bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The c‐Chart with Bootstrap Adjusted Control Limits to Improve Conditional Performance
Authors: Zhao Meng J. , Driscoll Anne R.
Published: March 2016

The integrity of Phase II control charting depends on the accuracy of Phase I estimation. Studies have shown that extremely large sample sizes are needed in Phase I to ensure that performance of control charts with estimated in‐control parameters is comparable with the performance of charts with known parameters. The sample size recommendations can be impractical for attribute control charts. In this article, the in‐control performance of the c‐chart with an estimated in‐control average number of non‐conforming items is assessed. We show that the sampling variability associated with estimation results in a high percentage of control charts with in‐control average run lengths well below that of corresponding control charts with known parameters. This sampling variability can be described as between‐practitioner variability. To overcome the variability in performance, a c‐chart with bootstrapped control limits is recommended. A simulation study reveals that these adjusted bootstrapped control limits improve the conditional average run length performance of the c‐chart by controlling the proportion of charts with in‐control average run length performance below a given value. The out‐of‐control performance of the c‐chart with adjusted limits is also discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Stepwise Differentiation of Retinal Ganglion Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Enables Analysis of Glaucomatous Neurodegeneration
Authors: Ohlemacher Sarah K. , Sridhar Akshayalakshmi , Xiao Yucheng , Hochstetler Alexandra E. , Sarfarazi Mansoor , Cummins Theodore R. , Meyer Jason S.
Published: March 2016

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including both embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, possess the unique ability to readily differentiate into any cell type of the body, including cells of the retina. Although previous studies have demonstrated the ability to differentiate hPSCs to a retinal lineage, the ability to derive retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) from hPSCs has been complicated by the lack of specific markers with which to identify these cells from a pluripotent source. In the current study, the definitive identification of hPSC-derived RGCs was accomplished by their directed, stepwise differentiation through an enriched retinal progenitor intermediary, with resultant RGCs expressing a full complement of associated features and proper functional characteristics. These results served as the basis for the establishment of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from a patient with a genetically inherited form of glaucoma, which results in damage and loss of RGCs. Patient-derived RGCs specifically exhibited a dramatic increase in apoptosis, similar to the targeted loss of RGCs in glaucoma, which was significantly rescued by the addition of candidate neuroprotective factors. Thus, the current study serves to establish a method by which to definitively acquire and identify RGCs from hPSCs and demonstrates the ability of hPSCs to serve as an effective in vitro model of disease progression. Moreover, iPSC-derived RGCs can be utilized for future drug screening approaches to identify targets for the treatment of glaucoma and other optic neuropathies.
A high-throughput screening strategy for accurate quantification of menaquinone based on fluorescence-activated cell sorting
Authors: Liu Yan , Xue Zheng-lian , Chen Shao-peng , Wang Zhou , Zhang Yong , Gong Wei-liang , Zheng Zhi-ming
Published: March 2016

To enhance the screening efficiency and accuracy of a high-yield menaquinone (vitamin K2, MK) bacterial strain, a novel, quantitative method by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) was developed. The staining technique was optimized to maximize the differences in fluorescence signals between spontaneous and MK-accumulating cells. The fluorescence carrier rhodamine 123 (Rh123), with its ability to reflect membrane potential, proved to be an appropriate fluorescent dye to connect the MK content with fluorescence signal quantitatively. To promote adequate access of the fluorescent molecule to the target and maintain higher cell survival rates, staining and incubation conditions were optimized. The results showed that 10 % sucrose facilitated uptake of Rh123, while maintaining a certain level of cell viability. The pre-treatment of cells with MgCl2 before staining with Rh123 also improved cell viability. Using FACS, 50 thousands cells can easily be assayed in less than 1 h. The optimized staining protocol yielded a linear response for the mean fluorescence against high performance liquid chromatography-measured MK content. We have developed a novel and useful staining protocol in the high-throughput evaluation of Flavobacterium sp. mutant libraries, using FACS to identify mutants with increased MK-accumulating properties. This study also provides reference for the screening of other industrial microbial strains.
Women’s Work Pathways Across the Life Course
Authors: Damaske Sarah , Frech Adrianne
Published: March 2016

