PHYSIOLOGY. 



into the circulation, and the free circulating re- 

 ceptors constitute the antitoxin. The compari- 

 son of the process to assimilation is justified by 

 the fact that non-toxic substances like milk in- 

 troduced gradually by successive doses into the 

 blood-serum cause the formation of antisub- 

 stances capable of coagulating them. Evidence is 

 gradually being collected that other cells than 

 those of the blood may by similar measures be 

 rendered capable of producing a corresponding 

 protective mechanism. 



In connection with some experimental re- 

 searches in the metabolism of pulmonary tuber- 

 culosis Dr. Francis W. Goodbody, Dr. Noel D. 

 Bardswell, and J. E. Chapman made studies of 

 the metabolism of ordinary individuals, and of 

 the effect of a greatly increased diet on them. 

 Three cases were experimented upon, the condi- 

 tions of which and their treatment and regimen are 

 described in detail in the paper of the authors 

 in the Journal of Physiology (vol. xxviii, No. 

 4). The conclusions which seem to the authors 

 justified by the results are expressed by them as 

 follows: 1. The lasting bad effects of an excessive 

 diet on normal individuals. 2. The very small 

 quantity of nitrogen retained except when ex- 

 treme forced feeding is employed. 3. The in- 

 creased quantity of urine passed and of very 

 high specific gravity, more or less proportional 

 to the increased intake of fluids, this being con- 

 trary to what has been observed in pathological 

 conditions. 4. The marked increase in the quan- 

 tity of total nitrogen in the urine on forced feed- 

 ing, the portion of this substance passed as urea 

 remaining normal all through, and there being 

 no marked difference in the proportion of uric 

 acid and ammonia. 5. The marked increase in 

 the inorganic constituents of the urine ana- 

 lyzed during the period of forced feeding. 6. The 

 fact that, contrary to what was to be expected, 

 there was no marked increase in the total quan- 

 tity of nitrogen in the feces on the forced feeding 

 except in case 3, while, as a rule, there was an 

 enormous increase in the quantity of fats. 7. 

 The temporary increase in the absorption of ni- 

 trogen on forced feeding as against the tendency 

 to diminution in the rate of absorption of fats 

 during the same period. 8. The very rapid in- 

 crease in weight during the period of forced feed- 

 ing and the very striking rapidity with which 

 this increase disappeared. 9. The marked dete- 

 rioration of health caused by forced feeding. 



In studies regarding the depth of sleep, Dr. 

 Sante de Sanctis and Dr. U. Megroz applied a 

 method of tactile and pressure stimuli for six 

 consecutive months, on each of 9 subjects, 4 of 

 whom were normal and 5 psychopaths, afflicted 

 with some form of nervous disorder, the tests 

 being made at different hours on successive or 

 irregularly recurring nights. It was found that 

 the maximum depth of sleep was attained within 

 one hour and a half after falling asleep, and 

 generally in the third half-hour; after which 

 the curve of sleep became shallower. Hourly 

 oscillations in the depth of sleep occurred there- 

 after with a maximum and a minimum for each 

 hour, the curve, however, descending on the 

 whole for a while until a second deepening of 

 sleep occurred. This secondary deepening lasted 

 about an hour and a half, and occurred during 

 the middle period of the total duration of sleep. 

 In all the 5 pathological subjects the depth of 

 sleep was far greater than in normal persons. 

 It was found that dreams occurred in every period 

 of sleep, and even in the earlier hours when the 

 depth of sleep was greater; but they were more 

 frequent and more vivid in the later hours of 



sleep, especially toward morning. The dream ac- 

 tivity of psycopathic persons was slight as com- 

 pared with normal -subjects, and the memory of 

 the dreams was less marked or definite. 



A prize of 600 kronen, or about $1,050, is of- 

 fered by Prof. Joseph Seegen, under the auspices 

 of the Mathematical and Natural Science section 

 of the Imperial Academy of Science of Vienna, for 

 the best answer to the question: Whether any 

 part of the nitrogen of the albuminates which 

 have undergone metabolism in the animal body 

 is eliminated either by the lungs or the skin in a 

 gaseous form. Essays may be sent in before Feb. 1, 

 1904, in the German, French, or English language. 



In experiments on skin currents, Dr. Augustus 

 D. Waller found that in freshly removed human 

 skin the normal current was always ingoing, and 

 the response to electrical excitation by the in- 

 duction-coil was always outgoing.* This response, 

 which the author calls " the blaze," was a sign 

 of the vitality of the skin, was independent of 

 the normal current, and amounted to from 

 0.0100 to 0.0400 volts. Moribund skin and skin 

 from the post-mortem room gave small reactions 

 of variable direction, amounting to not more 

 than 0.010 of a volt. In all cases the electrodes 

 were carefully tested and the skin was subse- 

 quently killed by boiling, tested, and found to 

 give negative results. A remarkable feature 

 brought out in the experiments was the great 

 diminution of resistance of living skin bytetaniza- 

 tion. The resistance of dead skin was far below 

 that of living skin, and was not altered by tetani- 

 zation. Fatigue was exhibited more in human 

 skin than in frog's skin. As regards the locality 

 of the reaction, the blaze currents were found 

 to arise exclusively from the Malpighian layer 

 of the epithelium, not from the superficial kera- 

 tinized cells, or from the subcutaneous tissue 

 and the corium. The blaze reaction was quite 

 local, and was not propagated to any consider- 

 able distance from the excited spot, and adjacent 

 portions exhibited different degrees of vitality. 

 The apparent duration of vitality was surprising, 

 and lasted as long as ten days after excision. 

 Alternations of temperature produced alteration 

 of resistance as in any moist conductor. In the 

 case of living skin, Dr. Waller witnessed at the 

 moment of congelation ( 40 to 60 of the 

 cooling chamber) a sudden electromotive dis- 

 charge of 0.0080 volt, attributable to the sudden 

 excitation of living matter in the act of congela- 

 tion. On the return of the frozen skin to the orig- 

 inal temperature, the resistance was found to 

 much reduced, and the response to excitation 

 abolished. 



Indications were found by Uhlenbarth, and the 

 discovery has been confirmed by Levene, of the 

 existence of a biological relationship between the 

 blood and the muscle proteids a similarity in 

 the biological sense having been observed between 

 proteids having a different chemical individuality. 

 but obtained from the same animal. It \\a- 

 found that the serums of rabbits immunized for 

 two months with milk would form precipitates 

 with milk, casein, milk-albumin, and beef-serum, 

 but not with the entire white of an egg, egg-albu- 

 min, egg-globulin, chicken-serum, and sheep he- 

 moglobin. Serums of animals that had been 

 treated with injections of the white of an egg 

 for two months formed precipitates with egg-albu- 

 min, egg-globulin, yolk of egg, chicken-serum, 

 and turkey-serum. No precipitate was formed 

 on the addition of milk proteids, beef-serum, or 

 of the different proteids of the latter, of guinea- 

 pig serum, or of serum of the normal rabbit. 



In the meeting of the National Academy of Sci- 



