ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETO. 
23 
different. The spermatozoa pass into Bidder’s longitudinal canal, which 
gives off on the ventral surface of the kidney transverse canals leading 
through the parenchyma. From these the spermatozoa pass by simple or 
branched tubules into several Malpighian bodies, and thence by the 
associated urinary tubules into the efferent transverse canals, and thus 
into the ureter. 
Ganglion-cells of E,at’s Heart.* * * § — Dr. S. Schwartz states that gang- 
lion-cells are found only on a limited area of the posterior auricular 
wall, more to the left than to the right of the septum. They occur as 
four or five large groups, and a few isolated cells between, and lie 
between the visceral pericardium and the myocardium, surrounded and 
traversed by connective tissue. Besides the ganglion-cells there are on 
the surface of the heart numerous granular cells (Ehrlich’s Maslzelleri), 
but there is no reason to regard these as ganglionic. 
Changes in the Dendrites in Intoxication.! — Dr. S. Soukhanoff 
finds that the moniliform state of the dendrites is not appreciably in- 
creased in the guinea-pig placed under the influence of ether, chloroform, 
or alcohol. But intoxication with trional brings about a “pearled” 
state in almost all the dendrites of the cerebral cortex. The pyriform 
appendages disappear more or less completely, and a moniliform state 
is more or less accented. The trional affects the general nutrition, as 
marked by considerable loss of weight ; and it is suggested that the 
moniliform state may be an atrophic degeneration. It is also induced 
by arsenic, thyroidectomy, &c., which disturb the nutritive processes. 
c. General. 
Mechanical Explanation of Life.f — Dr. Angelo Andres, well known 
for his beautiful work on sea- anemones, has published an interesting 
essay on the mechanical interpretation of life. Beginning with an 
eloquent passage on the “ marvellous manifestations of life,” he suggests 
the naturalness of assuming a special vital force, and shows why this 
hypothesis appears to him illegitimate. A discussion of the physico- 
chemical characters of living matter follows, in which the impossibility 
of absolutely distinguishing this from inorganic matter is shown ; and 
then the author falls back upon one of the forms of monism which 
predicates the potentiality of consciousness as a fundamental property 
of matter. But has it not all been said many times before ? 
Atavism.§ — Dr. J. H. F. Kohlbrugge has criticised the conception of 
atavism. He distinguishes : — (a) regularly occurring transitory palin- 
genetic embryonic features, and regularly occurring rudimentary organs ; 
(b) cases of arrested or inhibited development ; and (c) the alleged 
cases of atavism. So-called atavistic characters arise irregularly, with- 
out obvious ontogenetic condition. There may be resemblance to 
ancestral forms, but this is not an expression of inheritance, merely of 
variation. “ The doctrine of atavism (in the evolutionist sense) is not 
* Arch. Mikr. Anat., liii. (1898) pp. 63-77 (1 pi.). 
f La Cellule, xiv. (1898) pp. 387-95 (1 fig.), 399-415 (5 figs.). 
X Ex Rivista Ital. Filosofia, May-June, 1898, 31 pp. 
§ ‘Der Atavismus,’ Utrecht, 1897. See review by E. Wasmann, Biol. Centralbl., 
xviii. (1898) pp. 878-9. 