Despite numerous changes in women’s employment in the latter half of the twentieth century, women’s employment continues to be uneven and stalled. Drawing from data on women’s weekly work hours in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), we identify significant inequality in women’s labor force experiences across adulthood. We find two pathways of stable full-time work for women, three pathways of part-time employment, and a pathway of unpaid labor. A majority of women follow one of the two full-time work pathways, while fewer than 10 % follow a pathway of unpaid labor. Our findings provide evidence of the lasting influence of work–family conflict and early socioeconomic advantages and disadvantages on women’s work pathways. Indeed, race, poverty, educational attainment, and early family characteristics significantly shaped women’s work careers. Work–family opportunities and constraints also were related to women’s work hours, as were a woman’s gendered beliefs and expectations. We conclude that women’s employment pathways are a product of both their resources and changing social environment as well as individual agency. Significantly, we point to social stratification, gender ideologies, and work–family constraints, all working in concert, as key explanations for how women are “tracked” onto work pathways from an early age.
Preclinical Alzheimer's disease: Definition, natural history, and diagnostic criteria
Authors: Dubois Bruno , Hampel Harald , Feldman Howard H. , Scheltens Philip , Aisen Paul , Andrieu Sandrine , Bakardjian Hovagim , Benali Habib , Bertram Lars , Blennow Kaj , Broich Karl , Cavedo Enrica , Crutch Sebastian , Dartigues Jean‐François , Duyckaerts Charles , Epelbaum Stéphane , Frisoni Giovanni B. , Gauthier Serge , Genthon Remy , Gouw Alida A. , Habert Marie‐Odile , Holtzman David M. , Kivipelto Miia , Lista Simone , Molinuevo José‐Luis , O'Bryant Sid E. , Rabinovici Gil D. , Rowe Christopher , Salloway Stephen , Schneider Lon S. , Sperling Reisa , Teichmann Marc , Carrillo Maria C. , Cummings Jeffrey , Jack Cliff R. ,   Proceedings of the Meeting of the International Working Group (IWG) and the American Alzheimer's Association on “The Preclinical State of AD”; July 23, 2015; Washington DC, USA
Published: March 2016

During the past decade, a conceptual shift occurred in the field of Alzheimer's disease (AD) considering the disease as a continuum. Thanks to evolving biomarker research and substantial discoveries, it is now possible to identify the disease even at the preclinical stage before the occurrence of the first clinical symptoms. This preclinical stage of AD has become a major research focus as the field postulates that early intervention may offer the best chance of therapeutic success. To date, very little evidence is established on this “silent” stage of the disease. A clarification is needed about the definitions and lexicon, the limits, the natural history, the markers of progression, and the ethical consequence of detecting the disease at this asymptomatic stage. This article is aimed at addressing all the different issues by providing for each of them an updated review of the literature and evidence, with practical recommendations.
HOW TO BE AN OPTIMIST ABOUT AESTHETIC TESTIMONY
Authors: McKinnon Rachel
Published: March 2016

An ongoing debate concerns whether agents can come to know that a particular piece of art is beautiful on the basis of someone's say-so. This debate concerns the epistemology of aesthetic testimony. Pessimists of various stripes claim that testimony-based knowledge of aesthetic propositions is impossible; optimists of various stripes claim that such testimony-based knowledge is possible. In this paper, I defend an optimist position: agents can come to know aesthetic propositions on the basis of testimony. Moreover, agents come to gain this knowledge quite readily. I make my case by considering a parallel debate in epistemology regarding assertions based on a particular kind of testimony, cases of what Jennifer Lackey (2011, 2013) has called “isolated second-hand knowledge” (ISHK). I argue that assertions based on isolated second-hand knowledge are appropriate, and hearers can come to know aesthetic propositions via testimony.
The microRNA miR-124 suppresses seizure activity and regulates CREB1 activity
Authors: Wang Wei , Wang Xuefeng , Chen Lang , Zhang Yujiao , Xu Zucai , Liu Jing , Jiang Guohui , Li Jie , Zhang Xiaogang , Wang KeWei , Wang Jinghui , Chen Guojun , Luo Jing
Published: March 2016

miR-124, a brain-specific microRNA, was originally considered as a key regulator in neuronal differentiation and the development of the nervous system. Here we showed that miR-124 expression was suppressed in patients with epilepsy and rats after drug induced-seizures. Intrahippocampal administration of a miR-124 duplex led to alleviated seizure severity and prolonged onset latency in two rat models (pentylenetetrazole- and pilocarpine-induced seizures), while miR-124 inhibitor led to shortened onset latency in pilocarpine-induced seizure rat models. Moreover, the result of local field potentials (LFPs) records further demonstrated miR-124 may have anti-epilepsy function. Inhibition of neuronal firing by miR-124 was associated with the suppression of mEPSC, AMPAR- and NMDAR-mediated currents, which were accompanied by decreased surface expression of NMDAR. In addition, miR-124 injection resulted in decreased activity and expression of cAMP-response element-binding protein1 (CREB1). a key regulator in epileptogenesis. A dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to confirm that miR-124 targeted directly the 3′UTR of CREB1 gene and repressed the CREB1 expression in HEK293T cells. Immunoprecipitation studies confirmed that the CREB1 antibody effectively precipitated CREB1 and NMDAR1 but not GLUR1 from rat brain hippocampus. These results revealed a previously unknown function of miR-124 in neuronal excitability and provided a new insight into molecular mechanisms underlying epilepsy.
Computation of Stress Intensity Factors Using Wavelet-Based Element
Authors: Xiang J.-W. , Liang M. , Zhong Y.-T.
Published: March 2016

A new approach for the analysis of stress intensity factors (SIFs) for cracked plane plate is proposed based on the wavelet finite element method using the scaling functions of B-spline wavelet on the interval (BSWI). The performance of the method is investigated through the comparison of the results with the available numerical examples in the literate. It is shown that the solution quality is much better than that of the traditional adaptive finite element method. Though the method is applied to plane structures in this paper, it can be extended to solving problems for other classes of structures.
Voronoi Based Discrete Least Squares Meshless Method for Assessment of Stress Field in Elastic Cracked Domains
Authors: Labibzadeh M.
Published: March 2016

