Abstract
THE Journal of Anatomy and Physiology. Conducted by G. M. Humphry, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Anatomy in the University of Cambridge; and William Turner, M.D., Professor of Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh. No. VIII. May, 1871 (Macmillan and Co.).—This number is quite up to the standard of its predecessors, but the papers it contains are so numerous that we can do little more than indicate the subjects of most of them. Mr. Perrin heads the list with a couple of papers on muscular variations observed in the dissecting room of King's College, London, during two winter sessions; and Mr. Wagstaffe, demonstrator at St. Thomas's, Mr. Bradley, of the Manchester Medical School, and Mr. Cameron contribute similar papers, and thus illustrate one great use of the journal, for without it such observations would probably go unrecorded. —Mr. W. A. Hollis gives an account of the so-called salivary glands of the cockroach, and seems to show satisfactorily that they are really part of the tracheal system of the insect, and not glandular at all.—Dr. Wickham Legge contributes some observations on the physiological action of hydrochlorate of cotar-namic acid, a derivative of narcotine obtained by the late Dr. Matthiessen; the most interesting points about the new poison are the length of time (often several days) which elapses before its effects show themselves if it be administered by the mouth, and the great diminution of blood pressure and the paralysis of the cardiac branches of the vagus which it produces.—Mr. Garrod, of St. John's College, gives an account of a very simple cardio-sphygmograph which appears likely to prove useful, and also a description of the telson of Schyllus arctus, in which he endeavours to show that it is not a mere azygos appendage as it is usually supposed, but is a true body segment, possessing appendages of its own.'Dr. Wilson Paton has a paper on the influence of certain drugs, of diet, and of mental work, on the urine; one of his most important results being that neither the infusion, alcoholic extract of alkaloids of broom tops, have any effect in increasing the quantity of any of the constituents of the urine, at least in health, although they are so commonly regarded and prescribed as diuretics.—Prof. Cleland gives an account of a case occurring in his practice which showed that the trapezius plays an important part in keeping the bones of the shoulder joint in contact; he also describes a case of epispadias.—Prot. Rutherford describes a modification of Stirling's section machine, which is especially fitted for getting microscopic sections of frozen tissues, and also gives some experiments on the excitability of the trunk of a spinal nerve which go to negative Pfltiger's “avalanche”theory.—;Dr. Kennedy contributes an account of a young Aino cranium; and Prof. Turner concludes the original articles of the number with papers on the “Two-headed ribs of whales and man”and on the “Transverse processes”of the seventh cervical vertebra in Balænoptera Sibbaldii. The review of the recently published works bearing on the natural selection theory is peculiarly full and interesting, and the reports on the progress of anatomy and physiology during the preceding three months, which conclude the number, are drawn up with their usual come pleteness.
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Scientific Serials . Nature 4, 359 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/004359a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/004359a0