4o8 



NATURE 



[August 2 2, 1889 



These researches seem to leave no doubt that the bacillus of Klebs 

 is the real active principle in diphtheria.^On the rotatory polar- 

 ization of quartz, by M. H. Le Chatelier. Having already shown 

 {Comptes lendus. May 20, 1889) that towards 570° C. the di- 

 mensions of quartz undergo a rapid increase, if not an absolutely 

 sudden change such as that noticed in dimorphic transformations, 

 the author here endeavours to place beyond doubt this sudden 

 change by resuming the study of the rotatory polarization of 

 quartz already begun by M. Joubert. From his investigations 

 it seems evident that at the specified temperature this body 

 really undergoes a sudden allotropic transformation while retain- 

 ing under both states its rotatory power as well as its crystalline 

 symmetry. — On the production of crystallized cobaltous and 

 ferrous hydrates, by M. A. de Schulten. The author has ob- 

 tained these hydrates in the crystallized state by using the same 

 method that has enabled him to prepare artificial brucite and 

 ])yrochroite, as explained in the Ccmptcs rendtts, ci. p. 72, and 

 cv. p. 1265. — Papers were contributed by M. C. Patein, on a 

 source of error in the search for, and quantitative analysis of, 

 albuminoid substances in the animal organism ; by M. Maupas, 

 on the agamous multiplication of some rotifers and other lower 

 Infusoria; and by M. Th. Moureaux, on the cause of certain 

 disturbances in the curves of the magnetographs. 



Berlin. 



Physiological Society, July 26. — Prof. Munk, President, 

 in the chair. — Prof. Zuntz spoke on heat-regulation in man, 

 basing his remarks on experiments made by Dr. Loewy. The 

 store of heat in the human body at any one time is very large, 

 equal in fact to nearly all the heat produced by the body during 

 twenty hours, hence the heat given off to a calorimeter during a 

 given period cannot be taken as a measure of the heat-production ; 

 this determination must be based rather upon the amount of 

 oxygen consumed, and of carbonic acid gas given off. The pur- 

 pose of the experiments was to ascertain what alteration the 

 gaseous interchange of the body undergoes by the application of 

 cold, inasmuch as existing data on this point are largely contra- 

 dictory. The observations were made on a number .of men 

 whose respiratory gases were compared, during complete rest, 

 ■when they were at one time clothed, at another time naked, at 

 temperatures from 12° to 15° C, and in warm and cold baths. 

 Each experiment lasted from half an hour to an hour, during 

 which period the gases were repeatedly analyzed. As the result 

 -of fifty-five experiments, twenty showed no alteration of oxygen 

 •consumption as the result of cooling, nine gave a lessened con- 

 sumption, while the remaining twenty-six showed an increased 

 using up of oxygen. This diversity of result is explicable on the 

 basis of observations made by Prof. Zuntz, who was himself ex- 

 perimented upon, as to his subjective heat-sensations during the 

 experiments. He found that after the first impression due to 

 the application of cold is overcome, it was quite easy to maintain 

 himself in a perfectly passive condition ; subsequently it required 

 a distinct effort of the will to refrain from shivering and throw- 

 ing the muscles into activity, and finally even this became no 

 longer possible, and involuntary shivering and muscular contrac- 

 tion supervened, as soon as the body-temperature {in and) had 

 fallen 4° to 1° C. During the first stage of cooling, Zuntz's 

 oxygen consumption showed a uniform diminution ; during the 

 period also in which shivering was repressed by an effort of the 

 will, cooling led to no increased consumption of oxygen, but as 

 soon as shivering became involuntary there was at once an 

 increased using up of oxygen and excretion of carbonic acid. 

 This explains the differences in the results of Dr. Loewy's experi- 

 ments, and may be taken to show that in man, and presumably 

 in all large animals, heat-regulation as directly dependent upon 

 alteration (fall) in temperature of the surrounding medium does 

 not exist ; the increased heat-production is rather the outcome 

 of the movements resulting from the application of cold to the 

 body. In small animals, on the other hand, there undoubtedly 

 exists a heat-regulation dependent upon an increased activity of 

 chemical changes in the tissues set up by the application of cold 

 to the surface of the body, and in this case the thermotaxic 

 centres in the brain most probably play some part. — Dr. Herter 

 gave an account of experiments made by Dr. Popoff on the 

 artificial digestion of various and variously cooked meats. Lean 

 beef and the flesh of eels and flounders were digested in artificial 

 gastric juice ; the amount of raw flesh thus peptonized was in 

 all cases greater than that of cooked meat similarly treated. 