A new approach in meshless methods has been introduced for stress assessment around a crack in two-dimensional elastic solids. This method with the name VDLSM (Voronoi Based Discrete Least Squares Meshless) is a pure meshless method which does not implement nodal mesh for trial and test functions. Rather, it uses a collection of the scattered nodal points and implements the discrete least squares approach to discretize the strong form of the governing differential equations on the domain of interest. This can reduce considerably the pre-processing cost of the analysis. Meshless methods generally are faced with some difficulty to accommodate the stress analysis in the vicinity of sharply concave surfaces such as cracks. Some techniques have been used to fix that problem such as visibility, transparency and diffraction, but these methods require some additional back corrective analyses for those parts of the domain located near the crack, which lengthen the time consumed for the solution and, moreover, do not provide the desired accuracy for the unknowns in these regions. VDLSM as a new, straightforward and easy applicable method has been suggested here for overcoming such deficiency using the algorithm of the Voronoi tessellation for constructing the Moving Least Squares (MLS) shape functions.
Dietary fat intakes in Irish adults in 2011: how much has changed in 10 years?
Authors: Li Kaifeng , McNulty Breige A. , Tiernery Ann M. , Devlin Niamh F. C. , Joyce Triona , Leite Joao C. , Flynn Albert , Walton Janette , Brennan Lorraine , Gibney Michael J. , Nugent Anne P.
Published: March 2016

Imbalances in dietary fat intakes are linked to several chronic diseases. This study describes dietary intakes and food sources of fat and fatty acids in 1051 Irish adults (aged 18–90 years), using data from the 2011 national food consumption survey, the National Adult Nutrition Survey. It also compares current intakes for 18–64-year-olds with those reported in the last such survey in 2001, the North/South Ireland Food Consumption Survey. Dietary fat intakes were estimated using data from 4-d semi-weighed (2011) and 7-d estimated (2001) food diaries. In 2011, intakes for 18–64-year-olds were as follows: total fat, 34·1 (sd6·1) % total energy (%TE); SFA, 13·3 (sd3·3) %TE; MUFA, 12·5 (sd2·6) %TE; PUFA, 6·1 (sd2·2) %TE; andtrans-fat, 0·511 (sd0·282) %TE. Apart from MUFA, intakes decreased (P<0·001) compared with 2001. There was no statistically significant difference in intakes of EPA and DHA by 18–64-year-olds in 2011 (269·0 (sd515·0) mg/d) and 2001 (279·1 (sd497·5) mg/d). In 2011, adults aged >65 years had the highest intakes of SFA; however, intakes were typically higher than UK-recommended values for all groups. In contrast, intakes of long-chainn-3 fatty acids were lowest in younger age groups. Intakes oftrans-fat were well within UK-recommended levels. Although there have been some improvements in the profile of intakes since 2001, imbalances persist in the quantity and quality of dietary fat consumed by Irish adults, most notably for total and SFA and for younger age groups for long-chainn-3 fatty acids.
How I do it: modified Todd's meatoplasty
Authors: Elsamanody A N , Topsakal V , Grolman W , Tange R A
Published: March 2016

Background:

Chronic otorrhoea after canal wall down mastoidectomy can be a clinical challenge. Basic principles for canal wall down surgery include establishing a large meatus. Several meatoplasty techniques have been reported. This paper describes this new indication for Todd's meatoplasty with surgical improvements.

Study design:

Retrospective review.

Setting:

Academic tertiary referral centre.

Methods:

Modifications of transposition postauricular flap meatoplasty are reported. This technique was applied in a series of patients with chronic otorrhoea after a canal wall down mastoidectomy.

Results:

In general, a dry radical cavity was successfully created within six weeks and follow-up visits at the out-patient clinic were reduced. Only minor complications occurred, which are all reported.

Conclusion:

The postauricular flap meatoplasty is a valuable tool in the management of chronic otorrhoea after an open cavity approach for cholesteatoma.
TGF-βreceptor type II costameric localization in cardiomyocytes and host cell TGF-βresponse is disrupted byTrypanosoma cruziinfection
Authors: CALVET CLAUDIA MAGALHÃES , SILVA TATIANA ARAÚJO , DE MELO TATIANA GALVÃO , DE ARAÚJO-JORGE TÂNIA CREMONINI , PEREIRA MIRIAN CLAUDIA DE SOUZA
Published: March 2016

Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) cytokine is involved in Chagas disease establishment and progression. SinceTrypanosoma cruzican modulate host cell receptors, we analysed the TGF-βreceptor type II (TβRII) expression and distribution duringT. cruzi– cardiomyocyte interaction. TβRII immunofluorescent staining revealed a striated organization in cardiomyocytes, which was co-localized with vinculin costameres and enhanced (38%) after TGF-βtreatment. Cytochalasin D induced a decrease of 45·3% in the ratio of cardiomyocytes presenting TβRII striations, demonstrating an association of TβRII with the cytoskeleton. Western blot analysis showed that cytochalasin D significantly inhibited Smad 2 phosphorylation and fibronectin stimulation after TGF-βtreatment in cardiomyocytes.Trypanosoma cruziinfection elicited a decrease of 79·8% in the frequency of cardiomyocytes presenting TβRII striations, but did not interfere significantly in its expression. In addition,T. cruzi-infected cardiomyocytes present a lower response to exogenous TGF-β, showing no enhancement of TβRII striations and a reduction of phosphorylated Smad 2, with no significant difference in TβRII expression when compared to uninfected cells. Together, these results suggest that the co-localization of TβRII with costameres is important in activating the TGF-βsignalling cascade, and thatT. cruzi-derived cytoskeleton disorganization could result in altered or low TGF-βresponse in infected cardiomyocytes.
Deficits in executive functions among youths with autism spectrum disorders: an age-stratified analysis
Authors: Chen S.-F. , Chien Y.-L. , Wu C.-T. , Shang C.-Y. , Wu Y.-Y. , Gau S. S.
Published: March 2016

Background

Impaired executive function (EF) is suggested to be one of the core features in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); however, little is known about whether the extent of worse EF in ASD than typically developing (TD) controls is age-dependent. We used age-stratified analysis to reveal this issue.

Method

We assessed 111 youths with ASD (aged 12.5 ± 2.8 years, male 94.6%) and 114 age-, and sex-matched TD controls with Digit Span and four EF tasks of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB): Spatial Span (SSP), Spatial Working Memory (SWM), Stockings of Cambridge (SOC), and Intradimensional/Extradimensional Shift Test (I/ED).

Results

Compared to TD controls, youths with ASD performed poorer on the Digit Span, SWM, SOC, and I/ED tasks. The performance of all the tasks improved with age for both groups. Age-stratified analyses were conducted due to significant age × group interactions in visuospatial planning (SOC) and set-shifting (I/ED) and showed that poorer performance on these two tasks in ASD than TD controls was found only in the child (aged 8–12 years) rather than the adolescent (aged 13–18 years) group. By contrast, youths with ASD had impaired working memory, regardless of age. The increased magnitude of group difference in visuospatial planning (SOC) with increased task demands differed between the two age groups but no age moderating effect on spatial working memory.

Conclusions

Our findings support deficits in visuospatial working memory and planning in youths with ASD; however, worse performance in set-shifting may only be demonstrated in children with ASD.
Neural correlates of improved executive function following erythropoietin treatment in mood disorders
Authors: Miskowiak K. W. , Vinberg M. , Glerup L. , Paulson O. B. , Knudsen G. M. , Ehrenreich H. , Harmer C. J. , Kessing L. V. , Siebner H. R. , Macoveanu J.
Published: March 2016

Background

Cognitive dysfunction in depression and bipolar disorder (BD) is insufficiently targeted by available treatments. Erythropoietin (EPO) increases neuroplasticity and may improve cognition in mood disorders, but the neuronal mechanisms of these effects are unknown. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the effects of EPO on neural circuitry activity during working memory (WM) performance.

Method

Patients with treatment-resistant major depression, who were moderately depressed, or with BD in partial remission, were randomized to eight weekly infusions of EPO (40 000 IU) (N = 30) or saline (N = 26) in a double-blind, parallel-group design. Patients underwent fMRI, mood ratings and blood tests at baseline and week 14. During fMRI patients performed an n-back WM task.

Results

EPO improved WM accuracy compared with saline (p = 0.045). Whole-brain analyses revealed that EPO increased WM load-related activity in the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) compared with saline (p = 0.01). There was also enhanced WM load-related deactivation of the left hippocampus in EPO-treated compared to saline-treated patients (p = 0.03). Across the entire sample, baseline to follow-up changes in WM performance correlated positively with changes in WM-related SFG activity and negatively with hippocampal response (r = 0.28–0.30, p < 0.05). The effects of EPO were not associated with changes in mood or red blood cells (p ⩾0.08).

Conclusions

The present findings associate changes in WM-load related activity in the right SFG and left hippocampus with improved executive function in EPO-treated patients. Clinical trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov: NCT00916552.
On a New Species of Hybodus from the Lower Chalk
Authors: Mackie S. J.
Published: March 2016

Since the publication of Agassiz' ‘Poissons Fossiles’ only one addition, that we are aware of, has been made to our knowledge of this interesting genus of fishes,—certainly, at least, in respect to British geology. In 1845 Sir Philip Egerton described, before the Geological Society, a large jaw, or rather mouth of teeth, of a fish of this kind, found by Captain Ibbetson in the Isle of Wight, and named by Sir Philip Hylodus bassanus.

This species has been assigned to the Lower Greensand, in Morris's Catalogue, but the bed seems, from Sir Philip's statement, to be in a dubious position, for he speaks of it only as “near the junction of the Lower Greensand and Wealden,” and says the specimen was sent to him “in the hopes it might tend to show to which of the two formations its bed should be assigned,”—a question he further declines to answer, as “the evidence it affords on this question is neither direct nor conclusive, inasmuch as it is an undescribed species; and consequently any deductions beyond those based upon general affinities would be unwarrantable.” Sir Philip adds, however, further on: “The geological inferences afforded by the specimen are briefly told. The species is new. The genus is undoubtedly Hybodus. This genus attains its maximum expansion in the Oolitic series, but it ranges from the Muschelkalk to the Chalk inclusive.
An Attempt to Correlate the Glacial and Post-Glacial Deposits of the British Isles, and to Determine their Order of Succession
Authors: King William
Published: March 2016

The classification given in the sequel is based on the following premises:—

1st. The entire area of the British Isles has undergone at different times, during the Glacial and Post-Glacial periods, a succession of secular elevating and subsiding movements.

