30 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Increase of Weight during absolute Fasting.*— Prof. E. Dubois 

 continuing his experiments on hibernating marmots, corroborates the 

 old conclusion of Sacc and Valentin that there may be from time to 

 time a slight increase in weight. In part this may be due to fixation 

 of oxygen by the blood ; but the larger increase noted by Bouchard is 

 perhaps due to the transformation of fats into glycogen. 



Production of Heat by Cold-blooded Animals in Water, f— Prof. 

 E. Dubois has followed P. Regnard in usiug thermo-electric needles in 

 studying the changes of temperature in cold-blooded animals. Two 

 goldfish of the same size, one living and the other dead, both provided 

 with a thermo-electric needle, were plunged in water warmer than the 

 aquarium from which they were taken. An hour after, the deviation 

 of the galvanometer through four large divisions showed that the living 

 fish was the warmer. When placed in water colder than the body, the 

 dead fish was more rapidly brought into equilibrium with the external 

 temperature than the living fish. It was noticed that the respiratory 

 movements became slower as the temperature was lowered. 



Vitality of Cells after Death of the Organism.*— Prof. J. Orth has, 

 along with some more technical questions, discussed the researches of 

 Grawitz and others on the continued vitality of cells after excision or 

 after the death of the organism. Among lower animals prolonged vitality 

 in such cases is familiar, but it is in many cases associated with regene- 

 rative processes and may be interpreted as adaptive. In higher animals 

 a retention of a particular function, such as ciliary action or contraction, 

 must be admitted ; but of assimilation or new-formation there seems 

 no sufficient evidence. The facts seem to show that cell-division and 

 the like come abruptly to a standstill. 



Sense of Direction during Sleep.§— Prof. E. Dubois has made an 

 interesting observation. Hold a marmot in deep slumber on the spread 

 hands so that its mouth is directed forwards and its body lies in the 

 same horizontal axis as the head ; then turn round, and the tip of the 

 snout is still pointed in the previous direction, while the axis of the 

 body forms a somewhat pronounced angle with the axis of the head. 



Observations on Torpedos.||— Prof. E. Dubois has observed that a 

 female torpedo, which had been giving vigorous electric discharges 

 while with young, ceased to do so when the newly-born young ones 

 were gathered about her. After they were removed, the mother once 

 more gave vigorous shocks. He concludes that the discharge is 

 "voluntary," that it is dangerous for the young after, though not before 

 birth, and that the mother must be credited with maternal affection. 

 The unborn young are unaffected by the discharge, just as the internal 

 organs are unaffected. 



In another paper *H he points out, that in Torpedo marmorata and 

 T. oculata an examination of the electric organ shows neither sugar 

 nor glycogen. If this be correlated with the accumulation of urea in 

 the organ° (Grehant and Jolyet) after repeated discharges, we are led 



* Anu. Soc. Linn. Lyon, xlv. (1899) pp. 101-?,. t Tom. cit, pp. 77-8. 



t Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Gottingen, 1899, pp. 143-65. 



§ Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyons, xlv. (1899) pp. 81-2. || Tom. cit., pp. 80-1. 



% Tom. cit, pp. 98-9. 



