396 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 168. 



squeeze of the contracting heart-muscle and an 

 experimental analysis of the eifect of this com- 

 pression on the circulation through the walls of 

 the heart. This is followed by an elaborate 

 study of the influence of alcoholic drinks upon 

 digestion by Professor Chittenden, Dr. Mendel 

 and Mr. Jackson. The effect of distention of 

 the ventricle on the flow of blood through the 

 walls of the heart, the composition and nutri- 

 tive value of edible fungi, the restoration of co- 

 ordinated volitional movement after nerve 

 'crossing,' the digestive powers of papain, the 

 gastric inversion of cane-sugar, and the struc- 

 tural changes in infusoria produced by lack of 

 ' oxygen, are treated in investigations from the 

 laboratories at Yale, Harvard, Columbia and 

 Chicago. The contents of the first number are 

 not less varied. The influence of boras on 

 nutrition, the recovery of the heart from fibril- 

 lary contraction, the variations in daily activity 

 produced by alcohol and by changes in baro- 

 metric pressure and diet, the influence of high 

 arterial pressure on the blood-flow through the 

 brain, the elimination of strontium, the nutri- 

 tion of the heart through the vessels of Thebe- 

 sius and the coronary veins, the relation between 

 the external stimulus applied to a nerve and 

 the resulting nerve impulse as measured by the 

 action current, the nature of the cardio-pneu- 

 matic movements, and the functions of the ear 

 and the lateral line in fishes, is each the sub- 

 ject of a thorough experimental study by 

 physiologists of the leading American univer- 

 sities. The excellence and the wide range of 

 the seventeen contributions in the first two 

 numbers of this journal, and the unanimous 

 support that it receives from the physiologists 

 of America, assure us that physiology now has 

 in this country a special journal in the first 

 rank. Much praise is due for the form in 

 which these investigations are published. The 

 quality of the paper, the design of the cover 

 and the page, the press-work, and especially 

 the beauty of the illustrations, are all most 

 gratifying. 



American Chemical Journal, March. ' On the 

 Conversion of Methylpyromucic Acid into 

 Aldehydopyromucic and Dehydromucic Acids:' 

 By H. B. Hill and H. E. Sawyer. On the 3, 

 4, 5, ' Tribromaniline and some Derivatives of 



Unsymmetrical Tribrombenzol :' By C. Loring 

 Jackson and F. B. Gallivan. ' A Convenient 

 Gas Generator, and Device for Dissolving 

 Solids :' By T. W. Richards. The author has 

 devised a simple form of apparatus in which 

 the material can come in contact with the fresh 

 liquid, while the heavy solution produced by 

 the reaction is withdrawn by means of a tube 

 reaching to the bottom. He also gives a de- 

 scription of an apparatus to be used to increase 

 the rate of solution of crystallized substances. 

 ' A Redetermination of the Atomic Weight of 

 Zinc :' By H. N. Morse and H. B. Arbtjckle. 

 By this work a correction has been made in the 

 results obtained by Morse and Burton, as it has 

 been shown that the oxide of zinc occludes 

 both oxygen and nitrogen even at very high 

 temperatures. This correction has raised the 

 atomic weight to 65.46 from 65.33, the result 

 obtained by Morse and Burton. ' Direct Ni- 

 tration of the Parafiins :' By R. A. Worstall. 

 ' On the Silver Salt of 4-Nitro 2-Aminobenzoic 

 Acid and its Behavior with Alkyl and Acyl 

 Halides :' By. H. L. Wheeler and B. Barnes. 

 ' Formamide and its Sodium and Silver Salts : ' 

 By P. C. Freer and P. L. Sherman, Jr. ' A 

 Study of the Reaction of the Diazophenols and 

 of the Salts of Chlor- and Bromdiazobenzene 

 with Ethyl and with Methyl Alcohol:' By F. 

 K. Cameron. The author studied the influ- 

 ence of the hydroxyl group and of chlorine and 

 bromine upon the decomposition of diazo com- 

 pounds. J. Elliott Gilein. 



A scientific paper, the Forward, has re 

 cently been established in Denmark and is said 

 to have already a circulation of 100,000 copies, 

 while maintaining an excellent standard of 

 popular science. We have not seen a copy of 

 this journal, but if the facts are as represented 

 the two and a-quarter million people of Den- 

 mark are to be congratulated on their scientific 

 interests. 



Herr Gtjstav Fischer, Jena, has begun the 

 publication of a Centralblatt fiir die Grenzgebiete 

 der Medizin und Chirurgie. 



M. BalliSrb, Paris, has begun the publica- 

 tion of an Atlas of Microbiologic, by M. E. 

 Mace, the first part of which contains twenty 

 colored plates. 



