320 Biochemical News, Notes and Comment ■ [Jan. 



duce sugar from starch. It is now possible to supply a diet capable 

 of supporting the bacillus that limits the action of the intestinal 

 flora. Of course, concludes Metchnikoff, the struggle against senility 

 is not concluded. Whether these discoveries will actually tend 

 toward the lengthening of human life is a question of the future, 

 but it cannot be denied that a beginning has been made, and we have 

 reason to hope that from these investigations mankind may derive 

 practical benefit (Journ. Amer. Med. Assn., 1912, lix, p. 815). 



Electrons. Abstract of an address before the American Philo- 

 sophical Society at Philadelphia, Nov. i, by Sir William Ramsay. 

 The actual existence of electrons in motion has been conclusively 

 demonstrated ; the mass of an electron is not far from one iSßoth of 

 that of an atom of hydrogen; and as the mass of an atom of hydro- 

 gen is now known with fair accuracy, that of an electron is nearly 

 0.8X10'^'^ gram. Electrons in motion are negative electricity; 

 they constitute a form of matter, which, at present, has more claim 

 to the term "elementary" than have most of the " Clements." In- 

 deed, metals must be regarded as Compound substances, of which 

 one component consists of one or more electrons; these electrons 

 are, as a rule, not very firmly attached, as is evident from the gener- 

 ally easy oxidation of most metals. Non-metals are also composed 

 partly of electrons, not so easily detached. The " combination of 

 Clements with each other" consists in the shifting of one or more 

 electrons from the more metallic to the less metallic dement; no 

 doubt it will some day be possible to give " structural formulae " to 

 the Clements, showing the relationship in position, or in directed mo- 

 tion, between the true Clements and their attached electrons. The 

 word " electricity" has a dual meaning; it may mean first, an assem- 

 bly of electrons, stationary or in motion; or second, waves in the 

 ether, produced by the stopping or starting of electrons in motion. 

 The motion of electrons constitutes one factor of electrical en- 

 ergy; wave-motion in the ether can be used as a means of gene- 

 erating electrical energy, by employing the waves in making elec- 

 trons move. Progress in man's command of natural forces has 

 been made by learning how to direct and control the motion of 

 masses — in other words, by acquiring a knowledge of mechanics; 

 progress in the future will consist in acquiring the power to control 



