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Marcu 10, 1923] 
NATURE 
327 

ovum impetu illo coxerunt.’”’ 
Bizant., x.) 
Galileo makes the following caustic comments : 
* Se il Sarsi vuole che io creda a Suida, che i Babilonii 
cocesser l' uova col girarle velocemente nella fionda, 
io lo crederd ; ma diré bene, la cagione di tale effetto 
esser lontanissima da quella che gli viene attribuita, 
e per trovar la vera io discorrerd cosi: Se a noi non 
- succede un effetto che ad altri altra volta a riuscito 
é necessario che noi nel nostro operare manchiame di 
sig che fu causa della riuscita di esso effetto, e 
che, non mancando a noi altro che una cosa sola, 
questa sola causa sia la vera causa. 
Suida, Lessicografo. 
girino; e pur non si cuocono; anzi, se fusser calde, 
si raffreddano pit presto; e perché non ci manca 
altro che’ esser di Babilonia, adunque!’ esser Babiloni 
é causa dell’ indurirsi |’ uova e non I’ attrizion del- 
l’ aria: che é quelo ch’ io volevo provare.” (If Sarsi 
commands me to believe on the authority of Suida 
that the Babylonians used to cook eggs by swiftly 
swinging them in slings—I will. But I will certainly 
say that the cause of such results is far from that 
which he attributes; and in order to discover the 
true cause I will reason in the following way: If we 
do not succeed in obtaining a result which was success- 
_ fully obtained at another time, some one factor at 
_ least must be lacking which is necessary for the success- 
ful production of the result. Now, we have no lack 
of eggs, nor slings, nor strong men to swing them, 
and yet they do not cook; on the contrary, if already 
_ warmed the swinging would cool them more quickly. 
Since the only factor that is lacking is that we are 
not Babylonians, therefore the fact of being a Baby- 
lonian is the cause of the eggs solidifying, and not 
the friction of the air: and this is what I set out to 
prove.) (Galilei, Opere, vi. Also in ‘‘ Frammenti 
e Lettere ”’ (1917), p. 66). 
If Galileo had actually put his experiment to the 
test he might have written otherwise. Within the 
last few years it has been “ discovered’ that egg 
white under mechanical strain such as vigorous 
shaking or very high hydrostatic pressure undergoes 
coagulation (vide Robertson, “‘ Physical Chemistry of 
the Proteins,’ 1918). In a paper to be published 
shortly in the Proc. Roy. Soc. (read at the meeting 
of February 15), I show that chemical changes which 
occur on heat-coagulation also occur on coagulating 
an egg by mechanical means. 
The myths and anecdotes of the ancients are almost 
invariably built on some foundation of fact; and it 
seems highly probable that the Babylonians were 
aware that eggs could be coagulated by vigorous 
movement (such as swinging in slings). If this be so, 
the phenomenon of mechanical coagulation proves 
to be another example of a former observation re- 
discovered—in this case after the lapse of thousands 
of years ! LesLige J. Harris. 
mmanuel College, Cambridge, 
February 16. 

Use of Yeast Extracts in Diabetes. 
WE have recently shown (Journ. of Physiol. 57, 
Pp. 100, 1922) that there is present in the blood of 
normal persons a sugar of a reactive nature, which 
gives the same osazone as glucose, but has a lower 
rotatory power. In the blood of persons suffering 
from severe diabetes mellitus, this sugar is not 
resent in amounts capable of detection. In con- 
junction with Dr. Devereux-Forrest, we have found 
that, after administration of insulin to diabetic 
persons, whereas the quantity of sugar in the blood 
NO. 2784, VOL. 111] 
Ora, a noi non | 
mancano uova, né fionde, né uomini robusti che le ; 
Ee ————E—eE——————————EeEeEeE——E—E—E—EeEEeE—e—EeE———E——————————————————————— ee 
is decreased, the amount of normal blood sugar is 
increased. 
We have also shown (Proc. Physiol. Soc., December 
16, 1922) that extracts of pancreas and liver together 
alter the rotatory powers of glucose and fructose 
in vitro. It was suggested that the absence or in- 
activation of either the pancreatic or liver factor 
was the cause of diabetes. Since the pancreatic 
and liver factors were markedly accelerated by the 
addition of phosphates, it seemed possible that one 
constituent of the pancreatic factor might be a sugar- 
phosphoric acid complex. As an essential step in 
the metabolism of sugar by yeast is held to be the 
formation of hexose-phosphoric acids, it seemed 
possible that an extract of yeast might take the 
place of the pancreatic factor. 
We have obtained a solid preparation from yeast 
which would appear to have similar properties and 
effects. 
When a solution of this substance is injected into 
rabbits, a very definite lowering of the blood sugar 
occurs, in every way comparable to that which we 
have found after injections of insulin. Rats when 
injected die in convulsions similar to those caused 
by insulin. 
Some properties of insulin and of this extract of 
yeast are very similar. Both contain organic phos- 
phorus and carbohydrate. Seliwanoff’s reaction is 
positive in each case after hydrolysis. 
We are at present engaged in a further investiga- 
tion of these extracts. L. B. WINTER. 
W. SMITH. 
Biochemical Laboratory, Cambridge, 
February 16. 

Meteorological Nomenclature and Physical 
Measurements. 
In reply to Sir Napier Shaw’s kindly rejoinder in 
Nature of February 17, p. 218, to my meditations 
on the progress of meteorology, I prefer to his simile 
of a boat-race that of boats striving to tow the not 
yet quite ship-shape bulk of meteorological research 
forward on its destined course. Although Sir Napier 
Shaw’s was the best equipped of the boats, in which 
he was able to experiment with new modes of pro- 
pulsion, I am sure he recognises that I was pulling 
with all my strength, if independently, at least in the 
same direction as himself. That I pulled in grim 
earnest with the result of long disablement accounts 
for my present position (which strikes me as more 
desolate than dignified) on the shelf, from which I 
see the now graceful lines of the new meteorolo 
moving ahead with Sir Napier’s new engines installed, 
and though almost out of hearing I listen to their 
beat in order to form an opinion as to how they act. 
I should be sorry indeed if anything I said were to 
retard or discourage any one on board that craft or 
cast a shadow on the laurels with which Sir Napier 
Shaw has been crowned by the scientific world to the 
joy and pride of every British meteorologist. 
Dropping metaphor, there is surely large room for 
helpful difference of opinion as to terminology and 
the relative value of facts and formule. I do not 
dislike the metric system in spite of its occasional 
awkwardnesses, nor would I hesitate to embrace the 
millibar if it seemed to me to be making for unity 
instead of adding a new ramification to diversity. 
In the works I was reviewing I failed to see the signs 
of the coming of the millenium of the millibar; but 
if it is on its way, ‘‘ come it will for a’ that.” 
HuGu RosBert MILL. 
February 19. 
