226 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



which then recommences after a short time, and is rightly regarded as 

 a continuation of the original movement. Dr. C. Delmecke has inves- 

 tigated the conditions under which such secondary movements may 

 be regarded as normal, i. e, recommencements of movements of the 

 living cell, or as abnormal, i. e. movements set up anew in the injured 

 cell ; and has come to the following general conclusions : — (1) Both 

 normal and abnormal movements may be observed in cells under the 

 conditions named ; (2) the latter are derived from the former, and 

 occur when organs are wounded, when they absorb much water, when 

 they are prepared in water, and when frozen organs are thawed ; 

 (3) currents may set up in the protoplasmic utricle independent of 

 those in the bands of protoplasm, but may pass over into the latter. 



Passage of Red Blood-corpuscles into the Lymphatic Circula- 

 tion.* — This phenomenon has been observed to have taken place in the 

 lymphatic duct and in the lymphatics ; the one case being explicable by 

 regurgitation of blood through the imperfect valves at the upper end 

 of the duct, the other by diapedesis through the walls of the vessels. 

 Red corpuscles have also been made by M. Laulanie to pass into the 

 lymphatics of a tributary of the carotid artery in the horse by liga- 

 ture of the jugular vein. In twelve hours after the operation the first 

 are seen under the Microscope ; four hours later their number is equal 

 to that of the colourless corpuscles ; at the fortieth hour the number 

 attains an average maximum (the number of red corpuscles is now 

 three times that of the sixteenth hour), which is afterwards main- 

 tained, subject to temporary oscillations. The number of the cor- 

 puscles is also increased by feeding ; at this time the flow of lymph 

 increases rapidly, and the proportion of red corpuscles suddenly 

 becomes doubled, that of the white ones remaining constant ; the 

 original proportions are resumed when mastication ceases. What 

 influence the nervous system exercises in the phenomenon still 

 remains to be decided. 



Relations between Muscular Activity and Breaking down of 

 Material in the Animal Body.t — Experiments relating to this sub- 

 ject, carried out by C. Kellner on a horse eleven years old, have 

 yielded the following main results : — (1) In producing kinetic force an 

 organism necessarily uses up alimentary and histological materials. 



(2) Non-nitrogenous matter is seized on for this process, and when this 

 is insufficient or is exhausted, organized albumen is broken down. 



(3) The latter process can only be stopped by increase of food, 

 especially of non-nitrogenous compounds. Even large supplies of 

 albumens cannot stop this loss when the sum-total of the food- 

 elements is insufficient for the needs of the body. Such loss in 

 the case of beasts of draught and burden is usually to be met by use 

 of non-nitrogenous foods. (4) It is probable that a more abundant 

 circulation of albumens is necessary during work than the minimum 

 amount required during rest, owing to the increased need of oxygen 



* Comptes Rendus, xci. (1880) pp. 1082-4. 

 t Naturforscher, xiii. (1880) pp. 4U9-12. 



