486 



NATURE 



[September 15, 1898 



being produced upon the contractile tissue of iris mediately 

 through its yellow-brown pigment. 



Prof. Delezenne(Montpellier) answered the question whether 

 the congestion of the limbs and skin produced in asphyxia is 

 due to the active dilatation of the blood-vessels of those parts or 

 mechanical dilatation by the blood driven out of the viscera by 

 the asphyxial contraction of the visceral blood-vessels. The 

 femoral vessels of a limb severed, with the exception of its 

 nerves, from the rest of the animal are connected with the 

 circulation of a second animal. Asphyxia, excitation of sensory 

 nerves, &c. , still produce under those circumstances increase in 

 the volume of the limb and rise of its temperature. 



Dr. O. Griinbaum (Cambridge), showed experiments demon- 

 strating the impermeability of the salivary glands to molecules 

 above a certain weight. 



Prof. Bedart (Lille) read a paper on production oi mammary 

 secretion by cutaneous P'ranklinisation. 



Dr. D. Noel Paton (Edinburgh) contributed a communication 

 upon the distribution of nitrogen and of sulphur in the urine of 

 the dog. In the course of an investigation on the influence of 

 diphtheria toxin on metabolism it was found that the increase in 

 ammonia nitrogen observed in febrile conditions in the human 

 subject is absent. It was further found that the increase in the 

 excretion of nitrogen was out of proportion to the increase in 

 the excretion of SO;, of sulphates. It was then proved that the 

 neutral sulphur of the urine is increased, and that thus the total 

 sulphur excretion is proportionate to the excretion of nitrogen. 

 This absence of increase in the sulphuric acid production seems 

 to explain the absence of increase in the formation of ammonia 

 in the dog. 



Dr. J. S. Haldane, F.R.S. (Oxford), showed his method of 

 liberating and estimating the amount of oxygen in the blood by 

 means of potassium ferricyanide. 



Dr. Arthur Biedl (Privat-docent, Vienna) demonstrated that 

 the blocking of the thoracic duct, or the removal of the lymph 

 from it by a cannula, produces a glycosuria, even in fasting 

 animals. This glycosuria can be set aside by the injection of 

 lymph serum into the veins. Pancreatic diabetes is increased, 

 not removed, by ligating the thoracic duct. 



Prof. Denys (Louvain) brought forward experiments towards 

 distinguishing distinct species among the leucocytes of mam- 

 mals. Myelocytes ground up in serum warmed to 60° com- 

 municate to the serum an extraordinary bactericidal power. 

 Lymphocytes, on the other hand, yield no bactericidal 

 substance. 



Prof. Graham Lusk (Newhaven, U.S.A.) pointed out that 

 administration of phlorhizin to starving dogs produces elimin- 

 ation of the systemic sugars through the urine, and thereafter 

 <lextrose appears in the urine in the constant average ratio as 

 regards nitrogen of 375 : i. This removal of sugar is accom- 

 panied by a rise in proteid metalbolism as high even as 560 per 

 cent. Such a rise has only been noted in phosphorus poison- 

 ing. The question arises, is not the high proteid metabolism 

 due in both cases to the same cause— the non-burning of the 

 carbohydrates ? In the case of diabetes the sugar is removed, 

 in the other perhaps converted into fat. If this be true, and if 

 phosphorus be given in phlorhizin diabetes, then perhaps the 

 urinary sugar might decrease in quantity, because the proteid 

 sugar is being converted into fat. Experiment shows that this 

 diminution does not take place. 



Prof. G. Burch (Oxford) gave a communication on temporary 

 colour-blindness produced by exposing the eye to sunlight in the 

 focus of a burning glass, behind a transparent screen. After 

 fatigue by red light, the spectrum appears green, blue, and violet, 

 the green beginning in the part that usually appears orange. After 

 green light, the spectrum consists of red, blue, and violet, the red 

 meeting the blue near the h lines. After blue light, the spectrum 

 consists of red, green, and violet, the green meeting the violet 

 between the F and G lines. After violet light between H and 

 K the spectrum consists of red, green, and blue only, the blue 

 ending midway between G and H. After orange light from D 

 the spectrum consists of two colours only, viz. blue and violet, 

 the blue beginning at the b lines. After indigo light, the spec- 

 trum consists of two colours only, namely red and green, the 

 green ending a little beyond F. After purple light, or after 

 indigo light followed by red light, the spectrum consists of 

 green only, from about D to F. After indigo light followed by 

 green light, the spectrum consists of red only, and is visible 

 from A to about the b lines. 



Dr. Rene du Bois-Reymond (Berlin) communicated for Prof. 



NO. 1507, VOL. 58] 



N. Zuniz an account of the construction and performances of a 

 new ergometer. of which a working model was exhibited. 



Prof. A. B. Macallum (Toronto) communicated for Dr. F. 

