ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MALTA. 217 



email variety of the Cervus elaphus var. barbarus, some equine teeth, 

 a humerus of a tortoise of the same species as those found in Herba 

 Fissure 1, and some limb-bones of small mammals. 



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

 Professor Sir Edward Schafer (Chairman) , Professor Swale 

 Vincent (Secretary), Professor A. B. Macallum, Dr. L. E. 

 Shore, and Mrs. W. H. Thompson. (Drawn up hy the 

 Secretary.) 



The Secretary has been engaged upon several problems connected with 

 internal secretion. In conjunction with Mr. Wheeler, he has investi- 

 gated the effects of extirpation of the medulla of the adrenal bodies, 

 leaving (as far as possible) the cortex undamaged. Account has also 

 been taken, in some of these experiments, of the abdominal chromaphil 

 body. The results obtained so far indicate that it is the cortex and not 

 the medulla which is essential to the life of the animal. It seems likely 

 that the adrenin function of the chromaphil tissues is only called into 

 requisition in emergencies (as in certain emotional conditions 

 [Cannon] ). 



Incidentally an inquiry into the action of hormones on the vaso- 

 motor reflexes has led to a study of certain general aspects of such 

 reflexes. The results are published in the Quarterly Journal of Experi- 

 mental Physiology, vol. ix. 



The Secretary is reinvestigating the relation of the islets of Langer^ 

 hans to the zymogenous tissues of the pancreas. No definite con- 

 clusions have yet been reached. 



Some points in the structure of the pituitary have also received 

 attention (s.v., Practitioner, Jan. 1915, p. 16). 



Mr. A. T. Cameron has continued his investigations on the distribu- 

 tion of iodine in plant and animal tissues. His new results confirm 

 those previously published (J. Biol. Chem., 1914, 18, 335-80). The 

 results below are for dry tissue. He finds that iodine is an invariable 

 constituent of ascidian tests, the amount varying from a trace up to 

 about 0'3 per cent. The endostyle contains no detectable quantity, 

 and therefore, as regards iodine function, appears to differ from thyroid. 

 The other tissues contain traces, which increase with increasing amounts 

 in the test. The outer layer of the foot of the horse -clam and of the 

 cockle contains iodine of the order 0*2 per cent. Iodine is an invariable 

 constituent of the tubes of annelid worms, the amount (in absence of 

 sand and calcium carbonate) varying in different species from 0*1 to 

 0"7 per cent. The worms themselves contain amounts varying from 

 O'Ol to 0"1 per cent. One species of diatom showed no detectable 

 quantity of iodine, indicating that diatoms may not be a link in the 

 cycle of iodine in sea-life. Some fresh thyroid material has been 

 examined. The thyroid of the dog-fish, Squalus sucklii, contains 

 approximately 0'2 per cent, iodine and the amount does not appear 

 to vary appreciably at different seasons of the year. A case of goitre 



