580 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 537. 



structures. A longitudinal splitting of these 

 loops, coincident with the extensive growth of 

 the individuals, produces in the first matura- 

 tion division eleven ring- or bar-shaped chro- 

 mosomes each of which is structurally a tetrad. 

 The first division is thus reducing ; the second, 

 equational. The change in chromosome form 

 in the last oogonial and spermatogonial gen- 

 erations is then clearly a striking adaptation 

 to the subsequent synapsis or reduction, mak- 

 ing the latter easily possible. 



Mr. Lucas gave an account of whales and 

 whaling on the coast of Newfoundland, illus- 

 trating his remarks with stereopticon views of 

 the whales and stages of their capture. Three 

 species of whales were described, the finback, 

 the humpback and the sulphur-bottom, the 

 first two being found on the south and east 

 coast, the last one on the south coast only. 

 The speaker then described the past and pres- 

 ent methods of capture and utilization, saying 

 that whales are now worked up so rapidly that 

 within forty-eight hours after one is brought 

 to the whaling station, it is reduced to oil, 

 fertilizer and bone. The lecture closed with 

 an interesting account of the method employed 

 in making the mold of the large model of a 

 whale shown by the National Museum in the 

 exhibit at St. Louis. This was possibly the 

 largest mold ever made, and the cast was the 

 first accurate representation of a fully grown 

 whale. 



Professor Lee discussed ' Temperature and 

 Muscle Fatigue.' He and others have pre- 

 viously pointed out that the contraction proc- 

 ess of the muscles of cold-blooded animals in 

 the course of fatigue becomes greatly slowed, 

 while those of warm-blooded animals show no 

 such phenomenon. Lohmann has recently 

 claimed that a cold-blooded muscle on being 

 heated to mammalian temperature shows a 

 course of fatigue similar to that of mam- 

 malian muscle; and, on the other hand, that 

 a warm-blooded muscle on being cooled fa- 

 tigues like the muscles of cold-blooded animals 

 at a similar temperature. From these sup- 

 posed effects he infers that in the matter of 

 fatigue there is no real physiological differ- 

 ence between the two groups of muscle. Pro- 

 fessor Lee has not been able to confirm Loh- 



mann's conclusions. Every variety of muscle 

 which has been tested, whether of cold-blooded 

 or warm-blooded animals, shows its character- 

 istic method of fatigue, whatever the tempera- 

 ture may be. The original conclusion regard- 

 ing the difference between the two groups of 

 muscles seems, therefore, to be justified. 



M. A. BiGELOW, 



Secretary. 



THE SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND 

 MEDICINE. 



The tenth regular (second annual) meeting 

 of the Society for Experimental Biology and 

 Medicine was held in the Rockefeller Institute 

 for Medical Research, on Wednesday, Feb- 

 ruary 15. The president. Dr. S. J. Meltzer, 

 was in the chair. 



Members Present. — Atkinson, Auer, Burton- 

 Opitz, Dunham, Ewing, Flexner, Gies, Jack- 

 son, Lee, Levene, Levin, Mandel, Meltzer, 

 Noguchi, Norris, Oertel, Opie, Park, Richards, 

 Sweet, Wadsworth, Wallace, Wolf, Tatsu. 



Members Elected. — George W. Crile, Haven 

 Emerson, Cyrus W. Field, Hideyo Noguchi, 

 H. C. Sherman, J. Edwin Sweet, Victor C. 

 Vaughan. 



Officers Elected. — President: Edmund B. 

 Wilson; Vice-President : Edward K. Dunham; 

 Librarian: Graham Lusk; Treasurer: Gary N. 

 Calkins; Secretary: William J. Gies. 



Abstracts of Reports of Original Investi- 

 gations.*. 



Degrees of Susceptibility to Diphtheria Toxin 

 Among Guinea-pigs. Transmission from 

 Parents to Offspring: Theobald Smith. 

 (Presented by William H, Park.) 

 Dr. Smith called attention to the usefulness 

 of the antitoxin unit, furnished by the Insti- 

 tute for Experimental Therapy under the 

 direction of Professor Ehrlich, in the routine 

 testing of the strength of diphtheria antitoxin. 

 The one uncertain element is the relative re- 



* The abstracts presented in this account of the 

 proceedings have been greatly condensed from ab- 

 stracts given to the secretary by the authors 

 themselves. The latter abstracts of the reports 

 may be found in current issues of Americcm 

 Medicine and Medical News. 



