October 29, 1886.] 



sciEJsrcM 



385 



frogs, and where he noticed for the first time the 

 facts that led him. to his fertile discovery. 



M. Brown-Sequard delivered a communication 

 on rigor mortis at the last meeting of the Acade- 

 ray of sciences. It is known that this phenome- 

 non is generally ascribed to an hypothetical coagu- 

 lation of myosin after death. Dr. Brown-Sequard 

 shows, that, if blood is injected in rigid limbs, 

 rigor disappears immediately, and appears again 

 if the blood introduction ceases. This fact has 

 been noticed by him, even twenty-eight days after 

 death. If, during the first eight hours after death, 

 a limb is maintained in a state of constant agita- 

 tion by means of some mechanical contrivance, 

 no rigidity appears. It is to be noted, also, that 

 cadaverous rigidity does not affect nervous excita- 

 bility. Dr, Brown-Sequard does not believe in the 

 theory of myosin-coagulation, and thinks that 

 muscular tissue retains, after death, a particular 

 sort of vitality. 



M. Succi, concerning whose fasting experiment 

 I gave you some particulars in my last letter, has 

 victoriously achieved his feat, and is getting on 

 quite well. He intends to renew the experiment 

 in Paris. However, he is not considered as much 

 more than a humbug ; and to persons of a scien- 

 tific turn of mind his experiment does not seem to 

 have been conducted in a serious manner. As E. 

 de Cyon remarks in a short but ' telling ' paper on 

 the subject, there is no proof whatever that M. 

 Succi has not been able to feed himself secretly. 



Among ne«' books I must say a word of the 

 memou's published during the competition for fel- 

 lowships in the medical school. Some subjects are 

 interesting ; for instance, ' On progress of tera- 

 tology since Geoffrey Saint Hilaire ' (by Prince- 

 teau), ' Muscular work and heat ' (by Tapie), ' The 

 origin of heat and power in living organisms ' (by 

 Lambliug), ' Alkaloids of animal origin ' (by 

 Hugounenq), ' Pigments and coloring-matters of 

 animal economy ' (by Villejean), ' Air ' (by Morelle), 

 * Calorimetry and thermometry ' (by Malosse). 

 Generally speaking, these memoirs are good and 

 substantial, and they give a good idea of the 

 present state of science concerning tlie questions 

 to which they refer. 



The professors of the different schools are com- 

 ing back to Paris, and preparing their winter work. 

 In the medical school some considerable material 

 changes are being made. The new laboratories 

 are ready, in tlie new building in front of the medi- 

 cal school, and the professors entitled to occupy 

 them are going to move their instruments and 

 books. Professor Vulpian visited his laboratory 

 the other day, and was happy to see that he was 

 to benefit by the change. The fact is, that the old 

 rooms he has occupied in some old houses close to 



the school these many years are quite inappropri- 

 ate for laboratory work, space and light being very 

 scarce. In the new building, although he will 

 have nothing very extraordinary, he will be much 

 better off. But our best French laboratories are 

 small and inconvenient when compared to German 

 ones. Nevertheless, France can boast of many 

 great physiologists, such asMagendie, A. Bernard, 

 Vulpian. Fine laboratories do not create genius, 

 but they help a good deal in making work easier 

 and more accurate. V. 



Paris, Oct. 15. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The Quarterly journal of economics, announced 

 by President Eliot of Harvard at the last com- 

 mencement as having its origin in a fund of 

 fifteen thousand dollars given to Harvard for the 

 purpose by John E. Thayer, Esq., has appeared. 

 While primarily an economic periodical, its pro- 

 spectus does not exclude from treatment current 

 topics in other branches of political and social 

 science. In outward appearance the new Quarter- 

 ly is very attractive, and the contents of this first 

 issue are of excellent character and quality. Pro- 

 fessor Dunbar, the editor, writes the opening 

 article on ' The reaction in political economy.' To 

 him " this movement appears to be no revolution, 

 but a natural reaction, probably salutary, and 

 destined to promote ultimately a rapid but still 

 orderly development of the science, upon the lines 

 laid down by the great masters of what is called 

 the deductive school." In view of its historical 

 and ethical aspect and its directing the attention 

 of the economic world to new problems. Professor 

 Dunbar thinks that the importance of this move- 

 ment can hardly be overrated ; but nevertheless 

 it is not an absolute break, as is sometimes sup- 

 posed, in the continuity of economic thought. 

 The second article, by Mr. Arthur T. Hadley of 

 Yale college, treats of ' Private monopolies and 

 public rights.' It deals principally with the railroad 

 problem. Mr. S. Dana Horton, whose reputation 

 is international, writes learnedly and clearly on 

 'Silver before congress in 1886.' It is a strong 

 argument for immediate action by congress in 

 order to put an end to the ' present amorphous and 

 anomalous state of affairs.' Following the lead- 

 ing articles come valuable notes and memoranda, 

 and an interesting letter on economics in France 

 by Arthur Mangin. The bibliography for the 

 quarter is appended, carefully classified, and in an 

 appendix is included a partial translation of 

 Wagner's review of Cohn's ' System der national- 

 okonomie,' from a late number of the Jahrbilcher 

 fur national-okonomie u. statistik. The first num- 

 ber is in every way commendable, and we can 



