72 KANSAS Academy of Science. 



PRELIMINARY REPORT CONCERNING THE EFFECTS OF OXYGEN 

 UPON ANIMAL LIFE. 



T. H. DINSMORE, JR., EMPORIA, KA». 



For some time past, doubts have been entertained in the minds of thoughtful 

 scientific workers as to the correctness of the commonly accepted views concerning 

 the effects of oxygen upon animal life. It has been taken for granted (1 ) that ani- 

 mals placed in oxygen would almost immediately manifest signs of intoxication; 

 (2) that in a very short time death would ensue as a result of abnormal combustion. 

 In experimenting upon this matter we endeavored to find answers to the following 

 questions: 



(1 ) In case of intoxication, what length of time must elapse before it takes place? 



(2) How soon, if at all, would death ensue? 



(3) Whether the effects would vary with different kinds of animal life? 



(4) Whether new data might be obtained? 



In experimenting we used mice and kittens, confining them in large jars of pure 

 oxygen. 



EESULT8. 



(1) The mice manifested, with the exception of a more rapid breathing, no signs 

 whatever of intoxication. 



(2) After remaining in the oxygen an hour they were apparently as well as when 

 first placed in the gas. 



(3) The kittens, half-grown, showed no signs of excitement except more rapid 

 breathing. 



(4) They were, as a rule, left in the gas from 30 to 60 minutes, but one after an 

 hour and a half was taken out in an unconscious condition. 



OUR CONCLUSIONS. 



(1) That animals placed in pure oxygen do not become intoxicated within a short 

 time. 



(2) That oxygen does not cause death from abnormal combustion. 



(3) That the loss of consciousness on the part of one kitten was due more to an 

 excess of carbonic acid and other impurities exhaled from its lungs than to the 

 effects of oxygen. 



(4) That all animals when first exposed to pure oxygen will breathe more rapidly 

 until the lungs become accustomed to the new medium. (New.) 



(5) That upon different kinds of animal life the effects of oxygen are compara- 

 tively the same. 



Our experiments will be repeated, and the subject more fully investigated, during 

 the coming year. 



MOUNDS IN DAVIS COUNTY. 



BY CHAPLAIN JOHN D. PARKER, U.S.A., FORT RILEY. 



In Davis county, three miles and a half northwest of Junction City, are four 

 mounds, probably constructed by mound-builders. They are located on a bluff of 

 the Republican river, about one mile south of the river and something more than a 

 hundred feet above the river-bed. The mounds are found on the highest point of 

 the bluff overlooking the Republican valley, which is here about a mile and a half 

 wide. Three of the mounds are in the form of a semi-circle, with its convexity 

 toward the south. The fourth mound is located east of the others, about three 



