298 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
In another paper * * * § Mr. Tomes discusses in more detail the chemical 
composition of enamel. He is led to conclude : — 
(1) That there is very little organic matter in enamel, not enough 
for quantitative estimation. 
(2) That there is at least one equivalent of water in combination 
with the calcic phosphate, and this has generally figured as organic 
matter. 
(3) That there is still more water than this in enamel. 
Muscle-Fibre, Electric Disc, and Motor-Plate.t — -Dr. G. Carrington 
Purvis describes a concavity at the end of the striped muscle-fibres of the 
skate, which he interprets as an indication of the primitive position of 
the motor-plate. In the electric disc, cup, or plate the nerve enters the 
modified muscle-fibre at one extremity, and the theory suggested is that 
an originally anterior and terminal nerve-ending shifted its position to 
become a lateral and central motor-plate. 
Histology of Testis. :[ — Herr Fr. Reinke describes crystalloids in the 
interstitial cells of the testes in man, which have not hitherto been 
observed. They occur in the cells, but by degeneration of the cells may 
pass into the lymph. They are of albuminoid nature, possibly consisting 
of a globulin, and are comparable to the similar structures found in the 
seeds of plants. They seem to occur only in testes where the formation 
of spermatozoa is going on, except in cases of tubercular testes, where 
they are always abundant. 
y. General. 
^Esthetic Aspects of Animals.§ — Prof. K. Mobius begins an interest- 
ing discussion of this subject with the statement that both zoologists and 
non-zoologists speak of beautiful and ugly animals. He supports this 
somewhat obvious assertion by quotations from F. E. Schulze, C. Chun, 
W. K. Brooks, and others, but none of his quotations indicts a zoologist 
with calling an animal ugly. His second proposition is that the aims of 
a science of animal life are different from those of an “ aesthetic ” of animal 
life. He clearly contrasts the scientific and the aesthetic mood, and 
points out that increased knowledge of an animal may enhance our 
aesthetic delight in it, while ignorance raises intellectual prejudices 
which cause many to call certain animals, e. g. snakes, ugly. Mobius 
proceeds to discuss the relativity of aesthetic impressions, and the com- 
ponents which go to form them. Symmetry, regular repetition of parts, 
proportion, size, transparency, colour, movements, combine in our 
aesthetic perceptions, which are again compared with pre-existing ideal 
constructs. 
Philosophical Aspects of Zoology. || — Prof. A. Sabatier discoursed 
on this subject in his presidential address to the Zoological Society of 
France. After stating his own monistic position, he recommended the 
study of zoology to the philosophers. The psychologists especially must 
* J. Physiol., xix. (1896) pp. 217-23. 
f Proc. R. Phys. Soc. Edin., xiii. (1894-5) pp. 72-5. 
% Arch. f. Mikr. Anat., xlvii. (1896) pp. 34-44 (1 pi.). 
§ SB. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss., 1895, pp. 1005-15. 
1| Bull. Soc. Zool. France, xxi. (1896) pp. 38-44. 
