112 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 157 



benefits. The Ornithological union has hopes that 

 congress, during the coming session, will provide 

 means for the proper extension of the inquiry. 

 The practical bearings of the investigations are 

 not obscure. When the limitations of the several 

 faunal areas have been ascertained with sufficient 

 exactness, it will be possible to predict the course 

 which an injurious insect will pursue in extend- 

 ing its march from the point where its first dev- 

 astations are committed ; and farmers may be 

 thus forewarned, so that those living in districts 

 likely to be infested can plant different crops, 

 and thus be saved large pecuniary loss, while 

 those living just outside will derive increased 

 revenue from the particular crop affected. 



Those who do not as yet feel sure of M. de 

 Lesseps' ability to carry through his canal from 

 ocean to ocean will be surprised to learn that he 

 is already planning to take part in the long-dis- 

 cussed project of an African inland sea. On the 

 20th of January a meeting was held in Paris by 

 the promoters of the North African inland sea 

 scheme, at which M. de Lesseps stated that Cap- 

 tain Landas was about to survey the Tunisian 

 oases, and that on his own return from Panama, 

 by April at latest, the company would be formally 

 constituted. 



Recent numbers of the Rundschau illustrate 

 some aspects of psychological activity to which 

 the German public are giving attention. Profes- 

 sor Golz contributes a lengthy but very well 

 written article on brain localization. Professor 

 Golz is generally regarded as an extreme ' anti- 

 local izationist.' Perhaps the present article em- 

 bodies his later convictions, in which, though not 

 yielding his former position, he has stated it in a 

 way that allies his opinions with those of other 

 experimenters. He calls his article ' Modern 

 phrenology,' comparing the modern attempt to 

 mark off the cortex of the brain into functional 

 areas to the attempts of Gall and Spurzheim to 

 correlate mental faculties with cranial formations. 

 The cortex is not, according to his views, a mosaic 

 of sen-ory and motor areas, such as Ferrier, and 

 especially Munk, would have us believe. The 

 experiments do not bear out that conclusion : for 

 the loss of motion and sensation following the 

 extirpation of certain brain areas is not perma- 

 nent ; the function is regained if the animal 

 survives. In many cases the animals have not 



been kept long enough. The lack of certainty 

 that the underlying fibres have not been stimu- 

 lated is another objection. Moreover, there is no 

 part of the cortex of which you can say that its 

 removal must cause the loss of sensation or of 

 motion. Not even Broca's convolution, the 

 close relation of which to the language centre has 

 always been a firm support to the localizers, is 

 exempt from this criticism. Professor Golz de- 

 votes the main part of his paper to a critical 

 review ; in conclusion, however, he suggests what 

 he considers to be the true relation of cortex to 

 function. Flourens thought that the whole cortex 

 was alike in significance : modern ' localizers ' 

 hold that no two parts are functionally alike. 



The true view lies between the two. If we 

 compare the corcex to a map, Flourens would 

 make no distinction between one part of the map 

 and another. The ' localizers ' mark it off into 

 countries ; i.e., political divisions, with sharp, dis- 

 tinct boundaries. Professor Golz would mark his 

 map off like those which represent the distribution 

 of plants. In one part the vine would have its 

 centre ; in another, rice ; in a third, barley : but 

 each would have some vine, some rice, and some 

 barley, although there would be places which would 

 have neither. The boundaries between the regions 

 are loose : we have a focus, but it is not a point. 

 These views are certainly rational, and coincide 

 almost exactly with Lunani's and Exner's results. 

 Perhaps it is not too hazardous to say that a strict 

 localization of function can no longer be upheld. 



In the last number, Professor Preyer warns the 

 German public against accepting the results of the 

 English society for psychic research as regards 

 telepathic communication. He explains away the 

 facts upon which their conclusions are based by 

 showing a neglect of the sources of error. In 

 guessing what was being written in another room, 

 the errors made were of such a nature as would 

 occur if the hand had been seen (not errors in the 

 hearing of the words) : hence, as the girl who did 

 the guessing was alone in the next room, Professor 

 Preyer ascribes the telepathy to the keyhole. He 

 certainly has made out a strong case, and, what is 

 more important, has shown that the English so- 

 ciety has not made its case nearly strong enough 

 to found upon it so alarming an hypothesis as the 

 communication of mind with mind without the 

 use of the ordinary channels of sensation. 



