Januaky 22, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



159 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 269TH 

 MEETING. SATURDAY, JANUARY 3. 



Mr. F. a. Lucas exhibited the skull of a 

 Sea Lion, Eumetopias, in which one ramus of 

 the jaw had been broken when the animal was 

 quite young. The fracture had not united and, 

 in consequence, only one side of the jaw was 

 functional, the result being that this side had 

 developed more than the other, making the 

 cranium asymmetrical. 



Mr. E. W. Nelson spoke on ' New Birds from 

 Mexico,' stating that he had quite recently col- 

 lected forty-four new species and subspecies, 

 including one new genus, from a comparatively 

 limited area in Mexico and western Guatemala. 



Mr. F. A. Lucas read a paper on the ' Natural 

 Mortality among Fur Seals ' giving the results of 

 the observations made during the summer of 

 1896, by the Commissioners of the United 

 States, Great Britain and Canada. It was 

 stated that there was a considerable mortality 

 among very young seals, due to their being 

 trampled on by the adult seals in the harems. 

 This great loss took place only on ground free 

 from obstructions, where the quarrelsome bulls 

 and startled cows could move readily about. 

 Some small number of seals starved from 

 natural causes, a few were drowned, and some 

 died from accidents and diseases, such as in- 

 flammation of the bowels, inflammation of the 

 kidneys, etc. The known causes of death 

 among the adults were few, principally fighting 

 among the bulls and consequent injury to the 

 females, but it was evident that for some reason 

 the mortality among cows was great. 



F. A. Lucas, 



Secretary. 



THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. 



At the meeting of the Academy of Science of 

 St. Louis of January 4, 1897, Dr. Amand Ea- 

 vold gave a microscopic demonstration of Wi- 

 dal's test for typhoid fever, demonstrating that 

 after the disease has existed for four days or 

 more the blood of typhoid patients, probably 

 because of some contained anti-toxine, possesses 

 the power of inhibiting the motion of typhoid 

 bacilli from a pure culture introduced into it 

 within a period of one hour or less, whereas in 

 normal blood similar bacilli retain their power 



of locomotion for an indefinite length of time. 

 It was stated that typhoid blood possesses this 

 property even after having been ■■jed for a 

 period of four weeks or more, so that a few 

 drops obtained from a person suspected of hav- 

 ing the disease may be sent to suitable places 

 for applying the test, thus rendering compara- 

 tively easy the early diagnosis of a disease 

 which in its early stages presents many clinical 

 difficulties. 



Prof F. E. Nipher gave preliminary results 

 of partially completed experiments, made 

 through the courtesy of the Burlington and Il- 

 linois Central Railroads, to determine the fric- 

 tional effect of trains of cars on the air near 

 them. His apparatus consists of a cup collec- 

 tor supported on a bar capable of sliding in 

 guides on a clamp attached to the window sill 

 of the car. The bar is thrust out to varying 

 distances up to 30 inches. The mouth of the 

 collector is turned in the direction of motion of 

 the train. The pressure due to the motion is 

 conveyed through a rubber tube attached to the 

 rear of the collector and passing lengthwise 

 through the bar to a water manometer. The 

 manometer has a tube with a rise of 4 or 5 in 

 100 and is provided with a pivotal mounting 

 and a level. 



The pressure near the train is comparatively 

 small and increases as the collector is thrust 

 further out. It approaches a limit correspond- 

 ing to the train velocity at the instant. Prof. 

 Nipher finds the relation between the limiting 

 pressure and velocity to agree exactly with the 

 formula 



where v is the train velocity in centimeters per 

 second, P is the pressure in dynes to the square 

 centimeter, and <! is the density of air in C.G. 

 units at the temperature and pressure of the 

 observations. He finds the pressure a maxi- 

 mum when the axis of the collector is parallel 

 to the direction of motion with the mouth to the 

 wind. Turning the collector until its axis 

 makes an angle of about 60° with this position, 

 the pressure reduces to zero. At greater angles 

 the pressure becomes less than atmospheric 

 pressure by an amount which reaches a maxi- 

 mum at an angle of 90°, and passes through a 



