224 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. Y1., No. 136. 



man and other vertebrates in a similar manner; evi- 

 dences of accident and disease among wild animals. 



Presumed lines of human descent may be indicated 

 better than by diagrams upon a plane surface, by 

 placing actual representatives of the various groups, 

 not upon fixed shelves, but upon brackets capable of 

 adjustment. 



The candid teacher or curator will endeavor to 

 show not only the facts which seem to support evo- 

 lution, but also those which constitute its difficulties. 



A statue of Darwin has recently been unveiled in 

 London with honorable ceremonies. What monu- 

 ment to his memory could be more appropriate or 

 lasting than the formation, in all educational insti- 

 tutions, of collections especially designed to exhibit 

 the facts which he made significant, and the ideas 

 which his knowledge, his industry, and his honesty 

 have caused to underlie the intelligent study of 

 nature throughout the world ? 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECTION OF 

 BIOLOGY, 



The biological section opened with two papers by 

 Prof. E, L. Sturtevant as the result of observations 

 and experiments at the New- York agricultural ex- 

 periment station. The first, on the hybridization and 

 cross-fertilization of plants, showed in a conclusive 

 manner that in our common vegetables (peas, corn, 

 beans, barley, lettuce, are some of the forms experi- 

 mented with), cross-fertilization tends toward atavism 

 rather than to a blending of individual properties of 

 the parent plants. As a rule, all the crosses tended 

 to revert to an ancestral form, regaining in many 

 cases characters which the immediate parent had 

 lost. The paper forms a valuable contribution to 

 the subject of the origin of species, on account of the 

 carefulness of experiment and accuracy of observa- 

 tion apparent in the work. In the second, ' Germina- 

 tion studies,' the author states, as a result of many 

 trials with commercial seeds of our common plants, 

 that very extended series of trials must be made 

 with each species in order to obtain the desired ac- 

 curacy in results; since in a short series of trials many 

 errors will probably occur which would be eliminated 

 from the final result by the use of a larger series. 

 Prof. W. J. Beal of the Michigan agricultural college 

 described an experiment on the longevity and endur- 

 ance of seeds — in which ripe seeds were buried in 

 sand below frost for five years, at the end of which 

 time they were exposed to frost for a period of two 

 years and a half more. 



An interesting paper on the biological deductions 

 to be drawn from a comparative study of the in- 

 fluence of cocaine and atropine on the organs of 

 circulation, was given by Dr. H. G. Berger, U.S.N. 

 The generally accepted opinions regarding the use of 

 atropine, muscarine and cocaine, on the organs of 

 circulation, are, that atropine induces an augmenta- 

 tion and acceleration of the circulation by paralyzing 

 the vagus nerve-endings in the substance of the heart; 

 and that muscarine, by acting as a stimulus to the 



same nerve-endings, produces diastolic arrest. The 

 later view of Glousc, however, is, that the arrest is due 

 to its paralyzing influence on the muscles of the heart. 

 The main points in these two views are, 1°, that the 

 action is purely a nervous phenomenon; 2°, that 

 it is purely muscular. When atropized blood is put 

 into a frog's heart, the organ is first highly stimulated, 

 but shows evidence of exhaustion by over-stimula- 

 tion; this is associated with a break in the rhythm of 

 the beats, the auricles contracting two to three times 

 oftener per minute than the ventricles: the dose of 

 atropine can be so regulated that this unrhythmical 

 action may be kept up indefinitely, and even be re- 

 produced in a heart which has recovered from atro- 

 pization in normal blood. The most rational expla- 

 nation of this phenomenon is found in the facts, that, 

 while muscarine paralyzes, atropine stimulates, the 

 cardiac muscles as well as the cardiac nerve-endings; 

 though in case of the latter only in a slight degree. 

 Cocaine affects the nerve-endings within the heart 

 much the same as atropine, but is not a muscular 

 stimulant. From his researches. Dr. Berger reached 

 the conclusion that the drugs used acted directly on 

 the muscle-tissue, producing paralysis, and not indi- 

 rectly through the nerve-endings, — a view which was 

 combated by Profs. Charles A. Sewall and H. N. 

 Martin in the discussion which followed the reading 

 of the paper. 



' On the brain and auditory organs of a Permian 

 theromorph saurian ' was the title of an interesting 

 paper by Prof. E, D. Cope. The author called 

 special attention to the morphology of the brain, 

 the character of the cranial walls and the auditory 

 apparatus. The characters of the brain were con- 

 sidered to show affinities to the reptilian and the 

 simpler mammalian types. The corpora quadri- 

 gemini are small, and the cerebral hemispheres ex- 

 ceedingly small — relatively inferior in bulk to those of 

 any other known animal. The epiphysis is larger than 

 is usual for reptiles. The absence of an optic foramen 

 is a very striking character. This form is peculiarly 

 characterized by the presence of a large oval foramen 

 in the frontal region, the exact nature of which has 

 not been determined. The vestibule and its walls 

 were thoroughly described, and the relations of the 

 well -formed semicircular canals explained. The 

 stapedial bone connects with the fenestra ovalis ex- 

 ternal to the brain case, and at a great distance from 

 the cochlea — the cavity of which is a mere exten- 

 sion of the fenestra ovalis to the vestibule. The 

 semicircular canals resemble those of modern rep- 

 tiles. 



Mr. A. W. Butler presented many interesting facts 

 concerning the habits of the musk-rat. The author 

 mentioned well-authenticated cases of the change of 

 habits as a means of adapting itself to the changed 

 conditions of life, — conditions brought about by the 

 presence of civilized man. 



The disputed question of the bisexuality of the 

 pond-scums (Zygnemaceae) was discussed by Prof. 

 C. E. Bessey of the University of Nebraska, who con- 

 cluded that these organisms do not possess true 

 bisexuality such as Bennett of England claims for 