 H. Scott (Toronto) some points in the micro-chemistry of nerve- 

 cells. The Nissl granules are found to contain "organic" 

 phosphorus as well as " masked " iron ; they, therefore, probably 

 consist in part at least of something which, like nuclear 

 chromatin, is an iron-holding nucleo-proteid. 



Communications were also brought forward by Prof. Allen, 

 Dr. Atwater, Dr. Cohnheim, Prof. Floresco, Dr. Johansson, 

 MissHuie, Dr. S. Frankel, Dr. Barnard, Prof. Bohr, Dr. Lauder 

 Brunton, and others. 



On Thursday, August 25, the honorary degree of D.Sc. was 

 conferred upon Prof. Bowditch (Harvard), Prof. Golgi (Pavia), 

 Prof. Kronecker (Bern), Prof. Klihne (Heidelberg), and Prof. 

 Marey (Paris). The speeches delivered by the Public Orator in 

 the Senate House on the occasion have already appeared in 

 Nature (p. 428). 



Among the members of the congress not actually contributing 

 communications were the following :— Prof. Fredericq (Liege), 

 Dr. L. Querton (Brussels), Dr. J. H. Cameron (Toronto), Prof. 

 Gordon (Toronto), Profs. Sandwith and Wilson (Cairo), Prof. 

 Dastre (Paris), Prof. Doyon (Lyon), Prof. Dubois (Lyon), Prof. 

 Jolyet (Bordeaux), Prof. Lambert (Nancy), Prof. Lortet (Lyon), 

 Prof. Morat (Lyon), Dr. L. Olivier (Paris), Prof. Weiss (Paris), 

 Prof. Edinger (Frankfort), Prof. Garten (Leipzig), Prof. Jaffe 

 (Konigsberg), Prof. Klihne (Heidelberg), Dr. K. Mays (Heidel- 

 iDerg), Prof. Hans Meyer (Marburg), Dr. V. Uexkiill (Heidel- 

 berg), Dr. Anderson (Cambridge), Dr. Brodie (London), Dr. 

 Edkins (London), Dr. Elliot Smith (Cambridge), Dr. Ewart 

 (London), Prof. Gamgee, F.R.S. (Lausanne), Dr. Garrod 

 (London), Dr. Gaskell, F.R.S. (Cambridge), Miss Greenwood 

 (Cambridge), Dr. Head (London), Dr. Leonard Hill (London), 

 Dr. W. Hunter (London), Prof. Kanthack (Cambridge), Prof. 

 Leech (Manchester), Dr. Pembrey (London), Prof Ringer. 

 F.R.S. (London), Dr. Shore (Cambridge), Prof. Stirling (Man, 

 Chester), Prof. Stockman (Glasgow), Prof. Einthoven (Leyden)- 

 Prof. Stokvis (Amsterdam), Dr. Hankin (Agra), Prof. Purse, 

 (Dublin), Dr. Treves (Turin), Prof. Amaya (Tokio), Profr 

 Mislawski (Kasan), Prof. Wedenskii (St. Petersburg), Prof. 

 Oehrwall (Upsala), Prof. Kocher (Bern), Prof. Prevos. 

 (Geneva), Prof. Metzner (Basle), Prof. Sahli (Bern), Drt 

 Billings (New York), Prof. Lombard (Ann Arbor, Michigan). 

 Dr. E. Dupuy (Paris), Prof. H. C. Wood (Philadelphia), Prof. 

 Wilson (Cairo), Prof. Fano (Florence), Prof. Peters (Toronto), 

 and Prof. Golgi (Pavia). 



NOTES. 



The recent meeting of the American Association at Boston 

 was one of the largest and most successful in the history of the 

 Association, the attendance numbering nearly one thousand 

 members, representing almost every State in the Union. More 

 than four hundred papers were read and discussed in the various 

 sections, and a large proportion of them were of a very high 

 order. The address of the retiring president, upon some points 

 in theoretical chemistry, was referred to in last week's Nature. 

 Prof. Putnam, the new president, also delivered an address, 

 and the following addresses were given by the sectional 

 presidents :— Section A (Mathematics and Astronomy), de- 

 velopment of astronomical photography, Prof. E. E. Barnard. 

 Section B (Physics), on the perception of light and colour, 

 Prof. F. P. Whitman. Section C (Chemistry), the electric 

 current in organic chemistry. Prof. Smith. Section E 

 (Geology and Geography), glacial geology in America, Prof. H. 

 L. Fairchild. Section F (Zoology), a half-century of evolution 

 with special reference to the effects of geological changes on 

 animal life. Prof. A. S. Packard. Section G (Botany), the 

 conception of species as affected by recent investigations on 

 fungi. Prof. W. G. Farlow. Section H (Anthropology), the 

 advance of psychology, Prof. Cattell. Section I (Economic 

 Science and Statistics), the historic method in economics, Mr. 

 Archibald Blue. The following officers were elected for the 

 ensuing year : — President : Mr. Edward Orton, President of 



