April 14. IOO.j.] 



SCIENCE. 



583 



tained. The bile of rabbits produced, in many 

 instances, distinctly convulsive effects even 

 without the addition of strychnin. 



The toxic effect on frogs of bile from nor- 

 mal rabbits varied considerably. The effect 

 of the bile from some of the rabbits was pre- 

 dominantly coma, and from others tetanus. 

 Heating the bile seemed to reduce the stupe- 

 fying, paralyzing effect and to favor the ap- 

 pearance of the tetanic element. In the bile 

 of nephrectomized rabbits the tetanic element 

 was distinctly more pronounced than in the 

 bile of normal animals. 



A Preliminary Communication on the Phar- 

 macology of Thorium: E. D. Brown and 

 ToRALD SoLLJiANN. (Presented by William 

 J. Gies.) 



Thorium nitrate precipitates proteids and is 

 intensely astringent. Intravenous injection 

 is promptly fatal by embolism. Applied sub- 

 cutaneously, necrosis results. Introduced per 

 OS large doses have no appreciable effect. So- 

 lutions in sodium citrate are non-precipitant 

 and non-astringent. Subcutaneous injection 

 of large doses in citrate solution was without 

 acute effect, although the animals appeared to 

 be depressed and became emaciated, their tis- 

 sues, after several weeks, showing widespread 

 calcification. Absorbed thorium is excreted 

 by the kidneys. The metal is neither absorbed 

 nor excreted through the intestine. 

 A Preliminary Study of the Toxicological 



Action of Thorium: Arthur F. Chace and 



William J. Gies. 



In addition to various results in harmony 

 with those in the preceding report the authors 

 presented the following data : In medium sized 

 frogs at least 40 milligrams of thorium chlorid 

 were required per os to produce the first sign 

 of toxic symptoms, although 40 milligrams 

 introduced subcutaneously or per rectum 

 quickly manifested marked toxicity. Intro- 

 duction per OS caused irritation of the throat, 

 increased gastric secretion, ejection of gastric 

 contents and increased peristalsis. In fatal 

 poisoning, by whatever channel of introduc- 

 tion, death was preceded by anhydrosis, twitch- 

 ing and progressive weakening of the muscles, 

 with paralysis of the fore legs preceding that 

 of the hind legs. 



In warm-blooded animals large doses per os 

 caused vomiting. In fatal cases, after intro- 

 duction by other channels, death was preceded 

 by restlessness, twitching and progressive 

 paralysis of the muscles, labored breathing, 

 stupor. Paralysis of the fore limbs resulted 

 before loss of power in the hind ones. 



The most constant and pronounced general 

 effect in all the experiments was a progressive 

 weakening of the voluntary muscles. 



William J. Gies, 

 Secretary. 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 164th meeting was held on February 

 22, 1905. The regular program included a 

 paper by T. W. Stanton, the discussion of 

 which was participated in by Messrs. W. H. 

 Dall, E. O. ITlrich, David White and H. S. 

 Williams. 



The Time Element in Stratigraphy and Corre- 

 lation: Mr. T. W. Stanton. 

 Recently published discussions concerning 

 recurrent and shifting faunas and transgress- 

 ing formations have called renewed attention 

 to the character of the facts on which geolog- 

 ical correlation is based and have emphasized 

 the doubts as to the possibility of determining 

 that widely separated deposits were or were 

 not contemporaneovis. The argument briefly 

 stated is as follows : 



If a fauna or a flora appears suddenly in a 

 certain bed of a local section the only reason- 

 able inference is that it must have developed 

 in some other area where its presence is re- 

 corded in older deposits. Similarly, if a 

 faiina suddenly disappears from a section it 

 is more probable that a change in local condi- 

 tion has caused it to shift to some favorable 

 locality where it continued to live until its 

 elements were modified, than that it actually 

 ceased to exist. That such shiftings of 

 faunas have taken place is proved by the ob- 

 served recurrence of closely related faunas in 

 several stages of some local section, while the 

 intermediate stages show different faunas. 

 Admitting that there has been much local 

 differentiation and shifting of faunas in the 

 past, similarity of fossil contents alone can 



