June 18, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



549 



result was that the pathological step is more regu- 

 lar than the normal in all the points above noticed. 

 In other words, in the normal walk it is the man 

 himself who is walking, and his natural variations 

 appear : in the other the disease does the walking, 

 and the step is marked by the constant symptoms 

 of Ms malady. 



— Advices just received from Mr. William T. 

 Hornaday, who was sent out by the national 

 museum in search of buffalo, are to the effect 

 that he has secured two antelopes : he has also 

 sent to the museum three complete skeletons of 

 old bull-buffaloes, and two skulls. 



— The Iron trade review estimates that the 

 quantity of domestic iron ore used in the blast- 

 furnaces, rolling-mills, and forges of the United 

 States in 1885 was 7,600,000 gross tons. 



— Anatomists were considerably startled some 

 time ago to learn that Professor Hamilton had dis- 

 covered that the corpus callosum was not a com- 

 missural structure at all, but represented the de- 

 cussation of fibres on their way from the cortex 

 to lower parts. Almost every thing has been 

 doubted in the anatomy of the brain, but the 

 corpus callosum has always been regarded as a 

 system of fibres whose connections and functions 

 were rather definitely known. In a recent article 

 (Brain, April, 1886), Dr. Beevor shows conclusive- 

 ly that our faith in the corpus callosum may 

 remain undisturbed. The sections figured in his 

 plate distinctly represent the fibres of the corpus 

 callosum intersecting, and in no way joined with 

 the fibres of the internal and external capsules. 

 He answers Professor Hamilton's morphological 

 argument that some animals exist without a cor- 

 pus callosum by pointing out that in those (mar- 

 supials, for instance) the anterior commissure be- 

 comes proportionately developed. Dr. Beevor 

 concludes then that the current view of the con- 

 nections of corpus callosum and of the internal 

 capsule are perfectly correct. 



— That frogs have a formidable enemy in the 

 common mouse is evidenced by the following. A 

 correspondent of Nature, Mr. W. August Carter 

 of South Norwood, states that he observed, a short 

 time since, several mice pursuing some frogs in a 

 shed which was overrun with these reptiles. The 

 alacrity of the latter, however, rendered the at- 

 tacks of the mice futile for a considerable period. 

 Again and again the frogs escaped from the 

 clutches of their foes, but only to be recaptured, 

 severely shaken, and bitten. The energy put 

 forth by these reptiles was so great that they ac- 

 tually swayed their captors to and fro in their 

 efforts to wrest themselves from their grasp. At 



length the wounds inflicted upon them rendered 

 the frogs incapable of further resistance, and they 

 were easily overpowered by the mice, which de- 

 voured a certain part of them. 



— In * Flowers, fruits, and leaves,' by Sir John 

 Lubbock, Bart. (MaemiUan), we have a popular, 

 readable, and withal scientific account of many of 

 the phenomena of fertilization of flowers, of the 

 structure and varieties of seeds, and of many of 

 the endlessly varied forms of leaves with which 

 vegetation is covered. The first two chapters, on 

 flowers, are a reprint, with some emendations and 

 additions, from a previous volume by the distin- 

 guished author, and deal principally with the 

 modes of fertilization, showing how, in many 

 cases, appropriate insects are enticed into doing 

 this important work, while other insects, not 

 adapted to the work, are repelled or excluded 

 from access to the flower. The next two chapters 

 treat of fruits and seeds, and of their development 

 and protection, and the modes of dispersion adapt- 

 ed to the habits and habitats of the plants in 

 which they originate : while the last two chapters, 

 on leaves and the varieties in their forms and ar- 

 rangements, abound with suggestions of possible 

 or probable causes determining the character of 

 leaves and the diversities found within generic 

 limits, and often even upon the same individual 

 plant, according to age or size, as well as, on 

 the other hand, the striking resemblances found 

 among plants of widely different natural orders. 

 The book is well calculated to awaken and foster 

 in young people a love of nature, and to direct 

 their attention to what is going on around them. 

 It gives, also, an excellent idea of how many facts 

 in the economy and ornamentation of plant-life 

 can be rationally explained, without reference to 

 the taste or wants of man, but solely by the ' sur- 

 vival of the fittest ' in the struggle for existence. 



— It is fortunate for those who need the valu- 

 able tables, the first instalment of which Professor 

 Carnelly has just issued ('Melting and boiling 

 point tables,' vol. i., London, Harrison & sons, 

 1885), that one so admirably adapted to the task 

 should have been willing to devote eight years of 

 almost continuous work to the compilation of a 

 mass of material amounting to 50,000 data. The 

 entire scheme comprises the presentation of all 

 known data concerning the melting and boiling 

 points of the elements, inorganic and organic 

 compounds, and much miscellaneous information 

 beside. The volume now before the public con- 

 tains nineteen thousand data, and treats of the 

 elements, inorganic compounds, and such organic 

 compounds as contain not more than three elements. 

 The second volume will include the remainder. 



