ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 167 



part of a contribution to the discussion of tlie question whettier potasti salts, 

 especially potassium acetate, sliould be substituted for common salt in nephritis, 

 an experiment with a normal subject is reportetl. 



Changes in the gaseous metabolism under the influence of muscular 

 work — the results of a new technique, J. M. Lahy and G. Helitas (Jour. 

 PInjfiiol. el Path. Gen., 14 (1912), pp. 1129-1137; abs. in Zentbl. Biochem. u. 

 Biophys., I4 (1913), No. 15-16, p. 5^8).— A method is described for the deter- 

 mination of carbon dioxid in the expired air, which is based on the use of the 

 Orsat gas apparatus. 



The apparatus, which contains exactly 1 liter, is filled with a sample of 

 the expired air, the total volume of which is measured by passing through a gas 

 meter, and the percentage of carbon dioxid in this is determined from its loss 

 in volume after treating with potassium or sodium hydroxids. The authors be- 

 lieve that the greater number of and more frequent analyses made possible by 

 this method give better informntion regarding the fluctuations in the composi- 

 tion of the expired air, and offset the inferior precision of the method as com- 

 pared with the' gravimetric method usually employed. 



ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 



Artificial climates for biological investigations, H. Pezibram (Abs. in 

 Zentbl. Physiol., 21, (1910). No. 11. p. 802; Jahrb. Wiss. u. Prakt. Tierzucht, 7 

 (1912), pp. 203, 20Jf). — The author describes methods of constructing rooms for 

 keeping experimental animals and plants, so that temperature and other vari- 

 able factors can be under control. 



On the proof of biochemical reactions, their inheritance, and their forensic 

 significance, E. voN Dungern (Miinchen. Med. Wchnschr., 57 (1910). No. 6, 

 pp. 293-295). — Experiments with dogs and man led the author to believe that 

 the ability of the blood to react in certain ways is inherited, and that if so reac- 

 tions of the blood of the offspring mny furnish evidence as to their ancestry. 



The production of sperm iso-agglutinins by ova, F. R. Lillie (Fi(^ience, 

 n. scr., 36 (1912), No. 929, pp. 527-530). — The experiments herein reported 

 indicate that, in some of the lower animals at least, there are sperm iso- 

 agglutinins in the ova which are specific, and according to what is known con- 

 cerning the laws governing antigens and antibodies the specificity of fertiliza- 

 tion rests on a biochemical explanation. The union of ovum and spermatozoon, 

 therefore, is not a process in which the sperm penetrates by virtue of its 

 mechanical process, but one in which a peculiarly intimate and specific bio- 

 chemical reaction plays the chief role. 



The effect of spermatoxin on the female organism and the egg, M. P. 

 TusHNOv (Uchen. Zap. Kazan. Vet. Inst., 28 (1911), Nos. 1, pp. 1-83; 2. pp. 

 .103-164; a6s. in Jahrb. Wiss. u. Prakt. Tierzucht, 7 (1912), p. 197).— Female 

 rabbits were immune against pregnancy when motile spermatozoa in physiologi- 

 cal salt solution were injected into the blood or into the abdominal cavity. No 

 changes were observed in the condition of the ovary, and it is therefore sup- 

 posed that a spermatoxin is formed in the blood. 



The parthenogenetic segmentation of the eggs of hybrid ducks, A. Chap- 

 PELLiER (Com.pt. Rend. Soc. Biol. [Paris], 72 (1912), No. 23, pp. 1010-1012, 

 fig. 1). — This is a study of the germinal vesicle of unfertilized eggs of the 

 domestic duck (Anas boschas) and the Barbary duck (Cairina moschata). 



An egg from the oviduct showed distinct blastomeres but no nuclei. In the 

 laid egg the blastomeres were formed, but rapidly disorganized. The absence 

 of chromatin or the special chromatic affinities, as well as the instability of 



