Febkuaey 18, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



251 



portions of the continental platforms, while those 

 off the islands are growing upon submarine ter- 

 race flats which either stood above water level 

 previous to the last submergence or which have 

 undergone deeper submergence in Eecent geologic 

 time. 



The Distribution, of Igneous Hocks in South 

 America: HENfeY Stephens Washington. 

 The paper presented a very brief correlation 

 between the distribution of petrographic provinces 

 in North and South America. Our knowledge of 

 the chemical petrography of the southern conti- 

 nent is very imperfect, but suffices to give some 

 approximate ideas of some of the main features. 

 The lavas of the long line of huge Andean vol- 

 canoes belong, almost without exception, to \nj 

 common and widely distributed types, dacites, 

 andesites and basalts, which are, chemically, clus- 

 tered around the average igneous rock, without 

 prominent dominance of any one chemical con- 

 stituent. These correspond to, and are a con- 

 tinuation of, the volcanic rocks of the Eocky 

 Mountains and the Cordilleras, from Alaska to 

 Panama. The central part of South America is 

 scarcely known, butt here, as in North America, 

 there would seem to be few igneous rocks. Near 

 the east coast, as in Brazil and Paraguay, are 

 highly sodic rocks, corresponding to a similar 

 zone parallel to the east coast of North America, 

 from Ontario to Texas. There are also some indi- 

 cations in Brazil of rooks of a very distinct chem- 

 ical type, like some found in EUesmere Land, On- 

 tario and New York. It would appear, therefore, 

 that the two continents much resemble each other 

 in the general distribution of the igneous rocks. 



L. O. HOWAKD, 



Permanent Secretary 



THE FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SO- 

 CIETIES FOR EXPERIMENTAL 

 BIOLOGY 



The third annual meeting of the Federation 

 formed by the American Physiological Society, the 

 American Society of Biological Chemists, the 

 American Society for Pharmacology and Experi- 

 mental Therapeutics and the American Society for 

 Experimental Pathology, was held in laboratories 

 of the Harvard Medical School, Boston, on Decem- 

 ber 27, 28 and 29, 1915. 



Only two joint sessions could be arranged, the 

 large number of papers offered and the limited 

 time forbidding other combined meetings. The 



first one was held on Monday morning, December 

 27, and this session opened the scientific meetings. 

 The following papers were read and discussed: 



Symposium: "Eood Accessories." Discussion 

 opened by T. B. Osborne and L. B. Mendel, E. V. 

 McCoUum, Carl Voegtlin. 



' ' The Formation and Structure of the Fibrin- 

 Gel, " by W. H. Howell. 



"Experiments on the Mechanism of Osmosis," 

 by Jacques Loeb and Hardolph Wasteneys (by in- 

 vitation). 



"Further Observations on Over-activity of the 

 Cervical Sympathetic," by W. B. Cannon and S. 

 Fitz (by invitation). 



"Some New Observations on the Uric Acid Con- 

 tent of the Blood, ' ' by Otto Folin and R. D. Bell 

 (by invitation), with the assistance of G. Le B. 

 Foster. 



"On Continuous InsufSation Through the Hu- 

 merus in Fowl," by A. L. Meyer (by invitation) 

 and S. J. Meltzer. 



' ' The Influence of the Adrenals on the Elidney, ' ' 

 by E. K. Marshall and D. M. Davis (by invita- 

 tion). 



"Heredity and Internal Secretion in the Origin 

 of Cancer in Mice," by Leo Loeb. 



"The Effect of X-Rays on Cancer Immunity," 

 by James B. Murphy. 



"The Presence of Posterior Lobe Secretion in 

 the C'erebro-spinal Fluid, ' ' by Harvey Gushing 

 and Gilbert Horrax (by invitation). 



The second joint session took place on Tuesday 

 afternoon, December 27, and was devoted entirely 

 to demonstrations. These demonstrations were 

 given partly in a large amphitheater and partly in 

 three laboratory rooms. The program was as fol- 

 lows: 



DEMONSTRATIONS 



' ' Demonstration of the Agglutination of Bac- 

 teria in Vivo," by Carroll G. Bull (by invitation). 



' ' A Method of Obtaining Suspensions of Living 

 Somatic Cells of the Higher Animals," by Peyton 

 Rous and F. S. Jones (by invitation). 



"Analogous Antagonistic Effects Exerted by 

 Electrolysis and Anesthetics on Physical Systems 

 and Living Cells," by G. H. A. Clowes. 



"The Action Current of Glands," by W. B. 

 Cannon and McKeen Cattell (by invitation). 



' ' A New Type of String Galvanometer and Ac- 

 cessory Apparatus," by Horatio B. Williams. 



"Apparatus for the Investigation of Cardio- 

 dynamics," by Robert Gesell. 



"A Circulation Model," by A. L. Prince (by 

 invitation). 



