654 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1433 



position in a colloidal mass of this character. 

 Furthermore, it is to be noted that the argument 

 against the possibility of a lipoidal membrane 

 on the ground that it ■vvould not permit the pas- 

 sage of both fat-soluble and water-soluble ma- 

 terial, is voided by the fact that the lipoids may 

 occur in a system in which a disperse phase swel- 

 ling in water but not soluble, is held in a medium 

 consisting of water-soluble lipoid. Organic sub- 

 stances, fats and salts, would readily pass through 

 such a system. 



JPossiMe explanation of eocene climates: Ed- 

 "WAED W. Berry. This paper discusses the con- 

 trast in the floras of the upper Eocene with lati- 

 tude, and their probable climatic significance. 

 After analysing the fossil floras of the far North 

 in the light of paleogeographic conditions, the 

 speaker suggests that the indicated mild climate 

 in high latitudes during the upper Eocene was 

 the result of the widespread submergence of 

 lands during middle Eocene times, with expanded 

 seas in the equatorial regions and free access of 

 warm ocean currents to Artie seas. 



The power and impotence of man: Veenon 

 Kellogg. 



Hydracodons from the Big Badlands of South 

 Dakota. The small entelodonts of the White 

 River Oligocene : W. J. Sinclair. These papers 

 present the results of evolutionary studies on two 

 unrelated animal groups, the smft running (cur- 

 sorial) rhinoceroses and the entelodonts or so- 

 called ' ' giant pigs, ' ' both extinct, but formerly 

 inhabiting South Dakota and adjacent areas. In 

 the case of the hydracodons, a progressive evolu- 

 tion is indicated, an increasing complexity of the 

 structure of the upper premolar teeth, with a 

 series of size variants under each of the four 

 structural types recognized. Among the entelo- 

 donts, while the extremes of the series studied are 

 far enough apart to appear specifically distinct, 

 there are so many intermediate stages and the 

 grouping of characters is so irregular that almost 

 every specimen Arould have to be made a separate 

 species or else the lot referred to one species, ap- 

 parently made up of several inter-breeding strains 

 which differ by various small unit characters or 

 combinations thereof, transmitted to the individ- 

 ual from the various pure lines which enter into 

 its ancestry. 



Lithology of White River sediments: H. E. 

 Wanless. The White River sediments of the Big 

 Badlands are composed of the following types of 

 sediments: (1) channel sandstone; (2) fresh- 

 water limestone; (3) nodular layers; (4) volcanic 

 ash beds; and (5) clay beds. A petrographic 



study of these sediments has shown that most of 

 them are derived from erosion of the rising dome 

 of the Black Hills during the Oligocene period. 

 In tJie channel sandstones many fragments of 

 garnet, tourmaline and other schist and pegmatite 

 minerals point to direct derivation from the Pre- 

 eambrian core of the hills. Traces of volcanic 

 glass and pumice are present throughout the 

 series, but form the majority of the Leptauehenia 

 beds (the upper division of the White Eiver), 

 which is about two hundred feet thick. Eoliaa 

 action, as evidenced in rounded sand grains, is 

 only locally present, and forms a negligible part 

 of the whole. Ground water circulation is indi- 

 cated by chalcedony veins, mineral fillings of cavi- 

 ties in the ash beds, and deposition of oxides of 

 iron at the bottom of the series in and on the 

 impervious Pierre shales. The series as a whole 

 is formed as a flood plain deposit, with shallow 

 shifting channels, local ponds and local sand 

 dunes. 



Lava domes- and their composition in the Malay 

 Archipelago : H. A. Brouwer. 



Tlie application of bio-physical researches t« 

 2)hysi<ilogical prohlems: George W. Chile and 

 Hugo Pricke. Following researches on the electric 

 conductivity of anim'al tissues alreadj' presented, a 

 furtlier attempt to apply bio-physical methods te 

 the interpretation of physiological problems has 

 been made by making measurements of tempera- 

 ture variations of various tissues in living animals 

 under varying conditions by means of specially 

 constructed copper-constantan thermocouples. 

 These were used in connection with a specially 

 designed potentiometer and mirror-galvanometer, 

 one division on the galvanometer scale correspond- 

 ing to O.Ola c. In most of the experiments 

 simultaneous measurements of the temperature 

 variations in two different organs have been made. 

 The principal tissues thus far studied have beem 

 the brain, the liver, the th3'roid, the adrenals, the 

 voluntary muscles, the spleen, the pancreas, the 

 intestines, the kidneys and the blood stream. The 

 effects produced on the temperature of one or 

 more of these organs by emotion, by adrenalin, 

 by ether, by aitrous oxid, by calcium, by mag- 

 nesium, by cyanides, by the excision of certain 

 organs, etc., have been noted. The results show 

 that this method of bio-physical measurement 

 offers new criteria for the interpretation of cer- 

 tain operations of the animal mechanism, and 

 emphasizes the value of the application of bio- 

 physical methods of the study of this operation 

 of the animal mechanism. 



Experiments in epidemiology: Simon Flesneb. 



