Dr. Shaw published a catalogue of Berber words; and, in later years, Mr. Hodgson has given the most accurate account of the language of these people that has yet appeared.

"The more," says he, "I investigate the subject, the more I am satisfied that the idiom of the Berbers is not the the remains of the ancient Punic, but that it is the same language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the northern coast of Africa, at the time of the foundation of Carthage, much corrupted, however, by the introduction of Arabic, and, perhaps, in this district at least, of Punic words and forms. The former are indeed so visible, that it is easy to perceive that they do not belong to the original language, from the peculiar structure of which they essentially differ. The latter—if any there be, it is not so easy to observe, as there are no remains of the Punic language sufficient to assist us in the inquiry. We may, perhaps, discover hereafter some traces of it, by comparing the Berber of what was called Africa Proper, with the dialects of those parts where Carthagenian colonization did not extend. If the Punic idiom was ever incorporated to any extent with the language of the Numidians, in the vicinity of Carthage, or in the countries under her dominion, it must have produced a marked difference between their dialects and those of the more distant tribes, which cannot escape the inquisitive eye of philologists." Speaking of the Berber language, Mr. H. continues, "If these significant names extended east and west, from one end of the African continent to the other, and from its northern coast, south, even to the Desert of Saara, where no Phoenician colony can be supposed to have existed, it would be clear, independently of the inferences that may be drawn from the different structure of the two languages, that our Berber could not be the Punic, as Marsden and others have supposed, but was the language of the Autochthones, or the ancient inhabitants of the country, which the Phoenicians, who founded Carthage, and their descendants, were obliged to learn and to speak in common with their own, and which procured for them the appellation of Tyrii bilingues." And he concludes his most interesting memoir on this subject, by drawing a parallel between it and the ancient Egyptian. "At every step," says he, "of my investigations, new proofs accumulate in favour of my hypothesis, that the Berber is the original language of all North Africa, in

including Egypt and Abyssinia; for, with the Coptic, it has a positive affinity."-Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. Vol. IV. 1834.

This has opened a new and most inviting field for future investigation, which, it is to be hoped, will not be lost sight of, more particularly as the word Berber is found written in the hieroglyphic character on some of the very early Egyptian monuments; and we have every reason to believe that this people are one of the races figured on the ancient Egyptian Paintings. The osteological characters of the skulls belonging to the Berber race, are but very imperfectly known. I do not think that the character and appearance of this people, as related by M. M. De Spix and Martius, who made their observations at Gibraltar applicable. For, although many Moors and natives of Tangiers came across the straits daily to market, very few of the Kabyles or Berbers ever leave their own country. In colour, these people vary from a dark brown to a tawny yellow; have thin lips, long oval faces, straight black hair, narrow, but not very retreating foreheads, and scanty beards. Those of this race I had an opportunity of observing, were particularly lean and bony, dirty and ill clad.

H.-PAGE 238.

REMARKS UPON THE MODE OF SUCKING IN CETACEA.

LIKE all mammalia, the Cetacea suckle their young at the breast; but, by this latter term, we are not to suppose that they have mammary glands upon the pectoral portion of the body. These long thin flat substances are placed on the inferior and lateral parts of the abdomen, in order, as Hunter well described, that they may not vary the shape, nor interfere with the motions of the animal, and for other reasons to be explained hereafter. The lactiferous ducts are simple cœcal tubes, as in the ornithorhynchus, opening into a long duct or receptacle, which proceeds through the gland to the nipple, and bears a striking analogy to the pancreatic duct in

man.

Some years ago, Müller published a beautiful plate of this gland, in the Balaenoptera Rostrata, and it was accurately described by Hunter, in 1787. The form and position of the nipples, however, require attention. They are two in number-not protuberant from the animal, like the teats of other mammiferæ-but lodged in the bottom of deep sulci or fissures, which, when closed, and the organs are not called upon to exercise their peculiar functions, completely hide them. Thus far we are acquainted with the anatomy of the parts, (at least sufficiently acquainted for the object of this inquiry, or the bearing of a work like this); but a very serious and interesting question here presents itself, viz. :—In what manner do the young Cetacea suck? Do they respire during that process, and if so, how are these two functions performed under water?

On this subject, John Hunter made the following observations:

:

"The mode in which these animals must suck, would appear to be very inconvenient for respiration, as either the mother or young one will be prevented from breathing at the time, their nostrils being in opposite directions, therefore the nose of one must be under water, and the time of sucking can only be between each respiration. The act of sucking must likewise be different from that of land animals; as in them it is performed by the lungs drawing the air from the mouth backwards into themselves, which the fluid follows, by being forced into the mouth, from the pressure of the external air on its surface; but, in this tribe, the lungs having no connection with the mouth, sucking must be performed by some action of the mouth itself, and by its having the power of expansion."

