424 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H, I. 
While the general culture of the whole of the southern Appalachian region is the 
same, we do find a certain amount of differentiation between the various valleys and 
coves. Some of these differences will be described and the reasons for them indicated. 
A brief account was given of a group of folk-tales collected in these mountains and 
their relation to European folk-tales. 
39. Report on the ‘ White Indians’ brought by Mr. R. O. Marsh 
from the Isthmus of Darien. 
By the courtesy of the Toronto Star and of Mr. R. O. Marsh, Dr. F. C. Shrubsall, 
Dr. A. C. Haddon and Mr. L. H. Dudley Buxton, assisted by Dr. Catteley, ophthalmo- 
logist to the Ogdensburg Hospital (New York State), had an opportunity of examining 
these Indians at Prescot, Ont. They included three children who have been described 
as white Indians—two boys and a girl—the parents (brown) of the girl, and two San 
Blas Indians. The white subjects were very sensitive to light, and their vision sub- 
normal. They showed rapid lateral nystagmus. The colour of the irides was greyish- 
violet. Examined by the ophthalmoscope choroidal pigmentation was markedly 
deficient. The hair was light golden and straight. The skin was as light as that of 
a northern European with the same rosy tint. It showed distinctly yellow-brown 
freckles and blotches on the exposed parts. The conclusion is that the so-called 
‘ white ’ characteristics are due to albinism and are of no racial significance. 
SECTION I.—PHYSIOLOGY. 
(For references to the publication elsewhere of communications entered in the 
following list of transactions, see page 468.) 
Thursday, August 7. 
1. Presidential Address by Dr. H. H. Dats, C.B.E., F.B.S., 
on Progress and Prospects in Chemotherapy. (Page 211.) 
2. Prof. A. B. Macatuum, F.R.S.—On the Absorption of Organic 
Colloids by the Intestinal Mucosa. 
Except in the case of fats and soaps, little has been determined regarding 
the mode of absorption of organic colloids by the epithelial cells of the intestinal 
mucosa and the manner of transfer through the cells to the interior of the villi. 
This is due to the fact that there are no microchemical stains which will localise 
the absorbed proteins. 
Guinea-pigs and rabbits were fed with fresh undiluted egg-yolk for a day 
or more, after they had been kept without food for 24-48 hours. The yolk is 
introduced into the esophagus by a pipette, and as much as 10 c.c. may thus 
be given three times a day. Thus given, the yolk, practically unaffected by 
gastric digestion, reaches the intestine and immediately comes in contact with 
the tips of the villi, the cells of which begin at once to take it up and transfer 
it to the underlying tissues; but as the latter do not absorb it as fast as the 
cells deliver it to them, an accumulation of it occurs at their bases which at the 
end of twenty-four hours is so great that the epithelial layer at the tips is 
‘ballooned ’ or raised to a height several times the long diameter of the normal 
cells above the ‘basement membrane,’ and the cells are flattened by the pressure 
to which they are subjected internally. They continue to absorb it, and at the 
end of forty-eight hours or more the ‘ balloons’ at the tips of all the villi are 
ruptured and the contents escape into the intestinal cavity, but before this 
rupture occurs some of the absorbed material is transferred through the adenoid 
tissue to the lacteals, which are in consequence greatly distended and contents 
contain some at least of the proteins as well as the fats of the absorbed yolk. 
A careful examination of the epithelial cells, both in the fresh and in the 
fixed condition, during the early stages of this absorption makes it evident 
that in this absorption the cells are active, not passive, elements. The contents 
of the yolk spherules, which are all disintegrated, come into intimate contact 
with the free borders of the cells; the proteins dissolve in the protoplasmic 
