1916] ANIMAL PEODUCTIOlSr. 65 



while standing and walliing, tlie energy required for this being proportional to 

 the weight sustained. The heat consumption per kilogram of body nitrogen 

 is quite uniform, the extreme variation being 14 per cent of the average. The 

 tendency is for a slight decrease in this consumption per unit of blood as the 

 animal gets heavier, an extreme variation of 15 per cent from the average 

 being shown. 



" The smallest variations are shown in the heat consumption per unit of 

 body surface and the greatest variations in the heat consumption per unit of 

 body weight. Per unit of body nitrogen (protoplasmic tissue) and per unit 

 of blood the variations are not much larger than per unit of body surface. If 

 there is a choice of units it would seem to fall upon the surface area. Since 

 this can easily be calculated from the body weight by the formulas proposed 

 by the writer of this paper it would seem that this unit fits well the needs of 

 the investigator in animal nutrition, especially with beef cattle. These conclu- 

 sions are opposed to the views of Benedict [E. S. R., 33, p. 264] but are in 

 agreement with those of Du Bois [E. S. R., 34, p. 68] and Graham Liisk." 



Experimental studies on growth. — I, Methods, T. B. Robektson and L. A. 

 Ray (Joitr. Biol. Chem., 2// (1916), No. 3, pp. 3^7-361, figs. 3).— Methods em- 

 ployed in experiments on the growth of mice are described by which the ani- 

 mals may be maintained in good health and as free as possible from zymotic 

 disease and other deleterious factors in the environment which might conceiv- 

 ably exert an effect upon their growth. Improved forms of cages, food recep- 

 tacles, and nest houses are described. 



Rapid methods of handling and weighing large numbers of animals, and a 

 balance especially adapted to this purpose, are also described. 



A further analysis of the hereditary transmission of degeneracy and de- 

 formities by the descendants of alcoholized mammals, II, C. R. Stockakd 

 and G. Papanicolaou (Amer. Nat., 50 (1916), No. 591, pp. lU-m, fivs. 7).— 

 The results of experiments covering a period of five years have demonstrated 

 on two different stocks of normal guinea pigs that " the parental germ cells 

 may be so modified by chemical treatments that they are rendered incapable 

 of giving rise to a perfectly normal offspring. This incapacity is probably due 

 to modifications of the chromatin or carriers of the hereditary qualities within 

 the germ cells, since the great-grandchildren, the Fs generation, from the treated 

 animals are usually more decidedly affected and injured than the immediate 

 offspring (Fi) of tlie alcoholized animals. . . . 



" The treatment of adult guinea pigs by an inhalation method with daily 

 doses of alcohol through several years produces little if any noticeable effect 

 upon the organs and tissues of the animal's body. The direct action of alcohol 

 fumes tends to injure the respiratory mucosa and to render the cornea of the 

 eye dull or opaque. These changes, however, do not inconvenience the animals 

 in any perceptible way, and they remain strong and hardy and live as long and 

 actively as the untreated guinea pigs. 



" In spite of their healthy appearance the injurious influence of the alcohol 

 inhalation is very decidedly shown by the quality of offspring to which the 

 treated animals give rise. And the descendants of these offspring are even 

 worse than the Fi generation when compared with the different generations of 

 control animals produced under identical cage and food conditions. The males 

 seem to be more injured by the treatment than the females, taking as an index 

 of injury the quality of their offspring and descendants. Stating it differently, 

 the spermatocytes or spermatozoa are more sensitive to the changed chemical 

 condition of the tissues than are the female germ cells. There is a larger pro- 

 portion of degenerate, paralytic, and grossly deformed individuals descended 

 from the alcoholized males than from the alcoholized females. 



