August 21, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



271 



president of the institution. The college, 

 which is at Aledo, HI., has received an addition 

 to its endowment of $25,000, a gift from Mr. 

 Ed. Drury. 



The board of administrators of Tulane Uni- 

 versity of Louisiana have elected Mr. Henry 

 L. Freeman to be acting assistant professor of 

 mechanical engineering for one year to supply 

 the place of Mr. J. M.. Eobert, who has been 

 granted leave for one year. Dr. Wallace Wood 

 has been elected dean of the department of 

 dentistry to succeed Dr. A. G. Friedrichs, re- 

 signed. 



Dr. Virgil H. Moon, of the Memorial Insti- 

 tute for Infectious Diseases, Chicago, has been 

 appointed head of the pathology department 

 of the Indiana University Medical College at 

 Indianapolis. 



Dr. James W. Jobling, formerly pathologist 

 of the Michael Eeese Hospital, has been ap- 

 pointed professor of pathology in the Vander- 

 bilt University, Nashville, Tenn. 



Dr. Arnold V. Stdbenrauch, for some years 

 past in charge of the pomological investiga- 

 tions of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, has gone to California to become 

 head of the new division of pomology in the 

 University of California. 



Dr. Victor E. Shelford has been appointed 

 assistant professor of zoology in the University 

 of Illinois on part time and biologist in the 

 Illinois State Laboratory. He will apply the 

 experimental methods which he has developed 

 to the problems of the state laboratory. 



Mr. Ealph McBurney, graduate of the Vir- 

 ginia Polytechnic Institute and M.S. from 

 Oklahoma Agricultural College, has been ap- 

 pointed instructor in the department of bac- 

 teriology of the Oregon Agricultural College. 



Mr. Eoger L. Morrison, highway engineer 

 with the United Gas Improvement Company 

 of Philadelphia, who received the degree of 

 master of arts at Columbia University last 

 June after having completed the graduate 

 course in highway engineering, has been ap- 

 pointed professor of highway engineering in 

 the Agricultural and Mechanical College of 



Mr. a. J. Margetson, assistant professor at 

 the City and Guilds (Engineering) College, 

 Kensington, has been appointed to the pro- 

 fessorship of civil and mechanical engineering 

 at the Technical College, Einsbury, in the 

 place of Professor E. G. Coker. 



Professor Leon Asher has been elected 

 professor of physiology at Berne. 



DISCUSSION AND COBSESPONDENCE 

 THE life of isolated LARVAL MUSCLE CELLS 



In the course of some experiments on the 

 culture of the cells of Diemyctylus larvae out- 

 side the body a few preparations were made of 

 isolated larval muscle cells in the plasma of 

 the adult animal. The usual hanging drop 

 cultures were employed, and the slides were 

 kept for a part of the time in an ice chest, 

 and for a part of the time at ordinary room 

 temperature. The muscular tissue was taken 

 from the myotomes of the tail, and teased 

 apart more or less so as to isolate some of the 

 cells. The cells when isolated were not com- 

 pletely differentiated. They were from two to 

 three times as long as thick and only their 

 outer portion was fibrUlated, leaving an inner 

 core of undifferentiated protoplasm contain- 

 ing the single nucleus. 



The isolated cells were examined from time 

 to time to see if they were undergoing further 

 differentiation. During the eight months in 

 which they were kept under observation they 

 had not changed their form, nor had they 

 undergone any marked changes in structure. 

 To all appearances they were healthy; at 

 least they showed no signs of deterioration 

 such as dead or dying cells usually manifest. 

 But were they really alive? 



This was tested by ascertaining if they 

 would respond to a stimulus by contracting. 

 A stimulus was applied by heating a needle 

 and applying the point to the cover slip imme- 

 diately over a particular cell. The muscle 

 fibers so stimulated almost always responded 

 by a vigorous twitch. Eelaxation of the fiber 

 followed almost immediately, and several con- 

 tractions could often be evoked from the same 

 cell. Muscle cells kept for eight months in 



