472 



NA TURE 



\_March 13, 1884 



on elementary and analytical chemistry presented to the Academy 

 by M. Billequin of the Imperial College, Pekin. 

 Berlin 



Physical Society, February 8.— Prof. Lanipe referred to 

 two recent works on mechanics, one by Herr Streintz, the 

 other by Herr Macb, and brought forward certain problems, 

 which were there dealt with at full length. — Prof. Schwalbe 

 described a peculiar ice-formation lie had observed in the Harz 

 towards the end of December last. Under a temperature of 

 from + 2° to + 3° C. by day and - T to - 2° C. by night, he 

 perceived, on a road coveretl with gravel and withered leaves, 

 swellings of the surface at v.iricjus spots, which, on closer 

 inspection, proved to be ice-protuberances rising from the ground 

 and pushing up its topmost stratum. On the unfrozen earth 

 stood separate, diminutive ice-columns of from three to four 

 centimetres in height, each supporting at its upper extremity a 

 little stone or a withered leaf which it had loosened from the 

 ground and in the course of growth had lifted upwards. Similar 

 swellings were found l)y Prof. .Schwalbe on rotten twigs lying 

 on the ground. In these the rind over a large surface was 

 pushed from the wood by ice-excrescences of soft, brilliant, 

 asbestine appearance, and uncommonly delicate to the touch. 

 They adhered in large numbers to the body of the wood, 

 and reached as great a length as one decimetre. Prof. 

 Schwalbe brought some of these withered and rotten twigs 

 with him to IBerlin, and it was in his power to produce 

 on them at any time the phenomenon just described. For this pur- 

 pose all that was needed was thoroughly to moisten the twig, in such 

 a mam er, however, that no water dropped off, and then to let it 

 cool slowly in a cold preparation. Ice-excrescences also ap- 

 peared of themselves on t« igs lying in the garden w henever the 

 temperature fell below o' C. in the night. In reference to the 

 explanation of this phenomenon, Prof. Schwalbe favoured the 

 view of Le Conte, who had described the matter thirty years 

 ago, and considered it as an instance of capillary action. In the 

 process of slow cooling, the water in the pores became frozen 

 into a small capillary tube, which sucked the water up, and this 

 in turn becoming congealed shot continually further upwards. 

 In this way the little stone or the withered leaf lying on the road, 

 or the rind on the rotten t« ig, was pushed constantly further 

 away from the substratum, and lifted upwards. 



