Literary Notices. 375 



892 [i.] A comet appeared tliis year in the tail of Scorpio. It 

 lasted four weeks, and was followed by an extreme drought in 

 April and May. — (Chron. Andegav.) In June a comet with a 

 tail 2° long appeared. — (Ma-tuoan-lm.) 



892 [ii.] In November — December a comet appeared in 

 the sidereal divisions of <£ Sagittarii and /3 Capricorni. — (Ma- 

 tuoan-lin.) 



892. [iii.] On December 28 a comet appeared in the S.W. 

 On December 31, the sky being cloudy, it was not seen. — 

 (Ma-tuoan-lin.) This may be identical with the preceding. 



893. After several months of very bad weather, the clouds 

 went away, and on May 6 a comet was seen near i and k 

 Ursse Majoris, with a tail 100° long. It went towards the E., 

 entered the region lying around /3 Leonis, and traversed Bootis 

 near Arcturus, passing the region around a Herculis. It was 

 visible for six weeks, and its length gradually increased to 200'. 

 The clouds then hid it. — (Ma-tuoan-lin.) The length is incredi- 

 ble, though Gaubil gives the same. 



894. In February — March a comet was seen in Gemini. — 

 (Ma-tuoan-lin.) 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



On the Structure of the so-called Apolar, Unipolar, and Tri- 

 polar Nerve Cells of the Frog. By Lionel S. Beale, F.R.S. etc., 

 etc. Trans. Hoyal Soc, xxvi. 



On Deficiency of Vital Power in Disease. By Lionel S. Beale, 

 M.D., E.R.S., etc. (Richards). 



First Principles. Ibid. 



Archives of Medicine, Edited by Lionel S. Beale, vol. iv. 

 (Churchill). 



The first of these publications would alone secure for Dr. Beale 

 a foremost place amongst physiological microscopists. The plates 

 are beautiful illustrations of a series of investigations truly wonder- 

 ful for the care and skill with which they have been carried out. 

 They are as much an honour to the microscopical science of our 

 country, as they are proofs of the highest order of talent for this 

 class of research. We made a slight mention of this paper in our 

 number for Sept. 1863, p. 148, and we now present the reader with a 

 summary of the most important of its author's conclusions : — 



" 1. That in all cases nerve cells are connected with nerve fibres, 

 and that a cell probably influences only the fibres with which it is 

 structurally continuous. 2. That apolar and unipolar nerve cells 

 do not exist ; but that all nerve cells have at least two fibres in 

 connection with them. 3. That in certain ganglia of the frog there 

 are large pear-shaped nerve cells, from the lower part of which two 

 fibres proved a straight fibre continuous with the central part of the 



