662 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



seem much less favorable than those of magne- 

 sia, and especially than those of soda. The 

 favorable action of the salts of soda was shown 

 by the endurance of the mollusks in Vichy wa- 

 ter, some palourdes living forty days in that 

 medium. Life was sustained longest in the 

 sulphate of magnesia, and more strikingly in 

 the sulphate of soda. It was also only in the 

 solutions of these two salts that green algsB 

 began to make their appearance at the end of 

 sixty days. This fact was regarded as corrobo- 

 rating the correspondence already observed be- 

 tween the conditions favorable to marine life 

 and those which promote the development of 

 vegetable life. 



The question of the conditions under which 

 gases occur in a state of absorption in the 

 ocean -waters has been considered by Prof. 

 Moseley, of the Challenger Expedition, as one 

 the understanding of which is important to the 

 physiologist. Prof. Ditmar's researches show 

 that the presence of free carbonic acid in ocean- 

 waters is an exception. Oxygen is present in 

 all sea-water, being derived from the surface, 

 but the amount diminishes, on account of the 

 oxidizing that is always going on, with increase 

 of depth. M. Regnaud's experiments on the 

 effects on organisms of high pressures, cor- 

 responding with those of certain sea-depths, 

 show that a fish without a swimming-bladder, 

 or one with the bladder emptied of air, may 

 be subjected to a pressure of 100 atmospheres, 

 or 650 fathoms, without injurious effect; at 

 200 atmospheres, or 1,300 fathoms, it becomes 

 torpid, but soon revives when the pressure is 

 removed ; while at 300 atmospheres, or about 

 2,000 fathoms, the fish dies. The results of 

 these experiments would probably have been 

 greatly modified if plenty of time had been 

 given for the fish to accommodate itself to the 

 change of pressures and the conditions in which 

 it moves itself slowly from one depth to another 

 to be imitated. M. Paul Bert's experiments 

 upon the effect on aquatic organisms of water 

 subjected to the pressure of compressed air a 

 very different condition show fatal results at 

 fifteen and even at seven atmospheres. A 

 large proportion of the food-supply of the 

 deep-sea animals appears to be derived from 

 life on the ocean-surface, or that which is 

 brought to the surface by rivers from the land 

 sinking to the depths. 



Bibliography. Among the new and valuable 

 works published during the year in the depart- 

 ments of anatomy and physiology the London 

 " Lancet" selects as worthy of special mention 

 Yeo's " Manual of Physiology," Preyer's " Phy- 

 siologie der Embryo " (Physiology of the Em- 

 bryo); Vogt's " Anatomie Compared " (Com- 

 parative Anatomy); Waldeyer's " Anatomie," 

 Charles's " Physiological and Practical Chem- 

 istry," Hart's " Atlas of Female Pelvic Anat- 

 omy," Rudinger's "Anatomie des Prostate," 

 Purser's " Manual of Histology," Pol's " Lehr- 

 buch der vergleichenden mikroskopischen 

 Anatomie " (Text-Book of Comparative Micro- 



scopic Anatomy); and Parker VHunterian Lec- 

 tures on Mammalian Descent. " Foster and M or- 

 rant Baker have published new editions of their 

 works on physiology, and Mr. Power an ele- 

 mentary text-book on the subject. "VVernich 

 and Hirsch have begun the issue of a Biograph- 

 ical Lexicon of conspicuous names in Medicine. 

 Dr. Stirling has published a translation of 

 Landois's " Physiology." Among the most 

 important articles published in Pfluger's "Ar- 

 chiv" are those of Loeb on the " Disturbance 

 of Vision after Injury of the Cerebral Cortex " ; 

 the researches of Cohnstein and Zuntz on the 

 u Blood Circulation and Respiration of the Mam- 

 malian Foetus"; the essays of Worm Miiller 

 on " The Excretion of Sugar and the Estima- 

 tion of the Sugar excreted by the Kidneys 

 in Man," and of Karl Bohland on the "Quan- 

 titative Determination of Nitrogen in the 

 Urine"; and Goltz's essay on " The Functions 

 of the Brain." In Foster's " Journal of Physi- 

 ology," Burdon-Sanderson and Page have de- 

 scribed the " Electrical Phenomena of the 

 Excitatory Process in the Heart of the Tor- 

 toise " ; Klein has published an essay on the 

 "Swine-Plague"; and Langley and Sh erring- 

 ton a paper on "Secondary Degeneration of 

 Nerve-Tracts following Removal ofthe Cortex 

 of the Cerebrum in the Dog." In Prof. Hum- 

 phry's "Journal- of Anatomy," Dr. Barrett 

 has discussed the cause of the first sound of 

 the heart ; Ainslie Hollis has described the 

 " Histology ofthe Central Gray Substance ofthe 

 Spinal Cord, Medulla Oblongata, and PODS 

 Variolii " ; and Dr. Younan the " Histology of 

 the Vitreous Humor." 



Besides these, we notice in the catalogue 

 published in the "Journal of Physiology," 

 including works which appeared previous to 

 September, 1884, Brucke's " Vorlesungen," or 

 Lectures ; Landois's " Lehrbuch," 4th ed. ; 

 Martin's " The Human Body " (American) ; 

 Wurtz's u Traite de Chimie Biologique"; 

 Beclard's " Traite Elementaire," 7th ed. ; Fr6- 

 derique and Nuel's "Elements de Physiologic 

 humaine"; Power's "Elements of Human 

 Physiology"; James's "Aids to Practical 

 Physiology" ; Hoppe-Seyler's "Die Entwicke- 

 lung der physiologischen Chemie und ihre 

 Bedeutung fur die Medicin" (The Develop- 

 ment of Physiological Chemistry and its Sig- 

 nificance in Medicine) ; and a total of fifty 

 works and papers classed under the title 

 "Text -Books, Methods," etc. Among the 

 thirty-two works and papers on the general 

 chemistry of tissues and of animal and vege- 

 table substances, are Tschirche's papers on 

 " Chlorophyll and its Derivatives " ; Brieger's 

 "Ueber giftige Producte der Faulniss-Bacte- 

 rien " (on the Poisonous Products of Putrefac- 

 tion-Bacteria) and " Ueber Spaltungsproducte 

 der Bacterien " (on Decomposition-Products of 

 Bacteria) ; Kiihne and Chittenden's (Ameri- 

 can) Researches on Albumose ; and Strove fl 

 "Studien ueber Milch" (Studies of Milk). 

 General Physiology is represented by From- 



