24 
NATURE 
|. ay 7, 1885 
cholera, and cultivated in peptonised gelatine, by M. Bochefon- 
taine. Experiments made by the author on himself and on the 
guinea-pig tend to show that these preparations, when swallowed 
or injected in small doses, produce no morbid symptom, although 
large doses may give rise to more or less serious local inflamma- 
tion. He infers that the physiological disorders observed in 
cholera patients are due, not to the development of the microbe 
germs, but to the presence of a special substance not yet deter- 
mined ; further, that in its normal state the blood of man and 
other animals is destructive to the choleraic microbes artificially 
prepared in gelatine. 
BERLIN 
Physiological Society, March 27.—Prof. Ewald spoke on 
the occurrence of lactic acid in human gastric juices, which was 
now universally regarded as a pathological formation, z.e. a pro- 
duct of fermenting processes which did not obtain under normal 
conditions. In conformity with this opinion he had, in a former 
investigation, clearly demonstrated the absence of lactic acid, 
even after milk had been partaken. On the other hand, he had 
regularly found hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice. Two 
cases of hysteric vomiting, which had come under his ob- 
servation in the infirmary, induced him to resume this in- 
vestigation, one of the cases especially inviting such inquiry. 
The female patient was able to retain on her stomach and 
normally digest solid food, but whenever she swallowed 
anything fluid the whole contents of the stomach were at once 
vomited. Opportunity was, therefore, here offered at any time 
to examine the contents of the stomach after food had been 
received, Prof. Ewald mentioned the different chemical reac- 
tions by means of which the presence of lactic acid might be easily 
detected in the gastric juice, and among them he deemed car- 
bolic acid and chloride of iron the most trustworthy. He then 
described the experiments he had carried out on the female 
patient above referred to, which had yielded the following re- 
sults :—After a mixed meal (of bread, vegetables, and meat), 
lactic acid was found 26 times out of 31 in the contents of the 
stomach in the space of ro to roo minutes after the reception of 
the food ; in 5 cases, however, not till 120 minutes or more after 
that point of time. Hydrochloric acid was found in the con- 
ents of the stomach only in the second hour and later, after 
the lactic acid had disappeared. Out of 26 cases in which 
white bread was alone eaten, lactic acid was demonstrated in 
17 Cases, occurring in fo to 100 minutes from the time of eating. 
Out of 15 cases in which cooked albumen was administered, 
lactic acid was found only in one case, within one-and- 
a-half hours from the time of its being taken; while, 
on ‘‘schabefleisch ” (scraped raw meat) being administered, 
lactic acid became again demonstrable ; in the majority of cases 
in 10 to 100 minutes’ time. From these experiments it was to 
be inferred that lactic acid occurred normally in the contents of 
the stomach, namely, in the first period of digestion. It was, 
however, in the opinion of Prof. Ewald, no normal constituent 
of the gastric juice, but in the case of a mixed and meat diet 
originated in the carno-lactic acid obtained from the meat and, 
in the case of white bread being taken, from the fermentation of 
the starch. On albumen being taken, lactic acid was, there- 
fore, not found, because it occurred in the stomach only when 
it was introduced with the food—in the case of meat, for ex- 
ample—or when it arose from a fermentive aliment. With refer- 
ence to the ulterior issues of the lactic acid, the speaker adopted 
the view of Prof. Maly, that it was employed towards the forma- 
tion of the free hydrochloric acid afterwards appearing in the 
gastric juice.—Dr. Blaschko reported some observations he had 
made on sensations of pressure. In the course of investigations 
into the development of the skin, he had found that the hair- 
roots were provided witha rich nerve plexus in the same manner 
as the touch corpuscles in the touch balls of the hands and 
feet, and this induced him to examine the hairs in respect of 
their sensibility to pressure. When he took a stiff hair a little 
curved at the tip, and stroked the skin with it, he had only then 
a sensation when he touched a lanugo hair. By this and other 
means he became convinced that the hair papillae possessed such 
a high degree of sensibility as entitled them to be placed in a 
series with the touch papillze. While, however, the touch cor- 
puscles had to be drawn hither and thither over the object to be 
touched, in the case of the touch hairs the body to be felt had, 
on the contrary, to be waved over it. Dr. Blaschko was 
therefore of opinion that a direct and an indirect, or a 
papillary and a ciliary feeling of the skin had to be distin- 
guished. The first performed its functions at the unhaired 
cutaneous spots ; the touch balls of the hand, and the foot, 
and at the lips ; by means of the touch corpuscles. The indirect 
or ciliary sensations, on the other hand, were performed by the 
lanugo hairs covering the whole body, which were properly, 
therefore, touch hairs. If at a limited spot of the skin, such as 
the forehead, the lanugo hairs were shaved away, then would 
the fine sensations of pressure likewise disappear, and on waving 
that part of the skin with the stiff hair above referred to, a cor- 
respondingly large hiatus would become perceptible, at which 
nothing would be felt. In the course of this investigation the 
speaker had failed to convince himself of the existence of special 
points of pressure, and controverted the doctrine set up by Dr. 
