372 General Notes. 
tion of the meniscus in the capillary. Ewald did this, and with a 
duration of the current so short that the bubbles on the electrodes 
became just visible, he saw the meniscus bound across the whole 
field of vision. By calculations based on the bore of the capillary 
and the magnifying power of the microscope, he found that a loss . 
of a ten-thousandth of a cubic millimeter could not have escaped 
notice. 
The author used also a second method, somewhat similar to that 
employed by Kiihne, and obtained the same decisive negative result. 
He next repeated the experiments of Valentin, which 
were based on the use of a very delicate balance. Here, too, he 
states that, with proper precautions for securing the accuracy of 
the apparatus, there is in no case the slightest movement of the 
inter. 
Ewald then gives an extended account of his repetition of the 
experiments of Erman, Marchand and Weber. He suggests a very 
probable source of error in the failure of those observers to fix the 
stopper firmly into the vessel used in the experiments. When this 
and other details were attended to, he found that he could 
detect with the microscope no change in the level of the meniscus 
in the capillary tube. 
Ewald, then, has repeated the experiments of preceding obser- 
vers, has devised several new methods of greater delicacy than any 
heretofore used, and has arrived always at the same conclusion— 
that in no case does a muscle change in volume during contraction. 
Moreover, he has shown in addition that there exist very probable 
sources of error in the methods used by those investigators who 
have obtained positive results. Under such circumstances we can 
ly refrain from considering the question as settled beyond rea- 
sonable doubt.—E. O. Jordan (Boston). 
ORGANIZATION ‘OF THE AMERICAN PHYSIOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
itch, of n, clerk. A constitution was adopted and a 
formal meeting, the first of the American Physiological Society, 
followed. Officers were chosen as follows: President, H. P. Bow- 
ditch ; Secretary and Treasurer, H. N. Martin, of Baltimore. These 
officers, together with Professors J. G. Curtis of New York, H. C. 
Wood of Philadelphia, and H. Sewall of Ann Arbor constitute the 
“Council” of the society. The constitution affirms that the society 
“ is instituted to promote the advance of physiology, and to facili- 
tate personal intercourse between American physiologists.” The 
regular annual meetings are to be held, during the winter holidays, 
