SCIENCE. 



A BIT OF SUMMER WORK. 



BY PROFESSOR BURT G. WILDER, M. D. 



Notwithstanding the number of " Summer Schools 

 of Science" to be in operation this season, many 

 teachers are likely to pass the vacation at a distance 

 from the facilities afforded by organized laboratories. 

 How shall they employ their time ? 



Doubtless they all need rest, and in most cases at 

 least a fortnight should elapse before any intellectual 

 labor is undertaken. An equal period of repose may 

 well occur just before the renewal of teaching in the 

 Fall. But the teacher who hopes to make his instruc- 

 tion each year more thorough and successful than the 

 last, will be pretty sure to spend the remaining month 

 or two in the search of help from books, and, while 

 regretting the vagueness of the information thus ob- 

 tained, may seldom think of making it more real by 

 personal observation. 



Now it is true that in some branches of science this 

 may require appliances not readily obtained. This is 

 the case with Chemistry and Physics, and some parts 

 of Natural History. But Botany and Entomology 

 may be pursued under almost any circumstances, and 

 I venture to suggest that at least one kind of anatom- 

 ical work may be carried on with but a slight amount 

 of apparatus. 



Obviously, the summer is not the most favorable 

 time for study of the viscera, while anatomical details 

 respecting the muscles, vessels and nerves are not es- 

 pecially required for ordinary instruction. But the 

 brain is not only the organ least satisfactorily treated 

 in the text-books, but at the same time the one con- 

 cerning which the most should be known, from the 

 double standpoint of physiology and psychology. 



But how can the teacher procure brains, and how 

 shall he preserve them when obtained ? 



The question is a perfectly natural one in view of 

 the prevailing impression that cerebral structure is to 

 be learned from the human brain alone. So far from 

 correct is this idea, that from a single animal brain, 

 perfectly fresh or well preserved, more may be gained 

 than the average medical student learns from the 

 human brains usually examined in the dissecting-room. 

 This is due to the fact that, excepting the absence of 

 the occipital lobes of the hemispheres, the brains of 

 the cat, the dog, the rabbit and the sheep present 

 nearly all of the structural features of the human 

 brain, while their smaller size and greater accessibility 

 better adapt them for manipulation and for the preser- 

 vation of tli'- numerous spe< imens wlm h are needed to 

 display all parts of the organ. 



Of the animals above named the cat seems to be 

 the most favorable subject It is always and every- 

 where obtainable; the brain is larger than that of the 



rabbit, and more easily extracted than those of the 

 sheep and most dogs. 



Some features of the brain, as the coloration of 

 different parts, and especially the relation of the gray 

 and white substances, are better seen upon fresh spe- 

 cimens ; but the beginner will do well to examine 

 hardened brains first, so as to become familiar with 

 the form and relative position of the parts, and with 

 their names. 



Among the instruments needed for the removal and 

 dissection of the brain the most essential are a very 

 sharp knife, and a pair of " wire-nippers " with the 

 blades set at a slight angle with the handles. * 



As an aid to the study of the brain any work upon 

 Human Anatomy will be found useful. The best are 

 those of " Quain " and " Gray." Descriptions, with- 

 out figures, of the brains of the sheep, and of the 

 dog and rabbit, are given in the little works of Morrell 

 and Foster and Langley. With some modification 

 these apply to the brain of the cat. | 



Finally, it is hardly necessary to urge that outline 



drawings be made of the brain as a whole, and of its 



j parts as exposed by dissection. If this is done, by 



I the end of the summer the teacher will have become 



I better able to appreciate the peculiarities of the human 



brain when one comes in his way, and will have laid 



l a substantial foundation for the physiological and 



psychological instruction which he may be called upon 



; to impart. 



<•» 



Antipatharia of the " Black " Expedition. — In vol. 

 | iv. No. 4 of the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. (February), 

 I . F. Pourtales describes twelve species of this interesting 

 group taken in the Caribbean Sea (1878-79). In determin- 

 ing the species an attempt has been made to use the differ- 

 ences in the shape of the polyps, as well as the disposition 

 and form of the spines to draw characters for a much- 

 needed revision of their classification. It would seem as if 

 there were at least two different types of spines : the 

 triangular compressed and the more cylindrical. These 

 latter are generally more densely set, -even assuming some- 

 times a brush-like appearance, as in Antipatlies humilis, a 

 new and wonderfully spinous species, figured but not de- 

 scribed by Pourtales. These cylindrical spines are also 

 unequal on the two sides of the pinnules, being longer on 

 the side occupied by the polyps, with a very few around 

 the polyps. The triangular spines are disposed regularh' 

 in a quincuncial order around the pinnules, and in a 

 cleaned specimen nothing indicates the place formerly 

 occupied by the polyps. In one series, however, A. 

 desbonni, the spines are in regular verticils. There would 

 appear to be a connection between the shape of the polyps 

 and the shape and disposition of the spines. Those species 

 with triangular spines have polyps with longer tentacles 

 than those with cylindrical spines, and the tentacles have a 

 greater tendency to become regular in shape. 



* These nippers are imported from Germany by It. Roker&Co., 

 of New York, and are for sale by A. J. Wilkinson & Co., ot Bos- 

 ton, and Treman, King & Co., of Ithaca, N. Y. They cost about 

 75 cents. 



t Hektograph copies of instructions for the removal, preserva- 

 tion and dissection of the cat's brain maybe had upon application 

 to Mr. !•'. L. Kilborne, Anatomical Laboratory, Cornell Univer- 

 sity, Ithaca, N. Y . 



