9 6 



NA TURE 



\J\lay 22, i ! 



Prodromus of a system of the Hydroid Zoophytes and Craspe- 

 dotc Medusa, which will be used and marked out in detail in 

 subsequent papers. The order of the Hydromcdustr is here 

 divided into five sub-orders and twenty-one families. — The 

 Scyphomedusa of the Southern Sea, part ii., by R. von Lenden- 

 feld, Ph.D. This paper is a continuation of the paper read 

 at the last meeting of the Society, and contains a description of 

 all the species of the third order of the Scyphomcdusa, the Cn/'o- 

 medusa, which have been described from the South Sea. — ( In 

 some fossil plants from Dubbo, New South Wales, by the Rev. 

 J. Milne Curran, F. G.S. This paper, which was illustrated by 

 specimens in an extraordinary state of preservation, and mounted 

 for the microscope, is a very careful essay towards the determina- 

 tion of the (so-called) Hawkesbury beds at Dubbo, and names 

 or describes as belonging to that formation the following forms, 

 viz. : — Sphenopteris crebra, S. glossop/iylla, Ncuropteris australis, 

 Thinfeldia odontopte> aides, T. media, Alethopteris Curran i, A. 

 coticinna, Merianopieris major, and a Conifer. Walchiamilneana. 

 Of new species Mr. Curran names Odontopteris macrophylla, 

 Alethopteiis (Pecopteris) australis, Hymenophyllipes dubia, Podo- 

 camites, sp., and one Conifer set down doubtfully as // 

 piriformis. 



Berlin 

 Physiological Society, April iS. — Prof. Zuntz, with the 

 help of a diagram, described and explained an apparatus for 

 determining the gaseous inhalation and exhalation in the case of 

 animals affected with curare. Essentially it consisted of two 

 glass bells set by means of an electric motor into regular up-and- 

 down rhythmical movements, alternately sinking into a larger 

 vessel filled with mercury, and rising out of it. Each bell had 

 two connecting-tubes, one communicating with the animal under 

 examination, the other with other parts of the apparatus. ( ln< 

 bell was connected with a graduated reservoir containing the air 

 that was to be inhaled, while the second communicated with a 

 bell, likewise graduated and filled with mercury, intended to 

 receive the exhaled air. By means of inserted mercurial valves 

 the path of air was so arranged that in the rising of the bells the 

 fir->t came into communication only with the reservoir, and Idled 

 itself with the contents of the same, while the second bell had 

 communication solely with the trachea of the animal, and drew 

 in the air of the lungs In the sinking of the bells, on 

 the other hand, the first communicated with the trachea, 

 and forced the air that was to be breathed into the lungs, while 

 the second communicated with the reservoir, and emptied into it 

 the air previously exhaled from the lungs. This apparatus kept 

 up the most regular artificial respiration in animals paralysed by 

 curare for any length of time, even for many hours, and enabled, 

 on the one hand, gases that might be exactly measured, and of 

 any composition that might be desired, to be employed for 

 the purpose of respiration ; on the other, the products that 

 were exhaled to be collected for measurement and chemical 

 analysis. A whole series of other arrangements connected with 

 this respiratory apparatus, provided automatically for supply- 

 ing the reservoir with exactly the appointed kind of air 

 and in uniformly identical mixture, as also for producing 

 and conducting to the reservoir, automatically, the requisite 

 quantities of oxygen for determinate experiments. — Dr. Kemp- 

 ner, with the apparatus above described, had, in the laboratory 

 of Prof. Zuntz, instituted measuring experiments on the 

 influence of the proportion of oxygen in the air that was to be 

 inhaled on the consumption of oxygen and the exhalation of car- 

 bonic acid from the lungs. It was a universally accepted doctrine 

 that the proportion of oxygen in the air to be inhaled might vary 

 within very wide limits, from between loo and 15 per cent., 

 without essentially affecting the respiration, and that only 

 when the oxygen sank to 5 per cent, or less did phenomena 

 of suffocation appear. This view, which was based principally 

 on the experiments of Regnault and Reiset, was not, in Dr. 

 Kempner's opinion, sufficiently justified by the experiments re- 

 ferred to. In consequence he some years ago carried out experi- 

 ments on himself by inhaling, for the space often minutes on 

 each occasion, by means of forced inspiration, air of different 

 proportions of oxygen, and then analysing the exhaled air. 

