Jnly 4, 1872] 



NATURE 



189 



instances equally good, the botanical ones from the pencil 

 of Mr. Worthington Smith, and they abound on ahnost 

 every page. Some of them might certainly have been 

 spared, as, for instance, the drawings of Mr. Smee's gar- 

 den roller and water-pot, which do not appear to differ 

 essentially from similar instruments which might be found 

 in any other garden. But these are small defects, which 

 scarcely depreciate from the value of the work in helping 

 to promote among the inhabitants of our great cities a 

 healthy love of country pursuits, and of the study of Nature 

 herself. A. W. B. 



NOTES 



Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.R.S., has been elected 

 Vice-Chancellor of the University of London in the room of .Sir 

 Edward Ryan, who accepted the office for a year only on the 

 death of the late Air. Grote. We may congratulate ourselves 

 that by this appointment the interests of Science will be well 

 looked after in the future career of the metropolitan University. 



Dr. H. W. Acland, Regius Professor of Medicine, and Dr. 

 G. RoUcston, Linacre Professor of Physiology, have been nomi- 

 nated to represent the University of Oxford on the Committee of 

 Reference for the Medical Examining Board for England. 



At the examination for the degree of D. Sc. just concluded at 

 the University of London, the following gentlemen passed to the 

 satisfaction of the examiners: — In Branch VI. — Electricity, 

 Alexander Muirhead ; in Branch IX. — Animal Physiology, 

 Henry Newell Martin, M.B. 



The following despatch from Dr. Kirk respecting Dr. Living- 

 •tene, dated Zanzibar,, May 2, is published in the Times of India : 

 — " Letters have been received fiom Unyanyembe, and Mr. 

 Stanley is now within a few days of the coast on his return, 

 having with him a large box full of correspondence and papers. 

 Arabs state that Dr. Livingstone has visited Uvira, and found 

 the River Rusiri flowing into the lake ; but on this point we must 

 await Dr. Livingstone's own report. He then returned to Ujiji, 

 and was met by Mr. Stanley. Dr. Livingstone has gene to 

 Unyanyembe, where he remains. He is in good health, and in- 

 tends further exploiations south after arrival of additional stores 

 from the coast. Two of the Natsick boys who started some 

 J ears ago with liim are in his company, and he is said to be .still 

 uslrg the sextant, and ta ing observations regularly. All hs 

 letters are in Mr. Stanley's care." Another despatch, published 

 in the Bombay Gazelle, dated Zanzibar, May 3, says: — "Dr. 

 Livingstone has reached Unyanyembe. At Ujiji he was met by 

 Mr. Stanley, who is expected daily at Zanzibar, having in his 

 hands a large case of correspondence that will fully explain Dr. 

 Livingstone's recent travels, embracing the north end of the 

 Tanganyika Lake, and solving the Nile problem. Dr. Living- 

 stone is said to remain still in the Unyamwazi country, and to 

 intend further discoveries to the southward on the receipt from 

 Zanzibar of additional supplies and stores. The Livingstone 

 Relief Expedition is now on the African coast ready with all the 

 necessaries for Afiican travel, and Dr. Livingstone's son forms 

 one of its members." 



It is with regret that we have to record the death, on the 27th 

 ult., of Mr. Charles Hill, at his residence, Cotham Grove, Bristol. 

 The deceased gentleman was in his 7Slh year, and for a long 

 time had taken much interest in astronomical matters. Mr. 

 Hill was in the possession of an excellent observatory, and his 

 scientific instruments were of the first order. 



At the provincial meeting of the Horticultural Society, held 

 at Birmingham last week. Prof. Thiselton Dyer read an .addrees 

 on the bearing of recent scientific investigations on horticirlture. 



In his third and concluding lecture at the College of Surgeons, 

 Prof Hu)iiphry continued his exposition of the morphology and 

 homology of the muscles of the limbs in man. Though arranged 

 in accordance with the movements of the several joints of the 

 limbs upon the flexor and extensor aspects, yet the extensor 

 muscles not unfrequently incline on the sides of the joints, 

 from the extensor to the flexor aspects, .and so, irrespective of 

 their nerve-supply, acquire a flexor action. This he believed to 

 be the case with the biceps flexis cruris, which he has shown, 

 from the anatomy of the Cryptobranch in the last number of the 

 yournal of Anatomy, to be a derivative from the ex ensor mass 

 in the thigh. Occasionally, also, as in the case of the Inmhri- 

 caUs, flexor muscles acquire an extensor action. He spoke of 

 the tendinous intersection in the semitendinosus as being the re- 

 presentative of a similar intersection in the Cryptobranch found 

 at the junction of the caudal with the femoral muscle ; and be- 

 lieved it to be present in man for the purpose of dividing the 

 fibres of this muscle, which are of imusual length in consequence 

 of the range of action required of them by the Insertion of the 

 tendon at a greater distance from the centre of motion at the 

 knee than the other hamstrings. The ulnar origin of the pronator 

 teres is a representative of the pronator intermedins of reptiles. 

 It is found in the chimpanzee as well as in man, and serves to 

 carry on pronation of the forearm in the flexed position of the 

 elbow in which the remainder of the muscle is relaxed. In like 

 manner the accessorius in the foot serves to maintain the flexion 

 of the toes, while the flexor digitornim is relaxed by the bending 

 of the ankle. This muscle has no representative in the upper 

 limb of man, or in the fore limb of mammals, but it is well re- 

 presented in the fore limb of Saurians. The great difference in 

 the consti'uction of the two limbs is caused by the pronation and 

 supination in the fore arm and hand, and by the projection of 

 tlie heel ; and the representatives of the nruscles, which iir the 

 upper limb affect the movements of pronation and of flexion of 

 the fingers, are in the lower limbs, to a considerable extent, con- 

 centrated upon the knee. In instituting the comparison between 

 a hand and foot, the Professor observed that it is necessary to 

 eliminate from the consideration those featui'es which ordinarily 

 distinguish the one limb from the other ; and this has not been 

 done with sufficient cai'e by some of those who have recently dis- 

 cussed the subject. We should first determine the points n 

 which the hand of man differs from the terminal part of the 

 ordinary fore limb of a mammal ; and we may apply the term 

 "hand "to the terminal part of either limb which presents a 

 corresponding modification. This may take place in the hind 

 limb, although the heel may project, and though a peroneus 

 longus nuiscle, and a short flexor, and a short extensor of the 

 digits may be present. The.se have been insisted on as the ana- 

 tomical features of a foot as distinguished from a hand. But in 

 reality they arc rather the features of a hind limb as distinguished 

 from a fore limb ; and their presence is quite compatible with a 

 modification of the hind limb corresponding with that modifica- 

 tion of the fore limb which constitutes the hand of man. 

 Judged in this way the terminal par of the hind limb of a gorilla 

 or a chimpanzee has as much claim to be called a hand as has 

 the terminal part of the fore limb in the same animals. Hence 

 the term " quadruraanous " is, on anatomical ground, fairly 

 apphcable to these animals and their allies, as there is no suffi- 

 cient reason to deny to man the prerogative of speci.al subdivision 

 of labour in the parts of his frame, and, consequently, of high 

 organisation which is significantly imphed by the term 

 "bimanous." These lectures are in course of publication in 

 fuU in the British Medical Joiinial. 



The concluding excursions of the Geologists' Association for 

 the present season will be as follows : — Monday, July 8, excur- 

 sion to Walton-on-the-Naze ; director. Prof Morris. Saturday, 

 July 13, visit to the International Exhibition ; director. Prof. 



