Scientific Intelligence — Zoology. 377 



„,,,„,. . . d , 



Modern limes, gives an interesting statement ot the circumstances 



which have led him to the important general suggestion of the 



Basin-like arrangement of all Africa. 



ZOOLOGY. jnsg Jut 



16. Agassiz appointed Professor of Comparative Anatomy in 

 the Medical College of the State of South Carolina. — At a special 

 meeting of the Trustees and Faculty of the Medical College of the 

 State of South Carolina, held on the 3d day of January 1852, Di- 

 li. Agassiz was unanimously elected Professor of Comparative Ana- 

 tomy, with the distinct understanding that the collegiate expenses of 

 the student are not to be increased by this addition to the course. 

 These lectures are therefore free to the medical students, the College 

 paying, from their funds, the Professor. 



A sketch of Professor Agassiz's intended course is here subjoined. 



The course will consist of a sketch of the natural classification of 

 the Animal Kingdom, with full illustration of the fundamental differ- 

 ences of their four great types, the Radiates, Molluscs, Articulates 

 and Vertebrates. Confident in the doctrine that the essential func- 

 tions of life are performed by systems of organs, which differ funda- 

 mentally in the different types of animals, the professor will describe 

 their structure separately, in the successive classes, and not follow 

 the ordinary course of connecting in one series the various apparatus 

 performing similar functions. Beginning with the Radiata, he will 

 shew how the plan of their structure, as well as the structure itself, 

 differs entirely from that of the other three great types, as these also 

 differ among themselves. Taking the Polyps as the lowest class, he 

 will illustrate the theory of the cellular structure of all animals, by 

 a comparison of the microscopic structure of the various tissues of 

 higher animals in the progress of formation, with that of the perfect 

 and permanent condition of the lower ones. The class of Medusae 

 will afford him an opportunity of illustrating the phenomena of alter- 

 nate generation, and also of testing the foundation of the natural rela- 

 tionship between animals, upon which their division into classes is 

 based ; whilst the study of Echinoderms, and their position at the 

 head of Radiata, without the possibility of a transition to either 

 Molluscs or Articulates, will afford ample evidence that there is no 

 one gradual series among animals, from the lowest to the highest. 



The type of Molluscs will lead to general considerations, respect- 

 ing the bilateral symmetry of animals, and the different tendencies 

 manifested in the type of Articulates, when contrasted with Molluscs. 

 The characteristic peculiarities of structure of these two important 

 divisions of the animal kingdom will be fully illustrated, and their 

 respective position as natural groups investigated. The Molluscs 

 will lead particularly to an inquiry into the communications between 

 internal cavities of these animals and the surrounding media, and be- 

 tween the different systems of organs themselves. The Articulates again 



