G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 281 



or from one animal to another, have excited much attention, 

 has been investigating the subject of the periosteum. In the 

 course of his researches he introduced a slip of the periosteum 

 of the tibia under the skin of the belly of a rabbit, and found 

 that at the end of thirty days a long bone was developed, 

 presenting the microscopic structure and the density of a 

 regular osseous tissue, the ossification being complete in 

 about fifty days. At the expiration of one hundred and 

 twenty days, however, every trace of this substance had dis- 

 appeared, the newly-found bone having been entirely absorb- 

 ed. The important conclusion derived from these facts seem- 

 ed to be that if ossification be readily produced as the result 

 of the periosteal transplantation, the new tissues are not per- 

 manent. A different result is seen when the periosteum is 

 stripped up, as, if this remain attached to the bone by one 

 of its extremities, an ossification takes place which is perma- 

 nent. 8 B, November 18,1871,504. 



RELATION OF GLYCOGEN TO MUSCULAR ACTION. 



According to Weiss, muscular action has a very close re- 

 lation to the amount of glycogen in muscle, as shown by a 

 series of experiments for determining the percentage of this 

 substance in muscle before activity and afterward. The com- 

 parison was made by tetanizing the muscles of one leg of a 

 decapitated frog by induction currents, while those of the 

 other remained perfectly at rest, the sciatic nerve being cut. 

 In one set of experiments the percentage of loss was over 24, 

 in another 28, and in a third, where only the larger muscles 

 were compared with each other, the loss was 50 per cent. It 

 was also ascertained, in the course of these inquiries, that the 

 heart, which is the muscle in most constant activity, has a 

 store of glycogen amounting to more than tw r o thirds that of 

 all the other muscles. The general tenor of the experiments 

 seemed to show that even in starvation muscular energy is 

 retained as long as the store of glycogen lasts. 21 A, Feb- 

 ruary, 1872,156. 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF FIBRINE FROM ALBUMEN. 



Dr. Goodman publishes a paper in the Chemical News upon 

 the origin and sources of development of fibrine in the animal 

 organism, in which he attempts to show that genuine fibrine is 



