SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 53. 



path is not cut off by a steep mountain side; 

 the ascent, at any rate the nearest visible 

 part of it, presents a moderate incline ouly, 

 and among the rocks there are narrow 

 paths which lead on high ; there are many 

 zealous and skilled investigators ; how can 

 we but look hopefully ahead to the suc- 

 cesses of future efforts? " 



M. I. PUPIN. 

 Columbia College, New York. 



THE BEBNE PHYSIOLOGICAL CONGRESS 

 (11.).^ 



Thursday, September 12. Morning dem- 

 omonstrations and papers (Chairmen, Profs. 

 Dastre and Einthoven). 



Prof. S. Arloing (Lyons) described ex- 

 periments showing that the persistence of 

 electric excitability of the peripheral ends 

 of divided nerves was of long duration, al- 

 though varying with the animal and nerve 

 experimented on. The excitability of the 

 spinal accessory and facial nerves lasted in 

 dogs four to five days, in asses eight to 

 ten days. In one case the peripheral end 

 of a cat's sciatic was excitable after thirty- 

 one days. The different kinds of nerve 

 fibres in one nerve trunk have different 

 rates of degeneration and their existence 

 can be thus demonstrated ; for instance, 

 the vagus of some animals seven or eight 

 days after section has lost its inhibitorj^ 

 action on the heart, and now produces ac- 

 celeration on stimulation. In the case of 

 an ass, stimulation of the peripheral end 

 of the vagus produced standstill of the 

 heart accompanied by a rise in blood pres- 

 sure, which Prof. Arloing considered to be 

 due to tetanus of the cardiac muscle. The 

 graphic record of this experiment was 

 shown. 



Discussion by Prof. Schiff. 



Dr. M. Arthus (Paris) discussed the 

 action of lime salts in promoting the coagu- 



*Continue(l from Vol. II., No. 50, p. 781. (Decem- 

 ber 13, 1895. ) 



lation of the blood. He did not agree with 

 the late Prof. Al. Schmidt that the action of 

 the oxalates in preventing clotting was a 

 specific one, independent of the precipitation 

 of lime salts, as the same action was pos- 

 sessed by citrates and fluorides. 



Discussion bj^ Prof Kiihne. 



Prof. J. V. Kries (Freiburg) discussed 

 the color-blindness, except for red, of eyes 

 which have been long unexposed to light. 

 He did not agree with Hering that this 

 was due to the activity of the white-black 

 substance alone, for he found the periphery 

 of the retina one to two hundred times su- 

 perior to the center, and held that the reti- 

 nal rods by virtue of their visual purple 

 possess the power of adaptation to dark- 

 ness, while the cones distinguish colors. 



Discussions by Profs. Griitzner, Hensen, 

 Pfliiger (Berne) and Kiihne. 



Prof. A. Gamgee (Lausanne) described 

 his investigation of the absorption bands 

 in the outer violet and ultra-violet produced 

 by haemoglobin and its derivatives, photo- 

 graphs of which were shown. The absorp- 

 tion bands of Turacin, the pigment con- 

 taining copper obtained from the feathers 

 of certain birds, were also described. Its 

 ultra-violet absorption band is identical 

 with that of reduced haemoglobin. 



Discussion by Prof. Tschirch. 



Prof. S. Epstein (Berne) gave an experi- 

 mental demonstration of the increase in 

 visual acuity caused by auditory impres- 

 sions. He did not agree with the localiza- 

 tion of the nervous process in the cerebral 

 cortex, but held it to take place in the cor- 

 pora quadrigemina, in which the auditory 

 stimuli are reflected on to the optic nerves, 

 these functioning as efierent as well as af- 

 ferent nerves. In favor of this view he de- 

 scribed an experiment in which faradisa- 

 tion of the cochlear nerve produced move- 

 ments of the eyes and increased sensibility 

 of the conjunctiva. Prof. Epstein also 

 showed an improved perimeter to be used 



