844 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1014 



stance of the nucleus begins to mingle with that of 

 the cell and they not only distribute the cell eon- 

 tents in a definite way, thus causing differential 

 or non-differential division, but they also prob- 

 ably cause the separation of the chromosomes and 

 the division of the cell body. 



When a spermatozoon enters the cortical layer 

 of an egg, or when this cortical layer is pricked 

 by a needle, the substance of this layer flows 

 rapidly to the point of entrance, where it forms an 

 entrance cone, while the sperm head with some of 

 the cortical substance penetrates to the interior, 

 and the egg and sperm nuclei then approach one 

 another. Then the cell movements connected veith 

 the first cleavage begin and the egg substances be- 

 come segregated and localized by means of these 

 currents into areas which give rise to particular 

 organs. Since the pattern of this localization is 

 different in different groups of animals, it must be 

 that there is an internal regulating niechanism 

 which determines the direction and extent of the 

 movements within the cell. 



Finally the relative sizes, positions and order of 

 appearance of different parts of a cell during di- 

 vision, or of an egg during the early stages of de- 

 velopment, are indicative of certain generic rela- 

 tions between these parts. The centrosome and 

 archiplasm are thus found to be causally connected 

 with the achromatin of the nucleus; the chromatin 

 grows at the expense of the achromatin; and the 

 cell body influences the growth of the nucleus, 

 while the nucleus influences the differentiations 

 taking place in the cell body. 



All of these complicated morphological and 

 physiological phenomena are doubtless the expres- 

 sion of chemical and physical processes occurring 

 in the cell; a few of these processes may now be 

 indicated, but that which is known is as nothing 

 compared with what remains to be learned about 

 the physics and chemistry of the cell. 

 The Physical State of Protoplasm: G. L. BJTE. 



(Introduced by Professor McGlung.) 



An accurate knowledge of the physical state or 

 conditions, of living matter has been gained for 

 the first time by the employment of new methods 

 for the dissection of living cells under the highest 

 power of the microscope. Most living matter has 

 been definitely proved to be in the jelly state. In 

 a few kinds of cells the living substance is a 

 liquid. Micro-dissections have thrown new light 

 on the distribution of jellies and liquid in living 

 cells and proved for all time the physical reality of 

 such important structures as chromosomes, nu- 

 cleoli and spindles. 



The Physico-chemical Organization of the Cell: 



Lawrence J. Hendekson. (Introduced by Dr. 



H. F. Keller.) 



At the banquet on Saturday evening at the 

 Bellevue-Stratford about eighty members and 

 guests were present, the toasts being responded to 

 as follows: 



' ' The Memory of Franklin, ' ' by Hon. Mayer 

 Sultzberger. 



' ' Our Institutions of Learning, ' ' by Professor 

 J. Dyneley Prince. 



' ' Our Guests, ' ' by Professor Maurice Bloom- 

 field and Sir Ernest Rutherford. 



"The American Philosophical Society," by 

 Russell Duane. 



Arthdh Willis Goodspeed 



Philadelphia, 

 May 4, 1914 



the biological society of ■WASHINGTON 



The 525th regular meeting was held April 4, 

 1914, in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club, with 

 Vice-president Dr. W. P. Hay in the chair, and 35 

 persons present. 



Wm. Palmer gave the first paper on the regular 

 program : ' ' Notes on the Hatching of a Local 

 Terrapin {Kinosternon pennsylvanicum)." From 

 4 to 5 eggs are found in nests of this turtle. The 

 contents of one were transferred to the yard of 

 Mr. Palmer's house in Georgetown, and appar- 

 ently hatched, only after a lapse of 13 months. 

 Mr. A. A. Doolittle and the chairman discussed 

 the paper, the latter remarking that the diamond- 

 back terrapin presents a similar case. The eggs 

 are laid in the spring, and although hatched m the 

 fall, the young sometimes remain in the nests until 

 the following spring. 



The second paper by Dr. O. P. Hay, was ' ' An 

 Account of a Visit to Some of the Smaller Mu- 

 seums. " On a recent trip the speaker had visited 

 some 40 towns for the purpose of examining speci- 

 mens of Pleistocene vertebrates. He gave an ac- 

 count of the size and character of the collections 

 in various towns and remarked upon the condi- 

 tions under which the fossils were deposited. At 

 Mount Union Scio College, Ohio, was seen a skull 

 of the giant beaver, which was 13 inches long, the 

 largest known. At Norwalk, Ohio, was found a 

 specimen of the ground sloth (Megalonyx), which 

 establishes the fact that these animals' existed 

 after the retreat of the last ice sheet. At Kansas 

 City, Kansas, is the head of a whalebone whale, 

 said to have been found in^ Oklahoma. It is un- 

 doubtedly modem, and the datum erroneous. The 



