1885.] Editors’ Table. 691 
from lack of dependence on its lower head ganglia, in the normal 
state, these possess no specialized powers of consciousness. 
At a still lower level in the animal world all clear indication ot 
nervous centralization disappears. Ganglia still exist but perhaps 
only as agents to draft off the sensory currents of energy to the 
various muscles. There probably exists a vague consciousness, 
but no condition that can be called psychical. The nerve system 
in these creatures has sunk to the level of the sympathetic in 
man, Still lower every trace of a nervous system vanishes, 
though probably continuous lines of cell protoplasm yet exist ex- 
tending generally throughout the body. This condition can be 
traced down into vegetable life, and particularly into the Alga, 
whose generalized cell substance and lack of indurated covering 
renders every portion of them subject to the inflow of external 
energy. The fibril of the cell thus seems to be the germ of the 
nerve apparatus of the fully developed animal, 
It may be noted in conclusion that in the hypothesis of nerve 
development here advanced is avoided the necessity of the 
‘long and intricate explanation of nerve genesis offered by 
Herbert Spencer. In this view the nerve fibril is a constituent 
part of every cell, and the nerve and muscle function of conduc- 
tion and contraction is performed by the Protozoa. In all ani- 
mals of the many-celled character the protoplasmic connection 
between the cells functions as the primitive nerve fiber, and each 
cell as a primitive ganglion. Nothing further than development of 
this primordial apparatus is requisite as the animal race develops, _ 
And even in the most highly developed nervous system the line of . 
its phylogeny is evident in the mode of formation of the fiber, 
and the character of its connection with the ganglion cell. All 
that is further requisite is conductive specialization, the restriction 
of each special impression to a special line of conduction. And 
natural selection has doubtless been the agent in producing this 
effect. : 
(To be continued.) 
:0:— 
EDITORS’ TABLE. 
EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE. 
—— The cultivation of pure science is most successful when 
pursued from non-utilitarian motives. In persons who cultivate 
it in this way it has a sentimental as well as an intellectual origin. 
