concluded that the menthol exercised a specific influence on the 
nerves of cold, which were distributed with especial copiousness 
on the forehead. Menthol produced an effect on the nerves of 
warmth and the nerves of feeling of less amount than on the 
nerves of cold. A sensation of warmth after the rubbing in of 
menthol was obtained only at spots which were very rich in 
nerves of warmth. This was most easily obtained on the volar 
side of the lower part of the arm in the neighbourhood of the 
elbow joint. As analogous to his menthol experiments, the 
speaker called to mind how Prof. Herzen had quite recently 
communicated the observation that moderate pressure on the 
nerve-trunk produced a different effect on the cold feeling nerve- 
ends than on the warm feeling nerve-ends.—Prof. Albrecht, 
from Brussels, developed his views on the morphological signi- 
ficance of the auditory ossicles of the middle ear, of the external 
ear, and of the Eustachian tube. Respecting the auditory ossicles 
there had hitherto prevailed two views. There was, first, 
the German view, represented by Prof. Gegenbaur, according 
to which the joint between malleus and incus corresponded to 
the quadrato-mandibular joint of the lower vertebrates, incus 
answering to the os lenticulare, stapes to the os quadratum, and 
malleus to the os articulare. The second view was the English 
one, set up by Prof. Huxley, according to which all four 
auditory ossicles of the mammalia were homologous with the os 
quadratum. The speaker considered both views to be in- 
correct. As to the latter, the four auditory ossicles of the 
mammalia, seeing they lay between the fenestra tympanica and 
the fenestra ovalis, must in his opinion be the homologue of the 
columella of the reptiles, amphibia, and birds, which likewise 
extended from the fenestra tympanica to the fenestra ovalis. 
The columella itself was the homologue of the symplectico- 
hyomandibulare of the fishes. The auditory ossicles had no- 
thing whatever to do with the quadrato-mandibular joint. The 
os quadratum of the lower vertebrates must, on the contrary, be 
sought for at an entirely different place, in the lower part, namely, 
of the pars squamosa of the temporal bone. At this place Prof. 
Albrecht had in point of fact observed in different cases fissures by 
which the superior part was separated from the zygomatic part, the 
proper os quadratum. The middle ear was, in the opinion of the 
speaker, divided by the columella into two sections, of which the 
anterior, the precolumellare, was, through the Eustachian tube, 
brought into connection with the larynx, and, through the 
anterior part of the tympanum, with the external organ of 
hearing. This whole section of the ear was, according to the 
view of Prof. Albrecht, the remains of a special pharyngeal gill- 
segmentation.—Prof. Flesch, as guest, communicated some 
results of his investigations into the peripherical nervous cells. 
The question of the histological diversity of the nerve-cells, 
which, by the labours of Stieda, had been solved in a negative 
sense, had again been taken up by Prof. Flesch. In order toa 
settlement of the question, he had applied himself to the peri- 
pherical nerve-cells and to different methods of staining. It was 
the colouring method with Weigert’s hamatoxylene and treatment 
with osmic acid which especially yielded beautiful results. The 
osmic acid had been used on quite fresh preparations, at most 
five to ten minutes after the death of the animal. The fact at 
once established itself that the nerve-cells, under precisely the 
treatment and under perfectly the same conditions of experi- 
ment, showed variations which were not artificial products. It 
was, first, possible to distinguish between stained and colourless 
cells. The former were mostly small, the latter large. The 
relation of the large pale cells to the small dark cells was a per- 
fectly constant one, and that even in the case of different ani- 
mals. In the peripherical ganglia the pale cells constantly 
amounted to 20 per cent., the dark to So per cent. In the 
spinal marrow, on the other hand, the number of the pale cells 
invariably amounted to about 40 per cent. On further investi- 
gation it came out that little colourless cells also occurred in 
small number. The occurrence of these differences among the 
nerve-cells under use of the most varied staining means and in 
various animals, especially, however, the determinate numerical 
relation of the various groups of nerve-cells in the peripherical 
ganglia and in the spinal marrow, were deemed by the speaker 
to be proofs that there was here a question of physiological 
variations. This difference might be of manifold significance. 
In the first place there might here be a question of various stages 
of development on the part of the nerve-cells—young, adult, and 
senile forms. In the second place the various forms might be 
the expression of a different nature on the part of the nerve-cells : 
one set being, possibly, motory, another sensory, andsoon, In 
NATURE 
{| Way 20, 1886 
the third place and lastly, these various forms might, in a 
manner similar to what had been observed in the glandular 
cells, be the expression of diiferent states of activity or of rest 
on the part of the nerve-cells. By way of arriving at a decision 
among these different possibilities, Prof. Flesch had had a series 
of experimental investigations undertaken which had not yet 
come to a conclusion. The probability, however, was that the 
experiments in question pointed to functional variations on the 
part of the nerve-cells which were the subject of investigation. 
