320 
POPULAK SCIENCE EEVIEW. 
the Society. Still, as we have no general summary of events into which 
the list should come naturally, we take this opportunity of publishing it. 
It is one that contains some names which we did not expect to see, and 
others which we as certainly did, but which have not been yet enrolled. 
The following is the list : — William Aitken, M.D. ; Sir Alexander Arm- 
strong, M.D. j Kobert Stawell Ball, LL.D. j John Beddoe, B.A., ]\J.D. ; 
Frederic Joseph Bramwell, C.E, ; Staff-Captain Edward Kilwick Calver, 
R.N. ; Robert Lewis John Ellery ; Lieut.-Colonel James Augustus Grant, 
C.B., C.S.I. ; Clements Robert Markham, C.B. ; George Edward Paget, 
M.D., D.C.L., LL.D. ; George West Royston Pigott, M.A., M.D. ; Osbert 
Salvin: Hon. John William Strutt; Henry Woodward, F.G.S., F.Z.S. ; 
James Young. 
Artificial Fibrin as a Dietetic Substance. — The “ Chemical News ” of 
May 23 publishes a letter by Dr. John Goodman, on this compound, 
which he thinks of considerable value as food. It is formed by exposing 
albuminous material to the operation or influence of cold water for a 
given period; and, on account of its great plenteousness, he employs 
the ordinary hen’s egg for its production. When the shell is broken and 
removed, and its contents are immersed in cold water for some twelve hours 
or so, it is found to undergo a chemico-molecular change, and to become 
solid and insoluble. This change is indicated by the assumption, by the 
transparent white of the egg,” of an opaque and snowy- wliite appearance, 
which far surpasses that of the ordinary egg. The product and the fluid 
in which it is immersed must now be submitted to the action of heat to the 
boiling-point, when the fibrin will be found ready for use. 
Experiments on a Guillotined Subject. — The French “ Gazette Heb- 
domadaire” (in an early number) contains an account of M. Onimus’ 
experiments, detailed this year to the Paris Societe de Biologie : ” 
M. Onimus mentioned that he had had an opportunity to verify several 
physiological facts on the body of a man who had been guillotined. The 
external intercostals raise the ribs, the internal intercostals lower them, demon- 
strating the correctness of Bamberger’s theory. The peronaeus longus brings 
down the internal edge of the foot, at the same time acting to some extent as 
an extensor and abductor, as Duchenne has shown. The loss of contractility 
in the muscles takes place in the following order: The muscles of the 
tongue, the diaphragm, and those of the face, are the first to fail to react 
to electric excitement, though the masseter holds out a long time j in the 
limbs the extensors fail before the flexors ; the muscles which preserve their 
excitability longest are those of the trunk. The form of muscular contrac- 
tion varies as the contractility lessens. It is interesting to remark that the 
order in which the muscles become inactive is analogous to that of lead- 
paralysis. 
Can the Infant digest Starch ? — This very important question is answered 
in the negative by an Italian Physician. It has been known that the saliva of 
newly-born animals has not the power of transforming starch into sugar. A 
recent experimenter has taken the pancreas from kittens and puppies, and has 
ascertained that the pancreatic juice in these animals when young is, like 
the saliva, incapable of converting starch into sugar. The bearing of this 
fact on the practice of giving starchy food to very young infants is obvious. 
