334 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. lOOd 



"An Easy Method of Drawing the Normals to 

 a Parabola from any Point, " by S. G. Barton. 



"A Graphical Solution of Cubic Equations," by 

 8. G. Barton. 



' ' The Color of Faint Stars, " by F. H. Seares. 



"The Moon's Mean Longitude, 1908 to 1913," 

 by F. E. Eoss. 



"Proper Motion of Telescopic Stars," by G. C. 

 Comstoek. 



' ' Errors in the Right Ascensions of Newcomb 's 

 Fundamental Catalogue," by W. S. Eichelberger 

 and H. K. Morgan. 



' ' Stellar Parallaxes with the 40-inch Refrac- 

 tor," by F. Slocum and S. A. Mitchell. 



"The Objective of the Sproul Telescope," by J. 

 A. Miller and R. W. Marriott. 



' ' Wendell 's Photometric Measurements, " by E. 

 C. Pickering. 



"On the Cepheid Type of Variation," by H. N. 

 Russell. 



' ' Oscillations in the Periods of Cluster Variables 

 and the Coincidence of Visual and Photographic 

 Maxima, ' ' by Harlow Shapley. 



' ' The Discovery of Three Naked-eye Variable 

 Stars," by Harlow Shapley. 



"Note on the Use of Diffraction Effects in 

 Stellar Parallax Work, ' ' by Frederick Slocum. 



"Observations of Nebulae with an Objective- 

 prism Camera," by E. B. Frost and H. L. Alden. 



' ' The Location of the Sun 's Reversing Layer, ' ' 

 by S. A. Mitchell. 



"Spectroscopic Notes from the Detroit Observ- 

 atory," by R. H. Curtiss. 



' ' Spectrographio Observations of the Nebulae, ' ' 

 by V. M. Slipher. 



"The Transmission of Terrestrial Radiation by 

 the Earth 's Atmosphere in Summer and Winter, ' ' 

 by F. W. Very. 



"Note on the Spectrum and Radial Velocity of 

 •*■ Persei," by Paul Merrill. 



"The General Magnetic Field of the Sun," by 

 G. E. Hale, F. EUerman, and A. van Maanen. 



' ' Color Equations of Photographs taken with the 

 16-inch Metealf Telescope," by Henrietta S. 

 Leavitt. 



"Report of the Committee on Photographic 

 Astrometry: I. Experiments with Wide-angle 

 Cameras; II. Experiments with a Stationary Teles- 

 cope, ' ' by Frank Schlesinger, Chairman. 



The next meeting of the society will be held at 

 Northwestern University in August of 1914. 



Philip Fox, 



Secretary 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE ACADEMY OP SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS 



At the meeting of the Academy on January 5, 

 Dr. Victor E. Emmel, of the Washington Univer- 

 sity Medical School, read a paper on "The Prob- 

 lem of the Origin of the Non-nucleated Red Blood 

 Corpuscles. ' ' 



Dr. Emmel stated that the various views which 

 have arisen in the history of the problem may be 

 briefly stated as including that of intra-cellular 

 nuclear disintegration, nuclear persistence, the 

 hematoblast theory, intra-cellular formation, and 

 the nuclear extrusion theory. With the exception 

 of the hematoblast theory, all of these views are 

 still being seriously discussed, although at the pres- 

 ent time that of nuclear extrusion has the greater 

 number of adherents. In contrast to these theories 

 the following results of a study of blood cultures 

 and fresh and fixed blood of the pig embryo appear 

 to support another possible mode of origin for the 

 non-nucleated red blood corpuscles. 



It was found that the erythroblast of the pig 

 embryo in place of being spherical, as generally 

 described, may in the later stages of cytomorpho- 

 sis, assume a biconcave or cup shape; its nucleus 

 becomes smaller, more compact, eccentric in posi- 

 tion, and not infrequently flattened in form; me- 

 chanically rotated, the erythroblasts tend to orient 

 themselves with the nuclear region remaining on 

 the imder side, as if loaded; and that their re- 

 action to changes in osmotic conditions indicates 

 a structural difference between the nuclear and 

 cytoplasmic poles. These observations were dis- 

 cussed with reference to the question of the corre- 

 lation of the form of the definite plastid with the 

 enucleation of the erythroblast, and formation of 

 a lecithin containing membrane, hemoglobin, dif- 

 ferentiation, and the factors involved in determin- 

 ing the eccentric position of the nucleus. 



In some eighty culture experiments non-nu- 

 cleated erythrocytes or plastids were observed to 

 arise from the parent erythroblast by a process of 

 cytoplasmic constriction. In size, form, hemo- 

 globin content and stain these culture plastids are 

 comparable to the normal circulatory plastids. Ob- 

 servations on living and fixed material indicate the 

 occurrence of a similar process within the embryo. 

 These results accordingly raise the question 

 whether the origin of non-nucleated red blood cor- 

 puscles by a process of cytoplasmic eonstrictiom 

 rather than by nuclear extrusion or intracellular 

 nuclear disintegration does not merit more serious 

 consideration. G. O. James, 



Corresponding Secretary 



