518 

5. Sketch general outline, rays (steamers), and rifts. 
Near end of totality., 
6. Sketch general outline and any rays of streamers or rifts. 
7. Note if there be a blaze of light or glare where the sun 
is about to reappear. 
After totality. 
8. Sketch any rays that may be visible ; give length, colour, 
and structure, as well as position. 
Questions to be answered in writing immediately totality is over. 
a. Has there been any change? if so, specify what change. 
6. Have especially the dar& rays or rifts changed ? 
c. Describe what has been constant throughout, and define its 
structure. 
d, State the colours you observed outside the red prominences. 
c. Were the colours anywhere arranged 7 /ayers round the 
sun ? 
Jf. Were the colours anywhere arranged radially ? el 
gy. As the moon passed over the sun were the colours similar 
to those successively thrown over any one portion of the land- 
scape ? 
h, State colours of rays and of spaces between them. 
i. Did the dark rifts extend down to the moon, or did they 
stop short above the denser layers of the chromosphere? ~ 
k. Were the rays brightest near or far away from the moon ? 
7. What was the comparative brightness of the rays, chromo- 
sphere, and outer corona? ; 
N.B.—Cards should be prepared, 8 inches square, with a 
circle 2 inches in diameter, filled in with some dark coluur, in 
the centre. Round this circle the sketches should be made, the 
north point (or the vertex, as the case may be) being shown, and 
whether the sketches were made by means of an inverting tele- 
scope or with the naked eye. 
SUGGESTIONS FOR TIMING THE PROGRESS OF THE ECLIPSE. 
—In Sicily, last year, the following method of recording the 
lapse of time during totality was found to prevent all excitement, 
and made the 80 seconds seem a very long time. 
Determine the number of seconds of totality at the station— 
say 120. 
Then, at the moment of totality, let one person attached to 
each patty of observers, carefully observing the face of a chrono- 
meter or watch, say— 
* You have now 120 seconds.” 
Afier 5 seconds, 
** You have still 115 seconds.” 
After another 5 seconds, 
‘« There are still 110 seconds remaining ;” 
and so on. 
This may be done in a very steadying manner. 
The limes at which any of the phenomena occur must be noted 
by another observer. je Nb es 



HAISTOLOGY 
The Auditory Organ of Gasteropoda 
Dr. F. Leypic, of Tiibingen, gives an interesting account of 
the Auditory Organ of Gasteropoda in the last part of Max 
Schultze’s Archiv sir Mikroskopische Anatomie, After a short 
historical introduction, in which the labours of previous observers 
are referred to, Prof. Leydig describes the form and divisions of 
the brain or cerebral ganglia in this class, and shows that these 
are fundamentally the same in Limax, Arion, Vitrina, He tx, Clau- 
silia, Carychium, Succinea, Physa, Planorbis, Ancylus. This su, ra- 
cesophageal or cerebral ganglion in these animals consisis of two 
superior ganglionic lateral masses united by a commissure. The 
subcesophag-al ganglion consists of an anterior portion, the 
ganglion pedale, and a posterior, the ganglion viscerale, which 
again are connected with the supracesophageal ganglion by com- 
missurai bands. The ring thus formed is uaversed by the cesv- 
phagus, the excretury ducts of the salivary planus, and the aorta. 
Tne anterior loves of the cerebral ganglion give off the nerves 
of the tentacles and the optic nerves, and four other pairs. The 
auditory organ is apparently connected with the anterior division 
of the subcesophageal ganglion. It varies but little in size in 
different species, whatever may be their difference in magnitude. 
The organ is of spherical form, as seen from above, but flattened 
when seen in pronle, where it is in contact with the ganglion, 
It is composed of a connective tissue capsule, made up ol two 
layers—an outer looser investment, and an inner firmer tissue ; 
NATURE 

