512 



NATURE 



[June 23, 1910 



Catalpa hignoiiioides when fully turgid increased 5-6 mg. 

 per hour per sq. decim. in bright sunlight ; in this plant 

 stomata occur only on the underside of the leaf. The 

 effect of detachment from the plant upon the rate of 

 assimilation is considered, and evidence is adduced in 

 support of Sachs's assumption, in the case of H. annutis, 

 that, concurrently with assimilation, part of the products 

 of photosynthesis are translocated from leaves still attached 

 to the plant. — Prof. Ronald Ross and D. Thomson : A 

 case of sleeping sickness studied by precise enumerative 

 ipethods ; regular periodical increase of the parasites dis- 

 closed. The enumerative methods referred to consist of 

 modes of detecting blood parasites when very scanty, and 

 of counting them accurately. The methods have been 

 applied to a case of sleeping sickness in the clinic of Prof. 

 Ross in Liverpool for seventy-three days continuously, and 

 have shown that the numbers of T. gambiense in this 

 patient's blood undergo remarkable periodical variations 

 about every seven to eight days. The authors state that, 

 so far as they can ascertain, though the numbers of 

 trypanosomes had been known previously to vary from 

 time to time, the regular periodicity revealed in their case 

 appears to have been overlooked, possibly owing to in- 

 sufficient methods of counting. The authors report that 

 numerous parallel researches are being conducted, and give 

 a chart. — Dr. C. Todd and R. G. White : The recogni- 

 tion of the individual by ha^molytic methods (preliminary 

 communication), (i) The immunisation of the ox with the 

 red blood corpuscles of other oxen gives rise to the forma- 

 tion of a haemolytic amboceptor in the blood of the 

 immunised animals. (2) The amboceptor so formed is an 

 isolysin, but not on autolysin. (3) The race of the animal 

 appears to have very little influence on the resulting 

 haemolysins. (4) The serum of an animal so treated acts 

 very differently on the red blood corpuscles of different 

 individual oxen. (5) The sera of different individuals 

 similarl)' immunised differ from one another in their action 

 on the corpuscles of different individuals. (6) If the 

 serum of a single immunised animal be " exhausted " with 

 excess of the corpuscles of one other individual, the serum 

 loses its power of haemolysing the corpuscles of this in- 

 dividual, while retaining the power of haemolysing the 

 corpuscles of many, but not all, other individuals. (7) If, 

 however, a polyvalent serum be made by mixing the sera 

 of a large number of immunised animals, and this serum 

 is exhausted with the corpuscles of any one individual, the 

 serum entirely loses its power of hjemolysing the corpuscles 

 of this individual, but remains strongly haemolytic for all 

 other individuals not closely related to the individual the 

 corpuscles of which were employed for the exhaustion of the 

 serum. (N.B. — It is possible that exceptions may be 

 found, but these have not yet been met with, except in the 

 case of close blood-relations.) (8) 1 he red blood corpuscles 

 of any individual are thus characterised by a definite in- 

 dividuality of their own, and can be distinguished from 

 those of any other individual of the same species.- — F. M. 

 Toxer and Prof. C. S. Sherrington : Receptors and 

 afferents of the third, fourth, and sixth cranial nerves. 

 Examination of the several extrinsic muscles of the eye- 

 ball in the monkey, cat, and rabbit, shows that these 

 muscles contain, besides nerve-endings of the motor kind, 

 large numbers of receptive (sensorial) nerve-endings, both 

 in the fleshy part of the muscles and in the tendons. 

 Investigation of these by experimental methods shows that 

 all the receptive end-organs, as well as the motor endings, 

 derive their nerve-fibres from the third, fourth, and sixth 

 nerve-pairs respectively. These cranial nerves are there- 

 fore not- purelv motor, as generally supposed, but are 

 sensory as well as motor. The number of afferent nerve- 

 fibres they contain is very considerable. In addition to 

 their sensory and motor supply from third, fourth, and 

 sixth nerves, these muscles and their tendons receive a 

 small supply of nerve-fibres from the ciliary ganglion. 

 This ciliary-ganglion supply is largely, if not wholly, 

 vasomotor in function, and no evidence was found that 

 it is in any way sensorial. Nor does the fifth cranial 

 nerve supply anj' sensory nerve-fibres to these extrinsic 

 eye muscles. The afferent divisions of the third, fourth, 

 and sixth cranial nerves are entirely proprioceptive in 

 function ; the receptive organs they subserve are entirely 

 proprioceptive. — Sir David Bruce, Captains A. E. 

 Hamerton and H. R. Bateman, and Captain F. P. 



