8 



Scientific Proceedings (117). 



We wish to offer the suggestion that impulses constantly pass 

 from various organs to the vomiting center and that apomorphin 

 promotes the coordinated vomiting reflex to such a degree that 

 these normal impulses give rise to vomiting. 



That the action of apomorphin on the vomiting center is 

 strictly analogous to that of strychnin on the cord whereby con- 

 vulsions — apparently spontaneous, but in reality of reflex char- 

 acter — are induced. 



Vomiting requires powerful — almost convulsive — contractions 

 of the abdominal muscles and diaphragm, and the weak stimuli 

 are incapable of setting up the reflex in the unpoisoned animal. 



It is significant, too, that morphin produces strychnin-like 

 convulsions through its action on the cord (in the frog), and 

 apomorphin-like emesis through its action on the medulla. 



5 (1752) 

 III. Experimental rickets. 



The prevention of rickets in rats by exposure to sunlight. 1 



By ALFRED F. HESS, L. J. UNGER and A. W. PAPPENHEIMER. 



[From the Department of Pathology, College of Physicians and 

 Surgeons, Columbia University, New York City.] 



In recent papers it was shown by Hess and Unger that rickets 

 in infants could be cured by frequent short exposures to the sun's 

 rays. 1, 2 By this means and without any alteration whatsoever of 

 the dietary, the characteristic signs of this disorder begin to dis- 

 appear in three to four weeks as noted by clinical examination and 

 by the x-ray. As a result of favorable experiences of this nature, 

 it was concluded in a study of the seasonal incidence of rickets 3 

 that "hygienic factors, especially sunlight, and not dietetic fac- 

 tors play the dominant role in the marked seasonal variations of 

 this disorder." It seems probable that the ultra-violet rays play 

 a large part in this curative power of the sun, judging from the 

 work of Huldschinsky 4 and others who recently have shown that 



^less, A. F., and Unger. L. J., Proc. Soc. Expkr. Biol, and Med., 1921, 

 zviii, 298. 



2 Hess, A. F. t and Unger, L. J., J. A. M. A., 1921, lxxvii. 



•Hess, A. F., and Unger, L. J., Amer. J. Dis. Child., 1921, xxii, 186. 



4 Huldschinsky, K., Zeilschr. f. orthop. Chir., 1920, xxxix. 



