286 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 217. 



to the conclusion that fertility is inherited 

 in man and fecundity in the horse, and, 

 therefore, probably that both these charac- 

 ters are inherited in all types of life. It 

 would, indeed, be difficult to explain by evo- 

 lution the great variety of values these 

 characters take in allied species if this were 

 not true. That they are inherited accord- 

 ing to the Galtonian rule seems to us very 

 probable, but not demonstrated to certainty. 

 It is a reasonable hypothesis until more 

 data are forthcoming. 



The memoir concludes with a discussion 

 of the meaning of reproductive selection for 

 the problem of evolution and with sixteen 

 correlation tables, giving the dressed ma- 

 terial on which our conclusions are based. 



THE NEW YORK 3IEETING OF THE AMERI- 

 CAN PHYSIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The American Physiological Society held 

 its eleventh annual meeting in ISTew York, 

 December 28, 29 and 30, 1898. The first 

 day's sessions were held at the physiolog- 

 ical laboratories of the College of Physicians 

 and Surgeons, the medical school of Colum- 

 bia Universit3^ The forenoon session of the 

 second day consisted of a joint meeting of the 

 Society and the American Psychological As- 

 sociation at Sober merhorn Hall, Columbia 

 University ; in the afternoon the members 

 attended at the same place the joint meet- 

 ing of the Affiliated Scientific Societies. The 

 sessions of the third day were held at the 

 physiological laboratories of the University 

 and Bellevue Hospital Medical College. In 

 attendance and the number of papers pre- 

 sented the meeting was the most successful 

 yet held, and demonstrated the fact that a 

 large amount of research in physiology is 

 being carried on in the laboratories of this 

 country. 



The forenoon session of Wednesday, the 

 first day, was devoted largely to the pre- 

 sentation of the chemico-physiological com- 



munications. Professor J. J. Abel (Johns 

 Hopkins) discussed ' Epinephrin, the ac- 

 tive constituent of the suprarenal capsule, 

 and its compounds.' He has succeeded in 

 isolating from the suprarenal capsule a 

 specific chemical body which produces the 

 peculiar physiological effects heretofore 

 recognized with extracts of the capsule. He 

 has carefully determined its chemical prop- 

 erties and classes it with the alkaloids with 

 the formula Cj.Hj.NO,. Drs. J. B. Wallace 

 and W. Mogk, through Professor Gr. C. 

 Huber, presented a report of an experi- 

 mental study upon the ' Action of 

 suprarenal extract on the mammalian 

 heart,' performed in the laboratory of Pro- 

 fessor A. R. Cushny (Michigan Universit}'). 

 The extract was found to stimulate the 

 vagus center, thus inhibiting the heart, to 

 stimulate the heart muscle directly and to 

 cause a constriction of the systemic arteri- 

 oles. Dr. Walter Jones (Johns Hopkins) 

 and Professor R. H. Chittenden (Yale) re- 

 ported the results of independent investiga- 

 tions of the melanines, the black pigment 

 occurring in hair and in the skin of the 

 negro. The former obtained the pigment 

 from black horsehair by treatment with 

 hj'drochloric acid. Fusing with caustic 

 potash gave a sulphur melaninic 

 free, which when oxidized in an alka- 

 line medium is easily decomposed into 

 carbonic acid and ammonia, but in an 

 acid medium yields certain more complex 

 bodies. The facts presented by Professor 

 Chittenden tended to show that melanines 

 or melanine-like pigments can be prepared 

 artificially from antialbumid and hemipep- 

 tone by long heating with 10% sul- 

 phuric acid at 100°C. The exact com- 

 position of the melanine thus formed 

 depends largely upon the extent of the hy- 

 drolytic cleavage of the proteid. By invita- 

 tion, Dr. Beattie ISTesbitt (Toronto) read a 

 paper on ' The presence of cholin and neurin 

 in the intestinal canal during its complete 



