1/0 FROM FISH TO PHILOSOPHER 



fish or squid. Its paired nasal glands are large and lo- 

 cated in bony sockets above the eyes, and discharge 

 their secretion through small openings beneath the tube- 

 nostril, whence the fluid drains along grooves in the beak 

 to drip off the end. When actively secreting, drops of 

 fluid may drip from the beak at 2- to 10-second intervals, 

 and sometimes the bird shakes the drops off the end of 

 the beak. 



The nasal gland of the albatross, hke that of other 

 marine birds, has been known to ornithologists for years 

 but its true function was unrecognized until 1957, when, 

 under the auspices of the OflSce of Naval Research, Drs. 

 Hubert and Mable Frings, of Pennsylvania State Uni- 

 versity, visited Midway Island for the purpose of explor- 

 ing means of repelling these (and other) birds from the 

 nmways used by jet and other planes. (One albatross 

 in a jet air-intake or propeller can spell catastrophe for 

 more than the bird.) Familiar with the work of Knut 

 Schmidt-Nielsen and his co-workers on other marine 

 birds, the Frings carefully observed the albatross and 

 concluded that here also the nasal gland is an organ re- 

 lated to the maintenance of salt balance. They later 

 showed that the nasal secretion consists of sodium and 

 potassium chloride, the concentration of these cations 

 averaging 829 and 24 miUiequivalents per Hter, a mix- 

 ture having almost twice the osmotic pressure of sea wa- 

 ter, three and one-half times that of the blood. Since 

 nasal dripping was observed to occur when the birds had 

 been fighting with each other, during their ritual danc- 

 ing, or even during the excitement of feeding time, it 

 was inferred that the nervous control of the gland was 

 such that during moments of stress excess secretion 

 might actually lead to salt deficiency. 



The albatross had never previously been kept alive in 

 captivity for more than a few weeks or months at most, 

 the captive birds mysteriously dying without obvious 

 disease. The Frings, however, shipped specimens of both 

 species from Midway to the States and, following the 



