November 21, 1901] 



.VA TURE 



67 



which he demonstrated in use. Dr. Dixon (Cambridge) is his 

 collaborator in the research not yet completed, for which the 

 apparatus was designed. 



Prof. Fano (Florence) described at some length a series of 

 electrometer photogram? registering electromotive phenomena 

 of the heart beat. The photographic records shown in illustra- 

 tion of several new points he brought forward were particularly 

 fine specimens of what such records can be in the hands of the 

 skilful. 



Prof. Moussu (Alfort) had studied the lymph flow in the limbs 

 of the larger animals (horse, ox, &c. ) during physiological 

 repose and inaction, and then under conditions of local vaso- 

 constriction and vasodilatation and under those of general 

 augmentation of blood pressure and of copious venous depletion. 

 He had further observed the lymph flow under the influence of 

 muscular work and under conditions of great activity of the 

 tissues in general. A very large series of observations was 

 presented in a number of tables together with diagrams of the 

 apparatus employed for measuring the quantities of mechanical 

 work given by the animals in certain of the experiments dealing 

 with the effect of muscular activity. The conclusions arrived at 

 were ( i ) that the lymph is not the simple product of a transuda- 

 tion from the blood plasma through the capillary wall under the 

 mechanical pressure of the blood-circulation ; (2) that filtration is 

 always quite a minor factor in the production of lymph ; (3) that 

 the lymph is mainly a product of the tissues comparable to a 

 secretion from them ; (4) that the quantity of its production is 

 in direct relation to the functional activity of the tissues ; (5) that 

 the peripheral (limb) lymphatic apparatus is in large measure an 

 apparatus for excretion. 



Prof. Stirling (Manchester) demonstrated his simple and 

 successful method of injecting the sublingual lymph-sac of 

 the frog and of applying drugs to the muscles related to it. 

 Fluid, e.g. solution, of Berlin blue is injected under slight pressure 

 into the dorsal lymph-sac and finds its way to the sac below the 

 tongue. Excellent anatomical preparations are thus obtainable ; 

 drugs, e.g. veratrin, may thus be applied directly to the hyoglossus 

 in sitti. 



Prof. Kemp (Illinois) on behalf of Miss Calhoun and himself 

 made an interesting communication upon blood-platelets and 

 their relation to coagulation of the blood-plasma. After thorough 

 control of the method for fixing the platelets they attempted 

 their methodic enumeration. The number varied between 

 961,500 and 730,000 per cub. mill, in man; a larger number 

 than they found in dogs. The authors confirmed Bizzozero's 

 observation that if the blood of the living dog be reduced to an 

 incoagulable condition by repeated "whippings " and reinjections 

 the incoagulable blood contains no platelets. But it contains 

 some, though few, leucocytes. The authors find that in normal 

 clotting the blood-platelets break down, the leucocytes do not. 

 The fibrin filaments radiate from disintegrating blood-platelets 

 at the nodes of the network they form. 



Prof. Hcdon (Montpellier) showed that the hfemolytic 

 glucosides are more globulicidal in saline solutions than in 

 serum. Substances therefore exist in the serum that may be 

 regarded as protecting the red corpuscles against the toxicity 

 of these glycosides. A little serum added to the water in 

 which they are swimming protects tadpoles against the toxicity 

 of glycosides (saponine, cyclamine) that are otherwise violently 

 poisonous for them. Similarly, acid sodium phosphate protects 

 the red corpuscles from the action of solanine and protects fish 

 if added to the water of the aquarium. 



The large attendance of active workers in the field of sense- 

 organ physiology and in pyscho-physiology was a notable 

 feature of the Congress, and the communications made upon 

 those subjects were numerous. Dr. Tschermak (Halle) gave a 

 lucid account of interesting and exact work upon the extent 

 of the binocular field of vision in various vertebrate types. 

 Prof. Ilensen (Kiel) demonstrated experiments in evidence of 

 an accommodation mechanism for the ear. Prof. Cavazzani 

 (Ferrara) demonstrated an instrument for the estimation of the 

 visual purple. Dr. Sante de Sanctis (Rome) reported the 

 results of prolonged researches upon the depth of sleep. The 

 stimulus required to break sleep was found usually to be greatest 

 in the first half of the second hour. The increase of stimulus 

 required to pass from provocation of a subconscious reaction to 

 actual waking amounted on an average to three degrees of the 

 scale of the Griessbach resthesiometer. Prof. Osawa (Tokio) 

 described observations indicating that most monkeys ate right- 

 handed, only a few left-handed ; that birds, on the other hand, 



NO. 1673, VOL. 65] 



are usually left-footed. Drs. Broca and Sulzer (Paris) com- 

 municated a research into the latent period for visual acuity. 

