408 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. Xo. 665 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE SOCIETY FOE EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND 



MEDICINE. TWENTY-THIRD MEETING 



New York University and Bellevue Hospital 

 Medical College, May 22, 1907. President 

 Flexner in the chair. Members present — 

 Atkinson, Beebe, Brooks, Calkins, Carrel, 

 Emerson, Ewing, Field, Flexner, Gibson, Gies, 

 Lillie, Lusk, Meyer, Murlin, Salant, Sbailer, 

 Teague, Wadswortb, Weil, Wolf, Yatsu. 



Ahstracts of the Communications^ 

 The Osmotic Pressure of Colloidal Solutions 

 and the Influence of Electrolytes and Non- 

 electrolytes on such Pressure: Ealph S. 

 Lillie. 



Determinations were made of the osmotic 

 pressure of gelatin and egg albumin. The col- 

 loids were used (1) in approximately pure 

 solution, and (2) after the addition of various 

 electrolytes and non-electrolytes to the col- 

 loidal solution; in this case the employed sub- 

 stance was added in the same concentration 

 to the outer fluid of the osmometer so as to 

 pervade the entire system on both sides of the 

 membrane in uniform concentration. The 

 osmotic effects observed under these conditions 

 can be due only to the colloid and not to the 

 added substance. The colloidal solution was 

 found, however, after the addition of an acid, 

 alkali or neutral salt, to exhibit an altered 

 osmotic pressure, the degree of alteration 

 varying with the nature and concentration of 

 the added electrolyte. ISTon-electrolytes were 

 found to have no appreciable influence on the 

 osmotic pressure of these colloids. 



Hemolysis in Eclampsia: James Ewing. 



The author's observations indicate that the 

 eclamptic toxin is not a hemolytic agent derived 

 from the placenta, and that hemolysis is noli 

 necessarily associated with the lesions of the 

 viscera. Semb's experiments in which he dem- 

 onstrates visceral lesions strongly resembling 



* The abstracts presented in this account of the 

 proceedings have been greatly condensed from ab- 

 stracts prepared by the authors themselves. The 

 latter abstracts of the communications appear in 

 Number 6 of Volume IV. of the Society's proceed- 

 ings, which may be obtained from the Secretary. 



those of a hemolytic serum, can not be accepted 

 as furnishing evidence of a specific eclamptic 

 toxin. Histological study of the liver in 

 eclampsia indicates that the characteristic 

 lesions consist of fibrin thrombi and not in 

 agglutination and hemolysis of red cells, and 

 that when hemolysis occurs it results from the 

 products of degeneration and necrosis of 

 endothelial and hepatic cells. It is therefore 

 probably an entirely secondary factor in the 

 disease. 



Glycocoll Nitrogen in the Metaholism of the 



Dog: John E. Murlin. 



While attempting to explain the behavior o£ 

 gelatin in metabolism it occurred to the author 

 that much significance might be attributed to 

 its high content of glycocoll. It is well known 

 that the nitrogen of gelatin is not ordinarily 

 retained in the body, but appears quantitative- 

 ly in the urine, chiefly as urea. But when fed 

 with meat and an abundance of carbohydrate, 

 it is possible to establish nitrogen equilibrium 

 near the fasting level, if two thirds of the total 

 quantity of nitrogen fed is given in the form 

 of gelatin and only one third is present in the 

 meat. Would glycocoll, if given in the same 

 way, behave as does gelatin ? The author's ex- 

 periments answered this question in the affirm- 

 ative. 



An Hydrodynamic Explanation of Mitotic 



Figures: Aethur B. Lamb. 



The distinctly polar arrangement of the 

 chromatin substance about the astral centers 

 in dividing cells, combined with the pro- 

 nounced curvature of the astral rays and of 

 the spindle fibers, has demanded the assump- 

 tion of some polar force as universally opera- 

 tive. On such an assumption it is of course 

 necessary to assume further that astral centers 

 represent either opposite or like poles. On the 

 alternative of opposite poles, we should expect, 

 with any force so far proposed, a configuration 

 of astral rays simulating that of iron filings 

 between opposite magnetic poles, coupled with 

 a mutual attraction of the astral centers. On 

 the other alternative, we should similarly ex- 

 pect a configuration of astral rays and spindle 

 fibers simulating that of iron filings between 

 nice magnetic poles, coupled with a mutual 