 From these experiments he found that respiration and the con- 

 sumption of oxygen were not influenced by a higher than the 

 normal proportion of oxygen in the air that was breathed. 

 With a reduction, however, of the oxygen in the air to be in- 

 haled below the normal proportion, the consumption of oxygen 

 became likewise reduced. It might be supposed that this result, 

 which was at variance with the general view on the subject, was 



due to the abnormal conditions of respiration and the forced 

 inspiration. It was necessary, therefore, that this result should 

 be confirmed by experiments on animals. Such, accordingly, 

 were soon afterwards carried out by Dr. Kempner, and 

 yielded a result similar to that arrived at in the experiments 

 on men. Seeing, however, that the movements of the animal 

 might have affected the result. Dr. Kempner determined on 

 repeating the examination with animals that had been subjected 

 t<> curare. The experiments were carried out on animals with 

 the respiratory apparatus of Prof. Zuntz. After fasting for 

 twenty-four hours, the animals were kept, throughout the time- 

 that the experiments lasted, in exactly the same temperature — 

 which was a warm one — and they made thirty artificial respira- 

 tions per minute. The result yielded by these last experi- 

 ments was that with a higher than the normal proportion of 

 oxygen in the air breathed the consumption of oxygen was not 

 different from that in the case of normal air. When, however, 

 the proportion of oxygen sank to iS per cent., the consumption 

 of oxygen became diminished, and decreased still further in pro- 

 portion as the oxygen of the air was further lessened. Simi- 

 larly the amount of carbonic acid exhaled was affected by the 

 reduced proportion of oxygen in the inspired air. Carbonic acid 

 also decreased with the decrease of oxygen, though not in the 

 same degree as did the consumption of oxygen, a circumstance 

 which pointed to the fact that in the exhaled carbonic acid was 

 contained a certain portion of this gas formed by processes of 

 dissociation independently of the oxygen of the inhaled air. An 

 explanation of this fact, of such high importance physiologically, 

 that a reduced proportion of oxygen in the air inhaled was 

 attended by a reduced consumption of oxygen, was next given 

 by the speaker, and in conclusion he indicated a series of prac- 

 tical usefuVapplications which'might he made of the fact. 



CONTENTS Page 



Vestiges of Creation. By Dr. George J. Romanes. 



F.R.S 73 



Natterer's Brazilian Mammals 74 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Roscoe and Schorlemmer's "Treatise on Chemistry." 



—Dr. H. Watts 75 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Geology of the Malayan Peninsula. — Rev. J. E. 



Tenison-Woods 76 



The Marine Biological Station and a Coast Survey. — 



Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S '. . 76 



Atlantic Ice and Mild Winters. — Dr. John Rae, 



F.R.S 76 



Right-sidedness. — Prof. Joseph Le Conte .... 76 

 Dark Transit of Jupiter's First Satellite. — W. F. 



Denning 77 



The Remarkable Sunsets. — Rev. Arthur Sowerby 77 



" Notes on Earthworms." — E. A. Swan 77 



The Recent Earthquake. — M. I. Plarr 77 



Animal Intelligence. — E. A. Lonergan 77 



Agriculture in the United States 77 



Bird Skeletons 78 



The " Potetometre," an Instrument for Measuring 

 the Transpiration of Water by Plants. By Prof. H. 



Marshall Ward (Illustrated) 70 



Auroral Researches in Iceland. By Dr. Sophus 



Tromholt ?o 



A Carnivorous Plant Preying on Vertebrata. By Prof. 



H. N. Moseley, F.R.S Si 



Notes 81 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



A New Comet of Short Period 8 3 



Chemical Notes 84 



On the Nomenclature, Origin, and Distribution of 

 Deep-Sea Deposits, I. By John Murray and A. 



Renard S4 



The Two Manners of Motion of Water. By Prof. 



Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S 88 



Report on Atmospheric Sand-dust from Unalaska. 



By J. S. Diller (Illustrated) 01 



The Polar Conference. By Robert H. Scott, F.R.S. 93 



Geology in Russia 9, 



University and Educational Intelligence 9^ 



Scientific Serials 9 4 



Societies and Academies ... 9. 