 Dr. S. Vaschide (Paris) had made numerous measurements 

 of the simple reaction time for olfactory sensations. Dr. 

 Marco Treves (Turin) reported observations on the thermo- 

 esthesiometry of the various mucous membranes accessible to 

 external examination. The sensitivity was in all cases found to 

 be markedly less than is that possessed by the skin. The 

 mucosa of the urethra and of the cervix uteri were quite in- 

 capable of heat and cold sensations, and even the cautery 

 excited only slight, and that painful, sensation from them. 



Dr. Kiesow (Turin) brought forward observations proving that 

 the laryngeal aspect of the epiglottis is endowed with sentiency 

 for taste, and so also the greater part of the mucosa lining the 

 interior of the larynx itself. The whole of the soft palate (but 

 not the hard palate) and the back of the pharynx were found 

 endowed with taste. On the other hand, taste sensations could 

 not be evoked from the uvula, the tonsils, the anterior or 

 posterior pillars of the fauces. In regard to other species of 

 sense, the uvula, tonsils and pillars of the fauces were found to 

 be very defective in regard to touch and temperature stimuli, 

 but fairly responsive as regards "' painful " ; the combination of 

 sense-organs is in this respect almost the converse of that 

 obtaining on inner surface of the cheek. Dr. Kiesow gave 

 further communications upon the "temperature spots" of the 

 skin. He laid stress upon the considerable amount of evidence 

 that the "cold spots" lie much nearer the surface of the skin 

 than do the "hot spots." Regarding the topographical distri- 

 bution of the spots, his own very extensive observations diflered 

 in no important respect from those of Blix and Goldscheider, 

 but in detail agreed better with those of the former, although 

 he did find the cold spots rather more sparse than had Blix. 



Dr. Kiesow also brought' forward an important result for 

 which his observations on "touch spots" gave basis, namely, 

 that the value of the median threshold of the touch spot is 

 within narrow limits practically the same for all touch spots the 

 whole body-surface over. This is in strong contrast to the 

 wide variation which the median threshold for pain exhibits. 

 This discovery is of much significance for the analysis of spatial 

 perception. 



Among those present, in addition to those mentioned above, 

 were Profs. Aducco (Pisa), Albanese (Pavia), Albertoni 

 (Bologna), Axenfeld (Perugia), de Burgh Birch (Leeds), Bohr 

 (Copenhagen), Bowditch (Boston), Chauveau (Paris), v. Cyon 

 (Territet), Dastre (Paris), Dupuy (Paris), Ebbinghau5(Breslau), 

 Einthoven (Leyden), Fano (Florence), Foster (Cambridge), 

 Fredericq (Liege), Gad (Prague), Gaule (Zurich), Gley (Paris), 

 Golgi (Pavia), O. S. F. Griinbaum (London), Heger (Brussels), 

 Henriquez (Copenhagen), Hering (Prague), Hopkins (Cam- 

 bridge), Johansson (Stockholm), Kossel (Heidelberg), 

 Kronecker (Berne), Laulanie (Toulouse), Lepine (Lyons), 

 Lombard (Ann Arbor, U.S.A.), Luciani (Rome), Marey (Paris), 

 Nicolaides (Athens), Oehrwall (Upsala), Onimus (Munich), 

 Osawa (Tokio), Perroncito (Turin), Physalix (Paris), Prevost 

 (Geneva), (Juerton (Brussels), Sergi (Rome), Shore (Cam- 

 bridge), Sowton (Liverpool), Stafford (Nottingham), Starling 

 (London), Stefani (Padua), Stirling (Manchester), v. Tarchanow 

 (St. Petersburg), Thompson (Belfast), Tigerstedt (Helsingfors), 

 Toulouse (Paris), Tschermak (Halle), v. UexkuU (Naples), 

 Verworn (Gottengen), Vintsgau (Innsbruck), Welby (London). 

 The Congress was more numerously attended than any previous 

 one. The courtesy and hospitality of their Italian colleagues 

 will always remain a memory with the members present. 

 The Italian committee consisted of Profs. Aducco, Cavazzani, 

 Corona, Fano, Luciani, Angelo Mosso, Patrizi, Sertoli and 

 Stefani. Drs. Treves and Herlitzka proved indefatigjible local 

 secretaries. The Italian language was an official language for 

 the Congress, and it was formally decided that it should hence- 

 forth remain so. 



ON A LATE PLEISTOCENE DEPOSIT 

 CONTAINING MAMMOTH. 

 A MONG the districts in which there is a fair probability 

 ■^ of obtaining satisfactory evidence as to the sequence of 

 events which have occurred since the glacial epLsode, there is 

 none more promising than the northern part of East Anglia, 

 nor is there any region where the history of that early post- 

 Glacial age, if it could be clearly made out, would throw light 

 upon so many vexed questions in geology. 



