutch Pos- 
sessions on the Gold Coast, of the Amazonas in Peru, of the 
NATURE 
541 
Pacific Railways of the South, and a Chart of the Challenger’ s 
course to the Cape de Verde Islands. 
Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou, No. 
3, 1872.—In a paper on tantalum, in this number, M. Herman de- 
scribes five different combinations of the metal with oxygen, two 
only having been hitherto known. —Thereareseveral zoological and 
botanical lists, —M. Becker gives an account of beetles and flies 
met with on a journey to the Astrachan region; Mr. M‘Lach- 
lan ‘gives 
a Chrysopa, found in Finland and the Caucasus ; M. Hochhuth 
enumerates the beetles 
Lindemann furnishes a report on the formation of his herbarium. 
——M. Lubimoff’s paper ,on a new theory of the field of vision 
and magnification of optical instruments, has been elsewhere 
noticed in our columns. 
drawings of some new species of {Phryganides, and 
of Kien and Volhynien, &c., while M. 
No. 4 (1872) commences with an interesting article, with 
illustrations, by M. Mayewski, on evolution of the barbules of 
Begonia manicata, showing the various stages from that of 
simple hairs consisting only of epidermic cells.—Some strictures 
on M. Lubimoff’s views as to the field of vision are offered by M. 
Bredichin, who thinks the theory neither new nor exact.—M. 
Hochhuth continues his list of beetles (as also in the following 
number), and M. Kryloff describes some geological formations 
in the Government of Kostroma.—Dr. Dreschler communicates 
an account of a collection of mathematical and physical appa- 
ratus in Dresden: and the number concludes with a table of 
meteorological observation in Moscow, in 1872. 
—-— 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LonDON 
Royal Horticultural Society, Sept. 17.—General Meeting. 
—Mr. Henry Little in the chair.—The Rev. M. J. Berkeley called 
attention to some pears, part of which were cracked and small, 
while the rest were perfect. They had been taken from opposite 
sides of the same tree, and the difference was probably caused by 
injury from wind when in a young state. —Mr. Bull exhibited for 
the first time Odontoglossum Roeslit, a near ally of O. vexillarium, 
and which Prof, Reichenbach suggests may be a hybrid between 
that species and O. Phalaenopsis. 
Oct. 1.—General Meeting.—Mr. Henry Little in the chair.— 
The Rey. M J. Berkeley alluded tothe numerous interesting and 
rare species of fungi which were exhibited. Faxillus atro- 
tomentosus, sent by the Rev. W. W. Newbould from 
Woburn ; Russula aurata, by Miss Hubbard, from Horsham ; 
Hydnum squamosum, new to Britain, from Somerset, by Mr. 
Aubrey Clark ; Cortinarius orellanus, also new to Britain, from 
Epping Forest, by W. G. Smith, &c, Mr. Berkeley also referred 
to Schwendener’s theory as to the nature of lichens. Bornet 
had recently published an admirable paper in support of the 
same views. He himself, however, was not convinced of their 
correctness. On the contrary he believed he had seen the 
gonidia of Parmelia originating from hyphz within the cells of 
some drift wood from the Arctic regions, He also read a letter 
from Dr. Thwaites, of Ceylon, who thought that the symme- 
trical growth of the lichens was an argument against one portion 
being parasitic on the other. 
PHILADELPHIA 
Academy of Natural Sciences, June 10.—Dr. Ruschen- 
berger, president, in the chair.—Mr. Gentry made the fol- 
lowing remarks :—At the last meeting of the Academy, 
Mr. Meehan made some observations upon the peculiar struc- 
ture of the flowers of Pedicularis canadensis, observing that 
he had vainly watched them during two seasons with the 
view of determining the manner in which they were fer- 
tilised. He further said that he had noticed that they received 
the attention of a species of humble-bee, for the sake of their 
honey, which, in order to accomplish its purpose, always bored 
a hole into the side of the tube. On Wednesday morning last, I 
visited a spot where the plants were growing luxuriantly, afford. 
ing an interesting field for observation. It was not long before 
I observed a Bombus terrestris to alight upon the outer side of 
the tube of a flower, at a distance of three feet from me. At 
this distance it did seem as if the bee in order to obtain the 
honey which it secretes, produced a slit into the tube, as Mr. 
Meehan observed. But the movements of the bee being so 
quick, and the distance too great to judge accurately, I ap- 
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