Vol.. 8, 1922 
PA THOLOG Y: PEARL A ND BA CON 
125 
strong flame lines XX 4227, 4607, and 5535 of calcium, strontium, and bar- 
ium, respectively. In each case a temperature was found at which no 
emission could be detected, but when white light was sent through the 
furnace the lines appeared distinctly in absorption. For these favorable 
lines, the view of Saha is thus confirmed. It will be of interest to test other 
series lines in the same way. 
In previous investigations on the absorption of vapors of the alkali 
metals, the lines of the principal series have appeared, but not those of 
the subordinate series. Since in emission spectra the latter require higher 
temperatures than the principal series lines, it seemed probable that a rel- 
atively high temperature was required to produce them in absorption. 
Experiment showed this to be the case. Sodium, potassium, caesium, and 
rubidium were tested by heating to a high temperature in a tube having a 
plug to give the continuous ground. The subordinate series lines appeared 
in absorption for each element. 
The general character of the absorption phenomena in the furnace may 
be described as in general a reversal, when white light is passed through the 
tube, of the emission spectrum at the same temperature. Exceptions are 
found in the easily excited principal series lines and perhaps others, which 
the vapor can absorb before it emits, and in the ultra-violet region beyond 
the limit, at the given temperature, of the black-body radiation. In the 
latter case an absorption spectrum appears beyond the emission limit when 
a sufficiently hot source of white light is employed. 
PRELIMINARY NOTE ON A BIOMETRICAL STUDY OF THE RE- 
LATIONS OF CERTAIN VISCERA IN TUBERCULOSIS' 
By Raymond PejarIv and Agnks Latimisr Bacon 
ScHooi. OF Hygiejne; and PubIvIC HeaIvTh, Johns Hopkins University 
Communicated May 4, 1922 
One of the most fundamental problems of biology is that of adaptive 
regulation to the end of maintaining the life of the individual. The 
ability to readjust the functional relations of the parts of the organism, 
after they have been in any way disturbed is widespread among living 
things generally, including man. A well-known example is seen in the 
functional hypertrophy of the kidney. If one kidney is removed the re- 
maining one promptly enlarges and carries on the work formerly divided 
between the two. Many similar examples might be cited. 
We have been engaged for the past year in a study of this phenomenon of 
adaptive functional regulation from a somewhat new point of view. 
Starting from the justifiable assumption that the records of pathological 
anatomy, as set down in autopsy protocols, should if adequately analyzed 
