August 30. 1900] 



NATURE 



423 



position is known to be one of the branches of a certain hyper- 

 bola the foci of which are the two bells. By noting the apparent 

 interval between the second and third bell, the ship is similarly 

 located on another hyperbola, and the intersection of the two 

 curves gives the required position of the ship. The only 

 objection to the method appears to us to be that a pair of 

 hyperbolic branches may intersect in two points, so that for given 

 intervals between the bell sounds the position of the ship may be 

 ambiguous. This could be avoided by having four bells instead 

 of three. 



At the annual meeting of the Physical and Natural History 

 Society of Geneva, Prof. A. Pictet surveyed the work which had 

 been brought before the society during 1899. Eighteen meetings 

 were held, and no less than seventy-three communications or 

 reports were read. M. F. L. Perrot and Prof. Guye have made a 

 series of measures of surface tension of various liquids by the 

 method of falling drops. The conclusion arrived at as a result 

 of their observations was that these tensions are not proportional 

 to the weight of the drops. A new recording telephone was 

 described by M. F. Dussan 1. M. T. Tommasina has studied 

 the variations of conductivity of coherers, and M. E. Steinmann 

 has contributed a note on the thermo-electricity of various alloys. 

 To the section of chemistry and mineralogy, M. Louginine has 

 contributed an important memoir on the latent heat of evaporisa- 

 tion of some organic liquids ; MM. Dutoit and Friderich have 

 determined the molecular weights of some organic liquids by the 

 method of capillary ascensions ; Prof. A. Pictet and M. 

 Athanasescu have presented a note on the constitutional relation 

 between two alkaloids of opium-papaverine and laudanine ; M. 

 Duparc has described his researches on the Liparite rocks of 

 Algeria ; and M. H. Auriol has made a detailed study of the 

 agricultural soils of the Canton of Geneva. In the section of 

 botany, M. de Candolle stated that grains of wheat which he had 

 kept for four years under mercury had germinated and pro- 

 duced normal plants ; and Prof. Chodat has described several 

 micro-organisms of plants. Among the subjects of papers con- 

 tributed to the section of zoology and anthropology are the 

 development of the wings of Lepidoptera, by M. A. Pictet ; and a 

 comparative study of a series of skulls from old burying-places in 

 the Valais district, by M. Pitard. In the section of physiology and 

 medicine. Prof. J. L. Prevost and Dr. Battelli have described 

 their detailed researches on the action of electric currents upon 

 animals ; and M. Babel has given an account of his work on the 

 comparative toxicology of aromatic amines. 



The present trend of legislation in the interests of fish pre- 

 servation in the United States is. Dr. Whitten remarks {Stale 

 Library Btdkiin, No. 12, New York), to place more reliance 

 on methods of fish propagation than on a multiplicity of 

 vexatious restrictions, and to obtain through scientific research 

 the knowledge essential to enlightened regulation. In 1871 

 the United States commission of fish and fisheries was created 

 to undertake scientific investigations, collect information, and to 

 further the introduction and multiplication of food fishes, parti- 

 cularly in waters under national jurisdiction. In 1898 the com- 

 mission maintained 34 fish-cultural stations and distributed 

 SS7. 509.546 eggs, fry and adult fish. Fish commissions have 

 been created in every State except Kentucky. Many of the 

 commissions exist primarily for protective purposes, but others 

 carry on valuable scientific work and maintain hatcheries and 

 stock local waters with the most valuable food fishes. Illinois 

 has a zoological station, and Oregon has created the office of 

 State biologist for the investigation of the animal resources 

 of the State and the development of such as have economic 

 value. 



The relation of the cell to the enzymes, or soluble ferments 

 which originate from cells, was touched upon by Sir J. Burdon- 

 Sanderson, Bart,, in the address he delivered before the recent 

 NO. l6C9. VOL. 62] 



International Medical Congress at Paris. Formerly, he pointed 

 out, each kind of cell was regarded as having a single special 

 function proper to itself, but the progress of investigation has 

 shown that each species of cell possesses a great variety of 

 chemical functions and that it may act on the medium which it 

 inhabits, and be acted upon by it, in a variety of ways. Thus, 

 for example, the colourless corpuscles of the blood (or, as they 

 are now called, leucocytes) are considered not merely as agents 

 in the process of suppuration or as typical examples of con- 

 tractile protoplasm, but rather as living structures possessing 

 chemical functions indispensable to the life of the organism. Simi- 

 larly, the blood disc, which formerly was thought of merely as a 

 carrier of hiemoglobin, is now regarded as a living cell possessed 

 of chemical susceptibilities which render it the most delicate re- 

 agent which can be employed for the detection of abnormal 

 conditions in the blood. The tendency of recent research is to 

 show that the reactions referred to as chemical functions of the cell 

 (action of the cell on its environment — ^action of the environ- 

 ment on the cell) are the work of ferments — intrinsic or ex- 

 trinsic — which are products of the evolution of the living cell, and 

 therefore to which the term enzymes may be applied. 



Recent researches have plainly indicated that in the case of the 

 disease- producing micro-organisms, the specific functions which for 

 years were regarded as proper to, and inseparable from, the cell 

 belong essentially to the enzymes which they contain. It has been 

 further shown that similar statements can be made as regards 

 ferment-processes which differ widely from each other and no 

 less widely from those induced by bacteria. So that in the 

 domain of microbiology the enzyme may in a certain sense be 

 said to have " dethroned the cell." For if, as.M. Duclaux has 

 said, it is possible to extract from the cell a substance which 

 breathes for it, another which digests for it, another which 

 elaborates the simple from the complex, and finally another 

 which reconstitutes the complex from the simple, the cell can no 

 longer be considered as one, but rather as a complicated machine, 

 the working of which is for the most part dependent on enzymes, 

 which, however numerous and varied may be the processes in 

 which they are engaged, all follow and obey the universal law of 

 adaptation, and all contribute to the welfare and protection of the 

 organism. 



In our last week's issue reference was made to Dr. Haller's 

 views as to the relationships of the different groups of the 

 Vertebrata, based on his study of the hag-fishes and lampreys. 

 And in the July number of the Journal oj Anatomy and 

 Physiology the subject of the origin of Vertebrates, as deduced 

 from the study of the larval lamprey (Ammocoete^), is resumed 

 by Dr. Gaskell. In this important communication the author 

 arrives at the conclusion that Ammocoetes is a representative of 

 the Devonian Cephalaspids, and also that a larval form of the 

 latter group must have existed which was of the nature of the 

 Eurypterid Crustaceans. Again, judging from the development 

 of Limulus, it would appear that the larval Eurypterid resembled 

 a Trilobite, and there is evidence that Trilobites are Phyllopods, 

 which are almost certainly derived from Chretopod Crustaceans. 

 Admitting the derivation of the lampreys from Cephalaspids, 

 we find that the latter, in their adult condition, approximate to 

 larval Amphibians ; and we hence pass from the latter to the 

 lower Mammals, and so on to Man. Thus, according to Dr. 

 Gaskell, the study of Ammocoetes, owing to the importance of 

 larval forms, enables us to bridge the gulf between the Annelid 

 and Man. 



The greater portion of the July number of the Quart. Journ. 

 Microscopical Science is occupied by a communication from 

 Messrs. F. W. Gamble and J. H. Ashworth on the anatomy 

 and classification of the Sandworms (Arenicolid.-e). This is 

 followed by a most interesting series of diagrams illustrating the 

 life-history of the parasites of malaria, by Messrs. Ross and 