2nd. At the close of the Pliocene period, the relative level of land and sea over the British area was approximately the same as at present.

3rd. The edge of the two-hundred-fathoms submarine plateau, on the east side of the North Atlantic, formed the west coast-line of a continent (now represented by Europe) during the earliest time (epoch) of the Glacial period.

4th. The climate of the British area was frigid in the extreme during the Glacial period, allowing epochs of amelioration.

5th. Rock-surfaces undergo enormous degradation when they are above the sea-level, during the prevalency of glaciation.
On a New Fish-Jaw from the Gault Near Folkestone
Authors: Blake C. Carter
Published: March 2016

My friend Mr. Mackie has handed me an interesting little fragment of jaw, derived from the Gault at Folkestone. The length of the broken fragment of jaw measures 1⅛ inch; its absolute breadth of an inch. It contains three teeth, of which the largest is conical, incurved, exhibiting around its thickened base a series of sculptured linear depressions, parallel with the axis of the tooth, the interior of which has been converted into phosphate of lime; the second and the third also exhibiting similar characters, the third especially being acuminate, and exhibiting the natural apex of the tooth in an uninjured state. The conformation of such a tooth led my friend Mr. Davies to compare it with the homologous structure in the teeth of the Pachyrhizodus basalis of Agassiz, which is described by Sir Philip Egerton, F.R.S., in Mr. F. Dixon's ‘Geology of Sussex.’ The specimen figured in that work was obtained from the Lower Chalk at Steyning. The characters, which are given, are—” apex very brittle, slightly curved inwardly, and solid; the base is hollow, and extends into the substance of the jaw.” It is further stated that in Sir Philip Egerton's cabinet there is a specimen of this fish, exhibiting an unusually thick and strong humerus, as well as large and circular scales, covered with asperities so minute as to be indistinguishable without the aid of a glass.

There are many points of distinction, however, between the Pachyrhizodus basalis of Agassiz, and Mr. Mackie's specimen. Apart from the absolute size of Mr. Dixon's specimen, which is at least double that of the one before me, I am wholly unable to detect in the former any trace of that curious sculptured channelling which is so prominent in the latter specimen. This comparison failing, Mr. Davies showed me some most interesting specimens, also from the Folkestone gault, which exhibited equally perfect evidences of this sculpturing. I would therefore suggest that some temporary or provisional name should be given to this form, which differs from the Pachyrhizodus basalis of Agassiz, both in its stratigraphical habitat and its odontological conformation.
Some Account of Barrettia, a New and Remarkable Fossil Shell From the Hippurite Limestone of Jamaica
Authors: Woodward S. P.
Published: March 2016

The fossil represented in the accompanying figures is one of that kind whose discovery severely tests the faith of the naturalist in his previous conclusions, and may appear to raise a suspicion not only respecting the sufficiency of his data, but even as to the correctness of his method of investigation. Almost any person, at first sight of the specimen, would think he was looking at a coral, and it would seem like an attempt to impose on one's credulity to say it was a bivalve shell, like an oyster or a clam.

Yet there is no doubt it is a kind of Hippurite, although the rays give it a novel and extraordinary character. The discoverer had quite satisfied himself on this point before he brought it to England and placed it in our hands. It was found last year (January, 1861), by Mr. Lucas Barrett, F.G.S., Director of the Geological Survey of the British West Indies, in the parish of Portland, in the north-east of Jamaica. This part of the island, lying to the north of the principal range of the Blue Mountains, which run east and west, is itself mountainous, rising to the height of 7000 feet. The hippurite limestone is well seen on the banks of the Back river, a tributary of the Rio Grande, at about fifteen miles from the coast.
Past Life in South America
Authors: Blake Charles Carter
Published: March 2016

The minds of the British public, accustomed to review the complex phenomena of geology and palæontology in the Old, are apt to neglect the equally interesting evidences afforded to them of past life in the New World. American palæontology is distinguished not because the mighty hemisphere, now the seat of political convulsions, has not passed through analogous phases of life-stages to those presented by the elder continent, nor because the extinct fauna of America is less interesting than that of Europe, Asia, or Australia, nor that the most eminent men in both worlds have omitted to call attention to the stupendous monuments of bygone existence in the pampas of La Plata or on the shores of Patagonia, but because the public mind has not yet sufficiently realized the idea that during the period whilst Europe and Asia underwent the manifold and changing influences of geological time, like conditions were passed through in America.

