134 
SCIENCE. 
I am extremely glad that I have the opportunity of making the 
first publication of these researches before a scientific society, for 
it is lrom scientific men that my work of the last six years has re- 
ceived its earliest and kindest recogniiion. I gratefully remember 
the encouragement which I received from the late Professor Henry 
at a time when the speaking telephone existed only in theory. 
Indeed, it is greatly due to the stimulus of his appreciation that 
the telephone became an accomplished fact. I cannot state too 
highly also the advantage I received in preliminary experiments 
on sound vibrations in this building from Professor Cross, and 
near here from my valued friend Dr. Clarence J. Blake. When 
the public were incredulous of the possibility of electrical speech, 
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Philosophical 
Society of Washington and the Essex Institute of Salem recog- 
nized the reality of the results and honored me by their congratu- 
lations. The public interest, I think, was first awakened by the 
judgment of the very eminent scientific men before whom the tele- 
phone was exhibited in Philadelphia, and by the address of Sir 
William Thomson before the British Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science. 
At a later period, when even practical telegraphers considered 
the telephone as a mere scientific toy, Professor John Pierce, Pro- 
fessor Eli W. Blake, Dr. Channing, Mr. Clarke and Mr. Jones, 
of Frovidence, R. 1 ,, devoted themselves to a Series of experiments 
for the purpose of assisting me in making the telephone of practi- 
cal utility ; and they communicated to me, from time to time, the 
result of their experiments with a kindness and generosity 1 can 
never forget. It is not only pleasant to remember these things 
and to speak of them, but it is a duty to repeat them, as they give 
a practical reputation to the often repeated stories of the blindness 
of scientific men to unaccredited novelties, and of their jealousy of 
unknown inventors who dare to enter the charmed circle of 
science. I trust that the scientific favor which was so readily ac- 
corded to the telephone may be extended by you to this new 
claimant — the photophone. 
PLAN OF THE CEREBRO-SPINAL NERVOUS 
SYSTEM. 
By S. V. Clevenger, M. D. 
(Abstract from the paper (B 41) read before the American Asso- 
ciation for Advancement of Science, Boston, August 28th, 1880). 
The great French and German cerebral anatomists Luys 
and Meynert had endeavored to declare the architecture of 
the human brain from a multitude of microscopic sections, 
but so intricate were the relationship of fibres, nerve-cells, 
arteries, veins, connective tissue, etc., that it was at once seen 
to be necessary to study lower animal life anatomically and 
physiologically before the plan could be determined. Luys 
did nothing in this direction, while Meymert went as far as 
the brains Of small mammals. Spitzka has carried the 
scrutiny still farther. The scheme of Meynert started with 
the upper part of the cerebrum as the seat of consciousness 
and, working downward, his “projection systems ” ended 
in the periphery. 
The nerve fibres composing the cerebrum and cerebellum 
were mainly considered. The presence of a multitude of 
nerve-cells and ganglia dispersed throughout this region 
was unaccounted for, and as these were of undoubted im- 
portance and all well known to anatomists, it was seen by 
pathologists that these schemes were insufficient. 
No scheme can be correct which ignores any part of the 
nervous organization, or excludes any form of life as 
anomalous. The conclusion I have reached, is that the 
sympathetic system of vertebrata corresponds to the general 
nervous distribution of invertebrata above protozoa, presid- 
ing over the nutritive functions. The vaso-motor has been 
differentiated from the sympathetic distribution, whose 
office is to produce the vermicular motions of the intestines. 
Differentiation proceeds dorsally because that portion of 
the animal which is in most constant contact with the 
changing molecular motion of the environment would be 
precisely the portion to give origin to the higher series of 
nerve divisions. The endoderm, after the gastrula, stage re- 
mains under control of the sympathetic system. The so- 
called cerebral ganglia of Vermes, are homologous with 
the spinal segments which afterwards become coalesced in 
the vertebrata. This is the second system to be developed 
and Amphioxus has not acquired the third or cerebral system 
proper. In Trigla Adriatica, the third system series maybe 
seen developed dorsally upon the second or spinal cord. 
This third system is the intervertebral ganglia. Fusion of 
several of the higher intervertebral ganglia produces the cere- 
bellum, and accounts for the co-ordinating function of that Or- 
gan. The several cerebral lobes, the tubercula quadrigemina, 
mammillary eminence, Gasserian ganglion, olfactory lobe, 
olivary body, etc., are hypertrophied or atrophied (as the 
case may be) intervertebral ganglia. Projection systems 
and commissures, as the callosal, make their appearance in 
exact accordance with laws operative in the lower series. 
The three systems develop gradually, and it may be said, 
commissurally one upon the other, and this scheme appears 
to account satisfactorily for physiological and pathological 
phenomena. 
In adddition to its publication in the proceedings of the 
Association, the paper will be produced in full, in the Am- 
erican Journal of Nervous aud Mental Disease, for October, 
1 880. 
ANCIENT AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS 
OF STONE. 
By Hon. William McAdams, of Otterville, Ills. 
In the rich, alluvial soil about the mouths of the Missouri 
and Illinois rivers are found many of these ancient stone 
implements used by the Mound-builders in their rude 
agriculture. Mr. McAdams exhibited a fine collection of 
these implements. 
They are all chipped from flint, or a hard silicious lime- 
stone, and some of them beautifully made. Some are 
nearly a foot in length and six inches wide at the broader 
end. 
Some are made to be fastened to handles, like our mod- 
ern spades. Others resemble our modern hoes, having a 
deep, lateral notch, to facilitate the fastening to a handle. 
Some of these stone hoes are made with such ingenuity as 
to have been effective implements. 
Mr. McAdams also exhibited stone implements which 
evidently were made to fasten to some kind of stock to be 
pulled through the ground like a plow. As these ancient 
people had no domestic animals for this purpose, it is 
probable that manual force was used to perform the work. 
The broad cutting edge of these stone implements was 
highly polished from long use by the attrition of the soil. 
Mr. McAdams had found these implements of agricul- 
ture in the ancient graves associated with pottery, some of 
which contained carbonized corn. Cobs in a carbonized 
state were found, and the speaker is of the opinion that 
these ancient people lived principally on corn and vege- 
tables, which they cultivated to a considerable extent. 
The paper elicited much interest in the association. 
A very interesting report addressed to the committee of 
public health in France by M. Wurz, describes a process 
for retaining the green coloring of vegetables which is gen- 
erally destroyed by boiling. It consists in the use of an 
excess of chlorphyl obtained from spinach (spinacia ole- 
racea) which holds in its cells a large amount of coloring 
matter. A watery solution of this rendered alkaline by 
soda, is added to the boiling vegetable which is slightly 
acidulated with hydrochloric acid. The chemical result is 
common salt and a deposit of coloring matter on the or- 
ganic tissue. There cannot now be any possible tempta- 
tion for the unwarrantable dyeing of preserved vegetables 
by salts of copper or the employment of adulterants for 
obtaining that vivid coloring so attractive to the epicure. 
