NovEMiiKit :!(), iss;.] 



SCIENCE. 



723 



geniina, so Ions; as the lesion in the latter case does 

 not oxieiiil so doep as to involve the origin of the 

 oculo-niotor nerves, gives the same result. Lesions 

 of the gray matter of the latenil anil posterior walls 

 of the third ventricle, on the ntlicr hand, cause a 

 widening of Ihe pupil, and a loss of the ' direct ' light 

 reflex in the eye of the same side. If, however, the 

 eye on the uninjured side is exposed to the light, a 

 narrowing of the pupil of both eyes takes place, 

 appearing to show lliat the lesion has involved only 

 the afferent fibres, and not the relle.x centre. The 

 author's view of the path of the fibres is, that they 

 leave the oplic nerve at the chiasma, pass directly 

 into the gray matter of the walls of the third ven- 

 tricle, and end finally each in the nucleus of the oc- 

 ulo-motor nerve of its own side. The fibres do not 

 cross anywhere in their, course, since lesions of either 

 side affect only the corresponding eye; and a sagittal 

 section of the floor of the ventricle or of the chiasma 

 is without effect. The nuclei of the oculo-niotor 

 nerves he considers as the true centres for the reflex: 

 and the commissural fibres connecting these nuclei 

 explain the occurrence of the indirect rellex, that is, 

 tlie narrowing of one puiiil when the pupil of the 

 other eye is exposed to light. The dilatation of 

 the pupils which follows p.ainful stimulation of any 

 portion of the periphery of the body cannot be owing 

 to stimulation of fibres running in the sympathetic; 

 since, in the first place, the widening is not maximal, 

 as it is when the sympathetic is directly stimulated. 

 and, in the .secoml place, this reflex is entirely de- 

 stroyed when a deep section is made behind, or in the 

 posterior part of, the corpora (]uadrigeuiina. lie ex- 

 plains the action of painful stimuli as an inhibition 

 of the norjiial light reflex contraction of the pupil. 



The pathological reflex paralysis of tl.e iris, which 

 occurs in certain diseases, in which the iris <loes not 

 respond to stimulation of the eye by light or to pain- 

 ful stimuli of the body, is owing, he thinks, to an 

 aifection of the gr.iy matter of the third ventricle. 

 — {Pfliiger's archie, xxxi. 60.) w. H. H. [438 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 Languages and ethnology. — In a recent com- 

 Miunicatiun, (Justav Oppert proposes to divide lau- 

 gu.Tges, according to tlie mental propensity towards 

 concreleness or abslr.ictness possessed by the various 

 races, and exhibited in their speech, into concrete and 

 abstract languages. The concrete division is again 

 separated into the heterologous (having special words 

 when persons of different sex address each other), 

 and homologous (males and females use the same 

 words as if addressing their own sex). The abstract 

 division is separated into digeneous and trigeneous. 

 In the former all things are either masculine or 

 feminine: in the latter there are three genders. 

 Each division is again subdivided into three classes, 

 as follows: 1°. Elder and younger relatives have 

 special terms, sex denoted by the words 'male' and 

 'female,' or by modulation; 2°. Having special terms 

 for elder brother and elder sister, but one iu common 

 for younger biother and younger sister; .3°. Having 

 foiu- distinct terms for each variety of kinship. 

 Representing the concrete and abstract by C and A, 

 their classes by a and jS, and their groups by 1, 2, 

 and o. and the monosyllabic, incorporative, euphon- 

 ic, euphonic inflectional, alliteral, agglutinative, ag- 

 glutinative infleelioiKil, dissyllabic inflectional, inflec- 

 tional synthetical, and inflectional aiuilytical, by I., 

 II., IIL, IV., v., VI., VII., VIII., IX., and X., any 



Phtsiolooic. 



Monusyl. . 

 Incorp. . . 

 111. I Kupbonic . 



VII. I Agglut. inflect. . 



i 

 Vlll. I l)l»«}l. Inflect. . 



IX. I Inflccl. Bynlhel. 

 \ j Inflict, analyl. . 



