264 



NA TURE 



\^Feb. 5. 1874 



revive the trade demand, and to discuss such questions as 

 to whether portraits may be re-touched or not, and 

 whether the printing of a photograph from a half-dozen 

 negatives, more or less, is to be regarded as a work of de- 

 sign or not. 



It is not sufScient to put the names of two or three well- 

 known men of science on the council of a society if the 

 society show no care for science ; and if the Photo- 

 graphic Society can do nothing more to merit the nominal 

 position which it holds (without filling it), it is time that 

 it should retire and give place to another. Photography 

 has now become one of the most important aids to 

 research in many fields of Science ; every new discovery 

 which shall develop this assistance and make its efficiency 

 more complete is of importance to the whole world — of an 

 importance which makes it almost incredible that the Pho- 

 tographic Society should not only take no part in the in- 

 vestigations which would lead to discovery, but should never 

 even take recognition of them even when made, while 

 the petty jealousies of the dominant clique have driven 

 out of the society most of the really capable and success- 

 ful investigators who have ever been in it. If the efforts 

 at reform now being made should lead to success and the 

 society become what it should be, a scientific body, so 

 much the better; but if not, it is time that some new 

 organisation should be formed to take in hand seriously 

 the exploration of the still untried fields of chemical re 

 search, and make Photography a real branch of Science, 

 and not deal with it merely as an amusement or a trade. 



ASTRONOMY IN THE ARGENTINE CON- 

 FEDERACY 

 DR. GOULD, the director of the new Observatory in 

 the Argentine Confederacy, continues to send en- 

 couraging accounts of the progress of the great astro- 

 mical works that he has there undertaken. Having 

 laboured to determine accurately the relative brightness 

 of all the stars in the southern heavens visible to the 

 naked eye, he announces that a few weeks will enable him 

 to begin the preparation of this work for publication. 

 Great care has been taken to make a thorough and accu- 

 rate comparison of the results of the four assistants, and 

 the rule has been to determine the brightness of all the 

 stars down to the 73 magnitude, in order to make sure of 

 losing none as bright as the seventh. 



The labour ot the Uranometry was undertaken before 

 the arrival of the large meridian instrument, and as soon 

 as the latter was established (namely, on Sept. 9, 1872), 

 the observations of the zones of all stars as bright as the 

 ninth magnitude were commenced in earnest. Each 

 night three zones are observed whose lengths average 

 about one hundred minutes, the entire observations for 

 the year occupying at least eight hours. The weather is 

 described as having been exceedingly unfavourable for 

 astronomical work during the winter and early spring, 

 until March, April, and Slay of the present year, when 

 magnificent opportunities were enjoyed. Dr. Gould states 

 that he has observed in all during the past year about 

 fifty thousand stars, and considers that somewhat more 

 than half of the work of observing is already finished. 



Astronomers, however, know how great a labour of 

 computation still awaits Dr. Gould and his assistants 

 before his results can be put into that form which is most 

 convenient for use. The photographic work undertaken 

 by him at his own private expense has been prosecuted 

 with all the success that could be expected with a broken 

 lens. Finally, however, he concluded to bespeak another 

 object-f.lass, which will be purchased for the u:e of the 

 observatory ; and the new lens having arrived in perfect 

 order, he hopes before long to be able to resume his 

 labours under better auspices. 



The Cordoba Meteorological Bureau, established ; at 

 his urgent representation by the national Government, 



has been organised and brought into working condition as 

 rapidly as was practicable ; but as the instruments were 

 necessarily ordered from foreign countries, not more than 

 half of them had arrived at the latest advices. Dr. 

 Gould has, however, had the gratification of finding two 

 gentlemen who have each carried on an uninterrupted 

 series of observations for some dozen years past — one in 

 Buenos Ayres, and the other near the Patagonian frontier 

 — and he has secured the co-operation of about fifteen 

 correspondents. The programme issued for the instruc- 

 tion of his observers differs apparently but little from that 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, the hours of observation 

 being seven, two, and nine, local time. 



THE COMMON FROG* 

 IX. 



THE muscles connected with the human lingual appar- 

 atus are sufficiently complex. One such muscle — the 

 styloliyoid— passes downwards on each side, from a process 

 of the base of the skull to the corniculum of the os-hyoides 



Fig. 63. Fit;. 64. 



Fig. 6.1.— Muscles of the Right Side of the Tongue, i, stylo-glosuis ; 2, 



stylo-hyoid ; 3, stylo-pharyngeus : 4, hyo-glossus ; 5, gcnio-hyoid ; 6, 



genio-glossus : 7, lingualis. 

 Fig. 64. — Head, of the F'ro.t; P/iyil(jiiicdusa, showing the tongue fixed in 



front, but Irec posteriorly. 



or tongue-bone. The tongue-bone of the frog is, as we 

 have seen, relatively far greater than is that of man, 

 and the same may be said for the muscles attached to it, 

 since we have no less than four muscles descending from 

 the skull, and implanted into it, on each side. 



This fact might well be supposed to bear direct rela- 

 tion to the size and mobility of the frog's tongue. This 

 organ in the fr.og and toad is singularly different from the 

 tongues of most familiar animals, in thac it is not free and 

 moveable in front, but bcJiind. These Batrachians take their 

 food by suddenly throwing forwards, out of the mouth, 

 the free hinder end of the tongue. The insect or other 

 small animal struck by it, adheres to it, on account of a 

 viscid saliva with w'hich it is coated. The prey is then 

 suddenly drawn into the mouth and swallowed. 



Here then is a ready explanation of the development 

 of the os-Iiyoidcs and its muscles. There is a difficulty 

 however in that two toads already described, the Pipa and 

 the African form Dactylcthra (Figs, ii and 12), have no 

 tongue whatever. 



Moreover, there is another toad {Rliinopkiynus) which 

 is even more exceptional in its order than these two ; in 

 that its tongue is not free behind, but, like that of ordinary 

 vertebrates, in front (Fig. 13.) 



The f.ict is, that the large tongue-bone of these animals 

 serves, with the muscles attached to it, as much to faci- 

 litate respiration as nutrition. 



It has already been said that the frog has no ribs by 

 the elevation and drpression of which it may alternately 

 fill and empty its lungs. Neither does it possess that 

 transverse muscular partition, the diaphragm, or midrif, 

 which in man's class is the main agent in carrying on that 

 function. 



The lungs of the frog are inflated as follows : — The 



* Continued from p. 1S9. 



