MISCELLANY. 



2 53 



portion of this, water in the desired quan- 

 tity was obtained. The curb of the old 

 well, after the removal of a few of the top 

 stones, was made the foundation of the new 

 curbing, which was carried upward to the 

 surface. The thirty-two feet of earth over- 

 lying the old well had never before been 

 turned up. 



Our informant, Mr. George M. Wood- 

 ward, adds that these statements were 

 originally taken down from the lips of the 

 farmer himself, who, though not now living 

 on this farm, is still accessible ; and that 

 they are received as facts by all the intelli- 

 gent old settlers of the vicinity. 



Scientific Prediction verified.— A strik- 

 ing example of the great accuracy attain- 

 able in scientific prediction is found in the 

 history of the Mont Cenis Tunnel. Before 

 the work was commenced, two eminent 

 savants, M. Elie de Beaumont and Signor 

 Sismonda, had expressed the opinion that, 

 in proceeding from France to Italy, the fol- 

 lowing rocks would be met with : 1. A bed 

 of schist, with anthracite, having a thick- 

 ness of from 5,000 to 6,500 feet. 2. A bed 

 of very hard quartzite, with a thickness of 

 from 1,300 to 1,900 feet. 3. Compact lime- 

 stone, with gypsum, anhydrite, and dolo- 

 mite, having a thickness of from 6,000 to 

 9,000 feet. 4. A series of calcareous schists, 

 23,000 to 27,000 feet in thickness. Messrs. 

 Beaumont and Sismonda said that no igne- 

 ous rocks would be encountered, all the 

 formations in these parts of the Alps be- 

 longing to the stratified rock. 



Actual experience corresponded very 

 closely with the predictions of science. 

 First, there occurred the schists, with car- 

 boniferous sandstones, containing veins of 

 anthracite : thickness, 6,453£ feet. Then 

 the quartzites : thickness, l,255f feet. 

 Next, beds of gypsum, anhydrite, and dolo- 

 mite, with a thickness of 7,726£ feet. Fi- 

 nally, calcareous schists for the remaining 

 28,323 feet of the tunnel 



The Brain and the Mind.— Dr. Burt G. 

 Wilder's paper, before the American Scien- 

 tific Association, on " Variations in the Cere- 

 bral Forms and Fissures of Domestic Dogs," 

 contains some very interesting criticisms of 

 the various methods followed in studying 



the relations between brain and mind. There 

 is, first, the phrenological method, wherein 

 the skull is accepted as an index of the 

 brain. But the fallaciousness of this method 

 is shown: 1. By anatomy, in that no defin- 

 ite correspondence whatever exists between 

 folds and fissures of the brain and the outer 

 surface of the skull. 2. By the fact that no 

 phrenologist has ventured to draw the ac- 

 cepted map of the mental faculties on the 

 surface of the brain itself. 3. By the fail- 

 ure, in many cases, of the most expert 

 phrenologists to define character by an ex- 

 amination of the head. The pathological 

 method is equally unproductive of satisfac- 

 tory results. This method proceeds by com- 

 paring brain-lesions with mental phenom- 

 ena observed during the life of the individ- 

 ual. But the patrons of this method are not 

 yet agreed as to the special function of the 

 cerebellum, nor as to the localization of the 

 faculty of speech. Then, too, there is good 

 reason for supposing that peculiar mental 

 conditions may exist without recognizable 

 brain-lesion, and vice versa. Finally, Dr. 

 Wilder asserts, on the authority of Brown- 

 Sequard, that " all parts of the brain may, 

 under irritation, act on any of its other 

 parts, modifying their activity so as to de- 

 stroy or diminish, or to increase and to 

 morbidly alter it ! " 



The experimental method proceeds by 

 irritating or destroying certain cerebral re- 

 gions in living animals. This method satis- 

 factorily demonstrates the existence in the 

 brain of centres of action for different sets 

 of muscles. But, then, it necessarily pro- 

 duces abnormal action, and fails to show 

 the relation between brain and mind. Dr. 

 Wilder then describes his own method, 

 which is, in theory, that of the phrenolo- 

 gists, but differing therefrom in two impor- 

 tant respects: 1. In employing the brain 

 itself for comparison, in using large num- 

 bers, and in comparing the two sides. 2. 

 In employing canine instead of human 

 brains, on the ground of their simple fis- 

 sural pattern, and the possibility of an ac- 

 curate knowledge of the mental character- 

 istics of the dogs. Of course, better re- 

 sults might be expected from the study of 

 the brains of persons with whom we were 

 acquainted in life, but that is impracticable. 

 From the study of a brain, if a criminal or 



