SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING 39 



observed that the injection of from 3 to 20 spermatozoa into 

 the interior of the egg of Asterias with a microscopic capillary 

 pipette does not result in any fertilization reaction. These 

 facts indicate that when spermatozoa penetrate before the for- 

 mation of fertilizin (ovocytes) or after its fixation (Nereis 

 and Chaetopterus), or without the opportunity of reacting with 

 the fertilizin (Dr. Kite's experiment) fertilization fails. 



In these experiments we have egg and sperm in most inti- 

 mate relations, but apparently incapable of reacting in the ab- 

 sence of an intermediate body, which appears to be the same 

 body, viz : the fertilizin, through the mediation of which the 

 cortical changes are induced. 



In serum physiology, we have become familiar with many 

 reactions for which living cells alone are adequate indicators ; 

 such are agglutination, cytolysis, opsonic reactions and anaphy- 

 laxis ; the bodies concerned in such reactions viz : agglutinins, 

 cytolysins, opsonins, etc., are not known directly, but only by 

 the use of cell indicators. Their chemical nature is entirely 

 unknown, but they are so definitely known through cell indi- 

 cators, and so controlable, that many quantitative procedures 

 of the most delicate character, in immunology, are based on 

 this knowledge. The cells themselves are the source of such 

 bodies, yet the site of their cellular origin is unknown, and 

 their roles in normal cell physiology are problematical. 



The ordinary chemical analysis of the cell begins by de- 

 struction of its more highly organized living constituents; it 

 is obvious that such methods are inadequate for the investi- 

 gation of the immediate reactions in living protoplasm. 



The results of these experiments may then gain a still 

 broader interest if they be taken to indicate a method for the 

 study of such reactions. 



THE MOVEMENT TOWARD A UNIFIED SCIENCE 

 COURSE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



BY HAROLD B. SHINN, CARL SCHURZ HIGH SCHOOL, CHICAGO 



The title of this report, as announced, is the result of care- 

 ful editorial work on some one's part and we would correct 

 it immediately. It would appear that there can be no real 

 ''Unified Science Course" as long as localities and their needs 

 are different, or as long as men's minds are individual and 

 various. Your attention is asked for only a brief statement of 

 the current movement toward a unified science course. 



