638 Dritte Sitzung der fünften und zehnten Sektion. 



The remarkable thing in connection with this experiment is 

 the fact that the amount of growth for the eight days of renewed 

 feeding, measured by the increase in weight, has been in excess 

 of the total quantity of food consumed, a fact which has been 

 puzzling nie for a long time: first, because it is in Opposition to 

 known physiological principles; and secondly, because it bears 

 upon some of the most fundamental conceptions established by 

 science. At present I feel satisfied that this paradox of the ex- 

 cess of growth over the intake of food in Diemyctylus may be 

 accounted for 011 the basis of the absorption of water, but never- 

 theless I wish to state emphatically that the renewal of growth 

 after starvation presents a problem of the utmost importance, 

 the facts of which should be accurately ascertained. 



In summing up the Situation at the close of eight days of 

 feeding after 125 days of complete inanition, it may be said that 

 the food materials are very thoroughly assimilated by the orga 

 nism, both the dry substance and the water content of the food 

 being utilized in the process of tissue regeneration. The most 

 notable fact, however, is that the animal also absorbs water from 

 the surrounding medium, and it is this fact, apparently, which 

 is responsible for the excess of gain in body weight over the weight 

 of ingested food. The problem, thereföre, presents itself: Why 

 does the animal absorb water at this period of very intensive 

 tissue growth? We found no parallel phenomenon in animals 

 continually fed. The question as to how the water is absorbed 

 must, under the circumstances, remain open for the present, and 

 so long as we remain in the dark regarding the mechanism of this 

 process, it would be f utile to make conjectures upon this problem. 



Herr Prof. Dr. C h. R. S t o c k a r d (New York City) hält 

 seinen angekündigten Vortrag: 



The Experimental Production of various Eye Abnormalities; 

 and an Analysis of the Development of the Primary Parts 



of the Eye. 



By Charles R. Stockard (New York City). 



While studying the influence of various substances on deve- 

 lopment the writer found that it was possible to produce at will 

 a number of opthalmic defects by the use of Mg, alcohol, chlore- 

 ton, ether and other anaesthetics. The action of these substances 

 seems to weaken or distroy the dynamic processes necessary for 

 the optic vesicles to push out from the brain, or to subsequently 

 grow out to their lateral positions at the sides of the head. In 

 consequence of this, various degrees of the cyclopean condition 