[ Océ. 26, 1871 

between the two is a plexiform arrangement of muscular fibres 
and fasciculi. The inner capsule is lined by a layer of epithelium, 
which is thicker opposite the point of attachment of the nerve 
than elsewhere, and when perfectly fresh presents a very indis- 
tinct division into cells ; of these there appear to be two varieties 
characterised by their nuclei ; one form of nucleus being small, 
and lying near the attached surface of the cells, that is to say, ex- 
ternally ; the other large and round, with a fusiform nucleus. 
Cilia appear to be always present, but are so extremely fine as 
to be occasionally scarcely visible. It is most distinct in Azcylus 
fluviatilis, and in this animal the trembling movement of the 
otoliths is most perceptible. He has seen appearances in /e/ix 
hortensis and Clausilia similis, which lead him to think that the 
large nucleated cells have bristles attached to them, instead of 
cilia like the smaller cells. The otoliths exhibit some, though 
insignificant, variations in size, form, and number. The majority 
approximate to an oval form, as in the //é/icinide ; they are more 
pointed in Azcy/us and Planorbis. Smaller animals, as Cary- 
chium minimum, have very small otoliths. They are rounder 
in young than in older specimens of /e/ix, and at a later period 
they assume a cell-like appearance, the central part being clearer 
than the periphery, or a space forming in it which resembles a 
nucleolus ; but he has no doubt, from his previous observations 
on the embryos ot Paludina vivipara, that they crystallise out 
from the fluid of the auditory vesicle ; being at first punctiform 
bodies, then become pointed at their extremities, and increasing 
by the deposition of successive laminze on their surface. The 
idea suggested that they gain entrance from without is quite 
erroneous. His examinations of the real connections of the 
auditory nerve succeeded best in Vitvina diaphana, and these 
showed that the lateral commissures of the brain connecting the 
supra- and infra-cesophageal masses consist of the two commis- 
sures themselves, of a sympathetic nerve, of the auditory nerve or 
canal, and a blood vessel, all connected together by loose con- 
nective tissue. The auditory nerve, after leaving the capsule, 
first runs obliquely outwards to follow the curvature of the ante- 
rior division of the infra-cesophageal ganglion, thensuddenly bends 
upwards, and thus ultimately reaches, not the infra-, but the 
supra-cesophageal ganglion with which it is really in connection. 
Though holding the same relation to the ear that the optic nerve 
does tu the eye, it differs from ordinary nerves in being hollow ; 
hence its name of ear canal. The wall consists, like that of a 
nerve, of a homogeneous membrane, surrounded by looser con- 
nective tissue, and lined by epithelium. The interior is not 
filled with nerve fibrilla. Prof. Leydig then notices the relations 
of this nerve to the passage leading from the ear towards the 
skin in Cephalopoda, in connection with which, however, no ex- 
ternal opening has been found, though searched for, by Owsjan- 
nikow, Kowalewsky, and Boll. 


SCIENITFIC SERIALS 
In the Quarterly Fournal of Science for October, three of the 
articles are continuations of papers which have appeared in 
previous numbers of the Journal. Mr Mug» Ponton concludes 
his discussion of ‘‘ Molecules, Uliimates, A‘oms, and Waves.” 
Lieut. S. P. Oliver gives another paper *‘On Modern Bniti-h 
Ordnance and Ammunition,” detailing the structure of some 
recenly manufactured ordnance ; and from the edicor we have 
“*Some further Experiments of Psychic Force.” After replying 
to adverse criticisms on his previous paper, Mr. Crookes details 
some fresh experiments waich he considers to ‘f confirm beyond 
doubt the conclusions at which he arrived in his former paper, 
namely the existence of a force associated in some measure not 
yet explained, with the human organisation, by which force in- 
creased weight is capable of being imparted to solid bodies with- 
out physical contact.” The experiments detailed were all per- 
formed in the presence of Mr. D, D. Home, or of a lady in 
whom this force is stated to 5¢ remarkably developed; the ac- 
cordiou is no longer empioyed, w ie in the balauce experiments 
the operator’s hands, instead of lying on the board attached to 
the balance, are placed in a vessel of water laid on the board. 
Mr. W. Mattieu Williams gives a useful abstract of the views 
advanced in his ‘‘ Fuel of the Sun,” for the benefit of those who 
have not time to read the larger work. The author of ananony- 
mous paper ‘*On the recent Gun-cotton Explosion ” condemns 
the reaction against the use of gun-cotton, which has set in since 
the Stowmarket catastrophe, and attributes the explosion to 
culpable carelessness in the process of washing the free acid out 
