1883. ] Physiology. 1193 
is becoming detached it appears to annoy ursus, who endeavors 
to assist the course of nature by tearing it off with his teeth, and 
then licks the soft sole with his tongue. Perhaps he derives the 
same pleasure from this that the average boy enjoys in nursing a 
sore toe, or an elderly party in petting a favorite corn. e nu- 
triment, however, to be derived from this barmecidal feast would 
be about equal to the amount of blood that could be extracted 
from a turnip. This circumstance may have given rise to the 
story. On emerging from his den in the spring the bear isa 
‘tenderfoot’ in the literal acceptation of the word. Those persons 
who have had the outer skin of the palms of the hands and soles 
of the feet peeled off after recovering from scarlet fever will keenly 
appreciate the bear’s unhappy condition at this period, and until 
the soles of his feet become again hardened, he does not travel far 
from his den, to which place he nightly returns until ‘well heeled,’ 
and if found before this time becomes generally an easy prey to 
the hunter, who has the black gentleman at a considerable disad- 
vantage at this particular season. The tappen or plug which 
Seals, so to speak, the intestines of bears during hibernation is not 
confined to this animal alone, being also found in the racoon 
(Procyon lotor); but on account of its small size in the last-named 
animal is not so conspicuous, and consequently not so often no- 
ticed.” In the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 
of London, 1880, Dr. W. B. Lewis details the results of an ex- 
amination into the structure of the cortex cerebri of the pig, sheep, 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
THE EXCITATION OF THE VASO-MOTOR CENTERS BY INDUCTION 
HOCKs.—H. Kronecker and R. Nicolaides in Du Bots Archiv., 
discuss the interesting question as to the strength and rate of gree 
cession of electrical shocks which most powerfully excite 
activity of the vaso-motor center in the medulla oblongata when 
the stimuli are directly applied to it. According to present phy- 
Stological views the natural impulses which proceed from nerve 
ip): ichigan. 
This department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Michig 
