446 



NA TURE 



[June 9, 1910 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society, June 2. — Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., 

 president, in the chair. — L. S. Dudg^eon, P. N. Panton, 



and H. A. F. Wilson : The influence of bacterial endo- 

 toxins on phagocytosis (preliminary report). Extracts 

 were prepared from most of the common pathogenic 

 organisms by grinding them up in the presence of sterile 

 sand or glass, and adding a definite amount of sterile salt 

 solution ; this was then centrifugalised at high speed, and 

 the final supernatant layer employed as the endotoxin. 

 Tlie Action of the Endotoxic Substance on the Leucocytes. 

 — The authors' experiments, although limited, failed to 

 indicate that there was any direct action on the leucocytes, 

 as in no instance was there anj- appreciable variance from 

 the control experiments. The Action of the Endotoxic 

 Substance on the Serum. — The following facts were evident 

 as a result of these experiments : — (i) that the endotoxic 

 substance was capable of exerting a specific action on the 

 serum in a large proportion of cases ; (2) that the endo- 

 toxic substance was unaffected by heat ; (3) that dilution 

 of the endotoxic substance correspondingly diminished its 

 toxic effect upon the serum, but in a few Instances, when 

 diluted, it appeared to play the part of " stimulin," so 

 that the degree of phagocytosis was far greater than in 

 the control experiments. — Prof. H. E. Armstrong: and 

 E. Frankland Armstrong: : The origin of osmotic effects. 

 III. — The function of hormones in stimulating enzymic 

 change in relation to narcosis and the phenomena of 

 degenerative and regenerative change in living structures. 

 When a leaf of cherry-laurel is exposed to the vapour of 

 an anaesthetic, hydrogen cyanide is at once liberated ; as 

 this is easily detected by means of Guignard's sodium- 

 picrate paper, the liberation of the cyanide affords a 

 delicate indication of the occurrence of enzymic change in 

 the leaf. Not only the common anzesthetics, but most 

 organic vapours, appear to act as excitants, e.g. toluene, 

 volatile alcohols, and especially ethereal salts of acids of 

 the acetic series. Ammonia is very active, and it is note- 

 worthy that even carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, and 

 benzaldehj'de condition the breakdown of the cyanophoric 

 glucoside in laurel leaves. When solutions are used, it is 

 found that weak solutions of mineral acids, alkalies, and 

 most salts are inactive, but the simpler organic acids, 

 mercuric chloride, cadmium iodide and sodium and 

 potassium fluorides all pass into the leaf from solutions. 

 Apparently, the behaviour of the laurel leaf resembles 

 very closely that of the barley grain (c/. Adrian J. Brown, 

 Roy. Soc. Proc, B, 1909, vol. Ixxxi., p. 82). It is pro- 

 posed to divide substances other than colloids into two sub- 

 classes, according as they will or will not pass through 

 differential septa such as occur in the barley grain and the 

 laurel leaf ; also to apply to the former the term hormone 

 introduced by Starling. The change brought about by 

 hormones may be attributed largely, but not entirely, to 

 the influence the_v exercise in causing alterations in concen- 

 tration of the fluids within the leaf. Experiments are 

 adduced showing that water actually passes into the leaf, 

 together with the hormone ; also that not only is hydrogen 

 cyanide liberated and water absorbed, but that the amount 

 of reducing sugar in the leaf is increased. The hypothesis 

 is advanced that when substances which are not attractive 

 to water are introduced into the living cell they exercise 

 Stimulative effects that are primarily mechanical, molecules 

 »f the hormone being interposed between the molecules in 

 Ihe cell and the activity of the medium raised by the change 

 m the osmotic state, so that a flux of water from other 

 regions takes place. Possibly the mere dilution thus 

 effected is determinative of change ; contact being estab- 

 lished between hj'drolyte and hydrolyst, degenerative 

 thanges are set up which tend to increase in Intensity as 

 the products of change in turn exercise a similar stimu- 

 lative influence ; gradually enzymes are set free which can 

 attack the various hydrohtes stored in the cell. The 

 phenomena of change in living structures, especially 

 rnuscle and neive tissue, are considered from this point of 

 view ; also the phenomena of narcosis, the regulation of 

 respiration, and the physiological effect of alcohol and of 

 drugs generally. It is pointed out, also, that the hypo- 

 thesis may afford an explanation of a number of more 



NO. 2 119, VOL. 83] 