Ever since Hunter's day, the mode of sucking has been a stumbling-block to zoologists. A short time ago, Geoffrey St. Hilaire, a celebrated French naturalist, endeavoured to explain it by asserting that he had discovered a certain sac or reservoir into which all the lactiferous tubes poured their contents, and that a quantity of milk being already contained in this, the young animal had only to apply its mouth to the teat, and immediately, certain muscles in the neighbourhood acted both on the gland and on the receptacle, and poured a quantity of milk (often several gallons in the larger species,) into the young ani

mal's mouth. This theory seemed plausible, and was generally adopted at the time.

At the meeting of the British Association in Dublin, in 1835, Dr. Jacob, one of the best comparative anatomists of this city, and particularly well versed in the anatomy and physiology of the whale tribe, read a paper, calling in question the views promulgated by the French physiologist; and since then, Frederick Cuvier, in his article on the Cetacea, in the Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology, has laboured to refute them. In the first place, as to the sac or reservoir, it was long ago described by Hunter. He says, "The trunk of this tube is large, and appears to serve as a reservoir for the milk." Again, concerning the muscle said to act upon the reservoir, a mistake seems to have crept in among the anatomists of this country, who have confounded with it the sub-cutaneous muscle that envelopes the animal. This latter is a kind of dartos, or collection of muscular fibres, mixed with a dense fibro-cellular texture, and spread generally beneath the blubber of the animal—in fact, a panniculus carnosus. I can perfectly agree with those who deny that this acts in circumscribed portions, and believe that it can exercise but little power over the mammary gland. But that the muscle described by St. Hilaire does exist, there can be no doubt. I have dissected it in the Delphinus Dephis and Phocæna Communis, several of which I had an opportunity of examining in the Mediterranean, and I have the authority of several eminent anatomists, who have likewise satisfied themselves upon the point. It is attached to the pelvic bone, and spreads over the gland in an oblique direction, backwards and upwards towards the spine. But that it exercises this peculiar power of compressing, at will, the gland and its receptacle, I cannot take upon me to say. Independent of it, or any other muscular mechanism, the great pressure of the surrounding medium on the gland, would, as soon as the nipple was grasped, force out the fluid contained within; and the very great extent of this gland in Cetacea may be to forward so useful and beautiful a purpose.

In order to explain the subject more fully, it would be necessary to enter somewhat into the beautiful mechanism of the parts connected with sucking in the human infant, an office that may be termed the birth of instinct, and one of the very first efforts at

voluntary motion; but as this sketch is intended more for those already acquainted with such subjects, it would be unnecessary.

In Cetacea, the mouth, when opened, presents a purse-like cavity, similar to that of a crocodile, with this difference, that the mouth in the Cetaceans has no connection with the respiratory function, which is exclusively confined to the blow-hole, on the fore-part of the head. The glottis stands above the level of the roof of the mouth and soft palate. It rises up into the cavity connected with the blow-hole, and being slung by the hyoid bone and a complicated muscular apparatus, from the base of the skull, can be drawn up, during the act of respiration, into the blow-hole; and the soft palate being horizontal, surrounds the larynx like a collar, in order more completely to insulate it from the cavity of the mouth. The food passes into the œsophagus by deep channels on either side of the larynx. While dissecting these parts lately, I found, on the anterior margin of the soft palate, where it is touched by the larynx, what at first appeared a uvula, but, on examination, turned out to be a considerable glandular body-a collection of mucous follicles, not unlike the tonsil, and serving, by their secretion, to lubricate the top of the larynx, as it passed by it, in each act of respiration. From this mechanism of the mouth and throat, we learn that in those animals sucking cannot be performed on the principle of exhaustion of the mouth by inspiration, as (according to some physiologists,) it is in infants. It appears to depend more on the mechanical adaptation of the muscles of the mouth and tongue acting directly on the nipple, and few animals possess this apparatus in greater perfection than the dolphins and porpoises, and several of the larger whales-principally owing to the mouth being perfectly unconnected with respiration. Indeed, it may be doubted whether, if the blow-hole was closed, the animal could respire.

Dr. Jacob enumerates three modes by which the animal sucks under water:-First, By exhausting the cavity of mouth closed by the soft palate behind, by depressing the tongue. Secondly, By exhausting the mouth by the diaphragm; and thirdly, by the squeezing and pulling of the nipple, by the gums of the young animal. The second of these, I confess, I do not understand. How the descent of the diaphragm in an