no KEPOKTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



recommendations of the Physiological Section by affording that continual 

 financial support without which the prolonged series of investigations 

 could not have been prosecuted with success. The results already attained 

 are, in the opinion of the Committee, of very considerable importance, 

 since the inquiry deals with such fundamental problems as the nature of 

 the chemical changes which occur in the isolated tissues of the body, the 

 alteration in such changes during tissue activity, and the technique by 

 means of which such problems may be further studied under special con- 

 ditions. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the physiological importance 

 of such investigations, and it is to be hoped that the present inquiry may 

 be of service, not merely by its actual results, but still more by future 

 achievements in this field. 



List of Papers which ejnbody so much of the work of the Committee as has already 



been published. 



' The Oxygen Exchange of the Pancreas,' Journal of Physiology, vol. sxxi. p. 491. 



' The Gaseous Metabolism of the Kidney,' ihid., vol. xxxii. p. IS. 



' The Gaseous Metabolism of the Kidney,' ihid., vol. xxxiii. p. 52. 



' The Estimation of the Oxygen dissolved in Small Quantities of Salt Solutioi\s,' 



ihid., vol. xxxiv. p. 306. 

 ' The Gaseous Metabolism of the Mammalian Heart,' ihid., xsxv. p. 182. 

 ' The Velocity and Nature of the Blood emerging from tlie Submaxillary Gland,' 



ihid., vol. XXXV. p. xxix. 

 ' The Effect of Hirudin on the Gases of Arterial Blood,' ihid., vol. xxsvi. p. 275. 

 ' Tiie Analysis of Oxygen and Carbonic Acid contained iu Small Quantities of 



Salt Solutions,' ihid., vol. xsxvi. p. 405. 

 ' The Mechanism of Vasodilation in the Cat's Submaxillary Gland,' ibid., 



vol. xxxvi. p. liii. 

 ' A Differential Method of Blood Gas Analysis,' ihid., vol. xxxvii. p. 12. 

 ' Gaswechsel des Diinndarms wiihrend der Keabsorbtion von Witte Pepton,' 



Deutxch. vied. Wochennch. Jahrg. 33, p. 156G. 

 ' Gaswechsel des Diinndarms wiihrend der Reabsorbtion von Koch Salzlosungen 



verschiedener Stiirken,' ibid , p. 1566. 

 'Gaswechsel in der Speicheldriise der Kiitze,' ibid., p. 1566. 

 'ZumLehre vom Blntgaswechsel in den verschiedenen OrgaDen,' Urycb/dKse der 



Physiologie. Siebender Jahrg., p. 699. 



The Ductless Glands. — Report of the Committee, consisting of Pro- 

 fessor ScHAFER (Chairman), Professor Swale Yincent (Secretary), 

 Professor A. B. Macallum, Dr. L. E, Shore, and Mrs. W. H. 

 Thompson. (Drawn up hy the Secretary.) 



The work of the Committee has been divided as follows: Mrs. W. H. 

 Thompson has been investigating the comparative anatomy and histology 

 of the thyroids and parathyroids. Drs. F. A. Young and J. E. Lehmann 

 have been performing some experiments on the internal secretion of the 

 suprarenal capsules of the dog. Dr. J. H. Leeming has been occupied 

 with the study of the medulla of the suprarenal capsule and the question 

 of its relation to other similar tissues in the body. 



Mrs. Thompson reports that her work is by no means complete, but 

 that all the evidence collected from a study of the thyroids and para- 

 thyroids throughout a wide range of the animal kingdom supports the 

 view held by Vincent and Jolly and by Forsyth, viz., that thyroids and 

 parathyroids art? not separate and independent organs, but !|,re very inti- 