A tradition exists in the minds of all the earliest aboriginal nations of America, on the banks of the Missouri, at Manta, at Punta St. Elena in Ecuador, at Suacha in New Granada, at Tarija on the eastern slopes of the Andes, and at Tagua-tagua in the south of Chile, that a vast nation of colossal human beings existed before the present inhabitants. These giants, the credulous and imaginative mind of the native supposed, were destroyed by the deities, like the old race of Titans by the Olympian gods, or the Hrimthursar—the frost-giants of ice and snow—by the supporters of Odin and the Æsir in the Norse mythology.
On the Origin of Species
Authors: King William
Published: March 2016

It would be an insult to reason to deny the power of the Omnipotent to create at once plants and animals out of inorganic or any kind of matter: on the other hand, it would be equally irrational to doubt His power to ordain and sustain laws, through the instrumentality of which originally created organisms could be modified and adapted to external changes. The two modes may be designated,—the first, Autotheogeny,—and the second, Genetheonomy.

I hold that an organism, whether it typifies a species, a genus, a family, an order, or a class, is an autotheogen, if it possesses a set of characters which isolate it from other equivalent groups; also, that such an organism, through being acted on by inherent and external forces, may become more or less modified, thereby resulting in genetheonomous forms. I see no reason why Mr. Darwin should not admit the same, notwithstanding that his present belief merely recognizes among animals “at most only four or five” autotheogenous roots of apparently as many classes. On psychological grounds alone, Man must be regarded as isolated from all other organisms; hence I consider him to be an autotheogenous species.
Geology of the Isle of Man
Authors: Grindley Thomas
Published: March 2016

While almost every week increases our knowledge of the geology of distant parts of the earth, there is one small island in the British seas, famed for its picturesque beauty, and peculiarly interesting on account of its historical associations, of the geological features of which very little is known, and even that little scarcely ever referred to in geological treatises. This may have arisen mainly from the fact of there having been as yet no official survey of this island; while those portions of the geological series represented in the Manx rocks having been typically established from other localities, it did not seem to present geological features sufficiently novel or peculiar to require any special investigation. Still, in the earlier years of the science, several eminent geologists did describe, with greater or less minuteness, some of its geological appearances: for example, Professor E. Forbes, who wrote a short account of Manx geology for one of the local guide-books; and a much more elaborate account was written by the Rev. J. G. Cumming, F.G.S., and published in 1848; but the rapid progress of the science, while it does not deprive these descriptions of all value, has in a great measure superseded them, and opened here a wide and almost untrodden field for the modern geologist. Having for several years resided on the island, and being convinced that many of the phenomena presented by the Manx rocks, if not altogether new to the geologist, are yet of remarkable interest, and capable of taking a great part in the solution of many of the problems which geologists are now endeavouring to solve, I have written the following brief account, with the view of diffusing, through the pages of the ‘Geologist,’ a more general knowledge of the geology of the Isle of Man, and in the hope of attracting to the subject that attention which it deserves.
On the Occurrence of a Peculiar Substance in the Limestone of South Australia
Authors: Murray W.
Published: March 2016

Taking a section across the Murray River Valley, in South Australia, for a distance of about forty miles from west to east, we have (as shown in the accompanying diagram) two parallel ranges, and on the outer flank of the western range there are at some places micaceous strata (A), having a steep inclination, resting against the contorted strata of the range, sections of which are seen in gaps and gullies, with steep sides, in some instances 800 to 1000 feet deep. These hills are partly granitic; the granite is reddish, very readily decomposed, and worn by the rain and weather here and there into strange grotesque figures. There are well-defined metallic lodes in this range. East of these hills are three terraces leading down to the river. The first is the broadest, extending about two-thirds the distance, and falls twenty feet to the river. It is composed chiefly of sand; but rocks similar to those of the western rock crop out here and there. The second terrace averages about two-ninths of the distance between the range and the river: it falls about thirty feet; sometimes not more than ten or fifteen feet; at places, however, more than fifty feet. The third or lowest terrace is only one-ninth of the distance, and nearly level with the river: in fact, it is overflowed when the water is up. The river itself flows slowly, having a fall of about one foot a mile.
Some Observations on the Accumulation of Cave-Deposits
Authors: Eley Henry
Published: March 2016

The usual mode of accounting for the bone-breccias so eommonly found in caverns open to the day can scarcely be considered by any body as quite satisfactory. It seems usually taken for granted that that mixture of sand, clay, small stones, and fragments of bone must necessarily have been brought there by streams of water, or washed in by waves. And yet in many instances—perhaps in by far the great majority of instances—nothing can be imagined as much less likely to have happened than the aggregation of such materials by any means of that kind: that it should have been an occurrence of almost universal prevalence may well be deemed impossible. For under what circumstance can it be conceived that floods of water, in every region where open caverns exist in the rocks, should have picked up a heterogeneous collection of bones just in time to lay them quietly down again in every hole into which the muddy stream could gain access? For we must really suppose so well-timed an acquisition of future fossils, before we can admit the usually received hypothesis of the manner in which they were deposited where we find them; since no one can suppose that the whole of the solid matter borne along by any great flood—not to say by every such flood—could have been such as we observe so constantly in these bone-breccias.
Deep Sinking for Coal in the Wyre Forest Coal-Field
Authors: Roberts George E.
Published: March 2016