recent observations on plant metabolism. Partially 

 sterilised soils, for example, which Russell has shown to 

 be so fertile, are rich both in carbon dio.xide and ammonia : 

 it is suggested that these are two factors of prime import- 

 ance as stimulants of plant growth ; for a similar reason, 

 sulphate of ammonia may have special value in comparison 

 with other nitrogenous fertilisers. The deleterious effect 

 of grass growing over the roots of fruit trees may be 

 more or less due to the removal, which the grass effects, of 

 ammonia, and the consequent withdrawal of the stimulus 

 which this hormone affords to the roots of the trees. — 

 Dr. R. D. Kleeman : The direction of motion of an 

 electron ejected from an atom by ultra-violet light. Experi- 

 ments were carried out to see whether the kathode radia- 

 tion from substances exposed to ultra-violet light moves 

 initially in the direction of propagation of the light. Th& 

 amount of kathode radiation from a platinum film de- 

 posited on a quartz plate in a discharge tube was measured 

 with the film facing the source of ultra-violet light, and 

 with it facing in the opposite direction. It was found that 

 if the intensity of the pencil of light used is denoted by 

 unity, the intensity of the light after passing through the 

 quartz plate and film is 0-55 ; and if we denote by unity 

 the intensity of the kathode radiation from the film when 

 it faces the source of light, the intensity of the radiation 

 when the film faces in the opposite direction is 1-15. Since 

 the intensity of the light decreases as it passes through 

 the quartz plate and platinum film, it follows that the 

 larger leak in the latter case than in the former would not 

 be obtained if the kathode rays were ejected equally in all 

 directions, but might occur if they have a component in the 

 direction of propagation of the light. — Sir William Crookes : 

 Scandium, part ii. This is a continuation of the paper 

 read in April, 1908, in which, after describing the mode 

 of extracting scandia from the mineral wiikite, the prin- 

 cipal salts, twenty-three in number, were described, theii" 

 formulae and analytical results being given in detail. The 

 scandia used in the preparation of some of the salts now 

 described was not absolutely pure. Chemically, no other 

 earth could be detected in it, but the spectrograph revealed 

 traces of yttria and ytterbia. These traces could have been 

 removed by one or more operations, but the author thought 

 it advisable tc leave them in, for the following reasons; 

 in each operation of purification some loss is unavoidably 

 incurred, and when chemical reactions are insufficient to 

 find the other earths it is not worth diminishing his lessen- 

 ing stock of scandia for the sake of academic purity. The 

 chief reason, however, for leaving these traces in is that 

 they might afford evidence of a difference of behaviour 

 between one earth and another in the presence of some 

 of the acids used. After each quantitative determination 

 the scandia was dissolved in acid, and a spectrogram taken 

 to see if yttria or ytterbia were present. The residual 

 earth was then collected from the mother-liquor, and a 

 photograph taken of its spectrum. A comparison of the 

 pair of spectra shows at once if any separation has beep 

 effected between the earths present. When separation is 

 apparent, further experimentation on a larger scale is re- 

 served to a future occasion. The following salts are 

 described, and details of their analyses given : — scandium 

 borate, scandium mono-chloroacetate, scandium lactate', 

 scandium fumarate, scandium a)3-dibromopropionate, 

 scandium citrate, scandium orthochlorobenzoate, scandium 

 metanitrobcnzoate, scandium phthalate, scandium tetra- 

 chlorophthalate, scandium 2-nitrophenyl-4'-tolylamine-4- 

 sulphonate, and scandium octamethyltetraminodihydroxy- 

 paradixanthylbenzenetetracarboxylate. More than once the 

 author has been asked why he chose such out-of-the-way- 

 acids wherewith to prepare scandium salts. He gives his 

 chief reason. Attempts on several occasions have been 

 made to discover a means of separating some of the " rar^ 

 earths " from their companions by forming compounds 

 with weak organic acids. Thus, in 1897, Kosmann 

 employed citric acid in the separation of thoria. Urba-n 

 used acetylacetonate of sodium for the same purpose. 

 Metzger tried maleic acid, cinnamic acid, picric acid, 

 phthalic acid, and fumaric acid. In 1904 Neish tried many 

 organic acids for the separation of the rare earths, chiefly 

 thoria. Among other acids he tried gallic, tannic, citric, 

 salicylic, oleic, linoleic, paratoluic, oxyisophthalic, benzoic, 1 

 meta-, ortho-, and para-nitrobenzoic, and fumaric. Of 



