Jan. 28, 1875J 



NATURE 



247 



slightly different from most text-books of the subject, one 

 being that a short account is given of the history of most 

 of the physiological discoveries of importance, which is 

 generally neglected in works of similar character, not- 

 withstanding the additional interest which is thereby 

 introduced. The other point is, that an account is given 

 of the anatomical construction of the organs whose 

 functions are to be studied, by which means those who 

 have not, as medical students, gained the necessary 

 amount of knowledge of anatomy to make clear their 

 fundamental notions, can read on and understand with- 

 out reference to other works. 



In the preface Dr. Le Bon enters into a short account 

 of the aims and objects of the study of physiology. He 

 remarks that " it is with profound wisdom that the philo- 

 sophy of the ancients epitomised what ought to be 

 known by man, in the maxim, printed in golden letters on 

 the doors of their temples, Know thysi-lf." We cannot, 

 however, in any way agree with this physical distortion 

 of the proverb, and think that the endeavour to place 

 physiology on such a footing will never lead to successful 

 results. The subject is not taught in schools, and it is 

 true that the youth during several years of his life has, 

 instead, been a student of the past, in company with the 

 heroes of Greece and Rome. " The time has arrived 

 for him to make use of his knowledge. He enters the 

 business of life. He has to instruct the masses, lead the 

 multitude ; yet, of the nature of men, of their instincts, 

 of their passions, he is absolutely ignorant." Notwith- 

 standing all this, we must differ from our author in 

 assuming that a thorough knowledge of the human 

 organisation is indispensable, or even useful, in supplying 

 the deficiency indicated ; and there are many, we think, 

 who will agree with us. No better proof that such is the 

 case can be adduced than the medical profession itself. 

 Its members are all more or less acquainted with the most 

 important physiological facts and theories ; supplemented, 

 which is much to the point, with a thorough anatomical 

 knowledge. Nevertheless, it is not to the medical pro- 

 fession that we are accustomed to look for moral philo- 

 sophers, politicians, or novelists, but rather for thorough 

 scientific workers, and an overwhelming percentage of 

 nonentities, as far as the world at large is concerned. 

 Statistics as to the average length of life amongst me- 

 dical men would hardly show any advantage in their 

 favour, and as patients they are notably unmanageable. 

 As an education, physiology is therefore, no doubt, as 

 good as any other science, but its further value is a de- 

 lusion and a snare. It has been our object, on several 

 occasions, to ascertain the amount of information as to 

 the mechanism of the organ and of the piano possessed 

 by some of the most accomplished musicians, and in 

 nearly every case we have found that they are perfectly 

 ignorant of acoustics and the mechanical construction of 

 the machinery they are employing. And yet is not 

 Know thy instrument at first sight as applicable to the 

 musician as Know //yjr// to humanity at large? How 

 few of us could pick to pieces and reconstruct a clock or 

 watch, and yet how many of us have never missed a 

 train in our lives ! 



These remarks are not made in disparagement of physio- 

 logy, but in opposition to the misleading argument adopted 

 by several others as well as the author of the work before 

 us, to the injury of science itself in the estimation of the 

 public at large, because of the false expectations it raises. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 



by his eoi'respondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 



or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 



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Fossil Remains of the Fallow Deer found in Malta 



Ueferking to Dr. Jeitteles' monograph on the Distribution of 



the Fallow Deer, translated by Mr. Sclater (Nature, vol. xi., p. 



71), it may be mteresting to record that fossil exuvice referable to 

 Ccrvus dama were discovered in iMalta within the last few years. 

 From inquiries I learn that they were found in a rock fissure im- 

 pacted amongst the red soil which usually tills all the numerous 

 rock rents of the island, where also fossil elephants' remains have 

 been met with. The exuvice in question were sent to the late Mr. 

 W. Flower, F.G..S., and subsequently examined by Mr. Busk, 

 Mr. Boyd Dawkins, and myself. They contain fragments of 

 long bones and several entire feet bones and teeth, referable to 

 small-sized adult individuals of the Fallow Deer. There is, 

 besides, the maX&'co'i Eqitus and a canine referable to Canis, from 

 the same situation. 



