December 26, 1907J 



NA TURE 



187 



Africa or India, and it is improbable that they are re- 

 presented in the Russian Permian. If this be so, pelyco- 

 saurs are unknown in any country where anomodonts (in 

 the wider sense of that term) occur, so that the two groups 

 may apparently be regarded as belonging to totally distinct 

 faunas. 



Dr. Case appears to have done his work very thoroughly, 

 and the memoir is profusely illustrated. Before, however, 

 expressing an opinion as to whether his restorations of 

 cranial, and especially palatal, osteology are trustworthy, 

 it would be essential to compare the original specimens 

 with the figures. R- L. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Bv the will of Sir William G. Pearce, Bart., chairman 

 of the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Ltd., 

 who died on November 2, Trinity CcUege, Cambridge, 

 will benefit to the extent of more than 400,000/. upon the 

 death of Lady Pearce, should he have left no child. 



TiiK joint matriculation board which directs and con- 

 trols ihe matriculation examination of the universities of 

 Leeds. Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield has issued 

 its report for the year 1907. The number of candidates 

 in Julv was 1,294, of whom 705 passed; and in September 

 was 4;,.s, of whom 179 passed. The board has appointed a 

 committee to draft a scheme for the inspection and 

 examination of schools, and it has been assured by the 

 universities of their general approval of the objects of the 

 proposal. 



A coxFERENXE of teachers, arranged by the London 

 Countv Council, will be held at the Medical Examination 

 Hall, \"ictoria Embanknifnl, London, on January 2, 3, and 

 4. Two meetings will be held each day, and begin at 

 II a.m. and 2 p.m. The subject for the first meeting will 

 be nature-study, and addresses will be delivered by Dr. 

 T. P. Nunn and Messrs. H. E. Turner and J. T. Wink- 

 wnrlh. At the second meeting the teaching' of botany will 

 ■ liscussed, and the speakers will include Miss Lulham, 

 Lilian Clarke, and Miss von Wyss. At the fifth meet- 

 manual work in the lower standards of elementary 



I: ,uls will be considered, and Dr. Slaughter and Messrs. 

 I C. Hudson and P. B. Ballard will speak. At the 

 !.;-.i meeting Mr. \V. J. Hazlitt will read a paper on open- 

 Mi i^eographv. -Applications for lickets of admission should 

 111- made to Dr. Kimmins. Education Department of the 

 L.indon County Council, \'ictoria Embankment, W.C. 



I'liE annual meeting of public school science masters 

 will be held at Westminster School on January 14, 1908. 

 1 hr meeting will commencp at 10 a.m., when an exhibition 

 of scientific apparatus will be opened. During the morning 

 the president. Prof. H. A. Miers, F.R.S., will deliver an 

 address upon the order in which science subjects should be 

 taught (a) in public schools, (b) at the universities. In the 

 morning also a discussion on teaching mechanics will be 

 opened by papers on the educational value of mechanics 

 by Mr. C. F. Mott, of Giggleswick School, and on the 

 teaching of practical mathematics by Mr. H. Wilkinson, of 

 Durham School. In the afternoon a discussion on teach- 

 ing physics will take place, when papers will be read by 

 Mr. C. Cumming, of Rugby School, on a scheme of labor- 

 atory work in physics ; Mr. W. E. Cross, of Whitgift 

 Grammar School, on a suitable curriculum for the first and 

 second years; and Mr. J. M. Wadmore, of Oldenham 

 School, on the compulsory teaching of elementary physics to 

 junior forms. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society, December 5. — "On the Distribution of 



the Diffrrr-nt .Arteries supplying the Human Brain." By 



Dr. C. E. Beevor. Communicated by Prof. David 



Ferrier, F.R.S. 



The area of distribution of the different arteries of the 

 brain was ascertained, when they were injected simul- 



taneously under the same pressure with gelatin containing 

 soluble colours, a method not used before. 



