152 KiiPOKr — 1870. 



3. That tetrasodic pj-ropliospliate is a body of great poisouous activity, inducing 

 death without materially affecting the irritability of voluntary muscles or of nerves. 

 It exerts an action on the spinal cord and medulla oblongata not unlike that exer- 

 ted by sodium salts of vauadic acid. On the heart its action is similar to that of 

 salts of vanadic acid. On general nutrition and on the alimentary canal (when 

 any action resulted) the effects were like those of poisoning by phosphorus, viz. 

 fiitty degeneration of kidneys, muscular tissue of heart and oi' liver on the one 

 hand, and hcemorrhagic infarctions and brown patchy congestion of the alimentary 

 mucous membranes. When introduced into the alimentary canal fatal results 

 never followed, this being probably due to rapid elimination. " 



On the Action of Pifrop}ios2}horic Acid on the Circulation. 

 By Prof, Arthur Gakgee, F.Ii.^., John Priestley, and Leopold Larmuth. 



The authors described experiments on rabbits and frogs in which sodium pyro- 

 phosphate was introduced into the system, chiefly by venous injection. They dis- 

 covered in rabbits a twofold change in the circidation, occurring within 6-2o 

 seconds after injection of the drug, viz. ( 1) a fall iu blood-pressiu-e and ('2) a marked 

 slowing of pulse-rate, which they believe they have proved to be due to an 

 action ou the vaso-motor ceutre in the medulla oblongata and au action on the in- 

 trinsic motor mechanism of the heart respectiYel3^ 



On the Brain of the Canidte. By Egbert Garner, F.L.S., F.Ii.C.S, 



The author infers, drawing his conclusions from the measurements of the capacity 

 and from casts of the interior of the skulls of different dogs, that the size of the 

 brain does not very closely correspond with the size of the animal. He is also 

 disposed to argue for the derivation of our domestic dogs from one or more wild 

 dogs ; but of the more remote origin of the latter he does not propose to treat. 

 From the table it will be seen that no dog has so large a brain as the wolf, or one 

 so small as the jackal, from both which animals he has been supposed to have been 

 domesticated ; his brain seems specitic in size. Though Mr. Darwin has shown 

 that the hirge tame rabbit has a smaller brain than the wild one, yet we could hardly 

 suppose that the dog, if he were a domesticated wolf, would have his brain so dimi- 

 nished, the circumstances of the two cases difl'ering very widely. For similar 

 reasons, if cither the wolf or the jackal must be assigned as the source of the 

 domestic dog, perhaps preference must be given to the latter. Little account need 

 be taken of the likeness often seen between these different animals, or of the simi- 

 larity of the cerebral folds, any more than of the corresponding circumstances in 

 the Fehdte. 



Though neither the size of the brain nor the intelligence of the dog increase in 

 the exact ratio of the size of the body, yet the two former seem to correspond 

 better to each other. Li large dogs the skull, as a whole, rather than its brain- 

 cavity increases, and this for muscular attachment, size of teeth, &c. But it is not 

 easy to advance further and connect the various powers of dogs with any pecu- 

 liarity of brain organization. Li dogs with line scent, as the hound, the "rhinou- 

 cephalon is elongated or cnlnrged and the whole brain also lengthened, and this 

 throws back the three arched folds which are situated over the lissure of Sylvius ; 

 the smaller dog?:, noted for acuteuess of smell as well as sagacity, as the terrier, 

 may have a short but deep rhinoucephalon, fuller convolutions, and the arched folds 

 more upright. A distinct inner and anterior lobule is seen in front of the upper 

 transverse sulcus, as well as in the hog, sheep, and horse, but little developed in the 

 cat, where smell is less acute ; in the sheep it is covered with pigment like the 

 olfactory nerve, and it appears to be the terminus of the inner root of the nerve. 

 The above description comprises most of what is seen on the surface of the brain, 

 and the elongated and simple folds, of which, however, the upper one is bifurcated 

 before and behind, somewhat correspond with Mr. Swan's later dissections, obscure 

 as is his text ; there is, however, a superadded tract bordering the longitudinal 



