io6 



NATURE 



[June 4, 1903 



greater part of his works, always seeking in physiology 

 pathological deductions for the use of practitioners. 



As regards pure physiology, he studied the acid of 

 the gastric juice, trying to show that it never existed 

 uncombined (1874-77), '^he rhythmical function of the 

 heart and its development in the embryo (1876), and 

 more especially the function of the central nervous 

 system, and of the bulb in particular (1877-1880). In 

 this way he showed the existence of two bulbar 

 centres, one acting upon breathing (it was the centre 

 of Le Gallois and Flourens), the other upon the 

 cardiac muscle, which clearly explained the two pos- 

 sible causes of death, either a stop of the respiratory 

 movements with persistence of the beating of the heart 

 or vice versd. He showed also the functional associa- 

 tion of the eyes in the binocular vision, owing to the 

 narrow connections between their motor nerves. As 

 regards the physiology of the nerves, again, he re- 

 vealed the existence of the tractus of crossed hemi- 

 anaesthesy, published a few notes on the excitability of 

 the nervous centres, the reflex movements, the func- 

 tions of the semicircular canals (1881), and, lastly, a 

 refutation of the theory which made the cerebellum the 

 seat of muscular strength. 



Not less numerous are the works that he published 

 upon experimental and comparative pathology. 



But his special study was experimental physiology 

 applied to therapeutics and toxicology; he published 

 works on the properties of many substances, such as the 

 narceine (1866), which he considered as the best 

 sedative of the nervous system ; the bromides, the 

 soothing influence of which he investigated (1867- 

 1869) ; the eserine or alkaloid of the Calabar bean 

 (i86g); propylamine (1873); aconitine, the advantages 

 of which he showed as a sedative of sensibility (1875); 

 colchicine, sparteine, boldo, salts of strontium, &c. ; 

 lastly, in 1877, he published a study on the alkaloids 

 of cinchona, which he named in the following order, 

 according to their poisonous qualities : Cinchonine, 

 cinchonidine, quinidine. In fact, he made a special 

 study of poisons in general, animal as well as mineral, 

 natural as well as artificial. 



In concluding this cursory view of Laborde's works, 

 we cannot do better than mention his ingenious method 

 of the rhythmical tractions of the tongue, which was 

 sufficient to make the name of its inventor known 

 throughout all the world. There is no need to ex- 

 patiate on this most simple and efficient process of 

 setting the respiratory reflex to work. It is known and 

 used everywhere, and it has called back to life numbers 

 of apparently drowned or suffocated people. 



In fact, Laborde was not only a savant, but a great 

 philanthropist, and this quality, together with his pro- 

 found knowledge of toxicology, brought him to the 

 front as one of the best qualified in the controversy 

 raised recently on the question of alcoholism. 



For this reason, Laborde, who had been a member 

 of the Acad^mie de M^decine since 1887, was trusted 

 by this learned body with the report on the essences 

 to be forbidden as noxious, which the Government had 

 required from them. In this work he exhausted what 

 strength was left to him. He strenuously defended 

 every one of his arguments against the objections of 

 his colleagues, and at last succeeded in making them 

 adopt every Item of his report. But the work proved 

 too much for him, and he died on April 5. He 

 was vice-president of the Society of Biology, director of 

 the Laboratory of Anthropology at the fecole des Hautes 

 ifetudes since 1893, and professor at the School of 

 Anthropology. He was besides one of the oldest and 

 ablest scientific journalists. He started La Tribune 

 MMicale, a periodical open to all young medical men, 

 which he edited to the last. 



He was one of the few French savants who did not 



^^' '753. VOL. 68] 



belong to the Legion of Honour. Of course, the decora- 

 tion was several times offered to him, but he thought 

 it a distinction which should be exclusively military, 

 and he never allowed his actions to contradict his 

 opinions. J. Deniker. 



NOTES. 

 A MEETING of the council of the International Association 

 of .Academies is being held this week at the rooms of the 

 Royal Society, that society being the directing academy of 

 the association for the three years' period ending with 1904. 

 The meeting will be attended by delegates from nearly all 

 the principal learned academies of Europe, and will discuss 

 several matters of importance to international science and 

 philosophy, preparatory to the meeting of the general 

 assembly which is to be held in London next year. Re- 

 presentatives of both sections of the association, the natural 

 science section, and the history and philosophy section, will 

 attend the council. In connection with the meeting of the 

 council there will be on Friday a meeting of a special com- 

 mittee appointed to deal with a proposal for the establish- 

 ment of an international organisation for the investigation 

 of the anatomy of the brain. The foreign delegates were 

 to be received by the president and fellows of the Royal 

 Society at Burlington House on Wednesday evening as we 

 went to press. 



The reply given by Mr. Balfour in the House of Commons 

 on May 26, in answer to a question as to what the Govern- 

 ment proposed to do to ensure the safety of the National 

 Antarctic Expedition, was a rebuke which should not be 

 received in silence by the joint Antarctic Committee. Mr. 

 Balfour said : — " The Government are prepared to con- 

 tribute to the relief of the officers and men on board the 

 Discovery, which is now ice-bound in the Antarctic seas. 

 The course taken by the two learned societies responsible 

 for the expedition in respect to the contribution of money 

 and men made by the Government is greatly to be regretted. 

 I have always leaned towards the principle of extending the 

 very limited aid which the British Government have been 

 accustomed to give towards the furtherance of purely scien- 

 tific research ; but such action can only be justified so long 

 as the Government are able to feel absolute confidence that 

 the scientific bodies approaching them have placed before 

 them all the information in their possession as to the estim- 

 ated cost of their proposed action, and the limits within 

 which they intend to confine it. That confidence has been 

 rudely shaken by the present case." This statement has 

 naturally received much attention, and the Antarctic Com- 

 mittee cannot permit the charges it contains to pass without 

 reply. The two learned societies referred to are the Royal 

 Society and the Royal Geographical Society, and the 

 management of the expedition is in the hands of a joint 

 committee of these bodies. From the beginning, however, 

 the Royal Geographical Society has exerted a preponderant 

 influence in the organisation of the expedition, and the 

 Royal Society has yielded to it against the advice of its 

 own representatives. When vital matters connected with 

 the conduct of the expedition were in dispute in 1901, we 

 on several occasions criticised the methods adopted, and 

 regretted that the Royal Society had not taken a firmer 

 position. Because the council of the Royal Geographical 

 Society would not accept the recommendations of the joint 

 committee, the Royal Society allowed itself to be overruled, 

 though Sir Archibald Geikie, Prof. E. B. Poulton and Mr. 

 J. Y. Buchanan objected to the surrender. The whole 

 story was told in a letter sent by Prof. Poulton to fellows 

 of the Royal Society, and published in Nature of May 23, 



