434 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 846 



sincere endeavor to elucidate the problems 

 connected with this disease. 



One of the most interesting features of this 

 very extensive and laborious piece of work is 

 the discovery of a constantly low respiratory 

 quotient in patients suffering from severe 

 diabetes, which accords with theoretical ex- 

 pectations. 



On page 211, the authors state that after 

 giving beefsteak to a diabetic, " the excretion 

 of sugar in the urine . . . was not sufficient 

 to indicate the excretion of a large part of the 

 non-nitrogenous portions of the steak in the 

 urine." But the sugar rose from 3.1 grams 

 per hour to 8.6, an increase of 5.5 at the same 

 time that the nitrogen elimination rose from 

 0.57 to 1.25, an increase of 0.68 grams per 

 hour, which corresponds to increased protein 

 destruction of 4.3 grams! According to this 

 computation, 5.5 grams of dextrose might 

 have arisen from 4.3 grams of protein which 

 certainly does not support the negation 

 quoted above. 



The reviewer is forced to disagree with the 

 main contention of the book, that the heat 

 production in severe diabetes is 15 per cent, 

 higher than the normal. The error of Bene- 

 dict and Joslin is twofold. In the first place, 

 their group of normal individuals, nine in 

 number, include three weighing respectively 

 74, 80 and 83 kilograms. These are not fairly 

 comparable with diabetics weighing between 

 45 and 65 kilograms. In the second place, the 

 high metabolism obtained from a diabetic in- 

 dividual weighing 45 kilograms who was 

 " extremely highstrung, nervous and appre- 

 hensive," and "not an ideal subject," plays 

 quite a part in the average results upon the 

 diabetic patients. If the heavier, normal in- 

 dividuals be excluded, then six weighing be- 

 tween 48 and 6Y kilograms produce 1.27 

 calories per kilogram per hour, and if the 

 excitable diabetic be excluded, it is found that 

 five individuals with severe diabetes and 

 weighing between 49 and 65 kilograms, show 

 an average heat production of 1.34 calories 

 per kilogram, which is an increase of 5 per 

 cent, above the normal, or about that obtained 

 by other observers. 



Graham Lusk 



80IENTIFI0 JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 



The contents of Terrestrial Magnetism and 

 Atmospheric Electricity for March, 1911, are 

 as follows : 



' ' Two New Types of Magnetometers made by 

 the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington," J. A. Flem- 

 ing. 



"The Peculiar Magnetic Disturbances of De- 

 cember 28-31, 1908," E. L. Faris. 



' ' On a Variation in the Intensity of the Pene- 

 trating Radiation at the Earth's Surface Observed 

 May 19 and 21, 1910," A. Thompson. 



' ' Le Projet du Lave Magnetique de 1 'Empire 

 Eusse et les Travaux Magnetiques, " M. Ryk- 

 atchew. 



"The Physical Theory of the Earth's Magnetic 

 and Electric Phenomena. No. III. The External 

 Electric Currents and the Earth's Magnetiza- 

 tion," L. A. Bauer. 



"Magnetic Storms Eecorded at the Cheltenham 

 Magnetic Observatory, October 1 to December 31, 

 1910." 



"Atmospheric Electricity Observations on the 

 Belgica in 1907," H. F. Johnston. 



/ SPECIAL ARTICLES 



NOTE ON A CONGLOMERATE DIKE IN ARIZONA 



While mapping the surface geology of 

 Silverbell, Pima County, Ariz., in connection 

 with a study of the ore deposits of that dis- 

 trict, the writer found a conglomerate dike 

 which seems to differ enough from the ma- 

 jority of clastic dikes previously described to 

 justify a short note on its occurrence and 

 probable origin. 



On a claim knovm as C. M. C. No. 4, about 

 a mile north of the tovra, one of the many 

 intermittent streams of the region has cut a 

 gulch in a dark-colored quartz-porphyry. In 

 the bottom of this gulch and running parallel 

 to it is a vertical fissure from six to eight 

 inches in width filled with a hard compact 

 mass of fragmental material. The fragments 

 are generally angular and vary in size from 

 grains of exceeding fineness to pieces of rock 

 two inches or more in diameter. The greater 

 part of the material is the quartz-porphyry 

 that forms the walls, but a variety of other 

 igneous rocks known to occur in the hills 

 beyond the head of the gulch is also notice- 



