SCIENCE. 
330 
brain of the Gorilla, Chimpanzee and Orang has been 
carefully studied in place, and where measurements of 
the brain have been controlled by measurements of the 
cranial capacity and relations — in short, wherever the 
best and only reliable methods have been employed, the 
cerebellum has been found covered by the cerebrum. 
Myown observations are the following : 1st. The dissec- 
tion of an infant Chimpanzee (two years) and the study 
of the relations in the fresh state in presence of several 
professors of anatomy at the New York Medical Schools, 
as well as of neurologists. I need instance but two eye- 
witnesses, Professors Wm. H. Darling and Wm. A. 
Hammond. 2d. The dissection of a large Chimpanzee 
(probably nine years old) and the verifying of the com- 
plete concealment of the cerebellum in the fresh speci • 
men, in presence of Professor Herman Dorner, Ph. D., 
and several of my class in comparative anatomy. The 
hardened brain shows the same relation as it did in the 
Iresh state. 3d. The cast of the skull of a Chimpanzee 
which 1 purchased many years ago, 4th. The examina- 
tion of another out of which the brain had been removed 
by a coroner (!) at Coney Island. 
As regards my Orang Outang I would say that in the 
median line the cerebellum was markedly overlapped, 
but that towards the sides its margin coincided with 
that of the cerebral edge. This is due to the altogether 
different shape of the Orang’s cerebellum as contrasted 
with that of the Chimpanzee. Its lateral lobes flare out 
and do not taper like the human and troglodyte cere- 
bellum. 
In conclusion, I would say that I have observed a fifth 
ventricle ( ventriculus septi pellucidi ) in the Orang and 
Chimpanzee. I should be much interested to know 
whether Dr. Chapman has examined into this point and 
whether he confirms my observation or not. Judging 
from the photograph of the medial surface of a Gorilla's 
hemisphere in Pausch’s monograph, I believe this species 
to correspond to other anthropoid apes in this regard. 
The olivary nucleus is far richer in crenulations and 
mass in the Orang than in the Chimpanzee. 
E. C. Spitzka, M.D. 
130 East 50th Street, Dec. 22, 1880. 
To the Editor of SCIENCE : 
For some years past I have been a strong believer in 
the anatomical uses of the cat as a standard of compari- 
son for other vertebrates. 1 am persuaded, as the result 
of experience and observation, that the cat is a valuable 
and convenient subject of preliminary dissection by the 
human anatomist. I have often desired a description of 
the muscles in a cheaper and more convenient form than 
the ponderous quarto of Straus-Durckheim. 
The forthcoming “ Laboratory Manual,” by Professors 
Wilder and Gage, of Cornell University, will contain de- 
tailed descriptions of the muscles of the neck and the 
arm, with explicit directions for the exposure and the 
dissection of each in its natural order. A most desirable 
feature of the manual is the Synonomyand General De- 
scription of the muscles. 
This manual has been prepared by practical instruc- 
tors and is not a mere compilation. At the request of 
Dr. Wilder, I have recently made some dissections for 
the sake of veritying the accuracy of these descriptions, 
as given in the advanced sheets printed for the students 
in his laboratory, and I am informed that duplicate sets 
of these sheets may be obtained, at a nominal price, by 
others who will engage to return the extra copy with 
criticisms and suggestions which may aid the authors in 
making the work more accurate and complete. 
T. B. Stowell. 
State Normal School, Cortland, N. Y., 
December 22, 1880. 
ASTRONOMY. 
THE T E MPEL-S W I FT COMET. 
Professor Frisby, of the Naval Observatory, has com- 
puted trom the Washington observations of October 25, 
November 7, and November 20, an orbit of the comet dis- 
covered by Mr. Swift on October to, without assuming a 
value of the eccentricity or of the period, and finds an 
elliptic orbit with a periodic time of a little less than six 
years. The observations used in this calculation are too 
near together to give a good determination of the periodic 
time, but the probability is that this comet has made two 
revolutions around the sun since its discovery by Mr. 
Tempel in 1869, and that its true period is nearly 5)4 
years. The perihelion distance found by Professor Frisby 
is 1069 ; and the aphelion distance is 5472. Thus one of 
these distances corresponds very nearly to the earth’s 
distance from the sun, and the other to that of Jupiter. 
This comet was observed at Washington on December 
22 and 24, and data are at hand, therefore, for a more 
exact determination of the orbit. Since December 24 the 
sky has been cloudy. A. Hall. 
Washington, December 29, 1880. 
COMET DISCOVERED. 
The Smithsonian Institution has received from the 
Astronomer Royal, of England, the announcement of 
the discovery by Cooper on December 21, at nine o’clock 
P. M., Greenwich mean time, of a bright comet in 1 hour 
5 minutes right ascension and 6 degrees north declina- 
tion, which, at seven o’clock, Decemoer 25, was in 1 hour 
29 minutes right ascension and 2 degrees north declina- 
tion. 
Washington, Dec. 28. 1880. 
Alvan Clark & Sons, of Cambridgeport, have now 
on hand, in all the various stages of completion, a most 
interesting collection of large refractors, to say nothing 
of a number of glasses of 8 inches or less diameter. 
The lenses of the 23-inch equatorial for Prof. Young, at 
Princeton, are receiving the finishing touches, and have 
already shown a remarkable degree of perfection. The 
glass was cast by Feil. The mounting for this instru- 
ment is well advanced. 
A 16-inch objective for Prof. Swift, of the Warner 
Observatory, is finished, and the mounting nearly so. 
This glass is of English manufacture. 
The McCormick glass of 26 inches aperture, made at 
the same time as the Washington Refractor, and intended 
for the University of Virginia, is still in the shop and has 
been completed tor several years, while the mounting re- 
quires but comparatively little additional work. 
Two 8-inch refractors have been ordered and are par- 
tially finished, — one ordered by Prof. Young for the 
seminary at South Hadley, and the other by Dr, Engel- 
mann, of Leipsic. 
The flint glass disc for the 30-inch telescope, ordered 
by Struve for the Russian Government, has been re- 
ceived from Feil, and the crown glass is expected shortly. 
The mounting for this will probably be made abroad. 
For the Lick Trustees a 36-inch refractor is ordered, 
but will not be completed for several years. 
A 12-inch equatorial for observing the transit of Venus 
is nearly finished, and orders have b-en received for a 
5-inch photoheliograph and a smaller comet-seeker. 
In all or nearly all of these instruments the cell of the 
object glass is arranged so as to separate the lenses by 
several inches and allow a free circulation of air between 
them, as well as to afford an opportunity of readily reach- 
ing the inner surfaces of the glass. In the larger objectives 
especially, such a device is required in order to bring the 
temperature of the glass as nearly as possible equal to 
that of the external air. " W. C. W. 
