April 26, 1883] 
NATURE 
619 
liver, the conditions exist by which this kind of transformation 
is effected. 
From the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal a ferment | 
is obtainable which converts (1) glucose into a body possessing 
the same kind of cupric oxide reducing power as maltose ; (2) 
cane-sugar into maltose, and not glucose as formerly asserted ; 
and (3) starch either into maltose or a dextrin of low cupric 
oxide reducing power. 
The presence of carbonate of soda modifies the action of a 
maltose-forming ferment, and leads to starch passing into a 
dextrin of low cupric oxide reducing power instead of into 
maltose, 
The portal blood contains a ferment which possesses a 
maltose or a dextrin-producing power, and the contents of 
the portal system during digestion are charged with a notable 
amount of maltose sometimes, and at other times a low cupric 
oxide reducing dextrin. 
After the introduction of glucose into the circulatory system, 
I have observed the presence of maltose. 
The liver also contains a ferment capable, under certain con- 
ditions, of carrying glucose int» maltose, and I have further 
witnessed, by the same kind of action as the sugars and dextrins 
are moved from one to the other, the conversion of a carbo- 
hydrate into the colloidal material belonging to the animal sys- 
tem (glycogen) which holds the analogous position of starch in 
the vegetable system. 
Evidence has likewise been supplied that by an action of the 
same nature as that which moves the carbohydrates from one to 
the other in the carbohydrate group, they are, under certain con- 
ditions, carried into a body out of the group, and thence not 
susceptible of being brought into glucose by the converting 
action of sulphuric acid ; and, on the other hand, under other 
conditions a substance is brought into the carbohydrate group, 
and its nature made recognisable by the converting action of 
sulphuric acid and its cupric oxide reducing power. 
The subject as it even now presents itself is a large one, and 
I propose to deal with it in detail in a series of communica- 
tions. The first will be devoted to that which refers to the 
alimentary canal. 
Linnean Society, April 5.—Sir John Kirk, vice-president, 
in the chair.—Messrs. R. M. Barrington, G. E. Ccomerford- 
Casey, F. V. Dickins, and E. Cambridge Phillips were elected 
Fellows of the Society.—Mr. E. M. Holmes exhibited a speci- 
men of birch-tree sap which had been found to exude from a cut 
branch one inch in diameter, at the rate of 4 oz. per hour during the 
night and 7 oz, to 8 oz. per hour during the day before the leaf 
buds had expanded, showing that the rapid rise of the sap was 
in this case not dependent on transpiration, but probably on 
endosmose accelerated by the expansion of the wood caused by 
solar heat. The sap had been collected and analysed by Dr. 
Attfield, and its contents recorded in the Pharmaceutical 
Fournal,—There was exhibited for Mr. R. Morton Middleton 
a well-marked example of wood showing the extensive ravages 
of the Isopod, Limnoria lignorum. ‘The wood was from the 
pier piles of West Hartlepool, where the said Crustacean’s depre- 
dations are very destructive.—The Secretary read a paper on the 
indiarubber-tree of the Gold Coast, by Capt. Alf. Moloney. In 
this the author stated that the Zandolphia owariensis grows 
extensively in the countries of Akim, Aquapim, and Croboe ; 
and he strongly recommended the natives and traders of Lagos 
to encourage rubber as an article of trade instead of solely 
depending as at present on palm oil. He described the habit 
of the live plant, and the method employed in extracting the 
rubber therefrom.—Mr. F. W. Phillips in a communication de- 
scribed a new species of freshwater Infusorian allied to the genus 
Gerda. It was proposed provisionally to name the new form 
G. caudata. It was obtained at Hertford, and in compary with 
the rotifer 2cistes pilula.—A paper was read on Hemicarex, 
Benth., and its allies, by Mr. C. B. Clarke; in this-he gives a 
revision of the genera and species of Kodresia, Hemicarex, 
Schenoxiphium, and Uncinia. 
Zoological Society, April 3.—St. George Mivart, F.R.S., 
vice-president, in the chair.—The Secretary read some extracts 
from a letter he had received from Mr, J. Sarbo in reference to 
the Gayal. The writer observed that Bos gaurus (the Gaur) and 
not Bos frontalis (the Gayal) is the Wild Ox of Assam, and that 
the &. /yontalis is not known in a wild state, but only as a semi- 
domesticated animal owned by various wild tribes from Assam 
to Arracan.—Mr. Sclater called the attention of the meeting to 
the skin of a Brown Crow from Australia, which had been sent 
to him for examination by Mr, Albert A. C. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S.,. 
and which he was inclined to regard as a variety in plumage of 
Corvus australis,—Mr. A. G. Butler read a paper containing an 
account of a collection of Indian Lepidoptera made by Lieut. - 
Col. Charles Swinhoe, chiefly at Kurrachee, Solun, and Mhow. 
