520 
the pigmentary fold and a network of fibres, the ligamentum 
pectinatum iridis, which Dr. Virchow had searchingly investi- 
gated in a large number of animals. This network of fibres 
was so little developed in man as hardly to merit any considera- 
tion there. In other classes of animals, however, it attained a 
very remarkable development. The speaker gave a more de- 
tailed description of the course of the fibrous lines of the net- 
work, which presented a great multiplicity in the different 
animals. The fibres separated by larger interstices now pur- 
sued a principally posterior direction, now spread radiating 
from their place of origin at the union of the sclerotic and 
cornea, now they were developed more anteriorly, reaching far 
into the iris. By means of numerous diagrams and several 
preparations these anatomical relations were illustrated in greater 
detail. In regard to the physiological significance of this net- 
work of fibres the speaker was of opinion that they performed a 
mechanical function, but he dissented from the assumption put 
forth by some authors that the ligamentum pectinatum was the 
tendon of the ciliary muscle. Such an assumption was at 
variance with the fact that in the case of man, whose eye pos- 
sessed powerful ciliary muscles, the ligamentum pectinatum was 
but weakly developed, whereas in other animals witha very weak 
ciliary muscle it was strongly developed. The fibres of the liga- 
mentum pectinatum might operate as antagonists to the ciliary 
muscles in those cases in which they were especially directed 
posteriorly. In such cases, on the other hand, in which the 
fibres were developed more to the anterior side and passed into 
the iris, they would probably serve as antagonists to the musculus 
sphincter pupillz. It was still more probable that by their 
radiation towards the membrana limitans they afforded support 
and hold to the fibres of the ligamentum suspensorium of the 
lens, establishing themselves at the other side of this membrane. 
This relation was brought very close by the course of the fibres, 
particularly in the case of the anthropoids.—Herr Aronsohn 
made some additions to his former communications on the 
physiology of the sense of smell. The most minimal quantities 
of clove oil and bromine, which dissolved in c°6 per cent. of 
common salt solutions, he was yet able to smell distinctly, 
tallied very well with the most minute quantities which Valentin 
had found perceptible by the sense of smell in the air. By 
electrical stimulation of the olfactory nerve he had also been 
able to call forth distinct sensations of smell in some other 
trustworthy persons. The physiological common salt solution of 
the temperature of 40° C. he had previously found to be entirely 
indifferent to the olfactory nerves. Were a part of the common 
salt replaced by other salts, then, according to the nature of 
the salt, different, mostly somewhat large, quantities of the salt 
(osmodic equivalents) had to be taken in order to form an in- 
different solution. These osmodic equivalents Herr Aronsohn 
had now exactly determined for a series of salts. Finally, in 
order to demonstrate that there were special fibres in the 
olfactories for special smells, he had hebetated his own sense 
of smell for a certain quality of smells, that, namely, of sul- 
phuret of ammonium, and had convinced himself that, though, 
indeed, no longer able to perceive this smell, he was yet very 
well able to smell ethereal oils: —Dr. Benda spoke of a series of 
preparations of sensory and motory nerve-endings which he had 
exhibited in the Demonstrating Hall. They were prepared ac- 
cording to a new process recommended by Dr. Meys. The process 
consisted in adding arsenic acid to a chloride of gold and potas- 
sium. By means of this reagent the nerve-endings were made very 
beautifully visible, but in this way the epithelia were destroyed, 
and in order to preserve these likewise, Dr. Benda had further 
added to the fluid either chromic acid or alcohol. The ex- 
hibited preparations showed very clearly that the medullary 
motory nerves ended in Kiihne’s terminal plates, besides which 
in one case a marrowless, and certainly sensory, nervye-fibre, 
ending in a bifurcated ramification, could be distinctly traced. 
