i6 



Scientific Proceedings (50). 



Nevertheless, the importance of his conclusions, if confirmed, is 

 quite evident if this could be done with the above mentioned 

 experimental defects eliminated. 



In order to accomplish this all anesthetics were given intra- 

 venously, a 5 or 10 per cent, ether solution in normal salt solution 

 being used, and this was injected at definite rates; the lecithin 

 emulsion was also injected directly into the vein. The criteria 

 used were the appearance and disappearance of the corneal reflex, 

 or, when this did not occur, the loss of cutaneous pain sensation 

 was used. Other criteria were the time when the animal first 

 raised its head, when it first assumed the erect posture, and when 

 all ataxia disappeared. The results obtained seem to point over- 

 whelmingly to the following conclusions: 



1. That the intravenous injection of 5 to 30 c.c. of a 5 or 10 

 per cent, emulsion of lecithin, depending upon the size of the 

 animal used, does not interfere with the induction of anesthesia and 

 that this can be accomplished as readily in animals thus injected 

 as in controls. 



2. That in the majority of experiments, lecithin has no effect 

 upon the rapidity with which the various phenomena which 

 indicate the animal's recovery from the effects of anesthetic appear, 

 in fact, in most cases, it retards their appearance. 



The above experiments do not seem to bear out Reicher's 

 assumption as to the cause of the lipoidemia and the explanation 

 of this phenomenon still remains an open question. 1 



II (707) 



Habit and its relations to the nervous system in the earthworm. 

 By Robert M. Yerkes. 



[From the Psychological Laboratories, Harvard University.] 



This is a preliminary report of an investigation now in progress, 

 the purpose of which is (a) to demonstrate whatever ability the 

 earthworm may have to acquire habits of a certain order; (b) 

 to discover the characteristics of any habits which appear; (c) to 



1 The complete report of this work will appear in the Journ. of Exp. Med. for 

 February, 1913. 



