FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
659 
for the original defect of development. The details, however, 
of the operation and progress of the cure differ so little from 
those which have been previously recorded in our journal as 
to render their publication unnecessary. 
Pacts and Observations. 
How Fern Spores are scattered. —An American 
botanist, Dr. W. L. Wells, has been studying the phenomena 
of rupture of the sporangium of Polypodmm vulgare. Under 
the microscope the sporangium could be seen to open at a 
point near its stem, and the opening grew very slowly larger 
until the continuation of the stem which previously encircled 
the sporangium was nearly straight. It then suddenly shut 
with a jerk, scattering the spores in every direction, and 
generally sending the sporangium itself out of focus. In 
the cases in which it was not entirely thrown out of focus, 
the same operation could be seen to be repeated two or three 
times. In no case were any spores scattered during the 
opening, which always took place very slowly.— Popular 
Science Review. 
Bacteria in Glanders and Farcy. —MM. Christot 
and Kiener have found bacteria in the blood of glandered 
horses, and very abundantly and of large size in the spleen 
and in the pus. Along with this presence of bacteria there 
was usually leucocythaemia.— Comptes Rendus. 
Re-establishment of Sensibility after Resection 
OF Nerves. —A memoir by MM. Arloing and Tripier was 
read before the French Academy, November 28th, on the 
effects of resection of certain nervous trunks. Clinical facts 
have several times shown that after wounds which have 
altered or destroyed a portion of a nerve, sensibility returns 
in the integuments to which the nerve is distributed. MM. 
Arloing and Tripier made nervous resections in dogs, and 
saw sensibility reappear after a certain time in the integu¬ 
ments to which the branches of the nerve were distributed, 
and in the peripheral end of the nerve itself.— Popular Science 
Review. 
The Largest Diameter of Tree-trunks. —It is a 
curious fact, if it be a true one, that, according to a paper by 
Musset before the Academy of Toulouse, the large trees of 
St. Cloud have the widest parts of the trunk always in an 
east and west direction.— Ibid. 