Physiological Society, February 15. — In continuation of 

 the address delivered by him at the last sitting of the Society, 

 Dr. J. Munk .set forth the further course of his investigations 

 into the resorption, formation, and deposition of fats in the 

 animal body. After, by feeding a dog on rape-seed oil, he had 

 demonstrated that heterogeneous fats were absorbed and de- 

 posited in the animal body, he passed to the question in what 

 manner was the resorption effected. It was universally assumed 

 that the fats in the intestinal canal were emulged, and, as emul- 

 sion, entered through the intestinal villi into the chyle ves- 

 sels. In order to the production of an emulsion it was now- 

 first of all necessary that the fat should become fluid at the tem- 

 perature of the body ; and second, that the intestinal contents 

 should be alkaline. As was, however, well known, there were 

 fats which did not melt unless at a temperature of over 40° to 

 50° C, that is, they could not become fluid at the temperature of 

 the body — mutton suet, for example, which was therefore in- 

 capable of being emulged in the intestinal canal. Still less so 

 w ere the sebacic acids of mutton, which could be only melted at 

 higher temperatures. It had therefore to be experimentally 

 ])roved whether such fats generally were resorbed. Dr. Munk 

 had a year ago briefly related to the Society an experiment 

 directed to this end, in which he fed a dog with mutton suet. It 

 had yielded a positive result. The fat taken from the body of 

 the dog which had been fed on mutton suet was essentially 

 distinct from the normal fat of a dog, both by its whiter colour 

 and by its greater consistence. On chemical examination, too, 

 it was confirmed that the dog had deposited mutton suet in its 

 body. The experiments now in question, which the speaker 

 described at greater length, were of such a kind that a dog was 

 brought to a state of equilibrium in respect to nitrogen, 

 that is, to such a state that just as much nitrogen 

 was secreted from the body as w-as supplied it with the 

 food. At certain epochs along with the albumen, either 

 lard or mutton suet, or the sebacic acids of mutton, were ad- 

 ministered for a number of days, and during that time careful 

 analyses were made of the evacuations. By these analyses, 

 besides the above-mentioned fact of the deposition of mutton 

 .suet in the canine body, it was established that the lard was 



almost comjiletely used up, only 2 per cent, having been lost to 

 the body in the evacuations, while of the mutton suet about 94 

 per cent, was absorbed in the intestinal canal, and even of the 

 sebacic acids of mutton 86 to 87 per cent, was taken up. In 

 the last case the quantity of nitrogen secreted was somewhat 

 greater than the quantity received, so that a part of the aliment- 

 ary albumen was decomposed. Mutton suet, or the sebacic 

 acids of mutton, might therefore be used for feeding ; in the 

 excrements a larger quantity of free sebacic acids and of soaps 

 along with neutral fat w as always found, a fact w hich indicated 

 a splitting of the neutral alimentary fats in the intestine. The 

 existence of such a splitting of the neutral fats was also con- 

 firmed by the demonstration that the c intents of the small 

 inte-tine never showed alkaline reaction, but reacted either in 

 an acid or neutral manner. This could not be referred to any 

 extensive transition of the contents of the stomach, for the 

 small intestine was found to be always very lax and almost 

 empty, if an excitement of stronger peristaltic movements were 

 carefully avoided during the experiments. A process of emul- 

 sion on the part of the mutton suet, w hich from its consistence 

 offered great difficulties, must therefore, even on account of the 

 reaction of the intestinal contents, be excluded from the )>robleus 

 and Dr. Munk was of opinion that the demonstrated splitting of 

 the fats must play a very important part in the absorption, the 

 nature and manner of which would have to be studied by further 

 investigations. Lately, microscopical demonstrations had been 

 given by other observers that lymphatic corpuscles strayed 

 towards the free intestinal surface, and there supplied them 

 selves with alimentary substances, laden with which they again 

 strayed back. Such a mechanical absorption wa.s, in Dr. Munk s 

 opinion, highly probable in cases in which the fat was not 

 liquefied by the temperature of the body, as, for example, in the 

 case of feeding on mutton suet. — Dr. Benda described micro- 

 scopic preparations which he made from tuberculous kidneys, 

 and which he exhibited to the members of the Society for then- 

 inspection. 



Christiania 

 Society of Science, Febiuary l. — Dr. Collet described the 

 Beiyx borcalis, a remarkable deep-sea fish, and the northern 

 representative of the genus Bi>yin/tr, so common in the Chalk 

 period, and its relation to Btryx decadaclylus of Madeira and 

 Japan. — Prof. Lochmann mentioned a case of poii-oning by gas, 

 and referred to the influence of subterranean air on the human 

 organism. — Prof. Lie presented a paper on the common theory 

 of diflisrentia! equations. — Dr. Kjjer described two species of 

 moss, Ifylocomuim squarronim and Climadiiin dendroides, which 

 were discovered in the clay in the hill in which the famous 

 Norse Viking ship was found near Sandefjord in 18S0. 



CONTENTS Page 



Polish Bone Caves 449 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Blyth's "Poisons: their Effects and Detection." — 



Dr. Thomas Stevenson 451 



Roca's " Expedition to the Rio Negi-o of P atagonia' 451 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



Instinct. — C. Lloyd Morgan 451 



Circular Rainbow seen from a Hill-top. — G. K. 



Gilbert 45^ 



Right-sidedness.— Prof. Joseph Le Conte .... 452 

 "Suicide"of Black Snakes.— Edward F. Hardman 452 

 Sea Fish in Freshwater Rivers.— Edward F. Hard- 

 man 452 



The Zodiacal Light.— G. M. Whipple 453 



The Axioms of Geometry. By Prof. O. Henrici, 



F.R.S 453 



The Scientific Work of the "Vega" Expedition 454 

 Earth Tremors. By Prof. John Milne {.With 



Dia!;ram) 45^ 



The Mechanical Theory of Magnetism 459 



Notes 459 



Geographical Notes 462 



The Six Gateways of Knowledge, II. By Prof. Sir 



William Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S 462 



Electrical Standards 465 



On the Measurement of Electric Currents. By Lord 



Rayleigh, F.R.S. (IVi/h Diasram) 465 



University and Educational Intelligence 46(3 



Scientific Serials 466 



Societies and Academies 467 



