June 25, 1908] 



NA TURE 



187 



A rich and interesting ornitliological collection of 1500 

 skins, twenty-two eggs, five nests, and three skeletons, 

 made by Mr. Kozlow, has been entrusted to the experienced 

 hands of Mr. V. Bianchi, and its description is contained 

 in "Mongolia and Cham," vol. v., " Aves e.\peditionis 

 Kozlowi." Eight new endemic forms were discovered. 

 The name Cham or Kham relates bro-adly to the whole 

 Alpine country of south-eastern Tibet, and in a narrower 

 sense it refers to the area upon which agriculture is 

 possible at a certain height. In the latter sense the 

 boundaries of Cham are still uncertain. The volume opens 

 with a physicogeographical sketch of the regions traversed 

 by the expedition, passing to tables of distribution and 

 analyses of the different species. The chief interest of the 

 collection is that it was made in localities previously un- 

 visited by European naturalists. Four plates of birds 

 appear at the end, with a map indicating the routes of Mr. 

 Kozlow and his colleagues. The longitude is reckoned 

 from Pulliova, 5o''-So°, the difference of longitude between 

 Greenwich and Pulkova being 30° 19' 4o"-io. The classifi- 

 cation of diatoms was entrusted to Mr. K. S. Merezhkov- 

 sky, and Mr., N. A. Tatshaloff recorded the astronomical 

 results of this important expedition, their worl-c being con- 

 tained in two shorter volumes. 



THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



T^HE general meeting of the American Philosophical 

 Society was held at Philadelphia on .^pril 23-25. The 

 opening session was on -April 23, and morning and after- 

 noon sessions were held on the following days, with an 

 evening lecture by Prof. H. F. Osborn on April 24 at the 

 hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which was 

 followed by a reception to the visiting members and friends 

 of the society. The sessions were largely attended. The 

 meeting closed with a dinner at the Bellevue-Stratford on 

 the evening of April 25. 



Forty-two papers were presented, covering a wide range 

 of subjects, but we are only able to find space for 

 sumtnaries of a few of them. 



" Determination of Dominance in Mendelian Inherit- 

 ance," Dr. C. B. Davenport. In studying heredity, where 

 a single character is considered which one parent possesses 

 and the other lacks, or a character that is contrasted in 

 ih^ parents, it is generally found that the offspring are 

 alike, and like one parent only. From examples of poultry, 

 of insects, of certain mammals, including man, and certain 

 plants, in regard to inheritance that may be described as 

 Mendelian, it is concluded that where a stronger determiner 

 meets a weaker determiner in the germ, dominance is the 

 result. When the character is present in one parent only 

 we have the extreme case and typical Mendelian inherit- 

 ance, but when the determiners are of nearly equal potency 

 the Mendelian law is obscured. 



" .\ Preliminary Report upon a Crystallographic Study 

 of Haemoglobins : a Contribution to the Specificity of Vital 

 Substances in Different Vertebrates," Profs. E. T. Reirhert 

 and A. P. Brown. The primary object of this research 

 was to determine whether or not corresponding albuminous 

 substances are identical in different species. The results 

 of the investigation, which has covered more than one 

 hundred species of vertebrates, show : — (a) the crystals of 

 oxyhoemoglobin obtained from any single genus are iso- 

 morphous, but unlike those obtained from other genera 

 unless these genera are closely related or in the same 

 family ; (h) specific differences in angle and habit are 

 obtained between crystals obtained from species of the same 

 genus, so that it is geneially possible to re-organise the 

 species by the crystals ; (c) the occurrence of several types 

 of crystals of oxyhemoglobin in the same species ; 

 (d) indications are found in the crystal angles of a sub- 

 stance in the molecule common to all haemoglobins, no 

 matter what the system of crystallisation. The applica- 

 tion of this method of research to problems in zoological 

 classification and in heredity was pointed out. 



" The Effect of Certain Preservatives upon Metabolism," 

 Dr. H. W. Wiley. Details were given of the work that 

 Dr. Wiley is carrying on in the study of the effect upon 

 the human organism of a number of preservatives 

 commonly used in the preparation of foods, such as borax, 



NO. 20I7. VOL. JBl 



boric acid, salicylic acid and salicylates, sulphurous acid, 

 sulphites, benzoic acid and benzoates, formaldehyde, copper 

 sulphate, and potassium nitrate. E.xperiments with the 

 first five of these preservatives show conclusively that their 

 continued use, in quantities such as are used in food pre- 

 servatives, hinders or prevents metabolism, and may 

 seriously derange the functions of the organism. The 

 other substances enumerated are still under investigation, 

 but the results thus far obtained seem to indicate that they 

 are equally injurious. 