Goldscheider in the former sitting of the Society respecting the 
specific energies of the nerves of feeling, and their punctiform 
distribution over the surface. In the discussion which followed, 
Dr. Goldscheider maintained the accuracy of his former state- 
ments, and invited Dr. Blaschko to convince himself of their 
correctness according to the method prosecuted by him, 
VIENNA 
Imperial Academy of Sciences, February 5.—Contribu- 
tions to general nerve and muscle physiology (seventeenth com- 
munication) : on the electric stimulation of the sphincter of 
Anodonta, by W. Biedermann.—Experiments on the oxidation 
of albumen by potassium permanganate, by R. Maly.—On 
Clemmys sarmatica, noy. spec., from the Hernalstegel, near 
Vienna, by C. A. Purschke.—Remarks on the velocity of light 
in quartz, by K. Exner.—Histological and embryological re- 
searches on the uro-genital apparatus, by T. Tanosik.—On a 
new vegetable parasite of the human body, by R. von Wettstein. 
February 12.—On the bloodless-vessels in the tail of Batrachian 
larvae, by S. Mayer.—On the constitution of isutivinic acid, by 
T. Schreder.—On the isogyric plane of double-refracting crys- 
tals, by H. Pitsch.—On the geographical distribution of the 
Jurassic formation, by M. Neumeyr. 
CONTENTS PAGE 
Greek Mathematics). j cie eemenicr eieenn ene ij 
Our Book Shelf :— 
«The Zoological Record for 1883” ... . 2 
Clowes’s ‘‘ Treatise on Practical Chemistry and Quali- 
tative Inorganic PASH ally SiS uals é 3 
Smith’s ‘‘ Original Researches in Mineralogy and 
Chemistry” . : PAD fc 3 
Tschermak’s «« Lehrbuch der Mineralogie” «on eeteies 3 
Letters to the Editor :— 
Mr. Lowne on the Morphology of Insects’ Eyes.— 
Dr EevA. SchaterghaRIS. 0 ae face 
The Late Prof. Clifford’s Papers.—R. Tucker . . 
Sir Wm. Thomson and Maxwell’s Electro-magnetic 
Theory of Light.—Prot. Geo, Fras. Fitzgerald . 
The April Meteors.—W. F. Denning. (/¢/ustrated) 
Chinese Insect Wax.—R. McLachlan, F.R.S. .. 
The New Bird in Natal.—J. E. Harting ..... 
Wild Bees.x—E. Brown. . . 
On M, Wolf’s Modification of Foucault’s Apparatus 
for the Measurement of the Velocity of Light. By 
Albert A. Michelson ... a 
Self-Induction in Relation to certain Experiments of 
Mr, Willoughby Smith, and to the Determination 
of the Ohm. By Lord Rayleigh, FIRS). eee 
The Inventions) xhibition) 20.) =). eee 
The Flora of Bank-Notes. leet) + a) ae 
Standard Pitch. . . 2 el eee 
The Science and Art Museum, ‘Edinburgh +) Ayan 
NOtES aan os (el ee 6 se) Mentone 
Our Astronomical Column: — 
Tuttle's Comet .... AMO. eS 
Astronomical Phenomena ‘for the Week 1885, 
May ZO=26) ce ey 0 foe cele 
Geographical Notes... . 14 
Some Experiments on the Viscosity of ‘Ice. By ‘Prof. 
oi Roya Motgen is: 6). aes 16 
Ben Nevis ... Bip. o . 
Sunlight and the ‘Earth’s | Atmosphere. Bysisomee 
Langley.) 2 ee: Peers oO 527 
fon) DA. BU 
ooo wm 
nd 
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers Did Oy | 20) 
University and Educational Intelligence ..... 21 
Scientific(Serials yee =< neeel tech tes ne ean 
Societies and Academies |. - 1:1 ses sane ene 
