12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



ble that the vapor of the fusel-oil compound was not alone 

 injurious to animal life, and that mixture with the vapor of 

 chloroform did not modify its effects upon the animals ex- 

 posed to it. 



The vapor of the fusel-oil compound was subsequently in- 

 haled steadily by Dr. Wyman tvv^elve minutes, without any 

 sensible effects. Chloroform produced a decided effect in two 

 minutes. 



The fusel-oil compound is vaporizable at a much higher 

 temperature than chloroform, and when a mixture of the two 

 is exposed to the air, the chloroform evaporates, leaving the 

 fusel -oil compound behind. 



The fusel-oil compound, therefore, is not the cause of the 

 occasional fatal effects of chloroform, as has been alleged. 



Dr. Wyman stated that these experiments had been made 

 in consequence of a statement which had been published con- 

 cerning experiments on the same subject, said to have been 

 recently made, with very different results. 



Dr. W. I. Burnett presented a paper upon the Formation 

 and Function of the Allantois. After alluding to the difficul- 

 ties attending the study of this subject, and to the various 

 opinions entertained by different embryologists as to its origin 

 and function, he proceeded to state the results of his own ob- 

 servations. 



" These were made upon mammals, birds, and reptiles. But as in 

 these three classes there are no essential differences, the phases of 

 formation in birds, which are most convenient for study, may be de- 

 scribed as exponents of the whole. 



" In the chick the allantois first appears at about the sixtieth hour of 

 incubation. At' this early period, the abdominal plates inclose no 

 organs, except the heart, with its ascending and descending aortas, 

 and the Wolffian bodies. There is then no trace of an alimentary 

 canal, or any of its appendages. 



"At this early period, the Wolffian bodies consist of two tubes, one 

 on each side of the vertebral column, running from the region of the 

 heart to the caudal extremity. 



