676 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 70. 



misconception. Though the content of sense 

 may be diversified, only one thing is ever in the 

 focus of consciousness at a given time. Atten- 

 tion becomes a set of rapidly repeated repro- 

 ductions. In thinking intently of one thing we 

 limit the field of oscillation and cut off dis- 

 tractions as much as possible, but the oscilla- 

 tions with the various resulting associations 

 continue and give pregnancy to the meditation. 

 Attention is a name for the play of conscious- 

 ness, and a study of its laws reduces, on the one 

 hand, to the investigation of neural equilibrium, 

 and, on the other, to a natural history of con- 

 sciousness. The conditions of inner attention 

 are those of association and inhibition. 



A Note on the Cerebral Fissuration of the Seal 

 (Phoca vituUna). By Pierre A. Fish. 

 The description and illustrations of this brain 

 show that it clearly possesses the carnivorous 

 type of fissural pattern, in spite of several com- 

 plexities which tend to obscure the type. 



Morphology of the Nervous System of Cypris. By 



C. H. Turner. 



This is the first instalment of a monogTaph 

 on the Ostracoda which Prof. Turner has had 

 in preparation for several years. It is accom- 

 panied by six plates. The ganglia and nerves 

 of the central nervous system aud the sense 

 organs of Cypris are described with consider- 

 able minuteness. Labial, labral and thoracic 

 nerves are described for the first time among 

 the Ostracoda. Several new sense organs are 

 also described. 



Preliminary Notes on the Cranial Nerves of Cryp- 

 tohranchus alleghaniensis. By J. H. Mc- 

 Gregor. 



In this paper the cranial nerves of the water 

 dog are described, so far as they can be deter- 

 mined by macroscopic methods. 



On Three Points in the Nervous Anatomy of 

 Amphibians. By J. S. Kingsley. 

 This article corrects two errors in Von Ples- 

 seu and Eabinovicz's ' Die Kopfnerven von 

 Salamandra maculata,' the one concerning the 

 anastomosis between the ophthalmicus super- 

 ficialis and the maxillary, and the other that 

 between the ophthalmicus profundus and the 

 palatine nerves of Salamandra. Dr. Kingsley 



also points out that the tentacular apparatus re- 

 cently described by Mr. Alvin Davison in Am- 

 phiuma does not exist, and therefore this point 

 cannot be used to show the close relationship 

 between the Coeciliidse and the Amphiumidie. 



The remaining 44 pages of the number are 

 devoted to abstracts and reviews. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 the new YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The Section of Geology and Mineralogy held 

 its regular meeting April 20th, President J. J. 

 Stevenson in the chair. 



The first paper of the evening was by Mr. 

 John D. Irving, on ' The Stratigraphy of the 

 Brown's Park Beds, Utah.' The observation 

 on which the paper was based, was made by 

 Mr. Irving the past summer, while spending a 

 week in Brown's Park, together with Dr. J. L. 

 Wortmaa and his expedition from the American 

 Museum of Natural History, New York. Mr. 

 Irving first sketched the topography and ge- 

 ology of the Green Biver Basin and the Uinta 

 Mountains. He showed the location of the 

 Brown's Park Beds and described their un- 

 conformable position upon the Uinta sandstone 

 and the Green River shales. He next outlined 

 the views that had already been published re- 

 garding their stratigraphical relations, especi- 

 ally those of Clarence King and S. F. Emmons, 

 of the 40th Parallel Survey, who referred them 

 to the Pliocene, and those of C. A. Wbite, of the 

 United States Geological Survey, who referred 

 them to the Eocene. Mr. Irving stated that 

 careful search failed to reveal any fossils, ex- 

 cept a few fragments of bone, which were in 

 such a state that Dr. Wortman considered them 

 to be not earlier than the Pliocene. Mr. Irving 

 then described the Lodore canon and explained 

 the formation of the Lake in which the Browu 

 Park Beds were deposited as due to the Pliocene 

 elevation of the Uinta sandstone that forms the 

 wall of the Lodore canon. When this was cut 

 down by the river the lake disappeared and de- 

 positions ceased. He, therefore, corroborated 

 the original determinations of King aud Em- 

 mons. The paper will appear in full in the 

 Transactions. 



The second paper of the evening was by 



