June 29, lOOG.] 



SCIENCE. 



979 



the gardener bower bird of New Guinea with 

 its natural surroundings. 



The American Naturalist for June con- 

 tains the following articles : ' Observations 

 and Experiments on Dragon Flies in Brackish 

 Water,' by E. 0. Osburn ; ' Reactions of 

 Tuhularia crocea (Ag.),' by A. S. Pearse, and 

 ' The Pressure and Flow of Sap in the Maple,' 

 by K. M. Wiegand. This reviews the various 

 theories that have been propounded and gives 

 a summary of the recorded facts and their 

 probable explanations, osmotic phenomena be- 

 ing considered the cause of the observed pres- 

 sure with the resulting flow of sap. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



THE SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND 

 MEDICINE. 



The seventeenth meeting of the Society for 

 Experimental Biology and Medicine was held 

 in the laboratory of the Department of Health 

 of New York on Wednesday evening, May 23. 

 The president, Simon Flexner, was in the 

 chair. 



Memhers present: Atkinson, Auer, Dunham, 

 Ewing, Field, Flexner, Gies, Hatcher, Lee, 

 Levene, Mandel, J. A., Meltzer, Meyer, Norris, 

 Opie, Park, Richards, Salant, Terry, Wads- 

 worth, Wallace. 



Abstracts of Communications.^ 

 Analogies hetween the Phosphorized Fats Oh- 

 tained from the Brain and Kidney, with 

 exhibition of products : Edward K. Dunham. 

 The author has found that substances close- 

 ly related to the lipoids derived from the brain 

 may be obtained by similar methods from the 

 kidney. In this communication the author 

 gave chiefly his analytic data for kidney prod- 

 ucts resembling Thudichum's sphingomyelin 

 and paramyelin. 



' The abstracts presented in this account of the 

 proceedings have been greatly condensed from ab- 

 stracts given to the secretary by the authors them- 

 selves. The latter abstracts of the communica- 

 tions may be found in current numbers of The 

 Journal of the American Medical Association, 

 American Medicine, the Neio York Medical Jour- 

 nal and volume three of the Society's Proceedings. 



The Toxicity of Indol: A. N. Sichards and 



John Howland. 



A series of experiments on rats, guinea pigs 

 and rabbits have shown that if the capacity of 

 the cells of utilizing oxygen is diminished as 

 by potassium cyanid, or chloroform, the in- 

 tensity and duration of symptoms following 

 the injection of definite doses of either indol 

 or phenol are increased. 



The experiments were made as a part of a 

 study of the etiological factors in recurrent 

 vomiting in children. At the beginning of 

 these seizures there are signs of diminished 

 oxidation (increased elimination of uric acid, 

 neutral sulfur, lactic acid, aceton bodies) 

 and an abnormally intense indican reaction. 

 It is ~ believed that failure to oxidize com- 

 pletely substances of the type of indol, results 

 in the production of distinct mental symp- 

 toms and in the partial excretion of the sub- 

 stances into the gastro-intestinal tract. The 

 disturbance induced by such substances is 

 capable of producing nausea and vomiting. 



The Formation of Urea: L. B. Stookey and 

 A. S. Granger. (Presented by R. A. 

 Hatcher.) 



Subcutaneous injection of liver-extracts 

 (dog) was found to lead, in the dog, to an 

 increased elaboration of nitrogenous end- 

 products into urea. Liver-extracts which had 

 been heated to 55° C. were not found to pos- 

 sess this stimulative action. These results 

 might indicate an enzymatic formation of 

 urea. Further experiments are in progress. 



The Effects on Erribryonic Development of the 

 Roentgen Bays Acting on the Spermatozoa 

 of the Toad Previous to Fertilization: 0. R. 

 Bardeen. 

 The results of the author's experiments may 



be briefly summarized as follows : 



1. The spermatozoa of the common toad re- 

 tain power of movement and fertilization for 

 from one half to nearly three hours in a dish 

 of lake-water at room temperature. On hot 

 days they die sooner than on cool days. 



2. Spermatozoa when under exposure of 

 Roentgen rays die sooner than when not thus 



3. When spermatozoa are exposed to the 



