436 



NATURE 



[January 25, 191 2 



tion iji cufual. cysts b«>inn swnllowf-d aftidi-nlally by li<T. 

 There !•» no hm-ditary infect ion. //. peduuM Ih important 

 in at iVast two respects: — (i) it txcurs in human bodv- 

 licc, which th«>ms«"lvi's may act as carriers of dis«'ase in 

 lertain circumstances in some parts of the world ; also 

 (i) it has b*'en asserted that parasites belonging to the 

 j^enera llerpetomonas and Crithidia, (x-currinj* in blcKxI- 

 suckinf{ insects, are stajjes in the life-cycles of trypano- 

 somes of vertebrates. Although many lice, infectetl with 

 //. pvdiculi, had b«'en bred on the author's body, fi-d only 

 on his bloml throughout their lives, and kept confined, yet 

 no trypanosome has been found in his bloixl, whether 

 e.xamined by smear, thick film, culture, or by sub-inocula- 

 tion into white rats, the experiments having extended over 

 a period of nearly three years. Also, rats inoculated with 

 //. pediculi have not developed trypanosomes. //. pediculi 

 is a harmless parasite of the digestive tract of Pi'dicuttis 

 vestimenti, and has no connection with any vertebrate 

 trypanosome. The possible occurrence of such a natural 

 llerpetomonas in lice must be remembered when e.xperi- 

 menting with pediculi as possible transmitters of Leish- 

 mania. — Captain A. D. Fraser and Dr. H. L. Duka : 

 .\n antelope trypanosome. I'vn days after blood of a bush- 

 buck, which was shot on the shores of the Victoria 

 Nyanza, had been injected into a healthy goat, trypano- 

 somes appeared in the goat's blood. 'I'he same species of 

 trypanosome was present in blood smears made from 

 another bushbuck and a sikitunga, which were shot in the 

 same neighbourhood. The small characteristic trypano- 

 some corresponds morphologically to the one which was 

 discovered in cattle in Uganda, and was named Trypano- 

 soma itniforme by the Royal .Society Sleeping Sick- 

 ness Commission, i()o8-io. This is shown by curves re- 

 presenting the distribution, by percentages, in respect to 

 length of the antelope trypanosome and T. uniforme. 

 Cattle, goats, sheep, and bushbuck were infected. 

 Monkeys, pigs, dogs, cats, guinea-pigs, and white rats 

 proved to be refractory. It is concluded that the trypano- 

 some found in the antelope was T. uniforme. Experi- 

 mentally it was shown that laboratory-bred Glossina 

 palpalis were capable of transmitting this species of 

 trypanosome from infected to healthy animals. Of six 

 experiments, four were successful. The flies became in- 

 fective in from twenty-seven to thirty-seven days, and the 

 infection in the fly was always limited to the proboscis. 

 In order to ascertain if G. palpalis caught on the Lake- 

 shore, near where the infected antelope had been shot, 

 were naturally infected, flies were collected there and 

 brought to Mpumu, where they were fed on a healthy goat. 

 After 1020 flies had been put on the goat it became infected 

 with Trypanosoma uniforme. .Some days afterwards 

 T. vivax, with which wild flies had previously been shown 

 to be naturally infected, also appeared in the goat's blood. 

 The conclusions are : — (i) this trypanosome, which is of 

 fairly frequent occurrence among Lake-shore antelope, is 

 7'. uniforme ; (2) the available evidence points to Glossina 

 palpalis as being the carrier of this species of trypano- 

 some ; (3) G. palpalis caught on the Lake-shore are natur- 

 ally infected with Trypanosoma uniforme. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, January 8th.— M. Liprmann in the 

 chair. — Paul Sabatier and .A. Maiihe : The catalytic 

 decomposition of formic esters. The authors have 

 previously shown that formic acid suffers catalytic decom- 

 position in two different ways, some catalytic agents, such 

 as titanium dioxide, producing carbon monoxide and water, 

 others, such as finely divided metals and zinc oxide, giving 

 rise to carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Catalysis by the 

 oxides of thorium, manganese, &c., takes place in both 

 ways. The study has been extended to the action of these 

 various catalytic agents on the formic esters, and the pre- 

 dominant reaction is a decomposition of the ester into 

 alcohol and carbon monoxide. — G. Fayet : A new comet 

 of short period. Observations on a very faint comet, of 

 about seven years' period, discovered by M. Schaumasse. 

 — M. Txitxtfica : Isothermal surfaces. — Paul Ltfvy : The 

 integro-diffcrential equations of M. Hadamard. — P. 

 Helbronner : Survey of the higher regions of the French 

 Alps. — Marcel Oswald : .\ simple relation between the 

 coefficient of expansion of liquids and the temperature. 

