98 



NATURE 



[September i6, 1920 



from their labours since tlie last congress at Groningen 

 in 1913. No sooner had he finished this part of His 

 discourse than the whole assembly rose to their feet 

 and remained standing in silence lor some short time. 

 It was quite spontaneous, so French, so exactly the 

 thing to do at the moment, yet without a trace of 

 anything theatrical or insincere. 



The latter part of the address was an interesting 

 survey of such advances in physiology since 1913 as 

 have necessitated changes in our views regarding 

 certain problems. In particular, reference was made 

 to the value of the researches of the American physio- 

 logists under Benedict into metabolic exchanges at 

 rest — the so-called "basal metabolism." Prof. Fano, 

 the new occupant of Luciani's chair at Rome, was 

 the next speaker, the subject of his discourse being 

 the two cerebral attributes of volition and inhibition. 

 He made use of data obtained through injuries to the. 

 human brain in the late war. 



The afternoon was devoted to the reading of papers 

 and to witnessing demonstrations, for which purposes 

 the congress was divided up into five sections, which 

 had to meet simultaneously. 



At half-past eight the members were invited to 

 witness a display of scientific kinematography at the 

 Institute of Oceanography in the Rue St. "Jacques. 

 At this siance the Prince of Monaco and his suite 

 were present. The demonstrations were exceedingly 

 interesting, those of the amoeboid movements of the 

 leucocytes in frog's and in human blood being par- 

 ticularly instructive. The rate of reproduction of the 

 films had been accelerated to sixty or eighty times 

 the normal, so that, instead of seeing leucocytes ad- 

 vance on bacilli in the leisurely fashion of their own 

 positive chemiotaxis, they appeared to bolt in and 

 out amongst the rouleaux of red discs like so many 

 rabbits amongst the bracken of a warren. Another 

 set of illustrations was equally remarkable : men and 

 animals had been photographed walking, running, 

 and leaping, not only at the rate necessary for the 

 normal reproduction of these movements, but also so 

 rapidly that the transit of the pictures could be 

 brought down to a very slow rate without, however, 

 producing any flicker. 



The illusion in the artificially retarded series was 

 very curious ; one saw, for instance, a man with a 

 pole in his hand approach a high gate, slowly place 

 the pole on the ground, rise leisurely into the air, 

 float slowly over the gate, and then, having left the 

 pole upright behind him, sink slowlv down on the 

 other side. The pole meanwhile fell on one side with 

 a dignity and grace that would not have shamed a 

 Vere de Vere. As a physiological study of the various 

 groups of muscles co-ordinated in actions of this kind, 

 the demonstrations were very valuable. Other series 

 were : the cure of avian beri-beri ; the heart and lungs 

 in action in the opened thorax of the cat ; hydro- 

 medusaa in their tanks ; a cat let fall back down- 

 wards rotating itself so as to alight on the ground 

 on all fours ; and the flying of birds and butterflies 

 in artificially retarded action. 



The secretion of pancreatia juice after the injection 

 of secretin into a dog was clearly demonstrated, as 

 also the artificial digestion of a cube of albumen bv 

 activated pancreatic juice in presence of the necessarv 

 controls. This last demonstration was verv remark- 

 able, for in a few moments we were shown the 

 chemical disintegration of the protein into soluble 

 substances, which in reality occupies more than nine 

 hours. 



Saturdav, July 17, until six o'clock, was given up 

 to the scientific work of the congress. At nine in 

 the evening Prof, and Mme. Rich'et received the 

 members in their large and handsome house in the 



NO. 2655, VOL. 106] 



Rue de 1' University. It was fortunately a fine, warm 

 evening, so that we were able to stroll about th« 

 illuminated garden, where the conversations were not 

 exclusively on scientific subjects. 



On the Sunday no scientific work was undertaken, 

 but an excursion was made to the park and chateau 

 at Chantilly, a place best known to many Englishmen 

 as the site of a racecourse. This proved a very 

 enjoyable visit; the interior of the chateau is decorated 

 in the stately and gorgeous style of the Renaissance, 

 and the house contains some fine paintings, besides 

 miniatures, valuable gems, and other treasures. 



Monday, July 19, saw the congress busily at work 

 again until five o'clock, when there was a large 

 reception at the Hotel de Ville. This was given by 

 the Mayor of Paris and the City Council ; it was a 

 full-dress affair, as might be interred from the cos- 

 tumes of the ladies and from the uniforms and cocked 

 hats of the attendants by whom we were ushered up 

 marble staircases to painted halls. There were 

 speeches of welcome and speeches of thanks in 

 response, as well as generous entertainment. 



At nine o'clock the same evening a soiree was given 

 by the Club de la Renaissance frangaise in the Rue de 

 Poitiers. This consisted of a concert of chamber 

 music, in which piano, 'cello, and harp all took part. 

 Not for long had some members of the congress, 

 they said, enjoyed an evening so much, for they were 

 enabled for an hour or two to escape from the 

 auditory discords of the streets and to live in an 

 atmosphere of pleasing sounds. 



On Tuesday, July 20, the congress was at its work 

 again until half-past two, when the seance de cloture 

 took place. .\t nine o'clock the same evening the 

 Rector of the University of Paris gave a formal recep- 

 tion to the congress in the magnificent salons of the 

 Sorbonne. This was a full-dress conversazione, the 

 entertainment provided, besides some singing, being 

 a recitation by a young actor of one of Alfred de 

 Mussel's poems. 



During the week several dinner-parties and lunches 

 were given, both the president and Prof. Gley acting 

 frequentlv as hosts. The number of ladies who as 

 physiologists participated in the congress was larger 

 than at any previous meeting. Great Britain being 

 particularly well represented in this respect. 



Not many American or Canadian physiologists 

 attended the congress. .Vmerican physiology was, 

 however, represented by Prof. Neil Stewart, of Cleve- 

 land University, Ohio; Prof. Frederick S. Lee, of 

 Columbia University, New York ; Prof. Graham 

 Lusk, of Cornell University, New 'York; and Dr. 

 L. G. Henderson, of Harvard University. 



From Canada there were only Prof. J. J. R. 

 Macleod, of Toronto University, and Prof. Fraser 

 Harris, of Dalhousie L'niversity, Halifax, N.S. 



The subjects discussed at the congress are too 

 numerous to be dealt with in the detail they deserve. 

 The physiology of adrenalin was the subject of pro- 

 longed debate. In particular, doubt was cast upon the 

 trustworthiness of some of the methods for the detec- 

 tion of that hormone in the blood and upon the 

 alleged rapiditv with which adrenalin is increased in 

 a very large number of different conditions, some 

 accompanied and some not by emotional factors. 



The topics of diabetes, the psycho-c^alvanic pheno- 

 menon of Waller, human calorimetry. the transport 

 of carbon dioxide in the blood, and the condition of 

 the respiratory centre in shock were all discussed at 

 as great length as the overloaded state of the pro- 

 gramme permitted. 



The congress was too short to deal adequately with 

 all the difficult problems presented for solution. Some 

 of us were just beginning to know one another and 



