and Laboratory Methods. 2345 



determine whether the movement of cells with varying proportions of nuclear 

 and cytoplasmic material, suspended in a fluid and subjected to the action of a 

 constant current, was towards the anode or the kathode. The methods were as 

 follows : " Finely divided tissues, in as fresh a condition as possible, were 

 teased in ~ cane-sugar solution (isotonic with physiological salt solution) and 

 mounted in the same medium upon a specially prepared slide, so constructed 

 that the entire preparation while under examination could at any time be exposed 

 to the action of the electric current. The construction of this slide is as follows : 

 a long cover-glass (50 by 25 mm.), around which passed two tightly drawn trans- 

 verse loops of thin platinum wire about 15 mm. apart, is cemented by means of 

 Canada balsam to an ordinary microscopical slide. The platinum wires are con- 

 nected through a pole changer and simple key to the poles of a battery ; this 

 has consisted usually of three storage cells with an aggregate E. M. F. of from 

 7 to 7.5 volts. The tissues and cells under examination are mounted in sugar 

 solution on the slide in the space between the wires, and the behavior in the 

 electric field can then be studied under high powers. The rate of movement is 

 measured by means of the ocular micrometer." 



It was found as a result of the experiments that some cells migrate with the 

 positive stream, and others with the negative. Structures consisting largely of 

 nuclear matter (e. g., sperm heads, thymus nuclei, lymphocytes) migrate with the 

 negative stream, the rate of movement being correlated with the degree of acid- 

 ity of the chromatin. Cells with voluminous cytoplasm (e. g., large leucocytes, 

 many red blood corpuscles, involuntary muscle cells) tend to move with the posi- 

 tive stream. These are of course the results to be expected if the theory pro- 

 posed is correct. The possible application of these results to the phenomena 

 observed in mitotic cell division are discussed. r. p. 



Reichert, E. T. Quick Methods for Crystalliz- The author has found the most expedi- 



ing Oxyhaemoglobin ; Inhibitory and Accel- • u j 



eratory Phenomena, etc.; Changes in the tlOUS method of obtaining crystals of 



Form of Crystallization. Amer. Jour. oxyhftmoglobin tO be tO add tO the 



Physiol. 9: 97-99, 1903. , , , . , , , 



blood, either before or after laking with 

 ether, from 1 to 5 per cent, of ammonium oxalate. Crystallization, in the case of 

 dog's blood, invariably begins immediately, and any quantity of crystals can be 

 obtained within a few hours at the ordinary room temperature. Blood of the 

 horse, rabbit, guinea-pig and Necturus have been found to yield crystals very 

 readily under this ether-oxalate treatment. The author further finds that if to 

 the blood of one species, the blood, plasma, or serum of another species be 

 added, the laking of the blood may be retarded, accelerated, or unaffected, 

 according to the character of the mixture. The period required for laking mav 

 be prolonged for five minutes or more. The crystallization of the oxyhemo- 

 globin may be hindered or prevented in such mixtures. The typical forms of 

 the crystals of certain kinds of oxyhaemoglobin may be modified or completely 

 chariged when the bloods of two species are mixed. Thus, if to the blood of 

 the rat there be added a definite percentage of the blood of the guinea-pig, crys- 

 tals of the rat's oxyhaemoglobin may appear in unaltered form, but most, if not 

 all, of those from the guinea-pig's blood will be changed. r. p. 



