134 



SCIENCE. 



I am extremely glad that I have the opportunity of making the 

 first publication of these researches before a scientific society, for 

 it is lrom scientific men that my work of the last six years has re- 

 ceived its earliest and kindest recognition. I gratefully remember 

 the encouragement which I received from the late Professor Henry 

 at a time when the speaking telephone existed only in theory. 

 Indeed, it is greatly due to the stimulus of his appreciation that 

 the telephone became an accomplished fact. I cannot state too 

 highly also the advantage I received in preliminary experiments 

 on sound vibrations in this building from Professor Cross, and 

 near here from my valued friend Dr. Clarence J. Blake. When 

 the public were incredulous of the possibility of electrical speech, 

 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Philosophical 

 Society of Washington and the Essex Institute of Salem recog- 

 nized the reality of the results and honored me by their congratu- 

 lations. The public interest, I think, was first awakened by the 

 judgment of the very eminent scientific men before whom the tele- 

 phone was exhibittd in Philadelphia, and by the address of Sir 

 William Thomson before the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science. 



At a later period, when even practical telegraphers considered 

 the telephone as a mere scieniific toy, Professor John Pierce, Pro- 

 fessor Eli W. Blake, Dr. Channing, Mr. Clarke and Mr. Jones, 

 of Providence, R. I., devoted themselves to a series of experiments 

 for the purpose of assisting me in making the telephone of practi- 

 cal utility ; and they communicated to me, from time to time, the 

 result of their experiments with a kindness and generosity I can 

 never forget. It is not only pleasant to remember these things 

 and to speak of them, but it is a duty to repeat them, as they give 

 a practical reputation to the often repeated stories of the blindness 

 of scientific men to unaccredited novelties, and of their jealousy of 

 unknown inventors who dare to enter the charmed circle of 

 science. I trust that the scientific favor which was so readily ac- 

 corded to the telephone may be extended by you to this new 

 claimant — the photophone. 



PLAN OF THE CEREBROSPINAL NERVOUS 

 SYSTEM. 



By S. V. Clevenger, M. D. 



(Abstract from the paper (B 41) read before the American Asso- 

 ciation for Advancement of Science, Boston, August 28th, 1880). 



The great French and German cerebral anatomists Luys 

 and Meynert had endeavored to declare the architecture of 

 the human brain from a multitude of microscopic sections, 

 but so intricate were the relationship of fibres, nerve-cells, 

 arteries, veins, connective tissue, etc., that it was at once seen 

 to be necessary to study lower animal life anatomically and 

 physiologically before the plan could be determined. Luys 

 did nothing in this direction, while Meynert went as far as 

 the brains of small mammals. Spitzka has carried the 

 scrutiny still farther. The scheme of Meynert started with 

 the upper part of the cerebrum as the seat of consciousness 

 and, working downward, his "projection systems" ended 

 in the periphery. 



The nerve fibres composing the cerebrum and cerebellum 

 were mainly considered. The presence of a multitude of 

 nerve-cells and ganglia dispersed throughout this region 

 was unaccounted for, and as these were of undoubted im- 

 portance and all well known to anatomists, it was seen by 

 pathologists that these schemes were insufficient. 



No scheme can be correct which ignores any part of the 

 nervous organization, or excludes any form of life as 

 anomalous. The conclusion I. have reached, is that the 

 sympathetic system of vertebrata corresponds to the general 

 nervous distribution of invertebrata above protozoa, presid- 

 ing over the nutritive functions. The vaso-motor has been 

 differentiated from the sympathetic distribution, whose 

 office is to produce the vermicular motions of the intestines. 

 Differentiation proceeds dorsally because that portion of 

 the animal which is in most constant contact with the 

 changing molecular motion of the environment would be 

 precisely the portion to give origin to the higher series ot 

 nerve divisions. The endoderm, after the gastrula, stage re- 



mains under control of the sympathetic system. The so- 

 called cerebral ganglia of Vermes, are homologous with 

 the spinal segments which afterwards become coalesced in 

 the vertebrata. This is the second system to be developed 

 and A mphioxus has not acquired the third or cerebral system 

 proper. In Trigla Adriatica, the third system series may be 

 seen developed dorsally upon the second or spinal cord. 

 This third system is the intervertebral ganglia. Fusion of 

 several of the higher intervertebral ganglia produces the cere- 

 bellum, and accounts for the co-ordinating function of that or- 

 gan. The several cerebral lobes, the tubercula quadrigemina, 

 mammillary eminence, Gasserian ganglion, olfactory lobe, 

 olivary body, etc.. are hypertrophied or atrophied (as the 

 case may be) intervertebral ganglia. Projection systems 

 and commissures, as the callosal, make their appearance in 

 exact accordance with laws operative in the lower series. 



The three systems develop gradually, and it may be said, 

 commissurally one upon the other, and this scheme appears 

 to account satisfactorily for physiological and pathological 

 phenomena. 



In adddition to its publication in the proceedings of the 

 Association, the paper will be produced in full, in the Am- 

 eiican "Journal of Nervous aud Mental Disease, for October, 



ANCIENT AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS 

 OF STONE. 



By Hon. William McAdams, of Otterville, Ills. 



In the rich, alluvial soil about the mouths of the Missouri 

 and Illinois rivers are found many of these ancient stone 

 implements used by the Mound-builders in their rude 

 agriculture. Mr. McAdams exhibited a fine collection of 

 these implements. 



They are all chipped from flint, or a hard silicious lime- 

 stone, and some of them beautifully made. Some are 

 nearly a foot in length and six inches wide at the broader 

 end. 



Some are made to be fastened to handles, like our mod- 

 ern spades. Others resemble our modern hoes, having a 

 deep, lateral notch, to facilitate the fastening to a handle. 

 Some of these stone hoes are made with such ingenuity as 

 to have been effective implements. 



Mr. McAdams also exhibited stone implements which 

 evidently were made to fasten to some kind of stock to be 

 pulled through the ground like a plow. As these ancient 

 people had no domestic animals for this purpose, it is 

 probable that manual force was used to perform the work. 

 The broad cutting edge of these stone implements was 

 highly polished from long use by the attrition of the soil. 



Mr. McAdams had found these implements of agricul- 

 ture in the ancient graves associated with pottery, some of 

 which contained carbonized corn. Cobs in a carbonized 

 state were found, and the speaker is of the opinion that 

 these ancient people lived principally on corn and vege- 

 tables, which they cultivated to a considerable extent. 



The paper elicited much interest in the association. 



A very interesting report addressed to the committee of 

 public health in France by M. Wurz, describes a process 

 for retaining the green coloring of vegetables which is gen- 

 erally destroyed by boiling. It consists in the use of an 

 excess of chlorphyl obtained from spinach (spinacia ole- 

 racea) which holds in its cells a large amount of coloring 

 matter. A watery solution of this rendered alkaline by 

 soda, is added to the boiling vegetable which is slightly 

 acidulated with hydrochloric acid. The chemical result is 

 common salt and a deposit of coloring matter on the or- 

 ganic tissue. There cannot now be any possible tempta- 

 tion for the unwarrantable dyeing of preserved vegetables 

 by salts of copper or the employment of adulterants for 

 obtaining that vivid coloring so attractive to the epicure. 