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED 
“The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ire- 
land,” May (Triibner).—‘‘ Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural 
Sciences,” vol. v., No. 1 (Buffalo).—‘‘ Bulletin of the U.S. Geological Sur- 
vey,” Nos. 15-23 (Washington).—“ Bulletin of the U.S. National Museum,” 
| 
| 
No. 23, by N. P. Scudder (Washington).—‘‘ Chemistry of the Gold-Fields,” 
by J. G. Black (Horsburgh, Dunedin).—‘‘ The Monthly Weather Report 
of the Meteorological Office,” December 1885 and January 1886.—‘‘ The 
Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,” May (Longmans).—“‘ Report 
of the New York Meteorological Observatory, 1885.’-—‘‘ Manual of Opera- 
tive Surgery,” by W. A. Lane (Geo. Bell and Sons).— Meteorological 
Record for Quarter ending December 31, 1885,’’ by W. Marriott (Stanford). 
— Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society,” April (Stanford). 
—The Colloquial Faculty for Languages,” second edition, by Dr. W. H. 
Walshe (Churchill). —‘ Proceedings of the Society of Natural History, St. 
Petersburg,” vol. xvi—‘‘Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast 
Naturalists’ Field Club, 1884-85 ” (Mayne and Boyd, Belfast).—‘* The Roti- 
fera or Wheel-Animalcules,” part iv., by C. T. Hudson and P. H. Gosse 
(Longmans).—‘ Engineering Education at Home and Abroad,” by E. 
Mitchell (London). 
CONTENTS PAGE 
The Year-Book of Pharmacy . : .*. . % . len euenen 
Euclid Rievised. 2 = 3 5 2 5 ie eo ne 
Our Book Shelf :— 
Gibbes’s ‘‘ Practical Histology and Pathology.”—Dr. 
E. Kleine RiS: 37.0.) eivall-8 eee 51 
Wallace’s ‘‘ Farm Live-Stock of Great Britain” 51 
Capel’s| ‘* Common-Sense Euclid” . . . . . 3 2) ce m 
Lock’s £* Arithmetic!for Schools ° .-) 2) \s) iene 
Letters to the Editor :— 
Chlorophyll.—C, Timiriazeff. (///ustrated). .. . 52 
The Stone Age in the Malay Peninsula.—A. Hale . 52 
On a Thermo-electrical Phenomenon in Connection : 
with Prof. Balfour Stewart’s Paper on Terrestrial 
Magnetism.—Fred. S. Trouton........ 53 
Do Migratory Birds Return to their Old Haunts ?— ' 
F.C. Taylor... 6 ee Se 1 
The Poison of the Stinging-Nettle.—Alfred. W. 
Bennett POMEETEORORCOMEMAG OO oo oc 
What-is Histioderma?—S. = + =. % < @\ een 
On the Influence of Forests on the Climate of 
Sweden. 3.6 6 aya oo eyhn a Ae io 
Results Deduced from the Measures of Terrestrial 
Magnetic Force in the Horizontal Plane, at the 
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, from 1841 to 1876 54 
Movements on the Sun’s Surface ...- ..... 54 
Education in the United States. By W. Odell .. 55 
Collection of Hairs after Earthquakes in China. By 
W. T. -Thiselton Dyer, C:M.G.; FuR/S) 5 eee 
The U.S, Geographical Survey, ." =<) <6!) een 
The Royal:Society ‘Soirée. “39. 5. 2 2) 
NG TErOeSioeckioriecin Gioto Sato o at ooo E! 
Our Astronomical Column :— 
hel Binary;StaralGentaurig acne a CnOmCme 61 
A New Belgian Observatory 0 ie Teco s Ee 
Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1886 f 
May i23=29 os sch sole es Ve le) cued 
Geographical Notes) 7%) = 2) |. © © ciisnlcneeeenenCa 
The Iron and Steel Institute MO oe 
On Dissociation Temperatures, with Special Refer- 
ence to Pyrotechnical Questions. By Frederick 
Siemens) «fs ion Sn i ae Ge 
On the Effect of Heat in Changing the Structure of 
Crystals of Potassium Chlorate. By H. G. 
WECE Wen eene Gnas oo Gigkaka oO 5 > Of 
Sciencesin Russia’ 2) Gly). sce.) <u rene tenon eee ea 
Scientific:Serials; 220%) <<) ac) o) Nommsieina yee cits tome 
Societies and!Academies =< ss) cueue sos) eee 
Books and Pamphlets Received SLOOMO Ona CO 