Mention is made by Mr. Hull, F.G.S., in the second edition of his useful work on the coal-fields of England, of a deep sinking for coal on the estate of the Arley Pottery and Fire-brick Company, situated at Shatterford, five miles north of Bewdley. This work, though unfortunately ending in failure, and leading to the abandonment of the enterprise, deserves a prominent ppsition in the annals of coalmining, chiefly because the section obtained may be regarded as an index to nearly the whole of the coal measures of the forest of Wyre. Through the courtesy of Mr. John M. Fellows, manager of works to the late company, I am enabled to place on record the particulars of the shaft-sinking. To illustrate it, I have sketched the geological construction of the district for three miles in a line north-west to south-east, adding a section due north and south of the near-lying anticline of Trimpley, where the upper tilestones crop out. While the work of sinking was in progress, I obtained daily intelligence either through visits or by communications from Mr. Fellows, to whose obliging conduct in giving me every facility for scientific investigation I am greatly indebted.

The specimens obtained from each bed were particularly examined by me, and the fire-clays, which, from their number formed an important part of the series, were of a highly interesting character. The fossils obtained do not require special notice, no new fern being met with, and the Sigillariæ, &c, being few in number and badly preserved. These in every case lay prostrated in the strata, and appeared to have been drifted.
A Lecture on “Coal.”
Authors: Salter J. W.
Published: March 2016

In many respects the plants and animals of the coal differ much from forms now living. It is probable that the greater part of them are even of different groups or families from the existing ones. But the ferns at least show strong traces of affinity. Here and there we meet with the young fern-leaves coiled up as they now lie on the heather, ready to unfold on the return of spring. We all know these “Bishops' crooks” that nestle in the bottom of the fern-baskets; and when I saw a grand specimen in Mrs. Stackhouse Acton's cabinet (it now graces our museum in Jermyn Street), with the delicate coil of pinnæ, every leaflet in its place, I almost leaped for joy. It was from the Le Botwood coal-field. There is one figured in this work, vol. iii, p. 460 (but the finder has not yet been told, I think, what his fossil is): it is from South Wales, and a beautiful specimen.

Our space was too crowded last month to give the necessary figures of the ferns; and it is but limited now. The leaves or fronds of the delicate Sphenopteris, mentioned p. 101, are very abundant. There are a number of species. S. elegans, S. crassa, and especially S. affinis occur in the lower coals, beneath the mountain limestone of Scotland;—S. artemisiœfolia, S. Honinghausi, S. linearis, S. trifoliata, are all characteristic of our upper coals, and the two last are found in France and Germany.
Some Remarks on Mr. Darwin's Theory
Authors: Hutton Frederick Wollaston
Published: March 2016

I said that “all the years invent;

Each month is various to present

The world with some development.”—Tennyson.

Although most of my readers will be perfectly acquainted with the theory proposed by Mr. Darwin to account for the various forms of life that we see on the globe, yet, for the sake of clearness, I will briefly enunciate it.

Mr. Darwin first shows that individuals of the same species vary one with another.

He then shows that, owing to the rapid increase of animal and vegetable life, by which many more are born each year than can possibly survive, there is a continual warfare going on among them for food and other necessaries. This he calls the “struggle for life.”

He then shows that if any animal or plant should have, by variation, any organ or property so modified as to give it some advantage over its fellows in the struggle for life, it will, as a general rule, live longer and produce more offspring; and these offspring will have a tendency to inherit the organ or property modified in the same manner: but if in one of these offspring the organ should be still further modified, it win give him a like advantage over his brethren, and his offspring again will have a tendency to reproduce the organ in its more modified state; and so on. This he calls “Natural Selection.”
On British Carboniferous Brachiopoda
Authors: Davidson Thomas
Published: March 2016

Four years have elapsed since I first commenced my researches among the Carboniferous Brachiopoda of Great Britain ; and I should certainly by this time have completed my task, had not the unfortunate delay in the publication of the last two or three volumes of the Palæontographical Society induced me to undertake other work which would not require to lie printed and unpublished for upwards of one year and a half. My monograph cannot, consequently, be completed or entirely published for some time to come, perhaps a year or more; but as my researches in connection with the subject are almost ended, since the whole series of species at present known have been as carefully examined as my means and materials would permit, it may, perhaps, be as well that I should at once expose the results of my laborious enquiry, in the hope that by so doing some further assistance and advice may be proffered; which might enable me to make the monograph still more complete, and at the same time admit of my correcting in the concluding pages those unavoidable mistakes which have been commited during the interval which has elapsed since the commencement of its publication.

It may be thought by some while perusing the accompanying catalogue that the work to be gone through was but small in comparison with the time employed, but such would be an erroneous assumption, and a sad return to the numerous friends in England, Scotland, and Ireland, who have so zealously afforded their valuable and valued assistance, by incessantly ransacking the country in order to obtain every possible specimen that might assist and tend to complete the history of British Carboniferous species.
Description of the Section of the Upper Green-Sand at the Undercliff, in the Isle of Wight
Authors: Norman Mark W.
Published: March 2016

The next division, 8th, consists of a bed of fawn-coloured sandstone of about ten feet in thickness, containing nodules of rag, with Pectines, Terebratulæ, Rhynchonellæ, &c., in the lower portion, which, owing to its softness and looseness of texture, the weather wears away, leaving the shells finely exposed. It is chiefly owing to such excavation of this bed, by the combined influence of the elements, that those great falls of the superincumbent masses have taken place at intervals along the line of the Undercliff, many such “founders” having happened within the memory of residents, and others being likely to occur constantly from this hard and solid mass of strata resting on an insecure foundation, the effects of which are still further increased by the presence of the Gault below.

