April 2\, 1887] 



NA TURE 



599 



arily prone to atmospheric oxidation, can under suitable con- 

 ditions be gradually oxidised and dissolved in appropriate 

 liquids, just as the copper is dissolved in the ammonia in the cell 

 ab jve described ; these actions, moreover, being ace jmpanied 

 by the development of currents of strength sufficient to cause 

 measurable amounts of electrolytic decomposition outside the 

 cell, e.g. in a silver voltameter. 



"Action of Caffein and Theine upon Voluntary Muscle.'' 

 By T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., F.R.S., and J. Theodore 

 Cash, M.D. 



Caffein and theine both cause rigor in the voluntary muscles 

 of frogs {Rana tcmforaria). The action is, however, very 

 variable, the rigor being sometimes exceedingly well marked, 

 and at other times not observable. Theine seems to be rather 

 more powerful than caftein, but the quantitative difference 

 between them is slight. There is, however, a marked qualita- 

 tive difference between them, inasmuch as theine tends to pro- 

 duce rhythmical contractions in the muscle. A variation is 

 obsei-ved in the action of the alkaloids on the different muscles 

 of the same frog. 



The addition of lactic acid to a solution of theine or caffein 

 causes the rigor to appear sooner, develop more rapidly, and 

 attain a greater maximum, and a somewhat similar effect is pro- 

 duced by calcium chloride. Potash retards and diminishes the 

 action of theine or caffein. One phenomenon which seems 

 deserving of attention is the rhythmic contraction of the muscle 

 produced by theine. This rhythm is so slow that it would 

 escape attention unless a ver)- low rate of speed were used in the 

 recording apparatus ; it is sometimes as slow as from three to 

 about one contraction per hour ; it may continue for twenty 

 hours. In one instance we observed the remarkable phenomenon 

 to which we have given the name of pseudo-rigor ; in this ex- 

 periment the application of the theine was followed by slight 

 relaxation of the muscle, to this succeeded an equal contraction, 

 and then followed great relaxation below the normal, so great 

 indeed that the negative cui-ve below the abscissa strongly re- 

 sembled the positive curve of contraction due to rigor in most 

 other exiieriments.' 



" Cciitributions to our Knowledge of the Connexion between 

 Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action. Preliminary 

 Communication on the Action of certain Aromatic Bodies." By 

 T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., F.R.S., and J. Theodore Cash, M.D. 



The distinctive action of the lower members of the fatty series 

 is their stimulant and anccsthetic action on the nerve-centres. 



The members of the aromatic series also affect the nervous 

 system, but tliey appear to affect the motor centres more than 

 the sensory, so that instead of producing anxsthesia, like the 

 members of the fatty series they tend rather to produce tremor, 

 convulsions, and paralysis. Benzene, chlorobenzene, bromo- 

 benzene, and iodobenzene are all somewhat similar in their 

 action on frogs ; the halogen radicals not modifying the action 

 of the benzene to such an extent as they do in the case of 

 ammonium sails. The \oIuntary muscles .ire weakened by 

 them, and there is a slight tendency to paralysis of the motor 

 nerves ; but the action is chiefly exerted upon the brain and 

 spinal cord. The brain is first affected, as shown by general 

 lethargy and disinclination to move. Next the cord is affected ; 

 motions are imperfectly performed, and there is a tendency to 

 general tremor on movement resembling that observed in dis- 

 seminated sclerosis ; soaaetimes, however, the tremor is observed 

 independently of movement 



The addition of hydroxyl to the benzene nucleus intensifies 

 the convulsant action, so that oxybenzene (carbolic acid) and 

 dioxybenzene cause convulsions in frogs, and trioxybenzene 

 causes jerkings, though of a slighter character. 



Zoological Society, April 5.— Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — The Secretary read a report on the 

