BIOLOGY. 305 



ration .were too great to allow of their being commonly employed. 

 This difficulty, however, has been overcome ; and, should their 

 use become general, they can be made at a cost not exceeding 

 that of chloroform. They both act speedily, pleasantly, and well. 

 The patient may be kej^t insensible for any length of time, while 

 the most serious and painful operations were being conducted. 

 No disagreeable symptoms had in any case resulted from their use. 



Chimogene. — In experimenting with the highly volatile and gas- 

 eous i^roducts of distillation. Dr. P. H. Vanderweyde succeeded 

 in producing a liquid boiling at any desired degree of tempera- 

 ture, say at 60°, 50°, 40°, or even at 30° Fahr., causing by its eva- 

 poration the most intense cold. He proposes, therefore, to call it 

 Cliimogene (cold generator) . 



The desired degree of its boiling point depends only on a 

 slight modification in its preparation ; in fact, it may be made so 

 volatile, that it requires very strong bottles and careful stopper- 

 ing to hold it, as by lifting the stopper it foams like chamjDagne, 

 boiling at the common temperature. Pouring it from the bottle in 

 drops or in a small stream, it will be evaporated before reachmg 

 the lloor. 



PHYSIOLOGICAL SUMMARY. 



On the Production of Sexes. — M. Coste has been led to doubt 

 the truth of the hypothesis, propounded by M. Thuiy, which sup- 

 l)()ses that every egg passes, during the period of its maturation, 

 through two successive, but continuous, phases, during each of 

 Avhich it has a different sexual character. If fecundated in the 

 first half, it would be a female ; if in the latter, a male. From 

 experiments on fowls, the author shows that the sexes are pro- 

 duced indifferently from eggs taken at the beginning, middle, or 

 end of the laying. With regard to rabbits, M. Coste finds the 

 same irregular result; in fact, altogether a larger number of 

 males were born at the commencement of maturation. M. 

 Thury's law is, therefore, not applicable to such mammals or to 

 birds. The author is continuing his exiJeriments to determine 

 whether it holds good even in the bovine mammals, which M. 

 Thury made the subject of his investigation. 



Cause of the Redness in Inflammation. — Drs. Estor and St. Pierre 

 (Memoires de la SociUi de Biologic, 1865) have made investiga- 

 tions on the pneumatology of the blood coursing though inflamed 

 parts, as the foot of a dog seared with the actual artery. They 

 estimated the amount of oxygen present by treating the blood 

 with carbonic oxide, as recommended by Bernard, and obtained 

 the followins: results : — 



'o 



Experiment, Inflamed Side. Sound Side. 



Amount of 0. in 100 parts Amount of 0. in 100 parts 

 of (venous) blood. of (venous) blood. 



1 6.01 2.41. 



2 6.04 2.40. 



3 4.74 2.36. 



4 3.60 2.40. 



5. . 4.80 2.40, 



26* 



