860 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 805 



casual care. For therein we specifically 

 stated that notwithstanding the fact that we 

 could find no comprehensive treatise on this 

 phenomenon in the sources at our command, 

 still we had the impression that very thorough 

 observations have long since been made and 

 recorded, but felt justified in recording our 

 observations in order to recall attention to 

 the phenomenon. So, notwithstanding Dr. 

 Auer's conviction to the contrary, I still hold 

 that the material contained in our communi- 

 cation is not original. 



Finally, had Dr. Auer made careful obser- 

 vations upon the frog's pupil he would have 

 found that excision of the eye or stoppage of 

 the frog's circulation, as by removing or tying 

 off the heart, are alone followed by very 

 marked asphyxial constriction of the pupil, 

 and therefore the employment of additional 

 asphyxial procedures is entirely superfluous. 

 His conclusion might then well have been 

 that asphyxial changes in a frog's pupil differ 

 from those in mammals in that there is not 

 such a well-marked period of asphyxial pupil- 

 lary dilatation. It should be observed that we 

 pointed out in our note that the post-mortem 

 condition of the pupil in different mammals 

 varies : in cats it is chiefly dilatation ; in com- 

 mon gray rabbits constriction (as compared 

 with the size of the normal pupil in diifuse 

 daylight). From this it is obvious that the 

 asphyxial changes in the frog's pupil as com- 

 pared with those of the rabbit are in general 

 similar, the chief difference being a well- 

 marked but short period of dilatation in the 

 rabbit. 



C. C. Guthrie 



Physiological Laboratory, 

 University of Pittsburgh 



QUOTATIONS 



" MEDICAL FREEDOM " 



Makers of patent medicines, adulterators of 

 drugs, and practitioners of the cults of mental 

 and osteopathic healing are up in arms. They 

 have persuaded a few well-intentioned but 

 misled individuals to join them, and have 

 formed the " National League for Medical 

 Freedom " to oppose the efforts of practically 



all the reputable physicians in the country to 

 consolidate the agencies of public health at 

 Washington into one efficient department or 

 bureau. 



These efforts have been waxing stronger. 

 The men of the American Medical Associa- 

 tion and of the Committee of One Hundred 

 on National Health, sanctioned by the Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science and 

 headed by Professor Irving Fisher, of Yale, 

 have won the approval of the entire press of 

 the United States in urging the passage of 

 their bill. In the various departments and 

 bureaus of the federal government are lodged 

 powers that can not be wielded effectively until 

 they shall be coordinated under one head. 

 Once united, they can be used in a great 

 propaganda for educating the people against 

 the habit of self-dosage and a resort to quack 

 medicines for their ailments. By a campaign 

 of prevention the bureau would break the 

 prevalence of epidemics and infections be- 

 tween the states. It would work for the pas- 

 sage of laws that would guard the channels 

 of inter-state commerce against the admis- 

 sion of adulterated drugs, and for the estab- 

 lishment of standards of purity and strength 

 that would be copied by the states and cities 

 of the nation. 



The seK-styled " League for Medical Free- 

 dom " quotes Professor Fisher accusingly as 

 having said that the government might soon 

 be appropriating millions yearly for the con- 

 duct of this bureau. If it should appropriate 

 a million for every hundred thousand it now 

 appropriates for the protection of the health 

 of hogs and cattle in the United States, Pro- 

 fessor Fisher's prophecy would be fulfilled, 

 and no one would have cause for complaint 

 but these friends of " freedom." Their cry is 

 an old one and well understood. 



License they mean, when liberty they cry. — 

 The N. Y. Times. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



'Ants. Their Structure, Development and 

 Behavior. By William Morton Wheeler. 

 New York, Columbia University Press, 

 Macmillan Co., publishers. 1910. 



