544 



NA TURE 



{_April 3, i8t;4 



made search in animals lo which he had given ammonia, for 

 the presence of nitric acid. Rabbits not being adapted for 

 precise experiments in connection with the transmutation 'of 

 matter, he experimented on dogs, but always failed to discover 

 any nitric acid in their urine. Even when he had given these 

 animals nitrates, no nitrates could be found in their urine. 

 He now tried experiments on men, and soon ascertained that in 

 their case nitric acid was a perfectly normal product of secretion. 

 The quantitative determinations, even where no nitrate was 

 administered, yielded from 400 to 600 mgr. of nitric acid in the 

 contents of the urine. The quantity of nitric acid varied with 

 the nourishment, and by the use of vegetables could be con- 

 siderably increased. To test the accuracy of his conjecture 

 regarding the fate of the ammonia not converted into urea, he took 

 with a uniform regulated diet citrated ammonia in doses of 

 from six to eight grammes, and found in two series of experimtnts 

 a very niarlied increase of the nitric acid in the urine— in one 

 case, for example, of from about 500 to over Soomgr. This 

 constant presence in no inconsiderable quantities of nitric acid 

 in the urine of man ought, in experiments connected with the 

 change of matter, to be carefully attended to. Historically, Dr. 

 Weyl observed that more than thirty years ago Bence Jones had 

 made the as>ertion that in the animal body an,monia was oxi- 

 dised into nitric acid. He «as, however, unable to substantiate 

 this proposition without raising objections.— Prof. Kronecker re- 

 ported on the discovery of a c loidination centre in the move- 

 ments of the ventricles of the heart, made by Herr Schmey, a 

 student in his department of the I'hysiological Institute, and 

 which he (Prof. Kronecker) had repeatedly verified. In an 

 examimtion of the changes in the dimensions of the heart in the 

 process of contraction, needles were thrust in the most various 

 directions into the heart of a dog after it had been laid bare, an 

 operation which, as was known by experience, had no influ- 

 ence on the movements of the heart. When in this opera- 

 tion the r.eedle came upon a certain small spot on the 

 lower border of the upper third of the septum cordis, the 

 ventricles of the heart at once ceased to beat, and, diastoli- 

 cally dilated, fell into fibrillar convulsions, which were soon 

 followed by the death of the ventricles of the heart. It 

 was not possible by any appliances to restore the ventricles 

 to their normal action. Tlie vestibules continued to beat 

 normally, but the ventricles no longer discharged their blood, 

 and soon, in consequence of the palsy of the heart, general 

 death set in. This instantaneous death of the heart through a 

 prick in a particular part of the septum— the stoppage thereby 

 produced of each coordinate contraction of the muscles of the 

 heart — was up to the present wholly \\ithout analogy. What 

 approached nearest to this fact was the well-known phenomenon 

 that a compression of the coronary artery produced in a short 

 time a cessation of pulsation and fibrillar convulsions. On with- 

 drawing the compression, however, the pulsations of the ventricle 

 were resumed. In the case of a prick, on the other hand, the effect 

 followed altogether much more quickly, quite instantaneously 

 in fact, and the ventricles, not able again to discharge their 

 functions normally, w ere for ever motionless. This phenomenon 

 Prof. Kronecker explained in the following manner. By the 

 ririck of the needle a coordinating centre in the movements of 

 the ventricles of the heart, having its seat at the spot in ques- 

 tion in the septum, was touched and destroyed. The finding of 

 this centre afforded the physiological key to the riddle not 

 unknown in surgery, that many very slight heart-wounds, pricks 

 of needles, for example, which did not even penetrate, pro- 

 duced sudden death. It was now the task of anatomical investi- 

 gation to demonstrate the existence of this centre now experi- 

 mentally proved to exist. Prof. Kronecker and Herr Schmey 

 have demonstrated this important experiment to the satisfaciion 

 of the Society. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, January 17. — M. TuUig, 

 on a new mode of telephonic transmission of sound (sealed 

 packet). — J. Kachler and F. V. Spitzer, on Jackson's and 

 Menke's method of preparing borneol from camphor. 



January 31. — W. Biedermann, contributions to general nerve 

 and muscle physiology (xiv. communication), on ihe heart of 

 Helix fowatia. — G. von Niessl, on the astronomical relations at 

 the meteoric fall of Mocs (Transylvania) on February 3, 1882. 

