APRIL 19, 1912] 
should there be a return of rains, following 
a rainy season, so soon after the rainy season 
that the annuals are still living, the rudimen- 
tary roots quickly develop, enabling the plant 
to complete its growth, or to renew it. The 
matter of distance of water transport in the 
annuals would hardly come into the problem. 
W. A. Cannon 
DESERT LABORATORY 
THE EFFECT OF NARCOTICS UPON THE DEVELOP- 
MENT OF THE HEN’S EGG 
One of the evident difficulties experienced 
in experimentation with the eggs of birds is 
that due to their large size, which makes it 
impossible to use the large numbers of eggs 
that may be handled in the case of fishes or. 
amphibians. Also, while it is usually possible 
to obtain eggs at any season of the year, if one 
be willing to pay the price, the percentage of 
infertile eggs is usually so high except during 
the spring that the time for profitable experi- 
mentation is quite limited. 
The experiments here described are of a 
purely preliminary nature. It is the purpose 
of the writer to continue the experiments until 
the number of eggs used will justify some 
general conclusions. 
The reagents used were alcohol, ether, 
chloroform, chlorotone and magnesium chlo- 
ride. One or two of these proved so almost 
universally fatal in their effects that they will 
probably not be employed in further experi- 
mentation. i 
Alcohol—This reagent was employed as 
follows: the eggs were placed in the incubator 
and left for a number of hours (five to seven- 
teen, in different experiments); they were 
then placed in a glass specimen jar having a 
glass cover, with raw cotton wet with from 
1 to 5 cc. of 95 per cent. alcohol; the jar was 
covered and replaced in the incubator, where 
it was left for from three to twelve hours, 
after which the eggs were removed from the 
atmosphere of alcohol, thoroughly aired and 
replaced in the incubator (which had also 
been aired) for about forty-eight hours before 
being opened. The glass jar was of about 
1,200 e.c. capacity, and not more than eight 
SCIENCE 
633 
eggs were placed in it at once, so that there 
was a considerable volume of air for each egg. 
When the lid was removed, to take the eggs 
from the jar, there was always a strong smell 
of alcohol. 
Of the eggs treated in this way only about 
25 per cent. contained living embryos when 
opened. About half of the embryos obtained 
from these eggs were abnormal to a greater or 
less extent. The character of the abnormali- 
ties will be described when further experi- 
ments have furnished more material. 
Hther.—The experiments with ether were 
conducted in the same general manner as 
those with alcohol, except that, as a rule, only 
1 or 2 ce. of ether were used. 
The effect of ether seemed to be much less 
severe than that of alcohol, only about 35 per 
cent. of the embryos being killed. Of the 
embryos removed from the eggs, less than half 
were abnormal. 
Chloroform.—Chloroform was employed in 
the same manner as was ether, and, while 
fewer experiments were tried, not a single egg, 
opened after being submitted to this reagent, 
contained a living embryo, showing that it is 
much more toxic in effect, under these condi- 
tions, than either alcohol or ether. 
Chlorotone.—This reagent was employed as 
a .1 per cent. solution in distilled water. In 
one experiment the eggs were kept in the 
incubator for ten hours before introducing 
the chlorotone; in the other experiments the 
chlorotone was introduced into the fresh egg. 
The method employed was to carefully re- 
move about a square centimeter of shell from 
the side of the egg, and, with a clean glass 
tube, blow out about 5 to 10 ec. of the albu- 
men, without touching the yolk; the space thus 
made was filled with the reagent; the opening 
was then sealed with a piece of fresh shell, 
with strips of shell membrane stuck around 
the edge with some of the albumen that had 
been blown out of the egg. This is the method 
of closing an incubating egg used by Miss 
Peebles. 
This treatment proved fatal to more than 
90 per cent. of the embryos, but a few control 
experiments, where the eggs were opened and 