But a few years back a large mass near Blackgang thus assumed such a dangerous and threatening attitude, by the lower part of it being so much worn away, that the authorities blew it down with gunpowder. Many thousand tons of rock and debris were thus thrown down, completely blocking up and destroying the original road; one huge mass still stands close to the road, as large and as high as a good-sized cottage.

A layer of rag-stone, called the “Big Rag-bed,” containing fossils, terminates what is termed the “sandstone-group.”
The Comparative Geology of Hotham, Near South Cave, Yorkshire
Authors: Norwood T. W.
Published: March 2016

Hotham is a small village between the towns of South Cave and Market Weighton, in the East Biding of Yorkshire, situated upon the Lower Lias formation, about five miles above where that zone crosses the Humber at Whitton and Brough.

Several interesting rooks of the secondary series pass by this village, generally in bands of inconsiderable thickness, and in a direction nearly N.W.N. In most other districts widely separated, they can here be examined near a single point; for we can walk in about two miles from the New Red Sandstone, across the Lias and Oolite, to the top of the Chalk. And as these rocks are, in part, little known, and, in part, have been long held to be exceptional and peculiar—moreover, as they seem to me to throw light upon questions not quite settled at the present time—such as the existence of the Bone-Bed and Insect-Bed, at the base of the Yorkshire Lias, and of the Inferior Oolite in the long litigated neighbourhood of Cave—I am induced to offer some observations upon them, which I made at Hotham during two very short vacations, and which, I trust, will be found to be of general, as well as of local interest. The purpose of this paper will be, to compare some of the most important formations occurring near Hotham with the same formations as they are more typically represented, and more familiarly known, in other parts of England.
On Rhynchonella Acuta and its Affinities
Authors: Jones John
Published: March 2016

One of the most remarkablo fossils assumed to be distinctive of a particular geological horizon, and which, from its very striking outline, most readily impresses itself upon the mind, is the Rhynchonella acuta of the Lias-marlstone, a Brachiopodous shell common at Stinchcombe, Churchdown, and other localities of this district, and well known elsewhere. Having paid considerable attention to the class to which it belongs, I have long abandoned the common practice of placing in the cabinet only those specimens which chance to accord with the forms figured and described as typical. Instead of doing this, I have selected, as good examples, those which manifestly have not been crushed or injured prior to their entombment and petrifaction; and these I have arranged in series illustrative of specific development.

This mode of procedure has taught me that the species under consideration assumes forms varying from that under which it is most generally known; and it has led me to believe that several so-called species of various authors are, in reality, mere varieties of this.

All who have attentively studied the numerous Terebratulidæ of the Cotteswolds will have experienced the difficulty of assigning satisfactorily certain anomalous forms, occurring in beds ranging vertically from the Pisolite, or even lower, to the Cornbrash, to such well-established species as Terebratula maxillata, T. perovalis, T. globata, or T. intermedia, and will remember the remarkable varieties of individual character presented by other species, as, for example, T. plicata, T. simplex, T. fimbria, and T. carinata, sufficiently striking when studied in solitary examples, but, in an extensive series, not suggestive of good and stable specific differences.
Notes of a Geologist in Ireland During August and September, 1857
Authors: Symonds W. S.
Published: March 2016

On leaving Dublin, we travelled northwards, for the purpose of examining the carboniferous rocks, and visiting the magnificent collection of fossil-fishes in the museum of the Earl of Enniskillen; we then journeyed south for Killarney and the Dingle district, but as it may be more convenient to the reader to travel geologically, we will reverse the order of our journey, and visit the Upper Silurian and Old Red Sandstone districts before we examine the carboniferous deposits.

The lower Cambrian rocks of Wales, of which the Oldhamia-schists of Ireland are believed to be the equivalents, pass upwards by insensible gradations into the Lingula-flags, to which they are altogether conformable. The Lingula-flags are reckoned to be four or five thousand feet thick, and the Llandeilo or Builth-beds, which cover up these, are probably as thick; but geologists are, as yet, uncertain whether they possess in Ireland any true equivalents either of the Lingula-flags or of the Llandeilo and Builth deposits. There are, however, fossiliferous rocks of the Bala and Caradoc age in Ireland similar to those which, in Wales, succeed conformably to the Llandeilo and Builth beds, and they may be examined at Courtown, in the county of Wicklow, and again at Tramore, south of Waterford. They are unconformable to the rocks below, which are undoubtedly Cambrian, and thence, we imagine, has arisen the suspicion that the Lingula-beds and Llandeilo-flags have never been deposited in Ireland, or that if they were, they have been denuded and swept away before the deposition of the Bala or Caradoc strata.