 — L. Koller, on some general laws relating to knot-combina- 

 tions. — A. Lustig, on the degeneration of the olfactory epi- 

 thelium of rabbit after destruction of the olfactory lobes. — 

 F. Zehden, attempt to explain the sunspots. — J. Hann, on tlie 



results of the meteorological observations made by Major von 

 Machow at Pungo Andongo and Malunge in the interior of 

 tropical South- West Africa in the years 1879-80. 



February 7. — J. Odstrzil, on the mechanism of gravitation 

 and inertia. — R. Benedikt and K. Hazura, on morin. — E. Gold- 

 stein, on the influence of conducting surfaces within the second 

 stratum of the kathode light of Geissler's tubes. — S. Exner, on 

 the innervation of the larynx. 



February 14. — E. Hering, contributions to general nerve and 

 muscle physiology (xv. communication), on the positive after- 

 variation {Nachschwankung) of the nerve-current after electrical 

 stimulation. — J. Klemencics, researches on the relation between 

 electrostatic and electromagnetic measure. — F. von Hochstetter, 

 seventh report of the Prehistoric Commission on its work during 

 the year 18S3.— R. von Wettstein, on the laws of growth of 

 plant organs. 



March 6. — J. Singer, contribution to a knowledge of the 

 motor functions of the lumbar cord of the pigeon. — J . Redten- 

 bacher, synopsis of the larvje of Myrmeleoidea:. — J. H. List, 

 on calyx-cells in the vesicle epithelium of the frog. — K. Znl- 

 kowsky, on coloured combinations of phenol with aromatic 

 aldehydes. — F. von Hochstetter, reports of the Prehistoric Com- 

 mission on the researches carried out in Moravia by J. Szom- 

 Ijathy and W. Midler. — E. von Marenzeller, contribution to a 

 knowledge of Adriatic annelids (iii. paper). — V. von Ebner, on 

 the planes of .solution of calcareoits spar and aragonite. — H. 

 Pitsch, on the value of Fermat's rule for the propagation fof 

 light in double refracting media. — Von Earth and M. Kretschy, 

 on picrotoxin. — J. Herzig, studies on quercetin and its derivatives. 

 — E. Hiickel, gramina nova, vel minus nota. — A. Rosoll, con- 

 tributions to the histochemistry of plants. — A. Adamkiewicz, on 

 new stainings of the spinal cord. — F. K. Ginzel, researches on 

 eclipses, especially on ascertaining empiric corrections of the orbit 

 of the mooi. 



March I3,- — E. Hering, contributions (o general nerve and 

 muscle physiology (xvi. communication), on the variations of 

 nerve-current caused by unipolar stimulation in tetanisation. — C. 

 Puschl, on the second axiom of mechanical theory of heat and 

 on the behaviour of water. — K. Olzewski, on the liquefactior" 

 of hydrogen. — On the density of liquid oxygen, by the same. — 

 On the point of solidification of some gases and liquids, by the 

 same. — G. Adler, on the energy in the electrostatic field. — C. 

 Goldstein, on the passing of electricity through vacua. 



CONTENTS Page 



The " Challenger" Reports (;K/M ////M/ra/ioH) . . . 521 



German Meteorology 523 



Our Book Shelf:— 



" Berly's Electrical Directory " 524 



Letters to the Editor : — 



" The Unity of Nature." — Duke of Argyll . . . . 524 

 Rain-band Spectroscopy Attacked Again. — Prof. C. 



Piazzi Smyth 525 



The Remark.ible Sunsets.— Prof. John W. Judd, 



F.R.S. ; George F. Burden O.S 525 



Thread-twisting. — Cosmopolitan 525 



Measuring Heights 526 



On a Method of Estimating the Steadiness of 

 Elongated Shot when Fired from Large Guns. By 



Rev. Francis Bashforth 527 



Third Note on the Electrical Resistance of the 



Human Body. By Dr. W. H. Stone 528 



International Weights and Measures 529 



Lilsa 530 



Professor Flower cji 



The Deep-Sea Dredgings of the "Talisman" — 



Crustacea (Willi llluslration) 531 



The Society for the Biological Investigation of the 



British Coasts 533 



Notes 534 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Double-Star oHercuIis 536 



Variable Stars . . ^36 



On the Aurora Borealis in Iceland. By Dr. Sophus 



Tromholt 537 



On the Natural and Artificial Fertilisation of 



Herring Ova. By Prof. J. Cossar Ewart, M.D. . 538 



University and Educational Intelligence 540 



Scientific Serials ^40 



Societies and Academes cjj 



