November iS, 1909] 



A'A TURE 



89 



Spirochaetes when the infection is at its height. As the 

 infection draws to an end, and there is a diminution in 

 numbers of the parasites, there is a reappearance of longi- 

 tudinal division. Naturally there are times when both 

 forms of division occur togetlier. The observations 

 relating to periodicity were made on peripheral blood of 

 the host. The actual processes of division, and the move- 

 ments of the parasites meanwhile, are set forth in detail 

 in the paper. — G. A. Buckmaster and J. A. Gardner : 

 The supposed presence of carbon monoxide in normal 

 blood, and in the blood of animals ana;sthetised with 

 chloroform. In a paper published in 189S, Desgrez and 

 Nicloux stated that the normal blood of Paris dogs con- 

 tains about 1-6 c.c. of carbon monoxide per litre, and that 

 when the animals are anaesthetised by chloroform the 

 amount increases to 2-5 to 6 c.c, according to the dura- 

 tion of anaesthesia. Their method of estimating carbon 

 monoxide consisted in passing the blood gases over iodine 

 pentoxide at 150° C, and determining the iodine liberated 

 by the method of Rabourdin. The authors have carefully 

 re-investigated the question, making use of Haldane's 

 method of estimating carbon monoxide by means of diluted 

 blood, after having previously ascertained that far smaller 

 quantities of this gas than those found by the French 

 observers in normal blood gases could be readily detected. 

 Thev find that neither normal cats' blood nor the blood 

 of cats anaesthetised by chloroform contains any detect- 

 able trace of carbon monoxide. They also find that most 

 of the chloroform in the blood comes off with the gases 

 when extracted at 40° C. In order to arrive at an ex- 

 planation of Nicloux's results, the authors (i) repeated 

 his experiments with variations, investigated (2) the effect 

 of heat on iodine pentoxide, (3) the effect of chloroform 

 vapour on iodine pentoxide, and (4) the effect of chloroform 

 vapour on alkahs. The latter experiments show that 

 chloroform vapour is readily decomposed by passing over 

 solid potash, and also by the reagents used in gas analysis, 

 with the production of carbon monoxide. It is concluded 

 from the experiments (i) that chloroform is not decom- 

 posed in the blood with formation of carbon monoxide : 

 (2) the iodine liberated in the experiments of Nicloux was 

 due, to some extent, to the direct decomposition of the 

 iodine pentoxide by the chloroform vapour in his blood 

 gases, but mainly to the carbon monoxide produced by 

 the action of this chloroform on the solid potash over 

 which he passed the blood gases in order to free them 

 from carbon dioxide. — G. W. Ellis and J. A. Gardner : 

 The origin and destiny of cholesterol in the animal 

 organisms. Part vi., the excretion of cholesterol by the 

 cat. In this paper the results of a number of estimations 

 of the cholesterol content of the ffeces of cats fed on a 

 variety of diets — animal and vegetable — of known choles- 

 terol content, are described. It was found that cats behave 

 similarly to dogs when fed on meat diets, but the tendency 

 for the change of cholesterol into coprosterol appears to 

 be greater in the case of cats. The change is, however, 

 never complete unless the diet contains a considerable 

 amount of fat. In all these experiments the total choles- 

 terol and coprosterol excreted was considerably less than 

 that taken in with the food. Without considering the 

 cholesterol poured into the gut with the bile, the per- 

 centage deficit was 50-60, an average loss of about 008 

 gram per day. In the case of vegetable diets free from 

 cholesterol or phytosterol, the weights of food necessary 

 to keep the animals in condition were larger, and the 

 amounts of fseces very much larger, than in the case of 

 meat diets. Small amounts of cholesterol were excreted, 

 averaging about 003 gram per day, but no change into 

 coprosterol took place. In the case of artificial diets to 

 which measured quantities of cholesterol or phytosterol 

 were added, no excess of cholesterol above that adminis- 

 tered was recovered from the fseces. The bearing of these 

 results on hypotheses advanced in former papers of the 

 series is discussed. — Prof. W. A. Osborne : The elasticity 

 of rubber balloons and hollow viscera (with a note bv 

 W. Sutherland). 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, Oc'oher iq. — Mr. 



Francis Jones, president, in the chair. — L. E. Adams : 



Some notes on the breeding habits of the common mole. 



