582 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
fills up the spaces between its component fibrils. The axis-cylinder, 
after its entrance into the core of the corpuscle, gives oft* * * § numerous small 
branching fibrils which end between the cells of the bulb and are fur- 
nished with a thin sheath of interfibrillar substance. Further, in addition 
to the thick axial fibre of the corpuscles, another slender fibre is present 
which also penetrates to the core of the corpuscle, and breaks up into 
numerous fine fibrils which surround the cells of the core. 
Structure of Pacini’s Corpuscles.* — Herr' Guido Sala has studied 
these structures in the mesorectum of the cat, and has found corpuscles 
of the same peculiar structure as those described by Dogiel f in the 
palate of the goose and duck. In them the nerve -fibrils, immediately 
on their entrance into the core, break up into several branches which 
terminate in rounded swellings. In typical Pacini’s corpuscles, further, 
the author finds an accessory nerve-fibril in addition to the main one. 
This observation seems to have been made independently of Dogiel’s 
recent work. 
c. General. 
Origin of Life.J — Herr Ludwig Zehnder attempts in this volume to 
explain the phenomena displayed by living organisms as the result of 
the peculiarities of their constituent atoms and molecules. The subject 
is treated wholly from the standpoint of the physicist. He conceives 
the living body as made up of molecules which constitute aggregates 
of different form. Of these, certain tubular structures (Fistellaej are 
of supreme importance, and explain many phenomena of animal life. 
The apparent universal presence of a nucleus in cells the author ex- 
plains by supposing that the nucleus as manifested in stained prepara- 
tions need not necessarily pre-exist in living cells. 
Chemistry of Life.§ — Dr. Georg Hormann adopts the idea of Pfliiger 
that living matter consists of a giant molecule, and endeavours to show 
that the phenomena displayed, e.g. by muscles and nerves, are explained 
on the supposition that those structures consist, not of many molecules, 
but of atoms linked together into one huge molecule. The structure 
of the cell again he explains by the “ principle of chemical continuity.” 
Inheritance of Longevity.|| — Miss M. Beeton and Prof. K. Pearson 
point out that, whereas the theory of Wallace and Weismann interprets 
the duration of life in any organism as determined by natural selection, 
there has been no attempt to show whether duration of life is or is 
not inherited. This is obviously a previous question of the highest 
importance. 
Their first statistical study is confined to the question of the in- 
heritance of longevity in the male line, and the result has been to show 
that duration of life is really inherited. The figures seem to show 
* Anat. Anzeig., xvi. (1899) pp. 193-6 (1 pi.). 
t Arch. f. Anat. u. Phys. (Anat. Abt.), 1891. 
X ‘ Die Entstehung desLebens. Parti. Moneren, Zellen, Protisten,’ Freiburg i. 
Br„ 1899. See Bot. Ztg., lvii. (1899) pp. 257-9. 
§ ‘ Die Continuit'at der Atomverkettung, ein Structurprinzip der lebendigen Sub- 
stanz,’ Jena, 1899. See Bot. Ztg., lvii. (1899) pp. 259-60. 
|| Proc. Roy. Soc., lxv. (1899) pp. 290-305 (3 figs.). 
