i68 



NATURE 



[Dec. 13, 1888 



cyclone becomes mixed with the colder air as it is rising, owing 

 to the whirling motion : as a result of this, the formation of clouds 

 must be most dense in the centre of the cyclone, and thinner 

 towards its periphery. The latent heat liberated during the con- 

 densation accompanying cloud-formation is only obvious in the 

 anticyclone, since it merely slows the rate of cooling in the rising 

 current of air ; on the other hand, the cold rain-drops as they 

 fall cool the lower layers of air in a cyclone, so that as a result of 

 the above a mixed convection of heat takes place from the cylone 

 in the direction of the anticyclone. These thermo-dynamic con 

 siderations explain in general a large number of meteorological 

 phenomena of which the speaker was only able to enumerate 

 a few. — Dr. Budde made some remarks in connection with 

 Janssen's communication to the last meeting of the British 

 Association on the double spectrum of oxygen, of which one is 

 proportional to the density of the gas, the other to the square of 

 * that density. He showed that on the supposition that one of the 

 spectra is due to separate free molecules, the other to molecules 

 which are impacting, the result must follow which Janssen has 

 found experimentally. 



Physiological Society, November 23. — Prof, du Bois- 

 Reymond, President, in the chair. — Prof. Moebius spoke on the 

 nests which are constructed by the marine stickleback {Gastero- 

 steus). As early as 1829 the fact that this animal constructs a 

 nest was described by an English observer. The speaker had 

 had frequent opportunities of examining these nests in the Baltic, 

 and found that they are constituted not only out of Fuel, Algse, 

 and other marine plants, but also out of the leaves of terrestrial 

 plants which have fallen into the water, and even sometimes out 

 of bits of wool. The male,' who is constantly circling round the 

 nest, knows how to find it again, even if it is lifted and lowered 

 again into the water at a distance of five hundred paces from its 

 first position. In an aquarium the speaker was able to observe 

 that the male is continually spinning new fibres round the nest 

 which proceed from out of the urinary bladder. The fibres 

 are, as shown by chemical reactions, composed of mucin, 

 which is not, however, secreted in the bladder, but by 

 the kidneys. Sections through a kidney, treated with osmic acid 

 and stained with hcematoxylin, showed that only a few of the 

 cells lining the uriniferous tubes are concerned in the elaboration 

 of mucin, the others undergoing no such change. Out of the 

 breeding-season none of these mucigenous cells are to be found 

 in the kidneys, which are then less swollen. A case analogous 

 to the above, of nests constructed of mucin derived from tem- 

 porarily modified gland-cells, is found in Salangane, which 

 produce the edible nests ; these birds make use of a glutinous 

 material for the construction of their nests, which is at times 

 secreted by a gland, in this case the salivary gland. A com- 

 parative physiological-chemical analysis of these two secretions 

 would be very interesting. — Prof. Munk gave an account of his 

 researches on the physiology of the thyroid gland. It has long 

 been known that in cases of excision of this gland in man the 

 patients suffer from severe cachexia, to which they speedily 

 succumb, with symptoms indicative of serious disease of the 

 central nervous system ; this fact has led to a long series of 

 physiological researches, from which it appears that this small 

 organ is of the greatest importance to life. It was assumed, in 

 accordance with SchiiTs views, either that it produces some 

 substance which, passing into the blood, upsets the normal 

 function of the central nervous system, or that it is concerned 

 in the destruction of some injurious products of cerebral activity. 

 Two years ago, as the speaker began his researches on the 

 physiology of this gland, with a view to the discovery of the 

 above remarkable substance, he observed solitary cases in 

 which the dogs were only slightly ill, and then completely 

 recovered, notwithstanding that the thyroid was completely 

 extirpated ; one dog showed no signs of any illness at 

 all. Similarly in the literature of this subject, solitary 

 cases are mentioned in which extirpation had no effect on 

 the dog's health. The speaker had next changed his method of 

 operating, merely ^isolating the gland from the surrounding 

 structures, ligaturing the hilus, and replacing the isolated lobes 

 in their original position. Some of the dogs with the gland thus 

 isolated lived on in perfect health ; in these the gland was found 

 to have degenerated and become completely converted into con- 

 nective-tissue. Others of the dogs became ill and died, and in 

 these the gland had healed and recovered its vascular supply. 

