SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS. 



Abstracts of the Communications. 1 



Thirteenth meeting. 2 



Physiological Laboratory of Columbia University, at the College 

 of Physicians and Surgeons. October 18, 1905. President Wilson 

 in the chair. 



1 (93). s " A fatigue wheel " : FREDERIC S.LEE. 



The author demonstrated a wheel designed for fatiguing mam- 

 mals by means of voluntary muscular work. 



2 (94). "Mutation in the evening primrose, Onagra biennis 



(L.) Scop.," with demonstrations : ELIZABETH BILLINGS and 

 FREDERIC S. LEE. 



Culture experiments by the authors confirmed MacDougal's 

 discovery of a narrow-leaved mutant of this species. From purely 

 pollenated seed obtained by MacDougal and Britton from a wild 

 plant growing at the New York Botanical Garden, 499 seedlings 

 were obtained, of which 3 belonged to the narrow -leaved type. It 

 is"possible that a second mutant was found, but further observa- 

 tions are needed to confirm this. The species used by the authors 

 is not 0. biennis studied by de Vries. 



3 (95)- " 0 n tne influence of thyroid feeding and of various 



foods and of small amounts of food upon poisoning by aceto- 

 nitril " : REID HUNT. (Presented by ALFRED N. RICHARDS.) 



One of the current theories of the functions of the thyroids is 

 that these organs neutralize certain poisons occurring in the body ; 

 these poisons are purely hypothetical, and, so far as the author is 

 aware, no one has yet reported experiments in which it has been 

 shown that the thyroid can render a poison harmless. In the 

 present experiments it was found that mice, to which thyroid had 



1 The authors of the communications have written the abstracts. The editor has 

 made a few abbreviations and minor alterations in some of them. 



2 Science, 1905? 



xxii, p. 635 ; American Medicine, 1905, x, p. 91 1; Medical News, 

 1905, lxxxvii, p. 1 143. 



3 See preface. 



15(185) 



