112 



Scientific Proceedings (38). 



These substances do not pass through the cell or nuclear mem- 

 branes, but the nuclear membrane is often pushed out toward the 

 anode by the pressure of the (basic-staining) chromatin. 



During the process of mitosis, however, the above rules do 

 not hold. As the process of mitosis advances, more current is 

 required to move the chromatin, and more acid-staining proteid is 

 carried along with it. After the mitotic spindle is formed, it (in- 

 cluding the chromosomes) is carried toward the anode without 

 alternation of its axial orientation. 



These facts disprove the hypothesis that the chromosomes are 

 drawn to the poles of the spindle by electrostatic stress, the poles 

 and chromosomes being of opposite sign, for if this were true, the 

 poles of the spindle would not move toward the anode with the 

 chromosomes, but would move toward the cathode. 



It is probable that the mitotic spindle consists chiefly of pro- 

 teids in the " gel " phase, and that this gelation prevents the sepa- 

 ration of acidophile and basophile substances by the current. 

 That the cells were not killed and the spindles coagulated, during 

 the experiments, is demonstrated by the fact that a cell in which the 

 spindle was displaced by the current divided. In this case the cyto- 

 plasm was divided unequally, as the division passed through the equa- 

 tor of the displaced spindle. 



70 (480) 



Nitrogen and sulphur metabolism in morbus ceruleus. 



By N. B. FOSTER. 



In morbus ceruleus due to congenital cardiac defect there are 

 found two conditions which suggest that in this disease the tissues 

 are not so adequately furnished with oxygen as in health. These 

 conditions are the abnormally high carbon dioxide content of the 

 venous blood (Lepine) and the erythrocytosis, the latter being a 

 direct response of the hemopoietic tissues to a lowered oxygen 

 tension (Seller). It would seem plausible that in some severe 

 cases the metabolism might be altered by the conditions men- 

 tioned. The case observed in this study was a child that pre- 

 sented all the features of morbus ceruleus due to congenital cardiac 

 defect. Analyses of the urine failed to show anything abnormal 

 in the nitrogen partition. The comparison of the amounts of 



