50 Recent Literature. -  [January, 
material entity.” On the other hand, he is decidedly opposed to 
the doctrine of automatism held by some extreme evolutionists, 
closing his book with these words: ‘But we certainly should 
_ not, on this account, allow ourselves to be mentally paralyzed by 
a belief in the existence of a metaphysical gulf between what is 
termed the subjective and the objective—the ‘Ego’ and the 
‘Non-Ego.’ Yet, even some believers in the philosophy of evo- 
lution have thus been led to deny the natural origin of conscious 
' states, and have, as a consequence, found themselves forced to 
hold a doctrine of thoroughgoing ‘Automatism’—one in which 
all notions of free will, duty and moral obligation would seem, 
from this theoretical basis, to be alike consigned to a common 
grave, together with the underlying powers of self-education and 
self-control.” 
As to the moral nature, Bastian believes that it originated in 
savage life, after society developed, and says nothing as to the 
possible existence of the germs in the animals below man. 
Mason’s Microscopic STUDIES ON THE CENTRAL NERVOUS 
SYSTEM OF REPTILES AND BatracuiAns.1—The author here deals 
with the form of the spinal cord, and especially that of its enlarge- 
ment; the nuclei of the nerve cells, and variations in their shape, 
size, etc., in the same individual: the number of ganglionic bodies 
in the spinal cord, and their relations to the roots of the spinal 
nerves, and the difference, if any, which may be determined by 
sex. After stating the methods of preparation of his sections, Dr. 
Mason, as a result of very extended examinations of a large num- 
ber of what we can testify to be beautiful sections of the spinal 
cord of the frog and different reptiles, concludes as follows: 
1. The central canal of the spinal cord of frogs is more nearly 
cylindrical in shape than has been generally supposed. The oval 
contour is not seen in cross sections below the second pair of 
nerves, when the membranes are not removed before hardening. 
2. The nuclei of the large nerve-cells are more generally oval 
in form than are those of the smaller cells. 
. The nerve-cells of the crural enlargement are as abundant as) 
those of the brachial enlargement, if not more so. Their nuclei 
are larger, as are also the surrounding masses of protoplasm or 
cell bodies 
4. No difference in structure can be made out in the upper por- 
tion of the cord, corresponding with the sexual function in the 
male. The long-continued and violent tonic spasms of the an- 
terior extremities, must be explained by local hyperamia in- 
fluencing the same structure as those which exist in the female. 
5. The relation which is generally believed to exist between the 
1 Microscopic — on the Central Nervous System of Reptiles pact Batrachians. 
The spinal cord o rog, Rana pipiens, Rana halecina. By JOHN J. MASON, 
eprinted rom the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disses: Jan. 1880.) 
Chicago, 1880. 8vo, 
