528 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1326 



its most characteristic pectdiarities, it appears 

 probable that the chemical reactions in proto- 

 plasm are largely controlled by variations in 

 the electrical potential-differences present at 

 the various protoplasmic phase-boundaries (the 

 surfaces of membranes, fibrils, etc.). At pres- 

 ent our knowledge of chemical processes oc- 

 curring under electrical control is almost en- 

 tirely confined to those observed at the sur- 

 faces of metallic electrodes in contact with 

 electrolyte solutions. These are the well- 

 known phenomena of electrolysis. Knowledge 

 of such processes should be extended to in- 

 clude the case of electrolysis at other inter- 

 faces, e. g., between an oil phase and a water 

 phase. The technical difiiculty here appears 

 to be largely one of conducting the current 

 through the non-aqueous phase. But since 

 many of the chemical reactions in protoplasm 

 are demonstrably imder electrical control, it 

 is clear that metallic surfaces (i. e., metallic 

 electrodes) are not necessary to the production 

 of chemical effects by the electric current. 

 Apparently in the living cell surfaces of other 

 composition play the same part. There seems 

 to be here a field of investigation which 

 should throw much light upon the conditions 

 of the chemical processes in protoplasm. 

 The phenomena of polar stimulation, polar 

 disintegration and similar effects in physiology 

 are an obvious counterpart of the polar differ- 

 ences between the chemical effects of anode 

 and cathode in electrolysis. Undoubtedly the 

 same fundamental basis exists for the polarity 

 in the chemical effects of the electric current 

 in the living and in the non-living systems. 

 The effects produced by passing currents 

 through appropriately constituted emulsion- 

 systems containing readily alterable (e. g., 

 oxidizable) chemical compounds might well be 

 investigated to advantage in relation to this 

 problem. Closely related also would be a 

 study of the surface-films formed at the inter- 

 faces between pairs of fluids, or between 

 fluids and solids, and the effects of electrical 

 and other conditions upon such films. 



Progress in these and related departments 

 of physical research would undoubtedly be of 

 great service to general physiology at the 



present stage of its development. Many fun- 

 damental physiological processes — growth, cell- 

 division, muscular contraction, response to 

 stimulation, transmission of stimuli, chemical 

 control of metabolism, etc. — must remain im- 

 perfectly intelligible without the extension of 

 exact knowledge in these fields. The possi- 

 bilities of the control of vital processes, in- 

 cluding the control of diseased conditions, 

 would certainly be greatly enlarged with a 

 more fully developed general physiology. The 

 problems suggested above have many aspects 

 of purely physical and chemical interest, apart 

 from their physiological bearing; and it is 

 to be hoped that properly equipped investi- 

 gators may be found to engage in their study. 



Ealph S. Lillie 

 Clark Universitt, 

 Worcester, Mass. 



THE LONGNECK SAUROPOD 

 BAROSAURUSi 



In 1889 Professor O. C. Marsh secured 

 from the shales overlying the sandstones 

 following the marine Jura, near Piedmont on 

 the eastern "Eim" of the Black Hills, va- 

 rious fragmentary caudals of a huge sauropod. 

 In these he recognized a new type which he 

 called Barosaurus lentus. He had been kindly 

 advised of the occurrence, and was accom- 

 panied by the- noted collector J. B. Hatcher, 

 but attempted no adequate excavation. 



Kine years later, in the midwinter of 1898, 

 after a friendly letter from Professor Marsh, 

 I visited him at New Haven and discussed 

 the subject of field work in the west for 

 the succeeding summer. Knowing that after 

 Hatcher left Yale several years earlier the 

 field work on the Dinosauria had suffered, I 



1 1890. O. C. Marsh, Barosaurus lentus gen. et 

 spec. nov. in "Description of New Dinosaurian 

 Eeptiles," Amer. Jour. Sd., January, page 86, 

 Figs. 1 and 2. 1919. K. S. LuU, " The Sauropod 

 Dinosatur Barosaurus Marsh — Eedescription of the 

 Type Speoimena in the Peabody Museum, Yale 

 University," Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences, Vol. VI., pp. 1-42, wilJh fig- 

 ures in text and 7 plates. 



