Eee 
142 Scientific Intelligence. 
The authors had reached the conclusion set forth in their memoir, 
when, on looking into the literature of the subject, they found that in 
they had fallen unappreciated, and that in many instances they had not 
even been honored by a notice, or when noticed had been pee Fe only 
to be condemned.” 
In the dissertation above referred to, Townson fairly demonstrated the 
action of the abdominal muscles, and fairly recognized their true use, his 
conclusions being based upon a series of well devised experiments. ’ He 4 
how ad but an imperfect knowledge of the compressor muscle, being 
ignorant of the anterior portion of it, and supposing that pressure was 
applied only to the hinder lobes of lungs instead of the whole of 
Townson’s explanation, which has been not only for the most 
part neglected, but criticised by Cuvier as erroneous, has at length been 
from obscurity, and proved, s it goes, in all respects true, 
and will hereafter receive the credit which it so richly deserve 
add es the above mentioned resul memoir contains a very 
impo! ras we are informed, an entirely new, investigation E 
of the seaieles of the nerves governing the movements of the glottis. : 
We should pass beyond the limits of a merely bibliographical notice if 
we en upon the anatomical and experimental details on which it 
rests, and will simply add the following fae ists of them by the authors, 
so far as they relate to the nerves of the larynx 
Ist. In Chelonians, the superior laryngeal nerve is distributed both to 
the opening and closing muscles of the glottis. 
2d. The wkend ee nerve is Fistributed solely to the opening 
muscle of the 
. A true iicn exists between the two sn ni laryngeal nerves. — 
This last proposition covers a curious and hitherto undescribed distr- 
bution of the laryngeal nerves, viz: a complete decussation or interming- ‘ 
age sesh of the larynx not only get fibres of the superior netba i 
upper 
continue, because filaments of the undivided nerve not only pass to the 
muscles of the same side, but, by means of the chiasm, to those of the 
ps cena if the upper nerves of both sides are divided, th 6 parayee 
Fneigi contains a dig 3s number of anatomical details and | 
si experiments of great interest, which we must leave 