The mineralogical aspects of the specimens are similar to 

 those of the Quaternary fossil fauna of the island, but this is, as 

 far as I can discern, the first instance of fossil remains of Cei~'us 

 and Eijuics having been discovered in Malta or Gozo. Canine 

 teeth of the.?ame dimensions as the above, and referable to Canis, 

 were found by Admiral Spratt and myself in conjunction with 

 teeth and bones of Hippopotamus pciitlandi, from the Malak 

 Cavern of Malta. 



Royal College of Science, A. Leith Adams 



Dublin, Jan. 21 



Electric Conductivity of Nerves 

 In a recent number of Nature (vol. x. p. 519) the reviewer of 

 "The Protoplasmic Theory of Life" states broadly that few physi- 

 ologists will agree with the statement in the book that the nerves 

 are not better fitted for the conduction of electric currents than 

 the other moist tissues, and that they possess no demonstrable 

 apparatus for insulation of these currents. There must be some 

 misunderstanding here, for I have adduced proofs from Dubois- 

 Reymond, Ranke, Fick, and others, and I believe all physio- 

 logists of note concur in the view as represented by me. The 

 reviewer has apparently overlooked the circumstance that one of 

 the principal points in the chapter was the distinction of the 

 conveyance by nerves of the stimulus caused by electricity, and 

 the mere conduction of an electric current, for he says " there is 

 not the least doubt that it is through the nerve-fibres that electric 

 stimulation will most readily and most powerfully affect muscular 

 fibres at a distance." No one, I imagine, does doubt this, but 

 it is not at all the same thing as saying that the nerve is the best 

 medium for affecting the muscle owing to its superior power of 

 conducting electricity, for it may also mean that the nerve is sus- 

 ceptible to the stimulus of electricity. This is, indeed, sufficiently 

 shown by the fact that a mechanical stimulation of the nerve will 

 have a similar effect, while we do not attribute to the nerve any 

 superior power of conducting mechanical force. Permit me to 

 refer to the additional light thrown on the question in the 

 recently published work of Prof. Vulpian (" Le9ons sur d'Ap- 

 pareil Vaso-moteur, " 1S75). It had been asserted by Legros 

 and Onimus, that on passing a galvanic current through a nerve 

 containing vaso-motor filaments, the ascending current caused 

 contraction, while the descending ones produced dilatation of the 

 capillary arteries. The experiments of Vulpian and Carville 

 yielded results not in accordance with this statement, and both 

 currents were found to cause contraction. Vulpian explains this 

 discrepancy by pointing out that Legros and Onimus assumed to 

 act on particular nerves by sending the current through the skin 

 and subjacent parts. " Not only," says Vulpian, " are we not 

 authorised to believe that we act on these nerves by this mode, 

 but, in addition, it is evident that we determine excitation of all 

 the tissues comprehended in the current, the skin among others, 

 and that that excitation may provoke reflex vascular dilatations 

 which complicate the results " (p. 114). To perform the experi- 

 ment properly, it is necessary to secure isolation artificially by 

 cutting the channels of reflex vaso-motor action. Again, if you 

 electrify the sciatic nerve in a dog which has been curarised, no 

 contraction of the voluntary muscles to which it is distributed 

 takes place. And in paralysis of the radial nerve in man from 

 cold, the power of volition over the muscles supplied by it is 

 lost, while the sensory and vaso-motor filaments bound up in the 

 same nerve retain their functional activity. In those cases the 

 power of conducting electricity is not impaired, nor is it indeed 

 in the dead body even ; but here, as expressed by Vulpian, " the 

 musculo-motor filaments have lost their normal aptitude to cause 

 the muscular bundles to pass from the state of repose to the state 

 of activity" (p. 122). What that "normal aptitude" consists in 

 is still a question, but it is certainly not the power of conducting 

 electricity, although a knowledge of the latter is of great im- 

 portance in judging of Dr. Beale's theory of muscular contraction. 



