FiCBEUABY 16, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



269 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



L'Annee biologique. YVES Delage. Paris, Schleicher 

 fr^res. 1899. Third year, 1896. Pp. xxxv + 841. 



The Theory of Electrolytic Dissociation and some of its 

 Applications. New York, The Maomillan Company. 

 1900. Pp. xii+289. $1.60. 



The Psychology of Religion. Edwin Diller StAE- 

 BUCK, Tvith a preface by William James. Lon- 

 don, Walter Scott ; New York, Charles Scribner's 

 Sons. 1900. Pp. XX + 423. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADESflES. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



SECTION OF BIOLOGY. 



The regular meeting was held on January 8, 

 1900, Professor F. S. Lee presiding. 



Mr. David Griffiths spoke of the structure of 

 certain species of the Sordariacese and briefly 

 reviewed the work which has been done on the 

 group. Certain species were taken as types of 

 the principal genera, and their life history 

 traced, Sordaria flnicola, Fodospora coprophila, 

 Rypooopra equorum and Sporormia intermedia be- 

 ing spoken of especially. Some time was de- 

 voted to a discussion of the much mooted ques- 

 tion of fertilization in this and kindred groups. 

 The principal methods of spore distribution 

 were outlined. 



Dr. Wm. J. Gies reported upon the changes 

 which may occur in lymph after the adminis- 

 tration of protoplasmic poisons. Quinin did 

 not interfere with the usual influence of dex- 

 trose although it did suppress the action of 

 leech extract. The results with dextrose, 

 therefore, indicate that the increase in the 

 quantity of lymph following its injection in 

 large quantity is due mainly to physical fac- 

 tors. In the case of leech extract, on the other 

 band, there is an interference with the action 

 of the physiological factors that appear to be 

 responsible for the changes usually brought 

 about by this lymphagogue. That the increase 

 in the amount of lymph after large quantities of 

 dextrose have been injected is not due primarily 

 to increased capillary pressure, as is held by 

 Cohnstein and Starling, was shown in one of 

 the experiments in which quinin caused the 

 death of the animal, and yet from which the 

 lymph continued to flow for three hours. 

 After injecting arsenic, which is said to very 

 greatly increase the permeability of the blood 



vessels, especially those of the portal system, 

 there was little in the flow and character of the 

 lymph resembling the usual effect of lympha- 

 gogues. It appears, therefore, that Starling's 

 hypothesis of increased capillary permeability 

 does not fully account for the action of lympha- 

 gogues, and that the mechanical theory of lymph 

 formation fails as long as it does not explain 

 the most striking phenomena of the process — 

 those following the injection of Heidenhain's 

 lymphagogues or Asher's 'liver stimulants.' 

 The physiological theories of Heidenhain and 

 Asher would explain them. 



Professor Frederic S.Lee said that the duration 

 of the life of voluntary muscle in mammals after 

 the death of the individual has not been well 

 known. Under the author's direction, Messrs. 

 Adler and Bulkley have been investigating this 

 in cats and rabbits. In each experiment the 

 animal was killed, a particular muscle was ex- 

 cised and stimulated by electric shocks at five- 

 minute intervals, and the resulting contractions 

 were recorded. The muscles used were the 

 soleus (deep red), and the tibialis aniicus (pale). 

 Each survived several hours, the maximum for 

 the red muscle being 14 hours and 37 minutes, 

 and for the pale, 12 hours and 20 minutes. It is 

 known that, in comparison with white muscle- 

 fibres, red fibres contain relatively more sarco- 

 plasm, which is nutritive in function, and 

 relatively less fibrillar substance, which is the 

 contractile part. This may perhaps account 

 for the longer survival of the red muscle. So 

 far no constant difference in duration has been 

 observed between the cat and the rabbit. In 

 both the red and the pale muscle the decrease 

 of irritability was gradual, but occasionally in 

 the tibialis there was a sudden fall at the end of 

 about one hour, the irritability then continuing 

 at a low ebb for hours but with a gradual de- 

 cline. The sudden fall may have been due to 

 the early death of the white fibres, which inter- 

 mingled with red ones, occur in the pale muscle. 

 Besides the theoretic interest, the above results 

 have a practical bearing, since they show that 

 mammalian muscle can readily be used for ex- 

 perimental purposes in the physiological labora- 

 tory. This is now being done at Columbia 

 University. 



Professor Henry F. Osborn reported upon 



