Abstract
THE Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, Second series. No. ix., November 1871. — The first article in this number is by Prof. Humphry, “On the Anatomy of the Muscles and Nerves of Cryptobranchus Japonicus,” an animal which has been only rarely dissected. The muscular system presents no points of great peculiarity or interest, resembling very closely that of other Urodela. With respect to the nerves, no trace of the third, fourth, or sixth cranial could be found in either orbit, though the third and fourth, both of very small size, were found in the cranial cavity; previous dissectors had described the sixth as a Abstract of paper by Prof. E. S. Morse, read at the Indianapolis meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Reprinted from the A merican Naturalist. branch from the fifth in the orbit, but this could not be found in the present specimen. The three divisions of the fifth cranial nerve were distinct, but the ophthalmic and supra maxillary left the skull by a common foramen. The vagus gave off branches answering to the spinal accessory, and also a large lateral nerve which ran back along the body, giving off no branches until it reached the great lateral muscles of the tail, and in th it differing from the corresponding nerve of fishes. The spinal nerves resembled in most points those of man very closely, the brachial and crural plexuses were, however, much more simple, which Prof. Humphry thinks is associated with a less perfect specialisation of the action of the limb muscles; and below knee and elbow the course of the nerve trunks in the fore and hind limbs was almost identical. —The next paper is by Prof. Flower, “On the composition of the Carpus of the Dog.” The os centrale had previously never been recognised in Carnivora, and both Cuvler and Owen regarded it, in those animals in which it is present, as a dismemberment of some element of the campus; Gegenbaur, however, regarded it as itself a true carpal element, though never able to discover the state of things in those cases in which it was absent. However, in the skeleton of a dog six weeks old, Prof. Flower finds that the so-called scapholunar bone consists of three distinct pieces, viz., a distinct scaphoid and lunar, and a third pkce evidently answering to the os centrale; thus confirming the view that the latter is a true primitive carpal element.— Dr. Messenger Bradley gives an account of the brain of an idiot, who during life could taste and hear well, and could repeat a few words in a parrot-like manner, but was congenitally blind, and never recognised any one, or, although not paralysed, made any attempt at locomotion. His bones were extremely fragile, fracturing invariably if he jerked a limb against the bed. The brain when removed weighed twenty-eight ounces: most of the fissures and lobes of the cerebrum were present, but (notwithstanding the small size of the hemispheres) were relatively small. The island of Reil was small and very simple. The corpora quadrigemina were very small, which is interesting, taken in connection with his blindness. The cerebellum was relatively large, the vermiform process was imperfect, the pyramid and short commissure entirely absent, and the left hemisphere considerably lighter than the right. The bones throughout the body when examined microscopically were found permeated with oil drops and granular matter, but when these were washed I away normal bone structure could be made out, except an unusually large size of the Haversian canals. Prof. Young contributes some facts in the anatomy of the shoulder girdle of birds, showing that the only movement of the humerus in flight which is anatomically possible, is that in a figure of eight. —A short description by Mr. Watson, of the digestive, circulatory, and respiratory organs of the Indian elephant, follows. —The action of the chlorides of platinum, iridium, and palladium when introduced into the blood of dogs is the subject of an interesting paper by Dr. Blake, of San Francisco. —Prof. Turner describes the variations of nerves in the human body which he has lately met with, and then follows a paper by Prof. Struthers on the Great Fin Whale, the most interesting points being a careful account of the muscles of the fore-limb, helping to clear up some points as to the homologies of the bones; and the discovery, for the first time in this species, of a bony rudiment of the femur, though Prof. Flower had previously noticed a cartilaginous one. —Mr. Garrod gives some observations made on himself showing that the exposure of the nude body to a temperature below 70° F. causes a rise in the internal temperature of the body; which is greater the lower the temperature of the surrounding air down to 45°, the lowest point at which observations have been made. This he attributes 'to a contraction of the cutaneous vessels driving the blood inwards, and also lesening the conducting power of the skin. Exposure to a tempera ure of 70° causes no rise. —A detailed description of the anatomy of the Malayan Tapir, by Dr. Murie, and of the muscles and nerves of the chimpanzee and anubis, by Mr. Champneys, do not admit of a short abstract being given of either of them. —The Report of the Progress of Physiology, by Drs. Brunton and Ferrier, is very full, and contains short accounts of many matters of great interest. The anatomy report is postponed.
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Scientific Serials . Nature 5, 293–294 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/005293c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/005293c0