3 8o 



NA TURE 



[Feb. 19, ii 



cellulose, and especially of that which is separated from the 

 solution of cotton in the ammoni-cupric reaction, by M. A. 

 Bechamp. — On the Bacterioittownnasondulans, a new organism re- 

 cently discovered in the intestine of the black rat, by M.J. Kunstler. 

 — On the passage of pathogenetic microbes from the mother to the 

 foetus, by M. Kourassoff. — On the microbe of typhoid fever in 

 the human system : its cultivation and inoculation, by M. Tayon. 

 — Influence of light on vegetation and on the pathogenetic 

 properties of Bacillus anlhracis, by M. S. Arloing. — On the vein- 

 ous circulation of the foot, by M. P. Bourceret. — On the nervous 

 system of the embryos of the Limaceae, and on the relations of 

 the octocyst with this system, by M. S. Jourdain. — On the 

 nervous system of the Tenia?, by M. J. Meiniec. — On the tetra- 

 ptera l^etraplatia volitans, Busch. , by M. C. Viguier. — On the 

 spermato-genesis of the decapod crustaceans, by M. Arm. 

 Sabatier. — On the existence of land mollusks furnished with 

 lungs in the Permian formation of the Saone-et-Loire, by M. P. 

 Fischer. — On a new method of transmitting the mildew of the 

 vine, by M. Frechou. — Remarks on the late earthquakes in the 

 south of Spain, by M. Macpherson. 



Berlin 

 Physiological Society, January 16. — Dr. H. Virchow, re- 

 ferring to the results of his investigations into the structure of 

 the eye in different mammalia, communicated those which had 

 reference to the zonula zinnii. He illustrated by diagrams the 

 situation of this organ and the course of its fibres, set forth the 

 various methods of examination, the efficiency of which he 

 demonstrated by a series of preparations, and discussed the 

 different views advanced on the subject of the canal of Petit 

 and the ciliary apparatus. As the result of his researches he 

 found that the zonula zinnii consisted simply of fibres, which at 

 places where they were ranged closer to one another were con- 

 nected by an intermediary substance, while at those where the 

 fibres kept further aloof from one another no such intermediary 

 substance was present. — Prof. Albrecht from Brussels, as guest, 

 spoke on the morphological significance of the swimming-bladder 

 of fishes. As was known, this bladder was either in open com- 

 munication with the intestinal tube, or the connection between 

 the two was obliterated, and in this latter case it might well be 

 assumed that the communication in question had existed in 

 earlier stages of development. Many naturalists were of opinion 

 that the swimming-bladder was homologous with the lungs, 

 which likewise represented a tube in communication with the 

 intestinal tube — an opinion, however, decidedly opposed to the 

 views of the speaker. For in all fish the swimming-bladder was 

 placed supra-intestinally, or on the dorsal side, while the lungs 

 are invariably situated infra-intestinally, or on the ventral side 

 of the intestinal canal. If these two organs were homolo- 

 gous, the dorsal organ, in order to its transformation into a 

 ventral, must, by some means or other, have made its pas- 

 sage around the cesophagus. The assumption, however, of 

 either a right-sided or a left-sided passage, or, in fine, of a 

 double division of the swimming-bladder, each of which 

 had wandered downwards on one side, there to form together 

 the two halves of the lungs, was a notion which laboured under 

 difficulties and contradictions. Altogether, in the opinion of 

 Prof. Albrecht, it was erroneous in any case to explain dorsal 

 and ventral organs as homologous, and just as much so in the 

 intestinal canal as in the brain. The swimming-bladder and the 

 lungs were, on the contrary, rather completely heterologous 

 organs. The best argument for the truth of this view was 

 afforded by those fishes which possessed two bladders, a supra- 

 intestinal and an infra-intestinal. Such a phenomenon would 

 be absolutely impossible if these bladders were homologous. In 

 point of fact, in the gymnodonts, diodonts, as well as tetrodonts, 

 there were found a dorsal swimming-bladder, and, beside it, ven- 

 tral air-sacs proceeding from the cesophagus, by means of which 

 these fish were enabled to inflate themselves. These ventral 

 air-sacs were homologous with the ventral lungs and heterologous 

 to the dorsal swimming-bladders. There were, furthermore, 

 fishes which, of the two protrusions of the intestinal canal, de- 

 veloped only the ventral, while the dorsal became absorbed. 