The number of brains injected was eighty-seven. The 

 arteries injected were the posterior communicating, the 

 anterior choroid, the anterior cerebral, the middle cerebral, 

 and the posterior cerebral. 



The method of investigation consisted in injecting 

 simultaneously by means of pressure bottles, three, four, or 

 five of these arteries with different soluble colours. The 

 injection mass used was gelatin, coloured with soluble 

 carmine, Nicholson's blue, naphthol green, acridine yellow-, 

 and Bismarck brown. Twelve different classes of experi- 

 ments were described. The brains were hardened in 

 formalin, and subsequently cut and examined in the 

 sagittal, horizontal, or coronal planes. 



The parts of the brain, the arterial supply of which 

 hitherto has not been described, or which was found to be 

 different from that described by other observers, are : — 



The regio subthalamica, with the corpus subthalamicum 

 and Forel's field; the pes pedunculi ; the corpus mam- 

 millare ; the anterior limb of the internal capsule ; the 

 caudate and lenticular nuclei ; the different nuclei of the 

 optic thalamus (the thalamus is not supplied by the 

 lenticulo-optic arteries of Duret) ; the anterior part of the 

 choroid membrane, which is supplied by the aiiterior 

 choroid artery ; the fornix and the anterior commissure. 

 The absence of anastomoses of the three arteries supplying 

 the posterior limb of the internal capsule and of the two 

 arteries to the head of the caudate nucleus was also 

 noted. 



In the cortex, the anterior cerebral area extends on the 

 outer surface along the median line posteriorly, most 

 frequently to mid-way between the Rolandic fissure and 

 the external parieto-occipital fissure, and inferiorly to the 

 sulcus frontalis suoerior. The middle cerebral area on the 

 outer surface reaches the middle line for the posterior half 

 of the parietal lobe, and posteriorly the posterior pole, or 

 half an inch in front of it, and inferiorly the middle of 

 the third temporal gyrus. The occipital fibres of the optic 

 radiations in the superior lip of the calcarine fissure are 

 usually supplied by the middle cerebral artery, and in the 

 inferior lip by the posterior cerebral, except for about the 

 posterior inch, which is supplied entirely by the posterior 

 cerebral. 



The knowledge of the exact part of the brain which is 

 supplied hv an artery is of great importance in the d'agnos's 

 of the parts of the brain which undergo softening when 

 this particular artery is blocked by a blood clot. 



" The Influence of Increased Barometric Pressure on 

 Man. No. 4. The Relation of Age and Body Weight to 

 Decompression Effects." By Leonard Hill, F.R.S., and 

 M. Greenwood, jun. 



Conclusions. — (i) Small mammals are relatively immune 

 from decompression effects. 



(2) This immunity depends on rapidity of circulation, 

 and may be destroyed by damaging the latter with chloro- 

 form. 



(3) .Age is probably important per se, but of far less 

 importance than body weight. We have no convincing 

 proof that two animals of the same weight but different 

 ages would exhibit unequal resisting powers. 



(4) There is no evidence that small animals are more 

 quicklv poisoned by high pressures of oxygen tinan large 

 ones. 



The practical outcome of this research is that young 

 men of small body weight and possessing a vigorous 

 circulation should be selected for compressed air works. 



Royal Meteoroloirical Society. November 20. — Dr. 

 M. R. Mill, president, in the chair. — Reports on the results 

 obtained by the balloon observations made in the British 

 Isles, Julv 22-27. The International Aeronautical Com- 

 mission has for some years set apart the first Thursday 

 in each month for the ascent of kites and balloons, but at 

 last year's conference it was decided to make a special 

 effort to obtain information on a series of consecutive days, 

 and the last week in July was finally decided upon for the 

 purpose. Twenty-five b.illoons with registering instru- 

 ments were sent up in England and Scotland during the 

 week, under the direction of Mr. W. H. Dines, at Pyrton 



NO. I 99 I, VOL. •/'/'\ 



