tfACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
743 
Lobes op the Liver. —At the meeting of the British 
Association, Professor Flower, F.R.S., the newly elected 
Examiner at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons read 
a paper before the Anatomical and Physiological Section 
on the arrangement of the lobes of the liver. The professor 
alluded to the great diversities in the arrangement of the 
lobes of the liver in different animals, which he illustrated by 
numerous diagrams. He suggested that, in studying these 
arrangements, the principal thing is to look carefully to the 
great blood-vessels around which the hepatic substance is 
grouped, taking the umbilical vein as the central starting- 
point. Numerous details were given, and suggestions were 
made with a view to systematize the arrangement of the lobes 
in various animals, so that the parts may be more accurately 
described by anatomists than they have hitherto been. In 
the course of the discussion on the paper it was stated by 
Professor Struthers that the liver in the human subject is 
very unequally divided, the right lobe being much larger than 
the left, and he suggested that this might have some relation 
to the strength of the right hand as compared with the left. 
It was also stated that the old system of tight-lacing often 
introduced changes of form in the liver, and sometimes an 
additional fissure was in this way produced. 
Iodide of Starch.— -An aqueous solution of starch is 
acted upon by iodine only when the water present contains a 
certain quantity of the latter in the free state. This quantity 
increases with the temperature, and this explains the de¬ 
coloration bv heat of iodide of starch formed in the cold. 
The state of equilibrium between the iodide, starch, and 
water is also modified by time. Iodide of starch has, there¬ 
fore, no constant composition, and the irregularity of its 
formations renders many precautions necessary when it is 
used in volumetric analysis .—Journal of Chemical Society. 
Occurrence of Paralbumen in Serous Transu- 
dations.— -In two cases of ascites fluid Dr. Hilger has found 
an albuminoid substance characterised by its solubility in 
water after precipitation by alcohol, and also by its incomplete 
coagulation by small quantities of acetic acid. This sub¬ 
stance—paralbumin—has hitherto been found only in ovarian 
cysts.— Ibid. 
XLV, 
50 
