312 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1131 



attention it is desired to point out several im- 

 provements in the lime-water method, as de- 

 scribed in Journal of the American Chemical 

 Society, 26, p. 661. 



It has been found that to " draw off " the 

 supernatant liquid and boil it to a volume of 

 about 5 c.c. may lead to errors of 200 or 300 

 parts per million, because traces of soluble 

 alkaline lime salts may not diffuse into the 

 upper portion of the supernatant liquid. The 

 method has been modified to read 



. . . allow to stand over night, with occasional 

 shaking, shake thoroughly and filter immediately 

 through a neutral filter paper (S. & S. 588 is good) 

 rejecting the first 10 to 15 c.c, or until the filtrate 

 is quite or nearly clear, place in a Jena (Nonsol 

 or Pyrex, or other insoluble glass may be used) 

 beaker. . . . 



I have realized from the first that the lime- 

 water method gives high results on soils very 

 rich in organic matter. One of the reasons 

 for this was recently observed by Mr. Holman, 

 of this laboratory. It is that the character- 

 istic pink color developed when phenolphthalein 

 is added to an alkaline solution is often al- 

 most immediately destroyed rather than 

 masked in solutions containing much dissolved 

 organic matter. 



The error which may be thus introduced is 

 lessened but not entirely eliminated by boiling 

 down the filtrate to about 10 c.c. and adding, 

 watching carefully meanwhile for the tempo- 

 rary pink color, the phenolphthalein a drop at 

 a time. 



This is not the only cause for the high re- 

 sults obtained on soils rich in organic matter. / 

 Other causes, modifications to eliminate them 

 and improvements simplifying and shortening 

 the method, will be presented at an early date. 

 F. P. Veitch 



Washington, D. C. 



THE SURVIVAL OF BEAT IN THE REMOVED 

 HEART OF THE SNAPPING TURTLE 



The aim of the present note is to place on 

 record the details of the survival of pulsations 

 in the heart of the snapping turtle. A speci- 

 men having a shell-length of about twelve 

 inches was captured in the vicinity of Kings- 

 ton by one of the boys of the community. For 



three days it was kept in a tub without food 

 and on the fourth was killed and dressed " to 

 make a stew." The writer was not present at 

 the killing which occurred at 9 :45 in the morn- 

 ing. The heart was brought to the laboratory 

 at 10:45, the boy being interested in the fact 

 that the beating continued. At the time the 

 writer first observed the specimen it was lying 

 in a small pool of blood in a saucer with the 

 vessels cut short. It was then beating strongly 

 at the rate of eleven times per minute. At 

 11 :35 the blood was washed out of the saucer 

 and normal salt solution added to partly cover 

 the organ. The further record of the beats per 

 minute was made as follows, the room tempera- 

 ture being 73° F. 



9:45 turtle killed. 



10:45 rate 11 beats. 



11:05 rate 12 beats. 



11 :35 rate 12 beats. 



12:30 rate 16 beats. 



1 :00 rate 18 beats. 



1 :30 rate 18 beats. 



2:00 rate 18 beats. 



2:30 rate 18 beats. 



3 :00 no contractions. 



From the above it will be observed that the 

 contractions continued at a slightly increasing 

 rate for a period of about six hours. At the 

 end of this time mechanical stimulus failed to 

 produce further contractions. 



Philip B. Hadley 

 Kingston, E. I., 

 June 27, 1916 



QUOTATIONS 



SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES AND THE GOVERNMENT 



' The letter in the Times of Professor E. G. 

 'Conklin, of Princeton, pointing out that no 

 president has given such generous recognition 

 to the National Academy of Sciences and 

 other scientific bodies as Wilson, deserves 

 larger attention than it will get. It occurs to 

 few that the government could make profitable , 

 use of scientific auxiliaries. Though the Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences was authorized 

 fifty-three years ago by Congress, in response 

 to a demand by Alexander Bache, superintend- 

 ent of the Coast Survey, for an official organi- 

 zation for research; though it was launched 

 with a membership including Agassiz, Davis, 



