Decembeb 25, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



931 



any marked change over the region of the eye, 

 the only indication of the place where the 

 eye should be being a slight absence of pig- 

 ment and a more delicate texture. When the 

 dorsal integument was removed, no evidence 

 of an eyeball was to be noted. The optic 

 pedicel was present and in a normal condi- 

 tion as to both size and position. The several 

 recti muscles were recognized with difficulty. 

 Their origin was as in the right eye, but they 

 were inserted into loose connective tissue sur- 

 rounding the optic pedicel with their fibers 

 from 2 to 5 mm. long. The fibers in the recti 

 muscles of the right eye were 10-15 mm. long, 

 which indicates something of the amount of 

 degeneration of the recti muscles in the 

 atrophied eye. 



The trochlear, oculo-motor and abducens 

 nerves were each found piercing the cranial 

 capsule and passing to the short and mostly 

 fused recti muscles. So far as one could de- 

 termine by a gross examination, these nerves 

 were the same as those passing to the fully 

 developed eye, except much shorter. The 

 optic nerve was surrounded by a greater 

 amount of connective tissue than in the 

 normal eye and terminated distally and ab- 

 ruptly at the end of the optic pedicel, with 

 which it was closely united. 



Two explanations are suggested for the dis- 

 appearance of this eye. First, the loss of the 

 eyeball was due to some injury. If such were 

 the cause, then one would expect to find some 

 evidence in the form of a scar, etc., but noth- 

 ing was seen which pointed conclusively to any 

 previous injury. Secondly, for some reason of 

 which we have no knowledge, the embryonic 

 eyeball tissues were arrested in their develop- 

 ment. This seems the more probable as the 

 integument over the eye was so much like the 

 rest of the skin. The material was not fixed 

 satisfactorily for a histological study. 



W. M. Smallwood 

 Zoological Laboeatoky, 

 Syeacuse XJniveesity 



THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEETINGS OF 

 SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 

 The American Agsociation for the Advancement 

 of Science and the national scientific societies 



named below will meet at the Johns Hopkins 

 University, at Baltimore, during convocation week, 

 beginning on December 28, 1908 : 



American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. — Retiring president, Professor E. L. 

 Nichols, Cornell University; president-elect. Pro- 

 fessor T. C. Chamberlin, University of Chicago; 

 permanent secretary. Dr. L. 0. Howard, Cosmos 

 Club, Washington, D. C; general secretary. 

 Dr. J. Paul Goode, University of Chicago. 



Local Executive Committee. — William H. 

 Welch, M.D., chairman local committee; Henry 

 Barton Jacobs, M.D., chairman executive com- 

 mittee; William J. A. Bliss, secretary, Joseph S. 

 Ames, William B. Clark, R. Brent Keyser, Eugene 

 A. Noble, Ira Remsen, John E. Semmes, Francis 

 A. Soper, Hugh H. Young. 



Section A, Mathematics and Astronomy. — ^Vice- 

 president, C. J. Keyser, Columbia University; 

 secretary. Professor G. A. Miller, University of 

 Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. 



Section B, Physics. — Vice-president, Professor 

 Carl E. Guthe, State University of Iowa; secre- 

 tary. Professor A. D. Cole, Ohio State University, 

 Columbus, O. 



Section C, Chemistry. — Vice-president, Professor 

 Louis Kahlenberg, University of Wisconsin; sec- 

 retary, C. H. Herty, University of North Carolina, 

 Chapel Hill, N. C. 



Section D, Mechanical Science and Engineering. 

 — Vice-president, Professor Geo. F. Swain, Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology; secretary, G. W. 

 Bissell, Michigan Agricultural College, East Lan- 

 sing, Mich. 



Section E, Geology and Geography. — Vice-presi- 

 dent, Bailey Willis, U. S. Geological Survey; 

 secretary, F. P. Gulliver, Norwich, Conn. 



Section F, Zoology. — Vice-president, Professor 

 C. Judson Herrick, University of Chicago; secre- 

 tary, Professor Morris A. Bigelow, Columbia Uni- 

 versity, New York City. 



Section Q, Botany. — Vice-president, Professor 

 H. M. Richards, Columbia University; secretary. 

 Professor H. C. Cowles, University of Chicago, 

 Chicago, 111. 



Section H, Anthropology. — Vice-president, Pro- 

 fessor R. S. Woodworth, Columbia University ;s 

 secretary, George H. Pepper, American Museum 

 of Natural History, New York City. 



Section I, Social and Economic Science. — Vice- 

 president, Professor W. G. Sumner, Yale Univer- 

 sity; secretary. Professor J. P. Norton, Yale Uni- 

 versity, New Haven, Conn. 



