782 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 50. 



were a concert in the Cathedral with a sub- 

 sequent reunion in the Cafe du Pont, an 

 excursion to the Scliynige Platte (somewhat 

 interfered with by bad weather), a subscrip- 

 tion dinner followed by a ball and a reunion 

 in the ' Festhalle ' of the agricultural ex- 

 hibition. 



In the business session the Congress 

 adopted rules for the admission of members 

 to future meetings and voted that the next 

 Congress should be held in Cambridge, Eng- 

 land, in 1898. 



The physiological proceedings were the 

 following: 



Monday, September 9th. Morning demon- 

 strations and papers. (Chairmen, Profs. 

 Chauveau and Bow ditch.) 



Dr. H. Boruttau (Gottingen) discussed 

 the possibility of explaining the conduction 

 of nervous impulses by purely electrical pro- 

 cesses, and demonstrated on the polarizable 

 ' Kernleiter ' of Matteucci and Hermann 

 with the aid of capillary electrometer and 

 of reflecting galvanometer the production of 

 a negative variation by tetanic sinusoidal 

 ' stimulation,' and by rupture of the Kern- 

 leiter. With Hermann's rheotome, too, a 

 wave of negativity was shown to be pro- 

 duced in the Kernleiter analogous to that 

 of a nerve. 



Prof. E. Ewald (Strassburg) showed a 

 dog from the spinal cord of which a length 

 of 158 mm., comprising the whole of the 

 lumbar enlargement and a large part of the 

 thoracic region, had been removed more 

 than two years before in two operations. 

 The alimentary canal continued its normal 

 functions ; the urine, free from sugar and 

 albumen, accumulated in large quantities 

 in the bladder, which emptied itself at in- 

 tervals ; vascular tonus had become nor- 

 mally restored; and there were no trophic 

 cutaneous lesions. With the exception of 

 the sphincter ani, which still functioned 

 normally and retained electric excitability, 

 the muscles supplied by the portion of the 



cord removed were completely degenerated- 

 An animal similarly operated on bore 

 young naturally, one of which was still 

 alive, and suckled them. 



Discussion by Profs. Kiihne, Rosenthal 

 and Holmgren. 



Prof. E. Fano (Florence) demonstrated 

 a myographic method for the measurement 

 of reaction-time in the dog by which he 

 had found that removal of certain regions 

 of the cerebral cortex causes a shortening 

 of the reaction-time, while electrical stimu- 

 lation of the same regions lengthens it. 

 He believes the conclusion justified that 

 the cells of the cerebral cortex, especially 

 of the frontal lobes, exercise an inhibition 

 on the spinal cord. 



Prof. N. Vitzu (Bucharest) had re- 

 moved the occipital lobes of a dog's brain, 

 and in the course of two years the conse- 

 quent visual defect gradually improved. By 

 a second operation of the same nature as the 

 first, the animal became blind as before, 

 while examination of the tissue removed 

 showed it to be very vascular and to con- 

 tain ganglion cells. These Prof. Vitzu 

 held to be of new formation. 



Discussion by Profs. Heger, Arloing and 

 Herzen. 



Dr. Demoor (Brussels) showed photo- 

 graphs and drawings of preparations made 

 by Golgi's quick method of the cerebral 

 cortex of dogs to which large doses of chloral 

 or of morphine had been given. They 

 showed a characteristic varicosity of the 

 processes of the ganglion cells, absent in 

 the case of unpoisoned and unexhausted 

 animals, although killed in the same way. 

 This action of the drugs in question was 

 compared with a similar one exercised by 

 them on the pseudopodia of amcebaj and on 

 vegetable protoplasm. Dr. Demoor holds 

 all three structures to be motile, a conclu- 

 sion of interest in relation to the functions 

 of ganglionic cells. 



Dr. G. Mann (Edinburgh) discussed the 



