590 



NA TURE 



[October 13, 1904 



Dr. W. Page May brought forward a communication by 

 Proh Elliot Smith and himself on the motor localisation in 

 the lemur. He showed the area stimulation of which pro- 

 duced movements on the opposite side of the body, and 

 demonstrated that the sequence of representation of move- 

 ment was in agreement with that of Sherrington and 

 Griinbaum on the ape. It also cleared up the discussion 

 on the homologies of a small sulcus which had previously 

 been described as postcentral and precentral, but which is 

 really central, as Elliot Smith, arguing merely from 

 morphology, pointed out two years ago. 



He also described the results of localisation in the dog 

 obtained by Elliot Smith and Wilson, who have shown that 

 the excitable area is limited anteriorly by the crucial sulcus. 

 This result was in harmony with the histological results of 

 Gushing. 



In a second communication Dr. Page May discussed the 

 results of previous workers on the optic thalamus, and de- 

 scribed some experiments he had made on this subject. 

 He showed that following lesions in the thalamus certain 

 motor disturbances were produced, and that descending 

 paths could be traced from the thalamus into the anterior 

 and lateral columns of the spinal cord. He also showed 

 photographs and specimens of a descending tract hitherto 

 undescribed in the posterior columns of the cervical and 

 dorsal cord. This extended downwards from the thalamic 

 region, and occupied a position near the middle line at the 

 anterior end of GoU's column. In rare cases fibres could 

 be traced into the lowest portions of the spinal cord. 



Prof. G. S. Woodhead communicated the results of an 

 investigation on joint-ill in the foal. This is an affection 

 of especial importance to horse-breeders, in which, in addi- 

 tion to certain constitutional symptoms, marked stiffness 

 and swelling makes its appearance in the joints, while at 

 a later stage abscesses form. Investigation of the cause 

 of this disease proved it to be due to a microorganism which 

 gained admittance into the young animal through the cut 

 end of the umbilical cord. From the practical point of 

 view it was therefore evident that such precautions as are 

 taken against septic infection in the case of the child at 

 birth should also be taken in the case of the foal. 



Dr. T. S. P. Strangeways gave an account of a com- 

 mittee of pathological research which is being founded with 

 the object of investigating some of the more important 

 diseases the pathology of which is as yet undetermined. 

 The proposed lines on which the committee intends to act 

 is to select some special disease and make an exhaustive 

 study of it from all sides, a study which will last for two 

 to three years. It is proposed to found a small hospital 

 which shall be devoted entirely to cases of that disease 

 during its period of study. The committee is to be a com- 

 prehensive one, and include all who will watch the course 

 of the disease or who will undertake research work on the 

 subject. These will report to a central body, which will also 

 be responsible for the distribution of the collected facts and 

 literature of the subject to those actively engaged in work- 

 ing upon it. ^ 



Prof. C. S. Sherrington and Miss S. C. M. Sowton com- 

 Tiiunicated the results of an investigation into the amount 

 of chloroform which, when administered to the heart, can 

 dangerously embarrass its action. For this inquiry they 

 had adopted the method, gradually evolved of recent years, 

 of keeping the excised heart of a mammal alive by perfusing 

 its blood-vessels with warm nutrient solutions. The heart 

 used by them was that of the cat. The beating of auricle 

 and ventricle was recorded graphically. The effect of 

 chloroform was examined by allowing the perfusing fluid, 

 pure saline, serum, or blood, as the case might be, to 

 be replaced by a similar fluid to which chloroform in known 

 quantity had been added. When this was done the chloro- 

 form showed its effect, practically at once, by diminishing 

 the amplitude of the beat without altering its rate. The 

 amount of the diminution was proportionate, within limits, 

 to the concentration of the solution of chloroform. When 

 exhibited in saline solution, chloroform showed a depressant 

 action even in a dilution of i part in 150,000 of the saline 

 solution. The full amount of the depression caused by a 

 given solution was rapidly reached, e.£^. in a minute, and 

 then the continued administration of that solution caused 

 no further depression — even if continued for half an hour at 

 a time. That is to say, there is no cumulative action of 



NO. 1824, VOL. 70] 



the drug detectable in the isolated heart so perfused for 

 a period of half an hour. On the contrary, there was 

 generally evidence of a slight waning of the depression as 

 the exhibition of the drug was uninterruptedly maintained. 

