November 18, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



677 



served in certain foreign herbaria. The first 

 stop was at Trinity College, Dublin, where 

 are found the collections of W. H. Harvey, 

 author of the ' Nereis Boreali- Americana,' and 

 of several shorter papers on American sea- 

 weeds. 



In England, the three principal herbaria 

 visited were those of the British Museum, the 

 Linnsean herbarium and that of the Eoyal 

 Botanical Gardens at Kew. 



In France, a few days were spent at Caen, 

 in the department of Calvados, where are pre- 

 served the collections of several students of 

 seaweeds, such as Roussel, Lamouroux, Chau- 

 vin and Lenormand. Of these, the herbarium 

 of Lamouroux is of chief interest, containing 

 the materials from which thirty or more 

 American species were first described. 



At Paris the collections of Montagne, of 

 De la Pylaiej and of Decaisne, which are in 

 possession of the Museum d'Histoire Natur- 

 elle, were those chiefly stiidied, though a 

 collection of Guadeloupe algse issued by Maze 

 and Schramm was also examined. The next 

 stop was Eerbeek, Holland, for the purpose 

 of seeing, certain originals of Kiitzing, now 

 owned by Madam Weber-van Bosse. 



In Oldenburg, Germany, a few types of 

 Eoth, and in Copenhagen a few of Lyngbye 

 and of Vahl were seen. The longest stay of 

 the trip was made at Lund in southern 

 Sweden, where a month was spent in study- 

 ing the numerous American originals of the 

 two Agardhs, father and son, who were ac- 

 tively engaged in describing marine algse for 

 a period of ninety years. Specimens were 

 taken to Europe by Dr. Howe for comparisons 

 with the types. 



Photographs were obtained of about three 

 hundred of the types examined and these are 

 expected to prove particularly useful, espe- 

 cially as many of the species have never been 

 figured. 



The next regular meeting falling on the 

 evening of election day, on motion the club 

 adjourned to the last Wednesday in No- 

 vember. 



Edward W. Berry, 

 Secretary. 



THE SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND 

 MEDICINE. 



The eighth regular meeting of the Society 

 for Experimental Biology and Medicine was 

 held on Wednesday evening, October 19, in 

 the demonstration room of the Department of 

 Physiology of Columbia University at the 

 College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. S. 

 J. Meltzer presided. 



Members present. — Burton-Opitz, Calkins, 

 Davenport,* Ewing, Flexner, Gies, Hiss, Lee, 

 Levene, Levin, Lusk, Mandel, Meltzer, Park, 

 Eichards, Salant, Wadsworth, Wallace, Tatsu. 



Memhers elected. — J. G. Adami, R. A. 

 Hatcher, Yandell Henderson, G. N. Stewart, 

 C. G. L. Wolf. 



Scientific Program.^ 

 1. The accommodation of the eye, with dem- 

 onstrations. Professor Theodor Beer, of 

 the University of Vienna. 

 Professor Beer called attention to the facts 

 that, in an eye constructed as a ' camera ob- 

 scura,' accommodation is effected by (1) 

 change of curvature of refracting surfaces, 

 principally the lens, and by (2) change of 

 distance between refracting mediums and 

 image screen, principally distance between 

 lens and retina. Change of curvature of re- 

 fracting surfaces is always in the direction of 

 increase of curvature. It may be observed in 

 mammals, birds and reptiles (very few 

 snakes). Experiments were carried out be- 

 fore the society to show the increase of curva- 

 ture of the lens in the eye of the water turtle. 

 Accommodation by change of distance be- 

 tween lens and retina is effected, for objects 

 at a distance, by (a) a movement of the lens 

 toward the retina or by (&) a movement of 

 the lens toward the cornea. The former is 

 shown in cephalopods and fishes, the latter in 

 amphibia and most snakes. In the eye of the 

 fish there is a muscle, Musculus retractor len- 



* Non-resident. 



t The abstracts given in this account of the 

 proceedings have been greatly condensed from ab- 

 stracts given to the secretary by the authors 

 themselves. The latter abstracts of the reports 

 may be found in current issues of American 

 Medicine and Medical News. 



