PHYSICS, PROGRESS OP, IN 1898. 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



637 



mine whether the outer parts of a rod or ring 

 i'ii the inner portions against magnetization, 

 split a ring into halves and bored holes, so that on 

 recombination a hollow ring was formed. The sur- 

 face was given various thicknesses, and it was found 

 that in all cases the inner layers acquired the same 

 magnetization as if exposed directly to the field. 

 Weiss (" La Nature," June 18) has discovered that 

 magnetic pyrite can be magnetized only in one 

 plane, which he calls the " magnetic plane." The 

 large hexagonal crystals from Minas Geraes show 

 the phenomenon most clearly. 



Torsion. The following laws are established by 

 Moreau ('' Journal de Physique," March) : (1) " At 

 a point of a twisted wire outside the magnetic 

 field the magnetic torsion is proportional to the 

 torsion of the wire, to the square of the intensity of 

 the field, if the field is weak and is independent of 

 the diameter of the wire ; (2) for points on different 

 sides of the field the magnetic torsion has equal and 

 opposite values if the ends of the wire are symmet- 

 rically placed with regard to the field ; (3) along 

 the length of the wire the torsion increases propor- 

 tionally to the distance from the nearest end ; it 

 attains a maximum at the edge of the field and 

 vanishes inside the latter. Knott (Edinburgh Royal 

 Society, June 6), after an exhaustive review of the 

 subject, concludes that the system of stress required 

 to maintain the complicated state of strain in 

 magnetized bodies can not be accounted for by 

 any recognized theory connecting magnetism and 

 stress. 



Hysteresis. Van Huffel (Amsterdam Academy 

 of Sciences, Nov. 27, 1897), in experiments on a long 

 soft bar of iron, finds that when a primary circuit 

 in the middle is closed the rate of change of induc- 

 tion reaches a maximum at a certain distance from 

 the middle and that this maximum moves outward 

 toward the ends. Niethammer (Wiedemann's " An- 

 nalen," September) finds that the loss of energy in 

 alternate-current hysteresis is greater than in mag- 

 neto-static hysteresis. It is nearly the same for 

 sinusoidal and flat curves, but less for pointed 

 curves for the same maximum induction. Fromme 

 (Wiedemann's " Annalen," May) explains the fact 

 that magnetic after-effect or " creeping "diminishes 

 when the reduction of the field to zero takes place 

 rapidly by supposing the molecular magnets to be 

 thereby thrown into more violent commotion, where- 

 by they are better able to reach stable positions. 

 Heat or mechanical stress may produce a similar 

 effect. 



Temperature Effect. Ashworth (London Royal 

 Society, Dec. 9, 1897) finds that the influence of 

 chemical constituents in determining the magnetic 

 behavior of iron under changes of temperature is 

 subordinate to that of physical condition, such as 

 annealing. Thus a kind of nickel steel exhibited 

 in the glass-hard state a smdll increase of magnetic 

 intensity with rise of temperature and a decrease 

 with fall of temperature. When annealed the con- 

 verse was the case. Steel music wire exhibits a 

 negative coefficient, the higher and lower intensi- 

 ties corresponding to higher and lower tempera- 

 ture, but it can be made positive by annealing and 

 by careful management can be rendered just zero. 

 The longer and thinner the wire, the more negative 

 is its coefficient, and it may be even made zero, or 

 positive, simply by altering its dimensions. 



Measurement. Bouty (Paris Academy of Sci- 

 ences, Jan. 17) measures the intensity of a magnetic 

 field by allowing a liquid conductor to flow nor- 

 mally to the lines of force and measuring by the 

 capillary electrometer the constant electro-motive 

 force induced in the liquid. By increasing velocity 

 of flow, the sensitiveness of the method can be in- 

 creased almost indefinitely. 



Miscellany. Elastic Support for Physical In- 

 struments. Broca (" Journal de Physique," Octo- 

 ber) points out that when galvanometers or other 

 apparatus having movable parts are supported on 

 India rubber the disturbances, far from being re- 

 duced, may in some cases be increased tenfold, 

 owing to synchronism between the periods of free 

 oscillation of the supported apparatus and the period 

 of disturbance, which the rubber supports only in- 

 tensify. On the other hand, when the apparatus 

 consists only of rigid parts, as in optical experi- 

 ments, there is no better way of insuring steadiness 

 than by placing the instruments on a heavy table 

 whose legs rest on blocks of rubber. 



PHYSIOLOGY. The doctrine of a vital force, con- 

 ferring peculiar properties and powers upon organ- 

 ized matter which are dependent on the continuance 

 of life and cease upon its extinction, after having 

 been contradicted and rejected by the mass of biol- 

 ogists and physiologists, has been revived within a 

 few years past, and has found a number of able ex- 

 ponents. Among these is Dr. Lionel S. Beale, who 

 has published an elaborate defense of the theory. 

 He maintains the conclusion, arrived at as the 

 result of observations carried on for more than 

 forty years with high magnifying powers and ex- 

 periments, that every living thing and everything 

 that has lived in the past is or has been "absolutely 

 dependent for existence upon the operation of vi- 

 tality a power manifested by living beings only," 

 and capable of overcoming" all ordinary forces and 

 properties of ordinary matter," and preventing for 

 the time being their operation. He further holds 

 that the more minutely investigation has been car- 

 ried on the stronger has become the evidence in 

 favor of vitalism. He denies the conclusions of 

 physiologists who affirm the purely chemical and 

 physical view of life and of all living matter because 

 they are based upon experiments, not on living 

 matter, but on matter that was living and had lost 

 its vitality when it was examined. He givjes the 

 name of Bioplasm to this living matter in its 

 original structureless state, from which all the forms 

 of life have been developed, and assigns to it powers 

 not possessed or exhibited by matter in any other state 

 or under any other known conditions, such as those 

 " of directing, moving, governing, and rearranging 

 material particles ; powers of analysis and prepar- 

 ing for synthesis ; powers of preparing for and pro- 

 viding for, and as if they were foreseen, future 

 changes and developments." The author supposes 

 the living matter in fully formed organisms to lie 

 inconspicuous, and in specimens prepared by some 

 methods not seen at all ; vital power to be im- 

 parted to non-living matter only when the latter 

 is infinitely near to matter that Jives, while it does 

 not appear to exert any influence upon matter 

 separated only by the very slightest space ; bio- 

 plasm or living matter invariably to proceed from 

 bioplasm that existed already, and not to be capa- 

 ble, so far as is known, of coming from the non- 

 living, while there is no gradual change from one 

 state to the other : and all vital phenomena to be 

 absolutely different from any physical phenomena. 

 The author further denies the possibility of produ- 

 cing bioplasm artificially. 



Respiration. A course of experiments on life 

 at high altitudes, made on Monte Rosa, at the 

 height of 14,592 feet above the sea, is described 

 by Prof. Angelo Mosso in the book " Fisiologia 

 dell' uomo sulle Alpe." The researches were car- 

 ried out with special physiological apparatus, some 

 of which was designed particularly for this spe- 

 cial class of studies. Some of the figures oD- 

 tained indicate that there is a normal physiolog- 

 ical dilatation of the heart during a mountain 

 ascent. Many traces were taken of the respiratory 