NO. 2I2I, VOL. 83] 



Mackie (Sleeping Sickness Commission of the Ron.iI 

 Society, 1908-9) : (i.) Trypanosome diseases of domesiii 

 animals in Uganda, L (ii.) Experiments to ascertain if 

 cattle may act as a reservoir of the virus of sleeping si( k- 

 ness (Trypanosoma gambiense). (i.) The commonest 

 trypanosome disease among cattle in Uganda is caused by 

 a trypanosome of the dinwrphon type, which is probably 

 similar to that sent from the west coast by Dutton and 

 Todd under the name of T. dimorphon, and described by 

 Laveran and Mesnil, and Thomas and Breinl. it seems 

 now that probably Dutton and Todd's T. dimorphon is 

 quite different from that which they sent to Liverpool 

 under that name. The original strain of T. dimorphon 

 described by them had well-marked dimorphic characters^ 

 whereas the trypanosome sent to Liverpool was mono- 

 morphic. There is some evidence forthcoming that the 

 T. dimorphon, as described by Dutton and Todd, really 

 exists, and has been described as occurring in north-west 

 Rhodesia by Montgomery and Kinghorn, and also on the 

 west coast. In these circumstances it seems better to 

 give the monomorphic form, which has up to the present 

 been known by the name of T. dimorphon, a new name. 

 It is a smair trypanosome, short and stout in form, 

 averaging 13-2 microns in length, with a maximum of 

 i6-o and a minimum of io-6. It has no free flagellum, 

 and is restricted in its movements. The conclusions are 

 that : — (i) there is an important trypanosome disease of 

 domestic animals in Uganda; (2) the trypanosome is 

 similar in morphology, action on animals, and cultural 

 characters, to T. dimorphon, as described by Laveran and 

 Mesnil and to Dr. Edington's trypanosome from Zanzibar, 

 except that this trypanosome is not pathogenic to guinea- 

 P'gs ; (3) the carrier is unknown, but is probably a 

 Tabanus, possibly a Glossina, and improbably a Stomoxys. 

 — Clement Reid' and E. M. Reid : The lignite of Bovey 

 Tracev. In 1863 Heer and Pengelly published in the 

 Philos'ophical Transactions an account of these lignite beds 

 and their flora. Heer classed the lignite as Lower 

 Miocene, considering it equivalent to the Aquitanian of 

 France and to the Hampstead beds of the Isle of Wight. 

 These latter are now referred to the Middle Oligocene. A 

 statement by Starkie Gardner, that Heer's Bovey plants 

 are the same as those found in the Bournemouth beds 

 (Middle Eocene), has caused the Bovey beds to be classed 

 as Eocene in recent text-books and on recent maps of the 

 Geological Survey, leaving a great gap in the geological 

 record in Britain. The. authors' researches have not sup- 

 ported this view, but tend to show that Heer was right, 

 the Bovev lignite being highest Oligocene, or perhaps 

 lowest Miocene. The authors made a collection in the 

 Bovev deposits, so far as the state of the lignite pit would 

 allow, in order to settle, if possible, the true age. The 

 results were unexpected, for, by using new methods, they 

 obtained a considerable number of species, mainly identical 

 with well-known plants of the lignite of the Wetterau, 

 which is generally classed as Upper Oligocene. In certain 

 cases better specimens showed also that Heer's supposed 

 peculiar species of Bovey belong to well-known forms of 

 the Rhine lignite, his Vitis briiannica, for instance, being 

 only a crushed seed of Vilis teuionica. Several curious 

 new species were discovered, including the earliest known 

 Rubus, a peculiar Potamogeton, and a new genus of 

 Boraginea-. A studv of the cone and leaf of Sequoia 

 couttsiae proves that it is a true Sequoia, and not a species 

 of Athrotaxis. 



Mineralopical Society, June 7.— Prof. W. T. Lewis, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair.— A. Russell : The occur- 

 rence of phenakite in Cornwall. Phenakite was unknown 

 in the British Isles until the discovery by the author in 

 1905 of a single specimen at the Cheesewring Quarry" 

 Linkinhorne, Cornwall. In 1906 he collected further speci 

 mens showing numerous small, but well-formed, crystal: 

 from a tin lode at South Phoenix Mine, Linkinhorne. In 

 an old Cornish collection acquired by him in 1900 he found 

 a specimen with as manv as forty fine crystals; it was 

 labelled "Topaz on Quartz from St. Agnes." Phenakite 

 was also recognised on a specimen found about the year 

 1870 bv Mr. J. H. Collins at South Croftv Mine, Illognn, 

 Cornwall. Search at the Natural History Museum and the 

 Museum of Practical Geology brought to light other speci- 

 mens of phenakite placed under apatite. — Dr. G. F. H. 



