690 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 850 



responding percentage of absolute alcohol. 

 This he states is due to their acid properties. 



Malt beverages, as ales and beers, he states, 

 also have a retarding influence on salivary 

 and pancreatic digestion due to their acidity 

 but it is less marked than it is in the wines. 

 Both of the above tables shovr that some of the 

 ales and beers are decidedly less toxic than the 

 wines. Some of them, however, were as poi- 

 sonous as the wines in the experiments where 

 young were produced, but in the 10-30 minutes 

 experiment on acute toxicity only Bass's ale 

 equaled the toxicity of any of the wines. Its 

 toxicity was the highest of all the malt bever- 

 ages but it did not exceed the lowest toxicity 

 of the wines. 



The distilled beverages, whiskey, gin and 

 brandy, were conspicuously less poisonous in 

 both sets of experiments than either the wines 

 or malt beverages. This is probably due to the 

 fact that in the distilling process of their 

 manufacture the volatile substances are sepa- 

 rated from the non-volatile and perhaps toxic 

 materials and are subsequently used in the 

 making of the liquors. These distilled liquors 

 approached the point of toxicity of absolute 

 alcohol which was the least poisonous of all 

 the alcoholic solutions used. Because of its 

 purity it served as a control with which all 

 the other beverages can be compared. 



In a comparison it is readily seen that the 

 wines are the most toxic, the malt liquors 

 stand second in point of toxicity, and lastly 

 the distilled liquors are the least toxic of all 

 the beverages and approach nearest to the tox- 

 icity of absolute alcohol. 



The value of these experiments is to show 

 again that in the three main kinds of alcoholic 

 beverages there are other important toxic in- 

 gredients than ethyl alcohol and also to dem- 

 onstrate that the various alcoholic liquors 

 when reduced to the same percentage of alco- 

 hol differ widely in their point of toxicity. 



The results perhaps explain why different 

 alcoholic beverages have such different effects 

 upon the drunkard even though an equal in- 

 toxication is produced. It is generally recog- 

 nized that brandy produces a certain type of 

 drunkenness and that cider produces another 



type differing widely from the brandy type. 

 Many of the other liquors also produce a par- 

 ticular type of drunkenness the characteristics 

 of which are typical for each liquor. These 

 types of drunkenness are doubtless partly 

 caused, at least, by the non-alcoholic ingredi- 

 ents in the liquors. 



D. D. Whitney 

 Wesletan Univeksitt, 



MiDDLETOWN", CONN., 



February 28, 1911 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC 

 COAST 



The first meeting of a new society for Pacific 

 coast biologists was held on April 1 at Berkeley, 

 California. An afternoon meeting, at which 

 papers were presented by President Jordan and 

 Professor Zinsser, of Stanford University, and 

 Professors Kofoid and Maxwell, of the University 

 of California, was followed by a dinner at the 

 Hotel Shattuck, and by participation, in the 

 evening, in a joint general public meeting of the 

 newly organized Pacific Coast Association of Sci- 

 entific Societies. At this meeting addresses were 

 made by Presidents Wheeler and Jordan, of Call 

 fornia and Stanford universities. Professor Kel- 

 logg, of Stanford University, and Mr. George 

 Dickie, marine engineer, of San Francisco. 



The Biological Society of the Pacific Coast be- 

 gins with an active membership of seventy, repre- 

 senting California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona 

 and Utah. Three meetings will be held each col- 

 lege year, of which one will be known as the 

 annual meeting and will be held in conjunction 

 with the meetings of the various other societies 

 composing the Pacific Coast Association of Scien- 

 tific Societies. The ofiicers of the society for 

 1911-12 are: Professor Vernon L. Kellogg, presi- 

 dent; Professor H. B. Torrey, secretary -treasurer, 

 and Professor H. J. Maxwell, third member of the 

 executive committee. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE HELMINTHOLOGICAL SOCIETT OP WASHINGTON 



The fourth regular meeting of the society was 

 held at Dr. Stiles 's residence on February 9, 

 1911, Dr. Stiles acting as host and Dr. Pfender 

 as chairman. 



Mr. Foster presented a note on a nematode 

 from the stomach of the pig. This form had been 

 provisionally identified as Spiroptera strongylina, 



