May 4, 1899] 
NATURE 
22 
2) 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Royal Society, April 20.—‘‘On Intestinal Absorption, 
especially on the Absorption of Serum, Peptone, and Glucose.” 
By E. Waymouth Reid, F.R.S., Professor of Physiology in 
University College, Dundee, St. Andrews University, N.B. 
The experiments detailed in the full paper deal with the 
absorption from the intestine, of the animal’s own serum, and of 
solutions of glucose and peptone. The method employed has 
been that introduced by Leubuscher, in which two loops of 
intestine are simultaneously employed, the one the experimental, 
and the other the control, loop. 
The conclusions arrived at are as follows :— 
(1) A physiological activity of the intestinal epithelium in the 
act of absorption is demonstrated by— 
(a) The absorption by an animal of its own serum (or even 
plasma) under conditions in which filtration into blood capillaries 
or lacteals, osmosis and adsorption are excluded. 
(2) By the cessation or diminution of the absorption of serum 
when the epithelium is removed, injured or poisoned, in spite 
of the fact that removal, at any rate, must increase the facilities 
for osmosis and filtration. 
(2) The activity of the cells is characterised by a slower up- 
take of the organic solids of the serum than of the water, and a 
rather quicker uptake of the salts than of the water. The 
relations to one another of the absorptions of these various 
constituents is variable in different regions of the intestinal 
canal (upper ileum, lower ileum, and colon). 
(3) No evidence can be obtained of specific absorptive fibres 
in the mesenteric nerves. 
(4) The state of nutrition of the cells is the main factor in 
their activity, and this is intimately associated with the blood 
supply. 
(5) In reduction of the rate of absorption, without detachment 
of epithelium, the absorption of the various constituents of 
serum is reduced in the proportion in which they exist in the 
original fluid. 
(6) The activity of the cells may be raised by stimulation with 
weak alcohol, without evidence of concomitant increase of blood 
supply. 
(7) The bile has no stimulant action on the cells. 
(8) The cells exhibit an orienting action upon salts in solution 
(sodic chloride especially). In a loop of gut with injured cells, 
sodic chloride enters the lumen from the blood at a time when 
it is being actively absorbed from a normal control loop in the 
same animal. (This fact was first noted by O. Cohnheim. ) 
(9) The absorption of water from solutions introduced into 
the gut is dependent upon two factors :— 
(a) The physical relation of the osmotic pressure of the 
solution in the gut to the osmotic pressure of the blood plasma. 
(4) The physiological regulation of the difference of osmotic 
pressure by the orienting mechanism of the cells. 
(10) The chief factor in the absorption of peptone is an 
assimilation (or adsorption) by the cells, while in the absorption 
of glucose, diffusion, variable by the permeability of the cells 
(and so, probably, related to their physiological condition) is the 
main factor. 
(11) By removal of the epithelium, the normal ratio of pep- 
tone to glucose absorption is upset, and the value tends to 
approach that of diffusion of these substances through parchment 
paper into serum. 
(12) Absorption in the lower ileum is greater for the organic 
solids of serum, and less for peptone and glucose than in the 
upper ileum, The relative absorption of water in the upper and 
lower ileum is variable. 
(13) The relative impermeability of the lower ileum to 
glucose disappears with removal of the epithelium. 
(14) Absorption in the colon is for all constituents of serum, 
and for peptone and glucose far less per unit of measured surface 
than in the middle region of the ileum. 
(15) The normal relative excess of salt absorption from serum 
over water absorption, observed throughout the intestine, is 
most marked in the colon, and more marked in the lower than 
in the upper ileum. 
(16) Finally, it is suggested that the cell activity which causes 
serum to pass over to the blood is of the same nature as that 
involved in the orienting action of the cells upon salts in 
solution. 
