66 



NA TURE 



[November 21, 1901 



than evidence hitherto accessible that in the motor region of 

 these complexly folded higher brains the cortical fissures do not 

 coincide with functional boundaries in the cortex, and that they 

 do not, indeed, bear any accurately constant relation whatsoever 

 to the functional topography. They are, with the exception 

 of the Rolandic fissure itself, quite insecure landmarks to the 

 details of the spatial arrangement of the functional "centres." 



Prof. Nicolaides (.\lhens) demonstrated to the meeting two 

 dogs in which he had performed bilateral vagotomy several 

 months previously. He pointed out the remarkable subsidence 

 of the symptoms that had occurred. His results, especially in 

 regard to recovery from dyspnteic attacks, had, he contended, 

 been considerably more favourable than those obtained by 

 I'awlow. 



Dr. Bayliss (London) gave an excellent demonstration of 

 the antidrome vascular dilatation obtainable from the posterior 

 spinal roots of the nerves of the pelvic limb. The excitation 

 may be electrical, mechanical, chemical or thermal. The ex- 

 periments leave no doubt that the vascular dilatation is brought 

 about by impulses passing centrifugally along fibres of the 

 sensory nerve-root, which, like the other fibres of that root, have 

 their perikarya in the root-ganglion outside the cord. The 

 fibres do not enter the sympathetic system, but proceed direct to 

 the limb. Reflex vaso-diiatation of the limb can be produced 

 after extirpation of the abdominal sympathetic, i.e. after all the 

 vaso-constrictors have been removed ; this dilatation must there- 

 fore be by means of vaso-dilator nerves which go to the limb 

 through the hindmost three lumbar and first sacral nerves. 

 Similarly, vasodilator fibres pass to the forelimb by the hind- 

 most three cervical and first thoracic nerves. 



Dr. Bocci (Siena) showed tracings demonstrating the diminu- 

 tion in the excitability to electric stimuli of the nerves of the 

 frog produced by destruction of the spinal cord. 



Dr. S. A. Dontas (Athens) demonstrated the different char- 

 acter and the greater degree of mechanical elasticity possessed 

 by a muscle before than after poisoning by curare. 



Drs. Negro and Z. Treves (Turin) demonstrated graphic re- 

 cords of the willed muscular contractions performed by a patient 

 suffering from Parkinson's disease (Paralysis agilain). These 

 records showed that the oscillations which, as Schiifer and 

 V. Kries have shown, normally characterise willed contractions 

 and normally succeed at a rate of 10-12 per second in the patient 

 with morbus Parkiiisonii, occur at a rhythm of only 5-6 per 

 second. 



Dr. Demoor (Brussels) showed preparations illustrating some 

 remarkable sequelse to trepanning in young animals. The brain 

 had been in some way injured at the operations, yet at the end of 

 about five months wasting of the body with epileptiform seizures 

 ensues and death soon follows. The cells of the cerebral 

 cortex are found to be in a condition of chromolysis with a 

 moniliform degeneration of their dendrites. 



Other communications dealt with the differential reaction of 

 muscle and nerve (Mdlle. Joteyko, Brussels), graduation of 

 the effects of fatigue (Mdlle. Joteyko, Brussels), the role in re- 

 spiration of the sensory nerves of the diaphragm (Mislawski, 

 Kasan), cerebellar tonus (A. Moscucci, Siena), the coordination 

 of antagonistic muscles (Victor Henri, Paris), the phenomenon 

 of Bell (C. Negro, Turin), conditions favourable and unfavour- 

 able to hypnosis in the frog (M. Stefanowska, Brussels). Among 

 contributions to method may be mentioned Dr. Treves's improve- 

 ments in the ergograph of Mosso, Dr. Broca's (Paris) apparatus 

 for obtaining constant condenser discharges at any desired rate 

 of frequency, and Dr. Corona's ingenious trephining instrument. 

 Among communications dealing with muscle may be cited 

 Dr. K S. Lee's (New York) observations with Dr. W. Salant 

 on the influence of doses of alcohol upon the contractions of the 

 directly excited isolated muscles of the frog. It was found that 

 alcohol in minute doses seemed to favour the response of the 

 muscle, in larger doses it was obviously deleterious. Dr. J. 

 Demoor (Brussels) demonstrated his method and some of his 

 results upon the' dissociation of contraction and conduction in the 

 muscle of the frog. The muscle is surrounded with plaster of 

 Paris for half its length. The electrodes being placed on the 

 free part of the muscle, a series of contractions in that free part 

 is provoked and repealed to the production of fatigue. The 

 plaster is then broken Irom the other half of the muscle and 

 that half is found to be quite unaffected by fatigue. If the stimu- 

 lating current be applied to the part within the mould instead 

 of to that outside, the latter contracts in response to the stimu- 

 lation and can be reduced to inexcitability by fatigue. But 



NO. 1673, VOL. 65] 



the part inside the mould, although it has served as conductor 

 to the fatigued part, is found to have remained inappreciably 



affected by fatigue. Prof. Huerthle (Breslau) demonstrated a 

 series of remarkable microphotograms of muscle fibre at rest 

 and in contraction, examined under illumination by homo- 

 geneous light and by plane. polarised light with an analyser. 



