TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION I. 673 
Dr. Finzi it was shown that the action of Jaxge doses of filtered radium rays 
was to infiltrate the meninges with blood, the blood-vessels showing such pro- 
liferation of their endothelium that in some cases they were occluded. There 
was also a considerable formation of fibrous tissue; further, there occurred 
wedge-shaped thrombotic areas in the cortex. It appears, then, that the most 
constant histological changes found in nervous tissue after the application of 
sufficient doses of radium are vascular ones. It is probable, then, that the 
effect of radium rays on the thyroid gland is to diminish the vascularity of the 
gland, to cause a diminution in the leucocytes, and an overgrowth in the con- 
nective tissues. By these processes the functional activity is lessened, the hyper- 
secretion checked, and the morbid phenomena consequent thereon diminished. 
5. The Katathermometer. By Professor Lronarp Hin, M.B., F.R.S. 
6. The Pulse and Resonance of the Tissues. 
By Professor Lronarp Hitu, M.B., F.R.S. 
7. The Structure of the Post-pericardial Body of the Skate. 
By Professor E. W. Caruizr, M.D. 
8. The Relation of the Weight of the Kidneys to the Total Weight of 
Cats. By Dr. H. E. Roar. 
In some metabolism experiments on cats, the body weights and the weights 
of the kidneys were determined. In order to find out the relation of the 
weight of the kidneys to the body weight, the following method was used, The 
weights of the kidneys were divided by various powers of the total weights, and 
the ratios obtained were correlated with the total body weights. The power 
of the body weight which gives a correlation nearest to zero expresses the rela- 
tion that the weights of the kidneys have to the body weights. 
As the result of forty-eight determinations, the 15 power gives a slight 
positive correlation, and the square of the body weight gives a negative 
correlation. Some value between these two would give a zero correlation. 
Therefore the weight of the kidney increases more rapidly, in proportion, than 
does the body weight, and that the rate of increase is proportional to some value 
between the 1:5 power and the square of the body weight. This is remarkable, 
as most tissues increase in proportion to the body weight or to some power of the 
same less than unity. The skin and kidneys are interrelated, and it is well 
known that as the weight increases the skin becomes relatively less. The kidney 
weight may increase more rapidly in order to compensate for the relative 
diminution of the skin surface. 
9. A New Substance in Nerve Cells. 
By Professor A. B. Macatuum, F.R.S., and Dr. J. B. Cotxop. 
When sections made from perfectly fresh and normal ganglia with CO, 
freezing method are put immediately in a solution of silver nitrate and allowed 
to remain there exposed to light for an hour, there develops in the cell substance 
a dark or black reaction which has been found to be characteristic of nerve cells, 
The substance responsible for this reaction is not diffused throughout the cell, 
1913, pip 
