94 Report of the President 



ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY* 



Ralph W. Tower, Curator 



At the beginning of the year Mr. Alessandro Fabbri was ap- 

 pointed Research Associate in Physiology, and during the 

 months of January to April he devoted a large amount of time, 

 with the assistance of Mr. Herm, to the production of a micro- 

 cinematograph showing the physiology of the heart and circula- 

 tion in the vascular area of the embryonic chick. The work 

 was executed in the research laboratory of Mr. Fabbri, which 

 is superbly equipped for a study of this character. The film 

 shows the rhythmic contractions of the embryonic heart, the 

 contractility of the blood vessels and the phenomenon of circu- 

 lation through the arteries, veins, capillaries and their various 

 anastomoses. In fact, the film illustrates many details not 

 readily observed by the eye with the aid of a microscope. The 

 investigation has been temporarily suspended since Mr. Fabbri 

 has been called into the Federal Service for the duration of 

 the war. 



Further investigation on the development of the red blood 

 cell, especially in the bird, has been carried on in the laboratory 

 at the Museum with a view to correlating the process in birds 

 and mammals. 



Mr. Herm has conducted some experiments in the produc- 

 tion and use of a "loop" film. Such a device would permit 

 moving pictures of a subject, such as a contracting muscle, to 

 be exhibited for an unlimited time, thus allowing opportunity 

 for more detailed inspection or for instructive explanation. 



The department has mounted twelve skeletons for exhibition : 

 a Phalanger, a Squirrel, a Secretary Bird, a Cassowary, a Rhea, 

 a Manis, four Monkeys and two Baboons. There have been 

 prepared also 812 skulls and 123 skeletons. 



* Under the Department of Anatomy and Physiology. 