Marrowless fibres ended in an umbellate form, each single fibre 
on the muscle passing into a button-like swelling. These fibres, 
Dr. Benda held to be motory. There were further shown the 
nerve-endings in the papillze of the tongue, in the Paccinian cor- 
puscles, in the cornea, and in the skin of the neck.—Dr. Kossel 
spoke of some important chemical relations of the cell nucleus, 
of that constituent of it, namely, which morphologists denoted 
as chromatine, and chemists asnucleine. As products of decom- 
position of the nucleine he had formerly obtained three nitro- 
genous bases: xanthine, hypoxanthine, and guanine. Quite 
recently he had obtained, though, to be sure, only in very small 
quantities, from the nucleine, a fourth base, namely, adenine, 
NATORE 
[ Sept. 24, 1885 
discovered by him some time ago in the glands of the abdomen, 
After he had prepared 3 g. of this substance, he treated it with 
nitrous acid, and received as a product of the decomposition of 
adenine, hypoxanthine. When he treated guanine in the same 
manner he received xanthine. It was therefore probable that the 
first products of decomposition of the nucleine were adenine and 
guanine, and that from these, first hypoxanthine and then xanthine 
were formed. The chemical relations of these four bases were 
best rendered evident by their chemical formule :— 
=C,H,N, | = C,H,N,O 
= C,H,N,O = C;H,N,O, 
All the four bases stood in intimate relation to prussic acid, 
CHN, which by the action of caustic alkali was obtained 
from them in very large quantities, while other albuminous 
bodies under similar treatment yielded very little prussic acid, or 
none at all. It was doubtless of great importance that nuclei ne 
stood in such intimate relation to cyanogen. What part, how- 
ever, the cyanogen bodies played in the cell nucleus was as yet 
unknown. 
Guanine 
Xanthine 
Adenine 
Hypoxanthine 
VIENNA 
Imperial Academy of Sciences, June 5.—On the -deter- 
mination of the halogens of organic bodies, by K. Zulkowsky.— 
On the products of reduction of the nitro-azo-compounds and 
on azo-nitrolic acids, by T. V. Janovsky.—On the action of 
rock-crystal in the magnetic field, by T. Tumlirz.—On the dis- 
tribution of heat on the earth’s surface, by R. Spitaler.—Myco- 
logical researches, by H. Zukal.—Ideas on the prophylaxis and 
therapeutics of cholera, by L. Kastner.—On the fossil chalk- 
elements of the Alcyonidz and Holothuridz and other recent 
forms, by Ph. Pocta.—On the temperature of the Austrian alpine 
regions, by T. Hann.—Determination of the trajectory of the 
Comet VIII. 1884, by S. Oppenheim. 
June 11.—On the behaviour of liquid and gaseous bodies 
under the greatest variations of atmospheric pressure, by C. 
Puschl.—On the electrical resistance of copper at the lowest 
temperature, by S. Wroblewski.—On the formation and disso- 
lution of white blood-corpuscles (a contribution to the theory of 
leukcemia), by M. Loewit.—On the basalt of Kollnitz (in the 
Layant valley, Carinthia), and on its vitreous cordierite-enclosures, 
by K. Prohaska.—Report on the experiments on the use of 
boiling oxygen, nitrogen, carbon oxide, and atmospheric air as 
refrigeratives, by K. Olscewski.—On the destruction of tartaric 
acid at higher temperatures under the presence of glycerine, by 
K. Tavanovitsch. . 
June 18.—Experiments on the chemical action of light, by T. 
M. Eder.—On the volumetric determination of phenol by 
bromine, by K. Weinreb and C. Bondi.—On the anatomy of 
Tyroglyphide, by A. Nalepa.—On the decomposition of didy- 
mium into its elements, by C. Auer von Welsbach. 
CONTENTS PAGE 
Public Opinion and State Aid to Science 497 
Letters to the Editor :— 
The New Star in Andromeda.—J. Edmund Clark 499 
Norwegian Testimony to the Aurora-Sound.—Dr, 
Sophus Tromholt| . - 7. \. & = \: a) ie 
A White Swallow.—Mary Briggs. ....... 500 
The Hume Collection of Asiatic Birds. By Dr. Albert 
Giinther, F.R.S. ONE oo | SS 
The Forster Herbarium. By W. Botting Hemsley 5o1 
The International Meteorological Committee. . 501 
The British Association Cho edo so 5 502 
Reports 2 sige se erie) 6) =, eee 
Section H—Anthropology—Opening Address by 
Francis Galton, F.R.S., &c., President of the 
Anthropological Institute, President of the Section 507 
The American Association for the Advancement of 
Science 0. 506 ea Bel fe Ferree veto > m0) pene aa 
Notes: 20a ate Seo sit ecco aot eee ns 
Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1885, 
September 27 to October3 ........+s.-+-. 516 
The Astronomical Association. ......-. 516 
Education in the United States : - = ES 
A Prehistoric Cemetery - =.=. -- «= - «9 3) 508 
Scientific Serials). 5-4 yee ene © 14) ol eee 
Societies and Academies. ......+.+: «4. =. S19 
