April 8, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



199 



epithelium is encountered. The lungs exhibit areas of hem- 

 orrhage into the alveoli, and in many of these there has been 

 A desquamation of the alveolar epithelium. Sometimes the 

 •desquamated epithelial cells are quite normal in appearance, 

 while at others they have fragmented nuclei. The collec- 

 lions of lymphoid cells around the medium-sized and larger 

 bronchi show, however, more cells, the nuclei of which have 

 suffered in this way, 



The blood-vessels of the tissues generally contain fewer 

 leucocytes in this instance than in those cases in which the 

 bacilli were introduced beneath the skin. By the latter 

 method an intense local inflammatory process is provoked, 

 associated with the emigration of large numbers of polynu- 

 clear leucocytes. In the former, in which the filtrate, free 

 from organisms, is used for inoculation, the local process is 

 reduced to nil, there is no emigration of leucocytes, and the 

 disease is general from -its inception. This difference is 

 sufiBcient to account for the occurrence of leucocytosis in the 

 one and its absence in the other case. 



It may be considered as established now that the toxic 

 products and not the bacilli themselves invade the tissues 

 in diphtheria. This fact would at once suggest that the gen- 

 eral lesions (those produced at a distance from the seat of 

 iaoculatioo in animals, aud the situation of the local process 

 in human beings) were the efl'ects of the soluble poison dif- 

 fused through the body. Hence, it was desirable to demon- 

 strate this assumption experimentally; and it is not unim- 

 portant to know that the lesions in the tissues produced by 

 bacilli and the toxic principle on the one hand, and by the 

 toxic principle alone on the other, are in perfect correspond- 

 ence with each other. And, moreover, it would seem not to 

 be superfluous to emphasize the occurrence of definite focal 

 lesions in the tissues of the body, produced by a soluble poi- 

 son circulating in the blood. 



DESCRIPTION OF A SUPPOSED NEW SPECIES OF 

 STOEERIA FROM FLORIDA, STORERIA VICTA. 



The species of Storeria here to be described as new was 

 found in the alimentary canal of a specimen of Elaps fulvius, 

 which was taken on the banks of the Oklawaha River, Florida, 

 hy one of my students, Mr. H. T. Mann. The Storeria had 

 been swallowed head first, and had been somewhat digested 

 anteriorly, but the hinder half or two-thirds of the body had 

 undergone little change. Sufficient traces of the cephalic 

 plates were left to show that the latter were those of the 

 genus Storeria, the loreal being certainly absent. About 

 twenty-five of the anterior ventral plates were missing, but 

 the number of these could be determined from the vertebras 

 there exposed. 



The dorsal scales are in fifteen rows. When the scales of 

 the middle of the back are compared under the microscope 

 carefully with those of a specimen of Storeria dekayi of the 

 same size, the former are plainly of a greater proportional 

 width. Whether or not this will hold true in all cases I 

 can not, of course, say. The ventral plates number 146, 

 counting from the angle of the jaw. There are 60 pairs of 

 subcaudal scales. The. anal plate is divided The total 

 length of the specimen is 14 inches, of which 3 are tail. 



The color is gray above, with a tinge of yellow. In the 

 middle of the back are very faint indications of a clay- 

 colored band. This occupies the median three rows of scales. 

 The next row of scales on each side is occupied by an indis- 

 tinct dusky line and by a row of black specks. These lie 

 distant from one another about the length of two scales. 



Lower down on the sides the color becomes paler, but an- 

 other dusky streak is seen lying partly on the lower row of 

 scales and partly on the outends of the ventral plates. The 

 belly is pale yellow, with a row of small, but very distinct, 

 black spots along each side. There is a single spot on each 

 end of each ventral plate, lying about half-way from the 

 middle line of the belly and the outer end of the plate. A 

 few smaller, irregularly placed spots are also seen. The 

 under surface of the tail is plain yellowish white. Storeria 

 dekayi sometimes has black dots on the abdomen, but they 

 are irregularly scattered, or at most do not form rows the 

 whole length of the belly. 



This species appears to differ from Storeria dekayi in the 

 smaller number of dorsal scales (15 instead of 17), in the 

 greater proportional width of the scales, in the somewhat 

 greater number of ventral plates, and in the presence of the 

 two rows of spots on the abdomen. As to the number of 

 ventrals, Mr. Samuel Garman ("Serpents of N. A.," p. 31) 

 states that they vary from 120 to 138. He mentions, how- 

 ever, a specimen from Jalapa, Mexico, which had 145 ven- 

 trals. It is possible that the animal which I here describe as 

 new is a specimen of S. dekayi with a smaller number of 

 scales than usual, but until there is other evidence of this, 

 it seems better to regard it as different. 



From S. occipitomaculata my specimen diil'ers in having 

 a considerably larger number of ventrals and subcaudals 

 than have yet been attributed to that species, in the presence 

 of the rows of ventral spots, and in size. The relations of 

 the specimen appear to lie evidently with S. dekayi. 



The oviducts of the specimen contained a dozen eggs, each 

 somewhat more than a quarter of an inch in length. The 

 coverings of the eggs are extremely thin, from which I infer 

 that the animal brings forth its young alive. This is the 

 case with S. dekayi, and probably with the other species of 

 the genus. 



The specimen here described will be deposited in the Na- 

 tional Museum at Washington. O. P. Hay. 



Irvlngton, Ind., April 2. 



THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE DEAF. 



The following letter was recently addressed to President 

 E. M. Gallaudet of the National College at Washington, by 

 Mr. A. L. E. Crouter, principal of the Pennsylvania Institu- 

 tion for the Deaf and Dumb: 

 President E. M. Gallaudet, Ph.D., LL.D. 



My Dear Sir : Since my return fx-om the meeting of the Board 

 of the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech 

 to the Deaf, held in your city in January, my thoughts have fre- 

 qiiently recurred to a matter of much interest to the association, 

 and, to my mind, of vital importance to your college work, namely, 

 the introduction of oral methods in the instruction of a portion, at 

 least, of the young men and women who come to you for a higher 

 education than the primary schools of the country are able to 

 afford them. 



And, in venturing to address you formally upon the subject, I 

 beg you to believe that I am not impelled by any spirit of captious 

 criticism, nor by any desire to intermeddle with the affairs of yoiu- 

 excellent and well conducted school, but simply and solely to sug- 

 gest for your consideration a step which I sincerely believe will, 

 if put into effect, greatly promote and extend the usefulness of 

 the college whose affairs you have so long and so ably directed. 



As you are aware, Mr. Greenberger, at our meeting; in Wash- 

 ington, brought up the question of oral instruction (recitations) 

 for oral students at Kendall Green, maintaining that, in a school 

 supported by the national government, equal educational advan- 



1 From the Silent World. 



