174 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 658 



Comparative Chemical Composition of the 

 Hair of Different Baces: Thomas A. 

 EuTHERFORD and Philip B. Hawk. 

 After subjecting hair obtained from Indian, 

 Negro, Japanese and Caucasian subjects, to 

 the action of digestive juices, and also alcohol 

 and ether, the percentage content of sulphur, 

 nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen in the remain- 

 ing keratin was found to be nearly the same 

 for each type. The S iN ratio was practically 

 1 :3 in each case. 



The Oxidation of Sugars hy Cupric Acetate- 

 Acetic Acid Mixtures: A. P. Mathews and 

 Hugh McGuigan. 



The addition of acetic acid to cupric acetate 

 diminishes its speed of oxidation. The 

 amount of acid that may be necessary to 

 check the oxidation to any given rate depends 

 on the concentration of the acetate; the more 

 concentrated the acetate the more acid is 

 required. 



Solutions of different concentrations of 

 acetate and acetic acid were prepared which 

 would just fail to oxidize levulose to a visible 

 production of cuprous oxide after a half- 

 minute's boiling. Similar solutions were pre- 

 pared for the different sugars. Each of these 

 solutions for any given sugar of one per cent, 

 concentration had the same speed of oxidation. 

 In all the solutions oxidizing any one sugar 

 with the same speed, the decomposition ten- 

 sion of the cupric oxide in the solutions was a 

 constant. For the different sugars the fol- 

 lowing data for decomposition tension were 

 obtained in those solutions that just failed 

 to show oxidation to a visible extent after a 

 half -minute's boiling: Levulose, 0.583 volt; 

 galactose, 0.562 volt; glucose, 0.558 volt; 

 maltose, 0.532 volt; lactose, 0.519 volt. 



A cupri'c acetate-acetic acid mixture of 

 proper concentration will show the same 

 selective action toward levulose that many 

 bacteria and other living organisms manifest 

 and will oxidize the levulose almost com- 

 pletely before the glucose is attacked. 



Ohservations on the Effects of Fasting upon 

 the Opsonic Power of the Blood to Staphyl- 

 ococcus aureus: Allan -C. Rankin and A. 

 A. Martin (by invitation). 



Pasting perceptibly diminished the par- 

 ticular opsonic power studied (from 0.98 to 

 0.7). 



The Automatism of the Respiratory Center: 



G. N. Stewart and P. H. Pike. 



The authors described a method which 

 seems to afford a means of temporarily 

 eliminating all the afferent paths connected 

 with the respiratory center. Since under 

 these conditions the center continues to dis- 

 charge itself in such a way as to maintain 

 a long and unbroken series of regular, efficient 

 respiratory movements, its normal activity is 

 to be considered an example of physiological 

 automatism, not originated, although influ- 

 enced, by afferent nervous impulses. 



A Series of Spontaneous Tumors in Mice: 



E. E. Tyzzer. 



In the investigation of tumors in mice, at- 

 tention has been directed, for the most part, 

 to those which develop in the subcutaneous 

 tissue. It is possible that internal tumors 

 often occur unnoticed. 



The author described tumors of the lungs, 

 kidneys, mammary glands and lymphatic 

 glands, and stated the effects of their inocula- 

 tion into mice. Silver preparations were 

 made by the method of Levaditti and the 

 results given of an extended examination for 

 spirochetes. 



Concerning the Neutrality of Protoplasm: 

 Lawrence J. Henderson (by invitation). 

 It is desirable, both on account of the 

 normal production of acid during metabolism, 

 and because of the production of acid under 

 pathological circumstances, to study the ad- 

 justment of equilibrium in protoplasm where- 

 by neutrality is maintained. 



As a result of this investigation it appears 

 that in the presence of both free and combined 

 carbonic acid in measurable amount, mixtures 

 of sodium hydroxid, phosphoric acid and 

 carbonic acid are precisely neutral to rosolic 

 acid, and that the amount of sodium bicar- 

 bonate in such mixtures can vary considerably 

 without great variation in the ratio between 

 mono-sodium phosphate and di-sodium phos- 

 phate. These results are in accord with the 