Prof. Lingendorff (Rostock) had examined the direction and 

 speed of the conduction of the contraction- wave over the heart 

 by applying to the surface of the isolated and artificially fed 

 cat's heart two rheoscopic muscle-nerve preparations from the 

 Irog. The two preparations were 2 to 3 centimetres apart. 

 The wave of negativity was found to sweep usually — if heart 

 were beating well — from the base toward the apex, at a speed 

 of 2 metres per second. If the heart were beating badly it 

 might be as slowly propagated as J> metre per second. 



Prof. Blix (Lund) demonstrated apparatus devised for myo- 

 thermal experiments on excised frog muscle ; and apparatus for a 

 similar purpose was also demonstrated by Dr. Burker (Tubingen). 

 Prof. Blix also showed a new form of induction excitator used 

 by him in his more recent work on the summation of twitches. 



Dr. Negro (Turin) demonstrated a fine series of microscopical 

 specimens displaying the motor end-plates in mammalian and 

 reptilian muscle- fibres. 



Prof. Grutzner (Tubingen) communicated the results of an 

 investigation he had conducted upon the movements of the con- 

 tents of the stomach and the regional distribution of the acidity 

 of the semi-fluid mass of food occup)ing the cavity of the 

 organ. The method employed had been rapid removal and 

 freezing of the viscus and then its examination by frozen sections 

 cut in various planes. When solid or semi-solid food is taken, 

 that which is later introduced is always found toward the centre 

 of the cavity of the organ. The contents of the pyloric end 

 were always well acidified throughout, those of the cardiac end 

 only in the layers nearest to the mucosa. The movements of 

 the stomach seem to result in the food being deposited in layers 

 upon the surface of the mucosa and that layer next to the 

 mucosa being shifted toward the pylorus. 



Prof. Zuniz (Berlin) described the methods employed by him- 

 self and his four colleagues, Caspari, Waldenburg, Lcewy and 

 Kohner, in their recent research into the chemical metabolism of 

 the body at high altitudes, namely on Monte Rosa. Dr. 

 V. Schrotter (Vienna) reported his observations of some of the 

 physiological phenomena attending a balloon ascent to an 

 altitude of 7500 metres. 



Of experiments dealing with the circulation, a large number 

 were demonstrated. Prof. Hiirthle (Breslau) demonstrated his 

 new Stromuhr in action on the living animal, also a number of 

 the graphic records obtained by it. These proved (i) increase in 

 speed of flow of the blood in the carotid, produced by compres- 

 sion of the opposite carotid, (2) increase by section of the vago- 

 sympathetic, (3) slowing of the blood stream in the crural artery 

 as a result of tetanisation of the limb muscles by stimulation of 

 their nerves, (4) the blood stream in the arteries as measured 

 by the volume uf blood flowing along the channel in a given 

 time increases, not in simple proportion to increase of the 

 arterial pressure, but in much greater ratio, e.g. blood pressure 

 87 mm. Ilg., stream volume 400 mm^., b. press. 131 mm. Hg., 

 stream volume 1000 mm'., b. press. 161 mm. Hg., stream 

 volume 1500 mm^ 



Dr. T. G, Brodie (London) demonstrated anew method for in- 

 vestigation of ellect of drugs on the mammahan heart. The mean 

 pressure against which the heart works is kept constant and the 

 work determined by the product of the output and of the mean 

 pressure. An automatically working "Stromuhr" registers 

 the output. Of the results obtained, especially noteworthy were 

 those concerning an.esthetics. Chloroform depressed the work- 

 ing capacity vastly more than did ether or ethylene chloride. 

 Suprarenal extract much increased the amount of work per- 

 formed by the heart, as also its rate of beat. Suprarenal extract 

 acts as an antidote to chloroform. If administered before 

 chloroform it is found that the heart can withstand much larger 

 doses of chloroform. .Moreover, a heart deeply injured by 

 chloroform will rapidly and completely recover if suprarenal 

 extract be administered. It had m the course of the research 

 been constantly found that the heart was very sensitive to the 

 blood of different mammalian species, thus the heart of the dog 

 went quickly into fibrillar incoordination unless fed with dog's 

 blood ; ox blood and other kinds of blood acting deleteriously at 

 once. Dr. Brodie also showed his apparatus for the recording 

 of the lung volume. He employs a plethysmographic method. 



