G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 279 



strias are very wide apart, each fibre appearing to be com- 

 posed of a semi-fluid substance, which remains uncolored in 

 perosmic acid, and is filled with denser columns, the fibrils. 

 13 A, Maij 1,1872,170. 



ABSORPTION OF INSOLUBLE MATTER BY ANIMAL MEMBRANES. 



Dr. Auspitz, of Vienna, who has been engaged in certain 

 investigations upon the absorption of insoluble matter by an- 

 imal membranes, has arrived at the following conclusions on 

 the subject: 1. That in mammals insoluble matter (starch- 

 flour granules), starting from the peritoneum and subcutane- 

 ous tissue, is able to reach the lungs, and through these or- 

 gans to reach the general circulation. 2. That these gran- 

 ules, in order to go over into the veins, pass through the 

 lymphatic system. (That they are taken up exclusively in 

 this way is not as yet proved.) 3. That the epidermis always 

 presents a considerable, though only relative and not abso- 

 lute obstruction to the absorption from the integumentary 

 surface. 4. That the absorption is essentially promoted by 

 the medium of fat, which goes over into the circulation in 

 the same manner as starch flour, though even more easily. 

 Finally, the supposition may be offered, even if the direct 

 proof be provisionally deficient, that all that is true of starch- 

 flour, and in a higher degree of fat, may also be asserted of 

 other insoluble bodies of finer division, and therefore less per- 

 manence of form, than the starch flour. The supposition is 

 not in any way contradicted by the discoveries of Auspitz 

 made in connection with his well-known experiments with 

 mercury. 3 A, April 15, 1872, 308. 



EFFECT OF SWINGING IN LOWERING THE TEMPERATURE OF 



RABBITS. 



Some experiments recently made by Dr. Manassein upon 

 rabbits subjected to the action of swinging showed that, 

 when the swing made from thirty to forty vibrations in the 

 minute, the temperature of the interior of the body fell in all 

 instances, the maximum depression being 1.2 C, the mini- 

 mum 0.3 C, and the average 0.66 C. The effects were 

 fully marked in about fifteen minutes, and lasted for about 

 two hours. The tendency to sleep w r as always distinctly ex- 

 pressed. The depression in the temperature of the body w r as 



