December 5, 1901] 



NA TURE 



115 



forated according to the sequences observed in the flame 

 pictures, &c. , of vowel sounds and adding to the syren certain 

 resonators which were faithfully moulded on the shapes taken 

 by the mouth in utterance of vowels, Mares had succeeded in 

 reproducing the vowel sounds with a degree of fidelity sur- 

 passing those of all previous efforts. Prof. McKendrick urged 

 the phonographic registration of dialects. Such a collection of 

 phonographic records would be of help to the science of lan- 

 guage. How little could we tell to-day of the spoken 

 sounds of ancient Sanskrit, of how Demosthenes spoke in 

 Greek or Cicero in Latin ; how little also of the exact accent of 

 Shakspeare's English. Finally, a demonstration was given of 

 the practical efficiency of the intensification of the sounds of a 

 phonograph by causing their waves to fall upon a microphone 

 and that instrument in turn to affect a loud-speaking telephone. 

 Dr. R. Kennedy (Glasgow) read a paper on return of volun- 

 tary movements after, alteration of the nerve-supply by nerve- 

 crossing or anastomosis. His experiments on animals had 

 shown that when the nerve supplying the fle.xor mu.scles of a 

 limb were divided and cross-united to the nerves supplying the 

 extensor muscles, the animal in time regained the lunctional 

 use of the limb, although the innervation of the muscle groups 

 was reversed. The nerve-centres for the flexor and extensor 

 muscles interchanged their positions and could be thrown into 

 appropriate activity for the crossed relations of the muscles. 

 This principle of nerve-crossing found a practical application 

 in many cases of paralysis of a muscle or group of muscles 

 supplied by a particular nerve. A portion of the nerve below 

 the lesion could be grafted on to a neighbouring normal nerve 

 with probability of restoration of the function of the paralysed 

 muscles. Photographs were shown of a case of facial .spasm 

 which he had relieved by dividing the facial nerve and grafting 

 its distal end on to the spinal accessory. The result had been 

 return of normal voluntary movement in the face and absence 

 of spasm. But movements of the face tended to occur as an 

 accompaniment of certain movements of the arm. 



Prof. Waymouth Reid, F. R.S. (Dundee), discussed the 

 question " Can solutions of Native Proteids exert Osmotic 

 Pressure?" Of the two methods of testing this question, 

 namely, cryoscopy and direct measuren-.ent against a membrane 

 impermeable to proteid, the latter alone is likely to lead to a 

 satisfactory answer. Against the cryoscopic method would be 

 the high molecular weight and errors due to traces of salts not 

 fully eliminable by observation on solution of the ash. The 

 method of direct measurement is liable to error in the possibility 

 of presence of a contamination (not salts) which, like proteid, 

 cannot pass the membrane, and so if in solution exerting osmotic 

 pressure. A true finding on the point is only likely to be 

 reached by working with "solutions" of pure proteid. The 

 experiments of Starling with blood serum led to variable results, 

 the osmotic pressure for the i per cent, concentration of the 

 proteids in their native fluid being given as from 297 to 5-29 

 mm. Hg. at room temperatures. These experiments prove that 

 substances exist in solution in serum to which a gelatine mem- 

 brane is impermeable, but they do not prove that the osmotic 

 pressure observed is due to the proteid constituent either in part 

 or in toto. The proteid might be inactive qua production of 

 osmotic pressure, and some other constituent of serum in solu- 

 tion might be responsible. A well-dialysed solution of once 

 crystallised horse serum-albumin gave osmotic pressure on a 

 formalised gelatine membrane against distilled water in a 

 rocking osmometer, a pressure which after fourteen days had 

 settled to 1 5 '5 mm. Hg. for the i per cent, concentration of proteid. 

 The pressure remained constant at this level for another six 

 days(/.^. until the twenty-first day of experiment), alter which the 

 observation was stopped. Had the experiment been stopped 

 six days after the start the estimate of osmotic pressure would 

 have been 28 mm. of mercury for the I per cent, concentration 

 of proteid, a level at which it .stood constant till the ninth day. 

 The membrane was proved impermeable to proteid by the 

 ordinary tests, but the )>reparation of serum-albumin was also 

 proved impure, for it held more than 17 per cent, of nitrogen. 

 Ovalbumin is so readily crystallised and recrystallised by 

 Hopkins' modification of the Hofmeister method that we can 

 probably assure ourselves of the purity of this proteid better 

 than of that of any other from an animal source. 



With "solutions" of recrystallised and well-washed oval- 

 bumin (I5'4I per cent, of nitrogen) no pressure can be got on 

 a natural or formalised gelatine membrane, proved (at the end 

 of the experiment) impermeable to the proteid. 



