March 20, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



469 



of the plan suggested. The temporary chair- 

 man. Professor Frederic S. Lee, appointed 

 Drs. Meltzer, Lusk and Gies a committee on 

 constitution and by-laws. 



On the 25th of February the meeting for 

 permanent organization was held in the 

 Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry of 

 Columbia University. A constitution was 

 adopted, officers were elected and a program 

 of experimental demonstrations was success- 

 fully carried out. 



The objects of ' The Society for Experi- 

 mental Biology and Medicine ' are, as indi- 

 cated in the constitution, ' the cultivation of 

 the experimental method of investigation in 

 the sciences of animal biology and medicine.' 

 " Any person who has accomplished a meri- 

 torious original investigation in biology or 

 medicine by the experimental method shall 

 be eligible to membership." " Every member 

 shall be expected to conduct an experimental 

 investigation, and give public notice of it, at 

 least once in two years. Non-compliance with 

 this requirement carries with it forfeiture of 

 membership." " The program of each meet- 

 ing shall consist in brief presentations of 

 the essential points of experimental investiga- 

 tions in biology and medicine or allied natural 

 sciences, preferably of demonstrations of ac- 

 tual experiments." The meetings will be 

 held in suitable laboratories. 



The oificeps elected to serve for the ensuing 

 term are: 



President — Dr. S. J. Meltzer. 



Vice-President — Dr. Wm. H. Park. 



Secretary — Dr. William J. Gies. 



Librarian — ^Dr. Graham Lusk. 



Treasurer — ^Dr. Gary N. Calkins. 



The following demonstrations were made: 

 An experiment to show the difference in 

 effect hetween the simple cutting of the cer- 

 vical sympathetic and the removal of the 

 superior ganglion: S. J. Meltzer. 



Dr. Meltzer presented a rabbit in which the 

 cervical sympathetic had been cut on one side, 

 and the superior ganglion had been removed 

 on the other side. Both pupils were of the 

 same size. About two hours before the dem- 

 onstration one hind leg was tightly constricted 

 and 1 c.c. adrenalin injected into it (periph- 

 eral to the ligature). On removal of the 



ligature the pupil on the side from which the 

 ganglion had been excised became greatly 

 dilated, while the pupil on the other side 

 remained unaffected. 



Differentiation of monJcey hlood from hu- 

 m,an Mood iy the precipitin serum test: 

 James Ewing. 



The serum used by Dr. Ewing in this dem- 

 onstration was obtained from a chicken which 

 had received five injections each of 10 c.c. of 

 human placental blood. This serum proved 

 to be much more selective than the ordinary 

 humanized rabbit serum. The chicken serum 

 in various dilutions up to 1-100 was added 

 to specimens of human and monkey serum 

 in dilutions also of 1-100. It produced tur- 

 bidities in all the specimens of human blood, 

 but failed entirely to affect the monkey blood. 

 Finally, the chicken serum was added in a 

 dilution 1-5 to specimens of both human and 

 monkey blood. In the human blood a milky 

 ring formed instantly at the line of junction 

 of the test serum with the human serum, 

 and a flocculent precipitate formed in fifteen 

 minutes, while in the monkey serum no change 

 whatever could be observed. 



An improved cage for metabolism experi- 

 ments: William J. Gies. 



A cage specially designed for experiments 

 on dogs was shown. The parts are so ad- 

 justed as to favor the collection and separa- 

 tion of feces, urine and hair. The improve- 

 ments consist mainly of mechanical devices 

 suggested by experimental experiences of the 

 past few years in metabolism work, all of 

 which are designed to insure quantitative 

 accuracy as well as comparative convenience 

 in the collection of excreta. 



Properties of ' Bence Jones's hody ' : Wil- 

 liam J. Gies. 



Through the kindness of Dr. Meltzer a 

 patient's urine containing this substance had 

 been placed at our disposal for chemical 

 study. Some of the results of this investiga- 

 tion were presented and various properties of 

 the body demonstrated. Special attention 

 was drawn to a test of Boston's new method 

 of detecting 'Bence Jones's body' in the urine. 

 William J. Gies, 



Secretary. 