 The flesh was shredded and heated by steam to 100° C. The 

 result was the same for beef as for fish. When compared with 

 -each other, beef was on the whole the most digestible, but the 



amount of fish- flesh which was peptonized was sufficiently great 

 to do away with the evil repute which fish still has in Germany 

 as a proteid food. Smoked meat differed in no essential extent 

 from raw meat as regards its digestibility. — Dr. Cowl described 

 his experiments on the mechanical latent period of a muscle. 

 The muscle was hung up by one end, and its movements were 

 recorded by a lever passing through the middle of the muscle, 

 and writing on a spring-myograph. When both electrodes 

 (using a "breaking" induction shock) were applied to the half 

 of the muscle above the lever, the curve obtained showed a short 

 latent period, after which it rose above the base-line. When the 

 electrodes were applied below the lever, the same latent period 

 was observed, after which the curve first fell slightly below, and 

 then rose above the base-line. When one electrode was applied 

 above and the other below the lever, then the elongation of the 

 muscle was now present, now absent ; in the latter case the 

 length of the latent period was equal to the latency plus the 

 duration of the visible elongation. From this it follows that 

 the elongation of the muscle accounts for part of the latent 

 period. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Iron and Steel Manufacture : A. H. Hiorns (Macmillan). — Magnetism 

 and Electricity : A. VV. Poyser (Longmans). — Carta Topogralica della 

 Liguria (Philip). — Traite Encyclop^dique de Pholographie, tome premier, 

 Materiel Photographique : C. Fabre (Paris, Gauthier-Villars). — Trinidad, 

 Annual Report of the Royal Botanic Gardens and their Work for i838 : J. 

 H. Hart (Port of Spain). — La France Prehistorique : E. Cartailhac (Paris. 

 Alcan). — The Republic of Uruguay ; General i^escription and Statistical 

 Data, 1888-89 (Liverpool, Rockliff). — Report of the Fourth Indian National 

 Cangress, held at Allahabad in 1888 (London).— Smithsonian Annual Re- 

 port for the Year ending June 30, 1886, Part i (Washington). — Schriften der 

 Physikalisch-okonomischen Gesellschatt zu Konigsberg inPr., 1888 (Konig?- 

 berg). — Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, vol. iv. No. i, 

 (Bombay). — Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. i., new 

 series (Williams and Norgate). — Journal of the Royal Agricultural and 

 Commercial Society of British Guiana, June 1889 (Stanford). — Quarterly 

 Journal of the Geological Society, vol. xlv. Part 3, No. 179 (Longmans). — 

 Studies from the Morphological Laboratory in the IJniversuy of Cambridge, 

 vol. iv. Part 3 (Clay). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



African Farm Pests 385 



The Forest Flora of New Zealand. By W. Betting 



Hemsley, F.R.S 388 



An Elementary Text-book of Chemistry 389 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Cockshott and Walters : "A Treatise on Geometrical 



Conies " 390 



Hector; " /%crwz«;« /^«7x as a Fibrous Plant " . . 390 



Haddon : "Revision of the British Actineae" . . . 390 



" Practical Iron-Founding." — N. J. L 390 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Ice Blocks on a Moraine. — Prof. T. G. Bonney, 



F.R.S 391 



The Inheritance of Injuries. — C. Pitfield Mitchell . 391 



Classified Cataloguing.— W. M. Flinders Petrie . 392 

 Head Measurements of Students at the University of 



Cambridge. — F. M. T 392 



The Supposed Connection between Distant Earth- 

 quake Shocks. — WiUiam White 393 



The Sources of Nitrogen in Vegetation. — W. Mattieu 



Williams 394 



Do Cats Count?— J. T. Walker 394 



Anapophyses. — Dr. St. George Mivart, F.R.S. . 394 

 The International Chemical Congress — A Correction. 



— Your Correspondent 394 



The French Association for the Advancement of 



Science 394 



Experiments on Electro-magnetic Radiation, includ- 

 ing some on the Phase of Secondary Waves. 



{Illustrated.) By Fred. T. Trouton 398 



Ice Growth 400 



Dr. C. Forsyth Major's Discoveries in the Isle of 



Samos 4C0 



Notes 401 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1889 



August 25-31 403 



Geology in Russia 4°^,M 



Scientific Serials '^'^ifl 



Societies and Academies 4^°^B 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 40^H 



I 