Dilute " white of egg " in contrast gives a lasting pressure 

 NO. 1675, VOL. 65] 



against its filtrate through a gelatine filter, at similar concentra- 

 tion in proteid. The addition of sodic hydrate to the " solution " 

 of ovalbumin, within the limits of appearance of alkalinity to 

 litmus or phenolphthalein, does not affect the negative result. 



Finally, a "solution" of crystallised hemp-seed globulin in 

 sodic chloride solution put against the original salt solution 

 gave no pressure on a gelatine membrane proved impermeable 

 to the globulin at the end of the experiment. 



If these experimental results are borne out by those still in 

 progress, the conclusion of many will be strengthened, viz. 

 that such so-called solutions are only suspensions, since the 

 power to exert osmotic pressure on a suitable membrane is our 

 most convincing test of solution in the case of a non-electrolyte. 



Prof Waymouth Rei^J also read a contribution to the study of 

 ionic effects as exemplified in the small intestine. The action 

 of salts in solution upon various vital phenomena has long been 

 studied, but the subject is prominent just now as a result of the 

 brilliant experiments of Prof. Loeb and his pupils. 



From a general point of view his more important conclusions 

 are : — 



(i) Several different metallic ions are necessary for the exhibi- 

 tion of vital phenomena, and the nature of these and their 

 optimum relative proportions vary in diflerent tissues and classes 

 of vital phenomena, even in one and the same animal. 



(2) One can impart to a living tissue new properties by 

 changing the quality and the relative proportions of the ions in it. 



The sodium ion is the most active in starting rhythmical con- 

 struction of skeletal muscle, but other ions must be present in 

 addition, otherwise by mere excess the sodium becomes a poison. 



Again, we cannot reason from the action of a given ion upon 

 one tissue to its action on another, even if the second tissue 

 performs functions which are superficially analogous. 



Thus Lillie observed that in the larva of Arenicola crislata 

 ciliary motion continued in solutions of calcium, magnesium and 

 potassium salts which stopped the activity of the muscles of the 

 body, while contraction of the body-muscles continued in 

 solutions of .sodium salt which stopped the motion of the cilia. 



Potassium ions, so poisonous to cardiac muscle, may be bene- 

 ficial to the action of other protoplasms. Loeb found that the 

 early development of Ftnidiiltts embryos was favoured by potass- 

 ium ions up till the formation of the heart. 



In the eggs of the marine annelid Chaetofterus, which when 

 unfertilised do not develop in sea-water, an artificial partheno- 

 genesis can be started by potassium ions, and the action is ionic 

 and not osmotic as in some parthenogeneses. Here the potass- 

 ium ion acts as a specific stimulant. One would expect that if 

 the cells of the mammalian intestine take an active part in the 

 process of absorption a variation of the preponderating ion in 

 the solution of the substance the absorption of which is being 

 studied might affect the absorption of the substance by the gut 

 wall. 



In the experiments glucose was selected for study since it is 

 normal to the intestine and capable of fairly accurate estima- 

 tion, and the absorption of isotonic solutions of glucose in sodium 

 and potassium chloride solutions were compared. 



The results so far have indicated that a preponderance of 

 the potassium ion over the sodium ion favours the uptake of 

 glucose, about half as much again of the glucose being ab- 

 sorbed from solutions holding potassium chloride as from solu- 

 tions of equal molecular concentration holding sodium chloride. 



Unfortunately, the ionic effect can only be studied, in this 

 case, from the cavity side of the membrane, on account of the 

 highly poisonous action of potassium upon the heart mu.scle 

 when exhibited in the circulating blood. Experiments with 

 other ions were in progress. 



Dr. Albert A. Gray (Glasgow) read a paper on some methods 

 of preparation of the inner ear, with remarks on its function. He 

 showed a new method of preparing the membranous ear by first 

 .supporting the structure and then destroying the surrounding 

 bone. From these preparations he drew inferences regarding the 

 phenomena of giddiness and of the theories of hearing. A pre- 

 paration was shown of the entire internal ear. After first em- 

 bedding preparations in a firm substance the surrounding bone 

 was decalcified by nitric acid, and ihe whole was rendered 

 transparent by oil of thyme. The demonstration of the upward 

 increase in width of the ligamentum spirale of the cochlea was a 

 matter on which Dr. Gray especially laid stress. 



Dr. Noel Paton (Edinburgh) gave on b?half of himself and 

 Drs. Gulland and Fowler some account of experiments in ex- 

 amination of the asserted hEematopoietic functions of the spleen. 

 His previous work had shown that the spleen exerted no 