NO. 1540, VOL. 60] 
Zoological Society, April 18.—Prof. G. B. Howes, 
F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.—Mr. C. W. Andrews 
read a paper on the osteology of one of the great extinct 
birds of Patagonia, Phororhacos inflatus. We described in 
detail the structure of the skull and skeleton, and compared 
them with various recent forms of birds. The evidence 
as to the affinity of this type was somewhat conflicting, 
but on the whole pointed to a relationship with the Grzzformes, 
as had been previously suggested by the author. It seemed 
probable that the aberrent Carzama was the nearest living re- 
presentative of Phororhacos, being related to it somewhat in the 
same fashion as the small modern Armadillos are to the great 
extinct forms such as Glyffodon and Panochthus.—A communi- 
cation was read from Mr. P. W. Bassett-Smith, entitled ‘* A | 
systematic description of the parasitic Copepoda found on 
fishes.” It contained a summary of the literature on the subject, 
and an enumeration of the known species of these parasites and 
lists of their synonyms. A new family (Phz/7chthydidae) was 
introduced, to embrace the forms which are found in the mucous 
canals and sinuses of fishes, and a new genus (Ova/éex) was 
proposed for the reception of Chondracanthus triglae (Blainv,). 
—Mr. W. E. de Winton read a paper on the African species of 
Canidae. The author, from an examination of a series of 
specimens lately received from Africa, had come to the con- 
clusion that the known species of Canidae of that continent were 
fourteen in number. He pointed out that the numerous 
supposed new species of jackals that had recently been described 
were mostly varieties of well-known forms, and that he was of 
opinion that only four species of jackals were found in Africa, 
viz. Canzs anthus, C. variegatus, C. mesomelas, and C. 
adustus.—A communication from Dr. H. von Ihering, on the, 
Omnis of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, was read. It embraced 
the conclusions arrived at, from observations made by the author | 
during the last six years, regarding the distribution of birds in 
that State, in which he recognised elements of three different 
faunas—namely, the northern and southern divisions of the South- 
east Brazilian fauna, and the Central Brazilian or Pampas fauna 
of the interior.—A communication from Mr. G. A. Boulenger, 
F.R.S., contained the description of a new lizard from Ecuador 
under the name Amezva l/eucostigma.—A communication was, 
read from the Rev, O. Pickard-Cambridge containing descrip- 
tions of twelve new species of exotic Araneidea. 
MANCHESTER. 
Literary and Philosophical Society, April 11.—Mr. J. 
Cosmo Melvill, President, in the chair.—Mr. John Watson read 
a paper entitled ‘‘On Cadznaga, the single genus of an aberrant 
sub-family of butterflies.’ He first referred to the species 
known to science, and to the uncertainty as to where this 
curious butterfly should be placed in the classification of insects. 
It was pointed out that, besides the evidence of its geographical 
distribution, the structure of the feet pointed to the probability* 
of its being a very ancient form. The basal cell shows a close 
affinity to the Glaczalés section of Parnassius, and the general 
tendency of the structure of Cadzizaga was towards its being an 
offshoot—an early offshoot—of the Lepidopterous phylum from 
which the Papilioni-Pieri-Nymphalid stock orginated. A 
paper on a biological aspect of cancer was read by Mr. F. 
J. Faraday. Cancer has been defined as epithelial proliferation, 
with an invading tendency. The author suggested that it was 
a case of arrested development, at what might be termed the 
cryptogamic as distinct from the phanerogamic stage. He 
pointed out that changes in the environment, noticeably a 
deficient supply of free oxygen and sunlight, had a remarkable 
influence in arresting organised differentiation and favouring 
the development of cryptogamic parasitism ; and cited the attenu- 
ation and fermentation experiments of Pasteur and his successors. 
The “travelling cell” in cancer could only be described as a 
pathogenic micro-coccus evolved from normal epithelial cells. 
From analogy, the author inferred that deficient oxygenation of 
the blood generally, or deficient local blood-irrigation through 
local causes or interruptious, might account for the cancerous 
proliferation. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, April 24.—M. van Tieghem in the 
chair.—The President announced to the Academy the déath of 
M. Charles Friedel. —On surfaces of constant positive curvature, 
by M. Gaston Darboux.—Electrical registration of the valvular 
movements which determine the opening and closing of the 
orifices of the heart, by M. A. Chauveau. . Diagrams obtained 