 From these experiments it followed that the thyroid is not an 

 organ of absolute importance for life, inasmuch as animals can 

 live in perfect health without it. It thus remained to determine 



what is the cause of the serious pathological condition 'and 

 ultimate death which ensues when the thyroid is excised in man 

 and other animals. A careful study of the symptoms showed that 

 the normal functions of respiration, cardiac activity and nutrition, 

 and of the nervous system, are upset, resulting in dyspnoea 

 with powerful expirations, palpitation of the heart, relaxation 

 of the arteries, derangement of the movements of deglutition, 

 accompanied by vomiting, clonic and tonic cramps, resulting in 

 epileptic attacks. _ It was further found that the dyspnoea and 

 palpitation are primary symptoms, the cramps are secondary, and 

 that death ensues during the latter. The dyspnoeic attacks with 

 the resultant conditions are undoubtedly due to the stimulation 

 of nerves lying in the inflamed tissues after the extirpation of the 

 gland, viz. the superior laryngeal, recurrent laryngeal, vagus, and 

 sympathetic nerves. This is clearly shown by the fact that 

 when the gland is simply isolated by a ligature the dogs live in 

 good health, the gland at the same time degenerating, whereas 

 in cases where the surrounding tissues inflame and lead to a 

 renewed adhesion and vascularity of this organ the dogs became 

 ill and died. The speaker was obliged to defer to the next 

 meeting, owing to the lateness of the hour, the further descrip- 

 tion of his experiments, and of the conclusions to be drawn from 

 them. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



The Mining Manual for j888: W. R. Skinner.— The Speaking Parrots, 

 parts 7 and 8 : Dr. K. Russ (L. U. Gill).— British Dogs, Nos. 25 and 26 : H. 

 Dalziel (L. U. Gill).— A'1'ext-book of Elementary Metallurgy : A. H. Hiorns 

 (Macmillan). — Mental Evolution in Man: G.J. Romanes (Kegan Paul). — 

 Die Stamme des Thierreiches (Wirbellose Thiere), vol. ii. : M. Neumayr 

 (Temsky, Wien). — Essai d'une 'I'heorie Rationnelle des Soci^tes de Secour.s 

 Mutuels : P. de Lafitte (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).— Cours d'Astronomie 

 Pratique ; Application a la Geographic et a la Navigation, 2me partie : E. 

 Caspar! (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).— 1 he Agreement of Colour Theories with 

 Practical Experience : G. H. Morton (Liverpool) —The Proposed Chemical 

 Laboratory at the University of Sydney : A. Liversidge (Sydney). — Journal 

 of the Chemical Society, December (Gurney and Jackson). — Proceedings 

 of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, vol. iii. part 1 (Trubner). 



CONTENTS. Page 



The Zoological Results of the Challenger Expedition 145 

 The British Farmer and his Competiiors ..... 146 



Coleoptera 147 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Casey : " A Sequel to the First Six Books of the 



Elements of Euclid " 148 



Abbot: " Elementary Theory of the Tides " .... 148 

 Leutemann : "Pictures of Native Life in Distant 



Lands" 148 



Wood: "The Zoo" 148 



Wise: "Alpine Winter in its Medical Aspects" . . 148 



Furneaux : " Animal Physiology " 148 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Hailstones. {Illustrated. ) — Alexander Johnstone . 148 

 The Renaissance of British Mineralogy. — Prof. W. 



N. Hartley, F.R.S. 149 



"Weather Charts and Storm Warnings." — ^Joseph 



John Murphy 149 



The Philippine " Tamarao." — A, H. Everett . . . 150 

 A Pheasant attacking a Gamekeeper. — M. H. Maw 150 

 The Morphology of Birds. I. By Dr. H. Gadow . 150 

 Statistics of the British Association. {With a 



Diagram) 152 



The Movements of Cyclonic Areas 154 



Notes 155 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet 1888 f (Barnard, September 2) 158 



Y Cygni 158 



Recent Sketches of Jupiter 158 



85 Pegasi 158 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1888 



December 16-22 158 



Geographical Notes 159 



Electrical Notes 159 



The Anniversary of the Royal Society . . . . . . . 159 



Motions of the Solar System. By Ormond Stone . 162 



University and Educational Intelligence 164 



Scientific Serials 164 



Societies and Academies 165 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 168 