" Observations Regarding the Infliction of the Death 

 Penalty by Electricity," Prof. E. A. Spitzka. This paper 

 sets forth the history of " electrocution," the methods 

 employed, and the phenomena observed in this mode of 

 death, together with the post mortem findings, detailing 

 the observations of the author, based upon thirty-one 

 electrocutions at Sing Sing, Auburn, Dannemora, and 

 Trenton prisons. Compared with other methods, " electro- 

 cution " is the most humane method of inflicting the death 

 penaltv, because of its efficiency, quickness, and painless- 

 ness, and it should be adopted in every State in the Union. 



" A Comparison of the Albino Rat with Man in Respect 

 to the Growth of the Brain and the Spinal Cord," Prof. 

 H. H. Donaldson. A statistical study of the growth of 

 the brain and the spinal cord in the white rat, in which 

 the weight of the brain and of the spinal cord is recorded' 

 and compared with the body weight at various stages of 

 the development of tile animal. The results are plotted, 

 and from these records logarithmic curves are drawn. 

 When compared with the curves derived from the same 

 data in the case of man, and plotted to a corresponding 

 scale, a close similarity in the curves is noted. 



" The Classification of the Cetacea," Dr. F. W. True. 

 The opinion is expressed that the Cetacea are not directly 

 derived from Zeuglodonts, and that their origin is not 

 at present known ; also that the white whale and the 

 narwhal should not be removed from the family 

 Delphinidae, and that the river dolphin, Stenodelphis, 

 should, for the present at least, be placed in that family. 



" Results of the American Museum Exploration in the 

 Fayum Desert of Northern Egypt," Prof. H. F. Osborn. 

 The camp of the American Museum Expedition w'as located 

 to the west of Qasr el Sagra, near the bone quarries 

 opened by Beadnell. Remains of Arsinoitherium, Palaeo- 

 mastodon, and Moeritherium were obtained from these 

 quarries. A reconnaissance into the Zeuglodon valley, near 

 Gar el Gehannem, was described. The restorations of 

 Mceritherium and Pal.Teomastodon, made by Mr. Charles 

 R. Knight under the direction of Prof. Osborn, were ex- 

 hibited. From northern Africa the elephant stock migrated 

 south through ."Mrica, north into Europe, and north-east 

 and east through Asia into the Americas. From a com- 

 parison of the ancestral elephant Mceritherium with the 

 Sirenian Eotherium, it is believed that the sea-cows and 

 elephants are derived from the same stock. 



"Additional Notes on the Santa Cruz Typotheria," Dr. 

 W. J. Sinclair. A presentation of the general conclusions 

 reached as a result of two years' study of the Typotheria 

 from the Santa Cruz formation of Patagonia. They 

 appear first in the Notostylops beds (uppermost Cretaceous 

 or basal Eocene), and become extinct in the Pampean 

 (Pleistocene). It is generally assumed that the rodents and 

 conies are related to Typotheria, but this does not appear 

 to be the case ; the resemblances are probably due to con- 

 vergence. The Toxodontia and the Typotheria probably 

 had a common origin. The Typotheria do not lend much 

 support to the idea of a former land connection with 

 Africa, showing no relationship with the recently dis- 

 covered Eocene mammals from the Fayum province of 

 Egypt. 



" Progress in the Demarcation of the Boundary between 

 Alaska and Canada," Prof. O. H. Tittmann. Details are 

 given of the methods employed in determining the Alaskan 

 boundary. The length of the boundary is about twelve 

 hundred miles, extending from the Arctic Ocean south 

 along the 141st meridian to near Mt. St. Elias, and thence 

 along the coast strip of south-eastern Alaska. In south- 

 eastern Alaska aluminium-bronze monuments are placed' 

 wherever it is practicable to do so, but, as most of the 

 turning points in the line are inaccessible snow-clad peaks, 

 they will be defined by triangulation connection with the 



