ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
615 
Histogenesis of Connective Tissue.* * * § — Prof. F. Merkel finds that in 
the umbilical cord the fibrils arise quite apart from the cells. In the 
sinews of the fingers, though the fibrils surround the cells, it seems as if 
a secreted substance became fibrillar. Thus, he is against the generalisa- 
tion that the fibrils have a direct cellular origin. 
Chemistry of the Living Cell.f — Prof. A. Gautier has written an 
interesting little book on the metabolism of the cell. He discusses 
assimilation and disassimilation, albuminoids, amides, leucomaines, 
ptomaines, ureids, and the like, in a terse but lucid manner. His work 
■ is more than an aide-memoire to the student, it is a useful summary for 
the general biologist. 
Morbid Histology of Eabies.i — Drs. E. Germano and J. Capo- 
bianco find that in the spinal cord of dogs and rabbits affected with 
rabies there are constant anatomical changes, and that these changes, 
while affecting all the elements of the nervous tissue, are not uniformly 
distributed throughout the cord. The lesions are inflammatory in 
character. The nervous tissue (cells and fibres) undergoes degeneration, 
- and may even disappear, while there is hypertrophy and hyperplasia of 
the neuroglia. The material used was hardened mostly in chromic 
solutions, rarely in sublimate. The sections were stained in various 
ways, but more especially by the methods of Palladino, Golgi, Marchi, 
and Weigert-Pal. 
y. General. 
Influence of the Winter of 1894-95 on the Marine Fauna.§ — M. P. 
Fauvel has made an investigation into the influence of the exceptional 
lowering of the temperature of last winter on the marine animals of the 
shores of France. He finds that the severe frosts at the time of low 
tide destroyed innumerable quantities of the animals laid bare by the 
sea. In the month of March numbers of dead animals were found in the 
clefts of the rocks and under the stones at Cherbourg and elsewhere. 
Enormous conger eels and other fishes were found dead or inert, para- 
lysed by the cold. Shrimps were destroyed in such quantity that this 
summer only small individuals of the year could be fished. What is 
more remarkable, this mortality extended to a depth at which the cold 
could have no direct sensible action. All the dredgings made at the 
Marine Laboratory of Tatihou, in April and May, at depths of 15 to 
25 metres, brought up nothing but dead and decomposing animals. To 
use the expression of the fishermen, the bottom of the sea appeared to be 
decaying. Whelks were either in a state of decomposition, or those 
which were not dead were black and uneatable. Of 1000 Pectens 
dredged only 200 were fit to be offered for sale. At Cancale the oyster 
cultivators have suffered considerable loss. Another effect of the cold 
has been to bring to the shore animals which are ordinarily met with 
only at moderate depths. For example, Amphioxus lanceolatus was found 
at Tatihou in considerable abundance on the shore, whereas as a rule it 
has to be dredged for ; and the same is true of various Holothurians and 
* Verh. Anat. Ges. IX. Vers., x. (1895) pp. 41-4. 
+ 1 La Chimie de la Cellule Vivaute,’ Paris, 1894, 12mo, 175 pp. 
X Ann. Inst. Pasteur, ix. (1895) pp. 625-35 (l pi.). 
§ Comptes Kendus, cxxi. (1895) pp. 427-9. 