 NO. 2204, VOL. 88] 



If a bt' thf coi'fncieni of fXftamton at T* abtolui'-. T "■- 

 critical temperature absolute, then the expression o 



holds go(xl. Ising the general formula ««r-p 



values of A obtained with various liquids appruxin 

 closely to 2. — C. Matisnon and M. UMsiaur : Art 

 of nitrogen and oxygen on magnesium. Oxygen I. 

 act on magne.sium at boo" C. and nitrogen 

 bjo" C, the former acting much the more rapi-: 

 addition of mercury to form an amalgam does not 

 these reactions.— L. C Mailiard : .\ction of ani: 

 on the sugars. .\min(vacids act rapidly at 100" C., slowly 

 at 37° C!., with various sugars, producing brown sub- 

 stances, with elimination of carbon dioxide and water. 

 The carbon dioxide is split off from the amino-acid. The 

 action is general, having bet-n obtained with glyco< ' 

 sarcosine, alanine, tyrosine, glutamic acid, &c. ; of tli 

 alanine acts the most readily. — .Marin Molliard : C •-.... 

 parison of the phenomena of oxidation in galls and in the 

 homologous normal organs. The respiratory quotients for 

 normal leaves of the elm, and for the galls produced by 

 Tetraneura Ulmi, are practically the same in darkness ; 

 but in light, in an atmosphere containing 8 per cent, of 

 carbon dioxide, for the same volume of this gas absorbed, 

 much less oxygen is evolved by the galls than by the sound 

 leaves. — J. Winter: Remarks on the gastric acidity. 

 There is no uniform type of gastric juice, its composition 

 depending on the food taken, the psychic state, &c. There 

 is no direct connection between the production of gastric 

 juice and that of its acid constituents. — H. Labb* and 

 L. Violle : Elimination of aminoid nitrogen in de- 

 pancreatised dogs. In depancreatised dogs the ratio of the 

 urinary amino-acid nitrogen to the total nitrogen of the 

 urine is about four times as great as for normal animals. 

 — P. Maaritot : The possibility of preserving the human 

 cornea in a living state after removal from the body. A 

 human eye, removed in a case of glaucoma, was kept for 

 eight days in hjemolysed human serum, the cornea, 

 previoush' opalescent, gradually regaining its transparencv. 

 Part of this cornea was then grafted into another patient's 

 cornea which had become entirely opaque owing to an 

 accident. The transplanted cornea has retained its trans- 

 parency after seven months, and the vision is one-tenth 

 normal. — Rol>ert LAvy : Relation of arachnolysin to the 

 female genital organs of spiders. — Maurice Arthus : 

 Intoxication by venoms and by proteids. The effect- ' 

 snake poisons on rabbits closely resemble those of an; 

 laxis, therefore a rabbit sensitised by injection of pr. 

 material should be rendered more sensitive to snake 

 venoms, and vice versA. ITiis is found to be the case. 

 The venom of the cobra has two distinct actions, one an 

 effect common to snake poisons, the other a curare-like 

 action confined to th.- venoms of a restricted r. ' ^ 

 snakes. — L. Ci. Seurat : The life-cycle of the "- 

 of the dog. — F. Picard : The biology of the po:... 

 {Phtorimaea opercullela) and its occurrence in France. 

 This moth, which inflicts great damage on the potato crop 

 in the United States, Australia, and other parts of the 

 globe, has lately appeared in various districts in France, 

 but so far its distribution there is not wide. Di ' ' 

 with carbon bisulphide appears to be the only 

 .\. Quidor : Torsion of the Lernaeidae, and their ... 

 to Sphyrion and Hepatophylus. — Louis Oontil : Jieol< . 

 observations on the route of tieneral Moinier's cc. 

 between Fez and the .Atlantic Coast. — E. A. Martel : I lie 

 cafion of the Rhone.— .Alfred Ansot : V.nlue of the 

 magnetic elements at the Observatory of \al-Joyeux to 

 January i, 1912. — .Alfred An^ot : Slean value of the 

 cloudiness at the time of the forthcoming total eclip'"-- "f 

 the sun. The chances for and against fine weather 

 the central line in France on .April 17 have been ar 

 at from consideration of the weather, at Paris and N. 

 for the period .April 15 to 19 during the twenty 

 1891-1910. The unfavourable cases e.xceed the favour;. ti'^ 

 by nearly 2 to i. 



January 15. — M. Lippmann in the chair. — B. 

 Baillaud : The catalogue of stars published by M. 

 Cosserat, director of the Observatory of Toulouse. Re- 

 marks on vol. viii. of the " .Annales de rObser\'atoiv 

 Toulouse." — femile Picard: .A general theorem relati: - 



