SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. , 119 
another instance, when an uncle and niece constituted the happy couple, 
we observe that no less than six children were born. 
The Shin of the Hands and Feet . — Anatomists are aware that the epider- 
mis of the palmar and plantar surfaces is the only portion of the integument 
which is not supplied with sebaceous glands. This absence of the oily 
secretion confers certain properties on the skin which it would not other- 
wise possess, for M. Parisot has shown that the epidermis of the hands 
and feet is the only superficial portion of the body through which water 
alone is absorbed. In proof of this, the following experiment was made. 
The body of an infant, twelve days old, which had been washed with 
warm water and dried, and whose anus , umbilicus , and urinary meatus had 
been coated with Venice turpentine, was plunged in a bath of water at a 
temperature of about 10 centigrade. The water was constantly renewed, 
and the body was so placed that the head was just above the water. After 
twenty-four hours it was taken from the bath. Prior to immersion it 
weighed 2,050 grammes ; it now weighed (after careful drying) 2,055, 
showing an increase of five grammes, the result of absorption, for on 
being exposed to the atmosphere for a single day it was reduced to its 
former weight by evaporation. This experiment merely proved the absorp- 
tive power of some part of the shin. He next smeared the palms and 
soles of an infant with Venice turpentine and placed it in the bath, but 
on removing and weighing it after three hours’ immersion he found it had 
undergone no change in weight ; thus proving that the absorption of 
water takes place only through the skin of the hands and feet. To 
demonstrate the action of the sebaceous matter, he performed another 
experiment. Having covered the palms and soles with turpentine, and 
removed the epidermis of the neck, he placed the infant in the bath as before, 
and found that, after three hours’ immersion, a quantity of water equiva- 
lent to about ten grammes had been absorbed. In order to produce absorption 
of medicines by other portions of the integument, it is necessary to employ 
previously some fluid capable of dissolving the sebaceous secretion, and 
thus of affording a free passage to the substance. The writer observes : 
“ I dipped a piece of cotton in a solution of atropia in chloroform, and 
applied it to the forehead ; in three minutes there was distinct dilatation 
of the pupil, and in about five minutes the enlargement was complete ; 
the application was left on for about a quarter of an hour, and produced 
redness and heating of the skin. In an hour after, all signs of inflam- 
mation had disappeared.” When an aqueous solution of atropia was 
similarly applied, no dilatation of the pupil was manifest. 
Growth of Bone. — M. de Lamballe appears , in the course of his exten- 
sive researches on the generation and reparation of tissues, to have 
corroborated the assertions of M. Flourens. (1) That the bones increase 
in thickness by external and superimposed layers. (2) That they increase 
in length by the addition of terminal layers arranged in juxtaposition. 
(3) That proportionally as the new layers are deposited externally, the 
older ones on the inner surface are resorbed. (4) That ossification consists 
in the regular and successive conversion of periosteum into cartilage, and 
of cartilage into bone. 
Lymphatics of the Kidneys . — At a late meeting of the Vienna Academy 