 Such was the case in Polypterus, which possessed an infra- 

 intestinal swimming-bladder, and in which, therefore, the homo- 

 logue of the lungs was alone developed. There were, moreover, 

 fish in which both protrusions became absorbed — the dog-fish, 

 for example, which had no swimming-bladder whatever. An 

 interesting support to this view of Prof. Albrecht's was afforded 

 by the fact that, even in the case of mammalia in which the 

 ventral protrusion of the intestinal tube had developed into 



lungs, remains of the dorsal swimming-bladder were presented 

 in a rudimentary form. Such the speaker took to be the diver- 

 ticula of the oesophagus, a not uncommon pathologic occurrence 

 in man, which were always dorsal and occupying a position 

 opposite to the entrance into the larynx. These diverticula, 

 according to the experience of surgeons, were not only innate, 

 but also hereditary, a character which certainly witnessed to 

 their phylogenetic significance. These dorsal diverticula of the 

 oesophagus, which occurred only pathologically in man, were 

 a regular occurrence in another mammal, the sow. In swine, 

 therefore, among the mammalia, just as in diodonts and tetro 

 donts among fish, were found both protrusions of the intes- 

 tinal tube, the supra-intestinal and the infra- intestinal, existing 

 beside each other, the most indubitable proof of their heterology. 

 Prof. Albrecht proposed calling the dorsal protrusion the swim- 

 ming bladder, and the ventral the vocal bladder. — Dr. Kossel 

 had from pancreas extract obtained a new base, which belonged 

 to the group of bases obtained by him from the contents of animal 

 and vegetable cells, guanidine, xanthine, and hypoxanthine. From 

 an analysis of 75 kilogrammes of pancreas extract he had pro- 

 cured, besides guanidine and hypoxanthine, a hitherto unknown 

 base, which he was able to separate from the two and obtain 

 in fine crystals. With hydrochloric and sulphuric salts it 

 likewise gave fine large crystals. By reason of its occurrence in 

 the pancreas, Dr. Kossel had called this new base " adenine ; " its 

 chemical composition corresponded with the formula C 5 H 5 N 5 : 

 it was, therefore, polymeric with hydrogen cyanide, and 

 held the same relation to hypoxanthine, C 5 H 4 N 4 0, that 

 guanidine, C 6 H 6 N 6 0, did to xanthine, C 5 H 4 N 4 2 . Later on he 

 succeeded in authenticating the presence of adenine in the spleen 

 likewise, as also in yeast, so that this base, too, appeared to 

 have a more general diffusion. Adenine appeared to have an 

 important physiological significance, on account of its composi- 

 tion. It had hitherto been assumed that urea must be derived 

 from a cyanic compound, though such had not been able to be 

 traced in the bodily tissues. Adenine, therefore, in considera- 

 tion of its constitution, would seem to have some relation to 

 formation of urea, a conjecture which further investigations 

 might settle. — Trof. Bu Bois-Reymond laid before the Society 

 monstrous hoofs of horses and bovine animals sent from the 

 Falkland Islands to the Physiological Institute, which from 

 their massiveness and the turning in of the horny material 

 would, by their appearance, hardly be recognised for the hoofs of 

 horses and bovine cattle. 



CONTENTS page 



A Scientific View of the Coal Question. By Dr. G. 



Gore, F.R.S 357 



Mammalian Descent. By George \. Romanes, 



F.R.S 358 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Civilisation and Eyesight. — J. Rand Capron . . . 359 



Erosion of Glass. — Dr. William M. Ord .... 360 



Echir.ni Crossing. — Dr. Michael Grabham . . . 360 



Iridescent Clouds. — T. W. Backhouse 360 



Human Hibernation. — Alfred H. Hulk 361 



An iError in Ganot's "Physics." — E. Douglas 



Archibald 361 



Shadow on Clouds. — Lieut. Alfred H. Tarleton, 



R.N 36] 



The Meteorology of Havana 361 



The Whale Exhibition in Hamburg. By Dr. G. A. 



Guldberg 362 



Chester New Museum. By Chas. E. De Ranee . 365 

 The Classification of the Varieties of the Human 



Species. By Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S. ... 364 



Notes 367 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



An Ancient Occultalion of Jupiter 370 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1885, 



February 22-28 370 



Geographical Notes 371 



On a Modification of Foucault's and Ahrens's 



Polarising Prisms By H. G. Madan. (Illustrated) 371 

 The Results of the Scientific Expedition to 



Sodankyla. By Selim Lemstrbm. (Illustrated) . 372 



On the Nature of Lichens. By Marcus M. Hartog 376 



University and Educational Intelligence 377 



Societies and Academies 377 