 additions that had been made to the Society's menagerie during 

 the month of March 1SS7. — Mr. F. Day exhibited and made 

 remarks on a specimen of a Mediterranean fish (Scorpinia 

 screfa), taken by a trawler off Brixham early in March last, 

 and new to the British fauna. — Mr. J. H. Leech exhibited some 

 specimens of new butterflies from Japan and Corea, and gave a 

 short account of his recent journeys to those countries in quest 

 of Lepidoptera. — The Secretarj' read a letter addressed to him 

 by the Rev. G. H. R Fisk, of the Cape Colony, respecting the 



' This ph< 



difficult to explain, bat it stii^^e^ts the possibility 

 well as a longitudinal contiraction in muscular fibre — 



killing and eating, by a shrew, of a young venomous snake 

 (Seft'doii hiTmachatcs). — Prof. Flower, F.R.S., comuiunicated, 

 on behalf of Messrs. John H. Scott and T. Jeffery Parker, of 

 the University of Otago, N.Z,, a paper containing an account of 

 a specimen of a young female Ziphius, which was cast ashore 

 alive at Warrington, north of Dunedin, New Zealand, in Nov- 

 ember 1884. — Sir. Richard S. Wray read a ]-iaper on the 

 morphology of the wings of birds, in which a description was 

 given of a typical wing, and the main modifications which are 

 found in other forms of wings were pointed out. One of the 

 principal points adverted to was the absence, in nearly half the 

 class of birds, of the fifth cubital remex, its coverts only being 

 developed. The peculiar structure of the win^s in the Ratitae 

 and the Sphenisci was also commented upon. — A communication 

 was read from the Rev. H. S. Gorham, on the classification of 

 the Coleoptera of the division Languriides. The author pointed 

 out the characters which, in his opinion, were available for the 

 systematic arrangement of this family of Coleoptera, and for its 

 division into genera. The subject had hitherto not received the 

 attention it deserved, and several errors had gained cuirency, 

 owing to the hasty and insufficient way in which the structure of 

 these insects had been analysed. He added an analytical table 

 of about forty genera, many of those proposed being new. Further 

 notice of the American genera would soon appear in Messrs. 

 Godman and Salvin's " Biologia Centrali-Americana." 



Mathematical Society, April 7. — Sir J. Cockle, F.R. S., 

 President, in the chair. — The following papers were read, or 

 taken as read : — On the intersections of a circle and a plane 

 curve, by Prof. Genese. — A new theory of harmonic polygons, 

 by the Rev. T. C. Simmons. — On some properties of sirapli- 

 cissima, with especial regard to the related spherical loci, by 

 Mr. W. J. C. Sharp.— On Briot and Bouquet's theory of the 



differential equation f(u, 'J-) = °>^y ^™'^- Cayley, F.R.S. — 



Two points in the plane of a triangle and a cubic through them, 

 by R. Tucker. ^A tetrahedral note, by Dr. Wolstenholme. 

 Edinburgh 



Royal Society, April 4. — Dr. J. Murray, Vice-President, in 

 the chair. — Prof. Tait communicated a note by Prof. Cayley, on 

 a formula for A"c''/n', when « and i are very large numbers. — 

 Mr. R. Kidston read the first part of a paper on the fossil flora 

 of the Radstock series of the Somerset and Bristol coal-fields 

 (Upper Coal-mea^ures).— Dr. Sang read a paper on the achro- 

 matism of the four-lens eye-piece, describing a new arrangement 

 of the lenses. He al-.o read a note on an effective arrangement 

 for observing the passage of the sun's image across the wires of 

 a telescope. — Prof. Turner read a communication by Mr. F. E. 

 Beddard, on the structural characteristics of certain new or little- 

 known earthworms. Five new species found in Australia and 

 New Zealand were treated of.— Prof. J. Geikie discussed the 

 geology and petrology of St. Abb's Head. 

 Paris 



Academy of Sciences, April 12. ^M. Janssen, President, 

 in the chair. — On the relations that exist between cyclones and 

 concurrent storms and hurricanes, by M. H. Faye. From an 

 attentive study of the synoptical storm charts of the United States 

 Signal Sen-ice, the author is able to confirm the conclusions 

 already drawn by M. Marie-Davy from the meteorological 

 observations made at the Paris Observatory so far back as the 

 year 1864. It is shown (i) that tornadoes, hurricanes, and hail- 

 storms are simply secondary phenomena directly associated with 

 the central cyclonic movement; (2) that in the United Slates 

 tlieir trajectories have no general relation either to the iiobars 

 or to the normal atmospheric currents ; (3) that these relatively 

 short trajectories are parallel to the vast cyclonic trajectories at 

 the moment when these local phenomena arise ; (4) that they all 

 lie on the right flank of the cyclone itself, which may thus be 

 regarded as a complex meteorological system accomjianied on its 

 right side by whole colonies of destructive tornadoes and 

 hurricanes with their attendant waterspouts, hailstorms, and 

 torrential downpours, all moving together across seas and 

 continents. The whole movement is regulated by the simple 

 law of the mechanics of fluids, which determines the forma^on 

 of spirals or vortices in the upper atmospheric regions. The 

 surprising variety of the physical efiects produced by the move- 

 ment is simply due to the descending vortex, which, as in our 

 electric machines, suffices to bring into contact and set in -violent 

 motion aerial masses lying far apart, with their consequent 

 differences of temperature, and aqueous particles either frozen or 