Thirty-two new species were described, and numerous field-notes. 
by Col. Swinhoe. were incorporated in the paper.—Col. J. A. 
Grant read some notes on the Zebra met with by the Speke and 
Grant Expedition in the interior of Central Africa in 1860-63, 
which certainly belonged either to the true Zebra (Zguus zebra) 
or to its clo-ely allied northern form, the recently described 
Equus grevyt. 
Meteorological Society, April 18.—Mr. J. K. Laughton, 
M.A.. F.R.A.S., president, in the chair.—T. G. Bowick, E. 
C. Clifton, H. Culley, Dr. W. Doberck, A. N. Pearson, Prof. 
H. Robinson, and J. E. Worth were elected Fellows of the 
Society.—The following papers were read:—On cirrus and 
cirro-cumulus, by the Hon. F. A. Rollo Russell, M.A., F.M.S. 
The author points out that next to frequent readings of the 
barometer and a knowledge of the distribution of atmospheric 
pressure, observation of the character of clouds, especially of 
cirrus, is of the greatest use in attempting to forecast coming 
weather. Observation of cirrus can plainly be made use of in a 
telegraphic system of weather forecasts as easily as observation 
of the barometer, and the employment of a number of scattered 
cirrus observers largely increases the probability of this form of 
cloud being noted. The paper contains a description of twelve 
different varieties of cirrus, with the weather they signify or at 
least precede, as observed by the author during the last eighteen 
years.—Some notes on waterspouts, their occurrence and form- 
ation, by George Attwood, F.G.S. ‘This contains an account of 
several waterspouts observed in the Pacific Ocean, and also one 
seen in the Atlantic Ocean. The author believes that the water- 
spouts in the Pacific Ocean were caused by a cloud heavily 
charged with cooled moisture drifting from the high moun- 
tains of Costa Rica coning into contact with air-currents 
and clouds travelling in a different direction, and of a 
warmer temperature ; by which contact the cloud heavily 
charged with moisture was given a rotatory motion, causing 
it to discharge part of its moisture and make it assume a cylin- 
drical figure and fall down by its own gravity.—Records of 
bright sunshine, by W. W. Rundell, F.M.S. This is a discus-~ 
sion of the sunshine records made in the United Kingdom during 
the years 1881 and 1882, from which it appears that there is 
more bright sunshine upon the coast than there is inland.—Note 
on wind, cloudiness, and halos; also on results from a Redier’s 
barograph, by E. T. Dowson, F.M.S.—On the cold weather of 
March, 1883, by W. Marriott, F.M.S. The weather of this 
month will long be remembered for its very cold, dry, and windy 
character. The winter had been very mild, dull, and wet, and 
continued so to the beginning of March. A sudden change took 
place, however, on the 6th. A severe northerly gale set in on 
that day, accompanied with snow showers and a keen biting 
wind This gale was most violent in the North Sea, and caused 
sad havoc among the fishing fleet on the east coast, no less than 
382 men and boys being drowned. The temperature fell con- 
siderably, the maximum being below 40° almost all over the 
country, and in the North of England only a trifle above the 
freezing point. The same conditions prevailed for the next two 
or three days, the temperature however falling still lower, and 
on the roth the minimum occurred in the central and northern 
districts. ‘The most remarkable weather of the month took 
place from the 21st to the 24th. Owing to a brisk fall of the 
barometer over France an easterly gale was experienced over 
this country, and as the temperature was low and the air very 
dry the wind was exceedingly bitter and keen, and its effect upon 
the human frame was most distressing. 
SYDNEY 
Linnean Society of New South Wales, February 28.— 
C. S. Wilkinson, F.G.S., president, in the chair.—The fol- 
lowing papers were read :—On the coal flora of Australia, by the 
Rev. J. E, Tenison-Woods, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. This was a 
complete monograph of all the known fossil coal plants, in- 
cluding the new species recently discovered by the author. A 
diagnosis of each genus and species was given, together with a 
history of the subject and its literature. The author also added 
his own views with reference to the classification, in which he 
regards some of the Newcastle beds as Pervian, some as Trias, 
and the Ipswich beds (Queensland), the Victorian carbonaceous 
