July 30, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



97 



shallow and weak ones ; and in both of these series 

 the diaplu-agm and thoracic muscles do not take 

 equal parts. When the diaphragm works much, 

 the other muscles take some rest, and reciprocally. 

 When mind and body are quiet, the respiration is 

 less dee]) and more frequent, and the diaphragm 

 is somewhat lazier than usual. But a more im- 

 portant fact is, that the number and depth of the 

 respiratory movements are not proportioned to the 

 needs of the organism, and the conclusion drawn 

 therefrom is, that we usually breathe more than 

 is necessai-y, when in ordinary conditions under 

 the sea-level barometric pressure. For instance, 

 on high moimtains we breathe less air than on the 

 sea-level, and do not find ourselves any the worse 

 for it. M. Mosso gives many other very interest- 

 ing conclusions, some of which refer to the Cheym- 

 Stokes respiratory rhythm ; but we cannot give 

 more than the principal facts in this letter. How- 

 ever, we must quote the singular and unexpected 

 conclusion, that there is no unique respiratory 

 centre. This conclusion seems rather difificult to 

 admit, but the matter is worth investigation. Pro- 

 fessor Mosso's memoir is a very long one, and can- 

 not be easily reviewed in a short space. 



Another interesting paper on the biological 

 sciences is that of Professor Sanson, on ' The com- 

 parison of the Living organism as an animated 

 motor with the steam-engine.' His conclusion is 

 that the animated motor is more economical than 

 the engine, if it is asked, not which of the two 

 gives most work, but which gives the kilogram- 

 metre at least cost-price. But this conclusion ap- 

 plies only to cases in Avhich a great expenditure of 

 force is not required. For instance, in cases where 

 twenty horses can do as well as a steam-engine, it 

 is more economical to use the horses, and it is all 

 the more so that less energy is required ; but if 

 fifty horses can do the work of a steam-engine, it 

 is better, that is, more economical, to have it done 

 by steam. Professor Sanson's paper has been 

 published in the Bevue scientifique of June 19, 

 1886. 



An interesting thesis was published some days 

 ago by M. L. Boutan, assistant of Professor de 

 Lacaze-Duthiers. The subject of it is the ' Anat- 

 omy and development of Fissurella,' a gastropod 

 mollusk. The most important fact is, that in lar- 

 val development, Fissurella passes by two stages 

 which very much remind us of two adult gastro- 

 pod forms of life : one resembles Emarginula ; the 

 other, Bimula. 



Among the recent publications I will point to 

 the supplementary volume published for 1886 by 

 the Archives de zoologie experimentale et generale. 

 As this scientific periodical is now overcrow^ded, 

 some contributors conceived the idea of publish- 



ing their own memoirs at their own expense, and 

 making a volume identical with the ordinary one ; 

 as is often done by the Zeitschrift fur wissen- 

 schaftliche zoologie when papers are too abundant. 

 This supplementary volume, printed and bound 

 exactly in the same style as the ordmary ones, con- 

 tains four memoirs. One is by Y. Delage, profes- 

 sor of zoology in the Sorbonne, on a Balaenoj)tera 

 musculus found on the Normandy coast. It con- 

 tains a number of new anatomical facts concern- 

 ing this animal, and is accompanied by a series of 

 very fine plates. The second memoir relates to 

 the physiology of miiscular contraction of inverte- 

 brated animals (with thu'ty-five grapMques), by 

 H. de Varigny, D.Sc. The third is by J. Deniker, 

 D.Sc, and is an excellent monograph of a Gorilla 

 foetus, from an anatomical point of view. Very 

 little has been known hitherto on that subject. 

 The last one is M. Boutan's memoir, of which we 

 have just spoken. This supplementary volume is 

 a very big one, and contains a great many more 

 engravings and plates than the ordinary ones do. 

 It is to be hoped that the enterprise of the authors 

 will prove successful, and encourage other similar 

 experiments. V. 



Paris, July 10. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Professor Weichselbaum of Vienna has re- 

 cently collected tlie opinions of the leading medi- 

 cal authorities on the causation of pneumonia, 

 and regards the proof of its bacterial origin as 

 abundantly established. He has investigated one 

 hundred and twenty-seven cases, besides having 

 made a large number of experiments, using the 

 material obtained from lungs affected with this 

 inflammation. As a result of his labors, he finds 

 four varieties of micro-organisms in this affection: 

 1. The diplococcus pneumoniae, which occurred 

 in ninety-one of the cases (these are oval, ellipti- 

 cal, or round cocci, and are sometimes in pairs 

 and sometimes form chains) ; 2. Streptococcus 

 was found in twenty cases (this microbe resembles 

 the first variety, but is, as a rule, more spherical) ; 

 3. Staphylococcus aureus s. albus was detected 

 only in secondary pneumonia ; 4. Bacillus pneu- 

 moniae, as its name implies, is rod-shaped (this 

 form was found in nine cases). Whenever other 

 affections co-existed with pneumonia, and ap- 

 peared to be secondary to it, as in meningitis, 

 pleui-isy, or pericarditis, they w^ere determined to 

 be due to these micro-organisms. 



— The senate conferees on the naval appropria- 

 tion bill have receded from their disagreement to 

 the clause making provision for the new observa- 

 tory buildings. This practically insures the ap- 