 This tolerance was, however, quite evanescent, for on in- 

 terrupting the perfusion with the chloroform solution and 

 then returning to it, the depression recurred in its original 

 depth. On discontinuing the perfusion with chloroform 

 solution and reverting to the chloroform-free fluid, the de- 

 pression caused by the chloroform — unless the chloroform 

 solution has been of great concentration — is extremely rapidly 

 removed, even when the beat of the heart has been for 

 many minutes practically abolished. This suggests the 

 view that the effect of chloroform on the cardiac muscle is 

 due to the formation of some easily dissociable compound 

 between the chloroform and some active constituent of the 

 tissue. It has been recently urged by Moore and Roaf that 

 this constituent is a proteid, and in favour of this view is 

 a further fact elicited in the present inquiry. On comparing 

 the amount of depression of a chloroform solution of given 

 concentration, in salt solution on the one hand and in blood 

 on the other, it is found that the effect of that concentration 

 in blood is much less than it is in salt solution. In other 

 words, the effect of a chloroform solution of given concen- 

 tration in blood is only equivalent to that of a solution 

 barely one-twelfth as concentrated in salt solution. This 

 can be explained by supposing that the salt solution, though 

 it supports the beat of the heart, supports it less well than 

 does blood ; but the more important part of the explanation 

 seems to be that the tension of the chloroform in the blood 

 is much less than in the salt solution. In other words, the 

 difference seems referable to some constituent of the blood 

 taking up and holding, in a relatively inactive form, a con- 

 siderable fraction of the chloroform added to it. The 

 chloroform added distributes itself in that complex fluid 

 according to a coefficient of partition. It is only what is 

 left over freely dissolved in it which is available for acting 

 on the heart tissue. Comparative estimations of the de- 

 pressant effect in blood, serum, and saline solution show 

 that serum is intermediate between the other two, so that 

 evidently the corpuscles contain, in large measure, a sub- 

 stance that combines with the chloroform. 



THE RELATION OF OXIDATION TO 

 FUNCTIONAL ACTIVITY.' 



T N opening this discussion, Sir John Burdon-Sanderson 

 said : — 



In undertaking to open this discussion, I do not claim 

 to contribute any results of my own researches or to speak 

 on any subject ex cathedra, or with any degree of finality. 

 I propose to state very shortly what seem to me the discuss- 

 able questions, i.e. those respecting which we have experi- 

 mental data, and to submit to the section those on whicli 

 we need enlightenment. 



The title is " Oxidation and Functional Activity." .May 

 I say that, without criticising it, I would ask for some 

 latitude as regards the word oxidation. By oxidation is 

 meant the formation of an oxide. Now we know that in 

 the living organism oxygen may and does act without this 

 happening, e.g. in those processes of which the oxygenating 

 of the colouring matter of the blood is the type. 



This is so important a distinction that I would suggest 

 to substitute in these cases the term "oxygenation." The 

 subject of our discussion would then be rightly stated as 

 follows : — " The Relation between Oxygen and the Chemical 

 Processes which Constitute Animal and Plant Life." The 

 older notion of the part played by oxygen in the chemical 

 processes of life was that it was a destroyer and not a 

 maintainer of the chemical energies of the cell. We now 

 recognise that oxygen may have a double function to per- 

 form, first as an element the presence of which is essential 

 to the anabolic process by which living matter is built up, 

 and secondly as equally essential to the disintegrative 

 process which, taking muscular activity as the type of others, 

 is associated with the performance of function. Of these 

 two actions, in each of which oxygen is concerned — the 

 constructive and the destructive — the second is better under- 



' Report of i 

 bridge meeting of tti 



Section of Physiology at the Car 

 on, .\ugust 19. 



