BIBLIOGRAPHY. 565 



James E. Benedict. Report of the Naturalist. (See Z. L. Tanner.) 



(Report ou the work of the IT. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross for the year ending 

 December 31, 1883, pp. 117-236, by Lieut. Commander Z. L. Tanner, TJ. S. Navy, command- 

 ing.) 

 Report TJ. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, Part xi, 1883, pp. 175-177. 



James E. Benedict. Report of the Naturalist. 



(Report on the -work of the TJ. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross for the year ending 

 December 31. 1884, by Lient. Commander Z. L. Tanner, TJ. S. Navy, commanding.) 

 Report TJ. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, Part xu, for 1884, pp. 86-103. 



James E. Benedict. Descriptions of ten species and one genus of Annelids from 

 the dredgings of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross. 



Proe. TJ. S. Nat. Mus., IX, 1886, pp. 547-553, plates 20-25. 



Describes one new genus, Crucigera of the family Serpulidas (p. 550), and the following 

 species, all of which are figured : Protula diomedece~&., sp. nov., off Cape Hatteras, 43 fathoms; 

 Protula alba B., sp. nov., St. Thomas, West Indies; Hydroides dianthus "Ver., Chesapeake 

 Bay; Hydroides spongicola~B., sp. nov., G-ulf of Alexico, 26 fathoms ; Hydroides protulicolaH., 

 sp. nov., off Cape Hatteras, 43 fathoms ; Crucigera Wibsteri B., sp. nov., Gulf of Mexico, .26 

 fathoms; Pomatostegus slellatus Schmarda, Jamaica and Curacao; Spirobranchus giganteu, 

 Morcb, St. Thomas and Curacao; Spirobranchus incrassatus (Kroyer) Morch, VeraCruz; Spiro- 

 branchus dendropoma Morch, St. Thomas, Jamaica, and Curacao. 



H. G. Beyeb. The direct action of calcium, sodium, potassium, and ammonium 

 salts on the human hlood vessels. 



Medical News, September 4, 1886. 



When these investigations were begun, comparatively little was known with regard to the 

 actiun of these salts on the blood-vessels. The results which had been recorded were rather 

 indefinite and contradictory, and the methods used rather imperfect. It was of especial im- 

 portance to ascertain by means of new and improved methods, as accurately as possible, the 

 action of potassium salts on the vascular system, and, as far as this was done in these observa- 

 tions, the few points of interest will here be briefly stated. 



Bromide of potassium, when administered in certain doses, is known to produce sleep, and 

 acts, therefore, as an hypnotic. This effect, it is supposed, is produced by a condition of cere- 

 bral anaemia induced by the drug, owing to contraction of the blood-vessels, which is said to 

 ensue when this drug is administered. 



In the above investigations it was found that all the potassium salts tried, namely, the 

 iodide, bromide, and chloride, invariably produced dilatation pure and simple with large 

 and small doses, and no contraction whatever resulted at any time of the experiments. It 

 is therefore rendered exceedingly probable by the results obtained in these experiments that 

 contraction of the blood-vessels is no part of, at least, the direct action of these salts, and if the 

 latter produce dilatation at all, it can only be owing to an effect which they might possibly 

 exert on the vaso-motor center in the medulla. 



Cerebral anaemia, however, might still be produced even without the assumption of such an 

 effect on the vaso-motor center, in about the following manner : In all the experiments which 

 were made with potassium salts on the blood-vessels, considerable oedema of those organs 

 through which the drug was allowed to flow was noticed. Hence, it must be assumed that 

 one of the characteristic effects produced by these salts is to favor the transudation of fluids 

 from out of the vessels into the surrounding lymphatics. The perivascular lymphatics, bow- 

 ever, when completely filled, must necessarily compress to a certain extent tire vascular lumen, 

 and hence cause a much diminished flow of blood to the part, besides compressing the tissues 

 outside of and immediately against them. 



The conclusions drawn from these experiments are as follows : 



(1) Calcium salts cause the vessels to contract by virtue of their stimulating influence on the 

 vaso-motor ganglia. 



(2) Sodium and ammonium salts excite, first, the ganglia of the vaso-dilators ; next, those of 

 the vaso-motors ; hence producing at first dilatation, and afterwards contraction of the vessels. 



(3) Potassium salts stimulate the ganglia of the vaso-dilator only, and consequently produce 

 dilatation ; if, however, as was shown in two observations, the dilatation which they produce 

 is followed by contraction, this contraction is so extremely slight that it may practically be 

 neglected ; therefore, any stimulating influence on the vaso-motor ganglia which they might 

 possess is insignificant when compared with that which they exert over the vaso-dilators. 



H. G. Beyer. On the micro-organisms of lactic fermentation. 

 Medical News, November 6, 1886. 



This paper is an experimental inquiry into the causes of the souring of milk. 

 The presence of microorganisms in liquids undergoing fermentation has hitherto been inter- 

 preted and explained in various ways. While some looked at those low forms of life as the 



