7 6 



SCIENCE. 



level of the junction of the cord and oblongata. In addi- 

 tion a group of remarkably attenuated cells is found at j 

 the origin of the spinal accessory. These cells are so 

 much elongated and their protoplasm has been so much 

 narrowed that but for the discovery of a nucleus in one 

 or the o her cell, one might consider them a bundle of 

 axis cylinders. These are better developed in turtles 

 than in the Iguana, and better in fresh water species 

 than in the Thallassochelys mydas. In no turtle have I j 

 found the cells of the raphe very large, but in the Iguana 

 I have discovered a few very large cells in the same level ] 

 and location as those first described by Dr. J. J. Mason 

 for the Alligator. 



13th. In my first paper I indicated the existence in the 

 Iguana of a hitheno undiscovered pair of lobes or 

 tubercles between the optic and post optic lobes. I 

 have also indicated their homology with a concealed pair 

 in the turtle and alligator. At the time I did not de- ' 

 scribe the topographical relations minutely. Normally — i 

 if I may use the expression — as in the turtle and alligator, 

 the newly discovered ganglia lie at the margin of the j 

 central tubular gray of the mesencephalon, in the ante- 

 rior part of the corpora quadrigemina. As we go more [ 

 posteriorly they are found to extend more dorsally, un- 

 til in the turtle, for example, they nearly touch in the j 

 median line just at the posterior fifth of the cptic lobes, 

 where they cease. In the Iguana the relations are the 

 same, but instead of terminating before the posterior 

 margin of the optic lobes, they extend further back- 

 wards and prominate at the surface of the brain, as two 

 sharply marked buttons. Their structure is the same in 

 all reptiles so far examined, a molecular basis and small 

 roundish cellular elements. In anterior levels nerve 

 fibres can be seen entering them in strands, from the 

 arched fibre mass which is found beneath the deep gray j 

 layer of the optic lobes. Although all surmises as to the I 

 function of the inter-optic lobes are as yet strict'y hypo- 

 thetical ; yet from the fact that they are directly con- 

 nected with the central tubular gray, and are under the 

 fascicular subjection of the optic lobes, and that they are 

 well developed in reptiles, and poorly, if at all, developed 

 in mammals, one might suspect them to have some rela- 

 tion to the innovation of the Harderian gland, just as the 

 mesencaphalic nucleus of the fifth pair may be looked 

 upon as the probable centre for the innervation of the 

 lachrymal gland proper. 



RECENT PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



Rev. Samuel Fleming, LL.D., Ph. D. 



The progress of science within our own times has been 

 wonderful. Prof. Helmholtz uses the following language : 

 " The contemplation of the astounding activity in all 

 branches of science may well make us stand aghast at 

 the audacity of man, and exclaim with the chorus in the 

 Antigone: Who can survey the whole field of knowlege ? 

 Who can grasp the clues, and then thread the 

 labyrinth?" Every department of science has been 

 vastly extended, and every votary of science stimulated to 

 untiring efforts to survey this field, not cnly, but to enter 

 the secret chambers of knowledge to find the treasures 

 concealed from the human mind, until modern discover- 

 ies, modern analysis, and modern invention have com- 

 bined to make those hitherto hidden facts of science 

 known, and available for practical benefits to human 

 society. 



The exact science, Mathematics, has found ample 

 room for the application of its principles and methods of 

 determining the content of all material existences and re- 

 lations. The sublime science, Astronomy, has reveled in 

 its excursions into illimitable space, adding new triumphs, 

 discovering new facts pertaining to the constitution of the 

 stellar universe, and the relations of the celestial masses, 

 measuring, by the agency of light, the immense dis- 

 tances, magnitudes and motions of the tiny objects which 



the natural eyes behold in the expanse above, and in 

 former times regarded as " fixed stars." The profound 

 science, Geology, has carried us back into the illimitable 

 depths of past duration, to contemplate the usually s.ow 

 process by which the earth has been changing from its 

 primordeal, nebulous condition, to that in which it has 

 become fitted for living and rational beings, adding new 

 testimonies of the rocks to the truth of Scripture, ex- 

 pressed by the significant language : "Of old hast thou 

 laid the foundations of the earth." The widely related, 

 efficient science, included in the scope of terrestrial 

 Mechanics, has found abundant use for its forces, and the 

 practical application of its dynamics, in the constantly 

 increasing demands of human society. The splendid and 

 delicate science, Chemistry, has exulted in its new and 

 valuable discoveries in the realm of atoms and molecules, 

 verifying the atomic theory, and adding new evidences 

 that many of the supposed elements of matter are really 

 compounds, and must yield to the searching analysis 

 which finds them to be but molecules composed of two 

 or more atoms. The vast and richly diversified science, 

 Biology, has yielded its living evidences of the progressing 

 series of organic natures, and of the vast scope of its his- 

 tory, extending its relations to ancestries, the periods of 

 whose origin belong to the immeasurable epochs of 

 palasontological history, The crowning, all-conserving 

 science, Anthropology, has added new evidences of its 

 superiority in importance, as it stands highest in the scale 

 of associated sciences ; and while it has maintained this 

 highest rank by maintaining- the honor of its subject- 

 matter, its votaries have found its latest and greatest 

 achievement in the evidences of a formal psychical con- 

 stitution as the basis of mental action. 



It is not the aim of the writer to pursue the history of 

 the development of the sc ences, exhaustively, but to in- 

 dicate some of the lines of progress. 



The brilliant discoveries in Astronomy.within the past 

 few years, have added largely to the wealth of this noble 

 science, fascinating the student, and inspiring to new 

 achievements. Previous to the present century, the solar 

 system included seven primary planets as having at that 

 time been discovered. In the year 1800 a new planet was 

 discovered, and designated an asteroid, or small star, — 

 but it is more properly called a planetoid, or small planet. 

 The name by which this is known is Ceres, after the 

 reputed originator, or god, of corn. It was an event of 

 so great interest to astronomers that it was announced 

 with much eclat that " The long-expected planet between 

 Mars and Jupiter had been discovered." Soon after, 

 three more were observed. Since that time, by means of 

 the greatly increased power of telescopes, more than two 

 hundred have been added by discovery, all being very 

 small. Many others will be found. The problem still 

 to be determined has been, whether these planetoids are 

 "fragments of a broken world," as formerly supposed, 

 or separate condensations from cosmic matter, instead of 

 forming one large body, as in the case of other primary 

 planets. It is not probable, however, that a cosmic mass 

 exploded at any one period, producing such fragments 

 in such positkn's in their orbits as they maintain, nor that 

 such original mass was so dissipated by the action of a 

 propulsive or radiate force at cne time, as to resume its 

 original nebulous state. The second hypothesis is the 

 more probable, viz.: of separate condensations from orig- 

 inal nebulosity. 



Neptune, one of the largest planets, and nearly twice 

 the distance of Herschel from the sun, was discovered in 

 1846 by M. Challis, of Paris, and its elements and orbit 

 determined by Le Verrier. The discovery of this planet 

 furnished a satisfactory explanation of the aberrations of 

 the planet Herschel, caused by the approximations of 

 Neptune, though distant, at its nearest point, more than 

 a billion and a half miles. This increase of the number 

 of the solar family furnished an additional illustration, 

 on a grand scale, of the laws of universal gravitation and 