An account was given of observations on the length of time 



NO. 2090, VOL. 82] 



the young of the mole spend in the nest, and their rate 

 of growth. Special breeding nests, sometimes as large as, 

 but generally simpler than, the winter fortresses, from 

 which they are further distinguished by the absence of a 

 " bolt-run," are made by the female for the accommoda- 

 tion of the young. These are usually born about the middle 

 of May, though they have been observed as early as 

 April 24, the latest date on which they were found in the 

 nest being June 25. The author thinks that, considering 

 their subterranean existence, climatic changes have little 

 influence on their pairing early or late. Fresh observations 

 confirm the statement made in a former paper that only 

 one litter is produced annually by each pair. In any given 

 season all the litters were born within a period of three 

 weeks, and, as the young remain four weeks in the nest, 

 there could not have been time to rear two litters. In 

 order to ascertain the rate of growth of the young, the 

 author took one, for measurement and reference, from each 

 of several litters, and, after replacing the nest as carefully 

 as possible, repeated the operation at intervals of a few 

 days. The tabulated results showed that head and body 

 measured at birth 40 mm., and at the end of the third 

 week 117 or iiS mm., at which limit they evidently re- 

 mained for some weeks before growth recommenced. The 

 young begin to leave the nest at the end of the fourth 

 week, and the process is a gradual one, requiring for its 

 accomplishment six or seven days. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, November 8. — M. Bouchard in 

 the chair. — G. Bigourdan : A means of removing astro- 

 nomical clocks from the influence of the variations of 

 atmospheric pressure. The apparatus described and figured 

 maintains the pressure round the clock constant, this 

 pressure being fi-xed so that it is always higher than any 

 possible atmospheric pressure. — L. Maquenne and M. 

 Demoussy : The influence of the ultra-violet rays on the 

 growth of green plants. The ultra-violet rays were pro- 

 duced by means of a Heraeus quartz mercury lamp. It 

 was found that the ultra-violet rays determine the death 

 of plant cells in a relatively short space of time, com- 

 parable with that required for the sterilisation of a con- 

 taminated liquid. The action is especially on the surface. 

 — A. Calmette and L. Massol : The precipitation of the 

 tuberculins by the serum of animals immunised against 

 tuberculosis. In a preceding note a description has been 

 given of a method of immunising cattle against tubercu- 

 losis by the injection of bovine bacilli cultivated on 

 glycerinated ox bile. This method furnishes a serum of 

 extraordinary agglutinating power. In the present note 

 the precipitation of tuberculin from physiological saline 

 solutions by this serum is described, and the properties of 

 the precipitated tuberculin discussed. — M. Giacobini : 

 Observations of Halley's comet, made at the Paris 

 Observatory with the 3S-cm. equatorial. Details of the 

 observations on November 5, 6, and 7 are given. The 

 comet is at the extreme limit of visibility ; a small nucleus 

 of the fourteenth magnitude can be distinguished, sur- 

 rounded by a nebulosity of about 5" to 6". — Arthur R. 

 Hinks : The mass of the moon deduced from photographic 

 observations of the planet Eros, made in the years 1900 

 and 1901. — Eugene Fabry : The modulus of a Taylor's 

 series. — E. Vessiot : The groups of rationality of systems 

 of ordinary differential equations. — Demetrius Grave : .An 

 identitv in the theory of binary quadratic forms. — H. 

 Pellat : A compound pendulum of very simple construc- 

 tion giving immediately the length of the synchronous 

 pendulum. A new method of determining g. A descrip- 

 tion of a bifilar pendulum the bob of which contains a 

 cavity. Two determinations of the time of oscillation are 

 made, in one of which the mass is altered by the addition 

 of mercury to the cavity. A simple calculation gives the 

 length of the equivalent simple pendulum. — L. Bloch : 

 The phosphorescence and oxidation of arsenic. The phos- 

 phorescence of arsenic is always accompanied by the pro- 

 duction of the oxide. No ozone is produced, and there are 

 no phenomena of ionisation. Both the oxides of arsenic 

 are produced, and this is the case during both phosphor- 

 escence and during combustion with flame. — C. Fery and 

 C. Cheneveau : The total and monochromatic radiation 

 of incandescent lamps. .\ study of the relation between 



