1 68 



NATURE 



{June 1 6, 1887 



chloric acids ; further, that these varying degrees of conducti- 

 SS are not directly comparable with those of the neutral salts. 

 -On cyanoacetic acid, by M Louis Henry Th^- -^,^-f- 

 show, as anticipated, that the hydrogen element (CH^ in this 

 acid CN-CH,-CO(OH), has a basic character; also that 

 the acid itself may be obtained in well-defined and perfectly 

 white crystals, and that it dissolves, not at 55? C-., as indicated by 

 Van't Hoff, but at 65°-66° C.-On the periodicity of magnetic 

 perturbations and solar rotation, by M. Ch. V. Zenger A com- 

 parative study of observations recorded at the Pare Saint-Maurand 

 Paulovsk Observatories shows that the dates of magnetic perturba- 

 tions largely coincide either with the days of the solar period or 

 with those of the periodic shooting- stars. This coincidence is 

 observed at points far distant from each other on the surface ot 

 the globe, and in years of least (1878) as well as of greatest solar 

 activity (1883-84). 



Berlin. 

 Physiological Society, May 27.— Prof. Munk, President, 

 in the chair.— Dr. Loewy spoke on the respiratory centre in the 

 medulla oblongata. His experiments were carried out on rabbits 

 in the laboratory of Prof. Zuntz. He found that severing the 

 medulla from the brain had no influence on either the fre- 

 quency, depth, or rhythm of the respiration. On cutting one 

 vagus in the animal operated upon as above, he observed a slight 

 slowing of the respiratory movements ; in order to produce any 

 marked alteration of the respiration, he found it necessary to cut 

 both vagi. After this operation the frequency of the movements 

 was considerably lessened, the inspirations being very deep, 

 while the expirations either did not take place at all, or were 

 passive : in some few cases active expiration continued. The 

 volume of the respired air was considerably diminished,^ while 

 the rhythm was normal. By the above experiments it was 

 shown that the centre in the medulla is able to maintain the 

 rhythm of the respiratory movements after it is severed from 

 both the brain and the peripheral parts of the vagi. More- 

 over the centre when thus isolated was found to be equally 

 susceptible to stimuli, whether applied directly or arriving from 

 the periphery, as when it was still connected with the brain 

 and lungs. In one experiment after the medulla was separated 

 from the brain and both vagi were divided, the spinal cord 

 was cut through, and the muscles of the hind-limbs tetanized ; 

 this produced a quickening of the respiratory movements similar 

 to that observed in normal animals, in accordance with the 

 experiments of Zuntz and Geppert. (Mu'^cular contractions lead 

 to the formation of some product of their metabolism which has 

 not yet been isolated, but which stimulates the respiratory centre 

 when brought to it in the blood.) Similarly an excess of car- 

 bonic acid gas in the respired air had the same stimulating effect 

 on the isolated respiratory centre as on the centre of normal 

 animals. The irritability of the centre was not altered either 

 qualitatively or quantitatively by its severance from the brain 

 and lungs ; thus equal percentage increments of carbonic acid 

 gas in the respired air produced an equal increase of the re- 

 spiratory movements in animals with isolated and unisolated 

 respiratory centre. Dr. Loewy has rlso endeavoured to find 

 experimentally an answer to another important question con- 

 nected with respiration. The vagus, as is well known, is the 

 only nerve that is in a.state of continuous stimulation. Hering 

 and Breuer have explained this as the result of the distension 

 of the lung-alveoli during respiration, which acts as a stimulus 

 to the endings of the vagus in the lungs. But inasmuch as they 

 found that this continuous stimulation of the vagus does not 

 entirely disappear when the lungs are no longer distended, after 

 making an incision into the thorax, they assumed the existence 

 of other unknown factors to explain the phenomenon. Dr. 

 Loewy spoke against this view, pointing out that even in the 

 collapsed lungs the alveoli are distended beyond their real size 

 and that they are of normal size only in the atelectatic lung, and 

 will then no longer stimulate the endings of the vagus. Experi- 

 ments made by him confirmed this opinion : by occluding the 

 bronchus of one lung, this lung became completely atelectatic, 

 and then the vagus of the other side was severed. The imme- 

 diate result of this was a considerable diminution in the frequency 

 of the respiratory movements, greater in fact than is usually 

 observed by section of only one vagus. Subsequent section of 

 the vagus of the atelectatic lung produced no further effect on 

 the respiration, thus showing that this vagus was not in a state 

 of tonic stimulation. — Dr. Gad has carried on researches in his 

 laboratory on the reaction-time for stimulation and inhibition. 



The experiments were made on the masseter muscle of mar 

 the lower jaw was fixed so that the muscles antagonistic to th 

 masseter did not come into play, and the contraction or relax; 

 tion of the muscle was graphically recorded on a Marey dru 

 by means of a specially constructed muscle forceps. The e 

 periments showed that as nearly as possible the same tin 

 elapsed between a given signal and the subsequent contraclic 

 of the muscle as between the given signal and its relaxtio 

 According to this, the will has an equally exact control of tl 

 inhibitory as of the stimulatory process.— Dr. Benda rec >r 

 mended the use of the kidney of mice for studying the structu 

 of the glomeruli, and demonstrated this structure on a series 

 preparations which he exhibited. 



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CONTENTS. PA( 



The Jubilee „\.;,.' ' ' 



Imperial Geological Union. By Sir J. William 



Dawson, K.C.M.G., F.R.S i 



Social History of the Races of Mankind. By Prof. 



A. H. Keane i 



The Fauna of Liverpool Bay i 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Geyler and Kinkelin : " Oberpliocan-Flora aus den 

 Baugruben des Kliirbeckens bei Niederrad und 

 Schleuse bei Hochst a M."— J- Starkie Gardner . i 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



British Association Sectional Procedure. — Prof. 



Silvanus P. Thompson 1 



The Recent Earthquakes in Mexico and Turkestan. — 



Prof. J. P. O'Reilly i 



The Late Earthquake on the Riviera, February 23, 



1887.— J. E. H. Peyton 1 



The Shadow of Adam's Peak.— R. Abbay i 



Upper Wind- Currents near the Equator and the 

 Diffusion of Krakatab Dust.— E. Douglas Archi- 

 bald : 



Mammaliferons Gravel at Elloughton, in the Humber 



Valley.— G. W. Lamplugh 1 



Fall of Peculiar Hailstones in Kingston, Jamaica. — 

 James John Bowrey. illustrated) ...... 



Singular Nesting-place of Linnets. — H. Vian- 



Williams 



A Brilliant Meteor.— Dr. F. Porro 



Electricity at Oxford 



North American Pictographs. By Francis Gallon, 



F. R. S. {Illustrated) 



Cocoa-nut Pearls. By Dr. Sydney J. Hickson and 



W. T. Thiselton Dyer, CM. G., F.R.S 



Notes 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Great Southern Comet (1887 a) 



New Minor Planets 



Astronomical Pbenomena for the Week 1887 



June 19-25 



Geographical Notes 



The Nephridia of Lanice conchilega, Malmgren. By 



J. T. Cunningham . . . • . . . . • 



Notes on the Geology of Part of the Eastern Coast 



of China and the Adjacent Islands ^ . 



The Meteorology of India 



University and Educational Intelligence 



Scientific Serials 



Societies and Academies 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 



