342 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 374. 



the filial twenty-four hours of which were 

 spent at Gorner Grat, Switzerland, the re- 

 spective numbers were 7,000,000 and 1,206,- 

 900. The plates had thus increased much 

 more than the red corpuscles. The pre- 

 dominance of plates of large size was very 

 striking; the number of small red cor- 

 puscles Avas much greater than is seen in 

 normal blood. The whole appearance sug- 

 gested the crise hematoilastique of Hayem. 

 The most careful search, however, failed to 

 reveal plates colored by haemoglobin. 



Some Netv Observations on Blood-plates: 

 Professor G. T. Kemp and 0. 0. Stan- 

 ley. 



The experiments of Dutjen have been 

 repeated, and his statement corroborated, 

 viz., that the plates exhibit amoeboid move- 

 ments when examined in proper media. 

 From preparations made from the blood 

 of animals, into whose circulation methyl- 

 ene blue had been injected, and examined 

 by Dutjen 's method, and from others 

 studied by Macallum's method for the de- 

 tection of phosphorus, the authors conclude 

 that the plates consist of nucleo-proteid ex- 

 isting as granules scattered through the 

 clear mass (of protoplasm?), Avhich is ca- 

 pable of exhibiting amoeboid movements. 



Notes on the Physiology of the Circulatory 

 System in the Hagfish, Polistotrema 

 stouti: Professor C. W. Greene, Univer- 

 sity of Missouri. 



The California hagfish possesses three 

 well-developed hearts, the systemic heart, 

 the portal heart and the caudal heart. The 

 systemic heart is different from that in all 

 craniate vertebrates so far examined, in 

 that it possesses no regulative nervous sys- 

 tem. The portal heart also is devoid of 

 such a system. The caudal heart propels 

 blood from the great lateral subcutaneous 

 sinuses into the caudal vein. It was proved 

 that these sinuses normally contain blood, 

 and not lymph alone. The blood of the 



hagfish has a concentration very close to 

 that of the sea water in which the animal 

 lives. The lowering of the freezing point 

 of hagfish serum is 1.934° C— 1.992° C, 

 while that of sea water in Monterey Bay 

 is 1.945° C. 



The Mechanism of Fibrillar Contraction of 

 the Heart: Professor W. T. Porter, 

 Harvard. 



On Further Experiments on the Impor- 

 tance of Sodium for the Heart-Beat: 

 Dr. D. J. LiNGLE, University of Chicago. 

 Heart stimulants like eaffein can not 

 make strips of muscle from the ventricle 

 contract, unless sodium chloride is present. 

 A recovery from the standstill induced by 

 sodium chloride alone occurs in oxygen gas 

 and in solutions containing hydrogen per- 

 oxide, as well as in various salt solutions. 

 Heart strips placed first in a solution of 

 sodium chloride, and then transferred to 

 oxygen gas contract as long and as well as 

 they do in a solution of calcium or other 

 salts. 



On the Prolongation of the Life of Unfer- 

 tilized Eggs of the Sea-urchin by Potas- 

 sium Cyanide: Professor Jacques Loeb, 

 University of Chicago, and Mr. Lewis. 

 Death is an active process due to 

 enzyme action. Fertilization greatly re- 

 tards it. In the eggs of the sea-urchin brief 

 treatment with certain salts, such as potas- 

 sium cyanide, acts like fertilization to re- 

 tard the mortiferous processes. 



The Action of Alcohol on Muscle: Pro- 

 fessor Frederic S. Lee, Columbia, and 

 Dr. William Salant. 

 A frog's muscle which has absorbed a 

 moderate quantity of ethyl alcohol will con- 

 tract more quickly, relax more quicldy, per- 

 form a greater number of contractions in a 

 given time, and do more work than a mus- 

 cle without alcohol, while the onset of 

 fatigue is at the same time delayed. In 



