Societies and Academies

Abstract

LONDON. Royal Society, January 19.—Sir Charles Sherrington, president, in the chair.—L. Hill, H. M. Vernon, and D. H. Ash: The kata-thermometer—a measure of ventilation. Tha kata-thermometer is used in ventilation inquiries to estimate (I) the cooling, (2) the evaporative power of the air on a surface at body-temperature, and (3) as an anemometer to indicate the velocity of air-currents. Certain discrepancies having arisen, the “kata ” formulas have been reinvestigated, using the large wind-channels at the National Physical Laboratory, and for low velocities the method of moving the “kata” through the air in a whirling arm, taking count of the effect of “swirl.”—Lt.-Col. C. B. Heald and Major W. S. Tucker: Recoil curves as shown by the hot-wire microphone. The hot-wire microphone has been emploved to measure body recoil as the result of heart action, and the records measure quantities proportional to the kinetic energy imparted to the body by motions of the blood. Thus slow-moving displacements, such as those of breathing, are not recorded. The apparatus can be standardised, giving the same responses from day to day for the same body recoils, and the kinetic energy of the body can be expressed in C.G.S. units. The results are consistent with physiological data.-E. W. A. Walker: Studies in bacterial variability: The occurrence and development of dys-, eu-, and hyper-agglutinable forms of certain bacteria. In the enteric and dysenteric groups of bacteria dys-and hyper-agglutinable forms occur. Both may be obtained from one eu-agglutinable strain of a bacillus. In agglutination tests a highly dys-agglutinable bacillus may fail to agglutinate with a serum that agglutinates the culture from which it was derived up to i in 1000. It may also fail to absorb from the serum the agglu-tinins specific to that culture. Noteworthy differences in behaviour thus exist between different individuals of a single culture. These facts may help to throw light on the problem of seriological strains.-Marjory Stephenson and Margaret Whetham: Studies in the fat metabolism of the timothy grass bacillus. During the growth of the timothv grass bacillus on a medium of inorganic salts, including ammonia as the sole source of nitrogen, glucose, and sodium acetate, the formation of protein, nitrogen, and fat was followed and correlated with the disappearance of glucose and acetate. No intermediate decomposition products of glucose were found. The growth of the organism on possible intermediate products of the breakdown of glucose was then studied. The growth on lactic acid was very similar to that on glucose alone. Growth on acetic acid' was negligible. Growth on acetic and lactic acid showed that lactic acid enabled the organism to utilise the acetic acid. The acetic acid utilised in the presence of lactic acid or glucose served to increase the proportion of lipoid material formed, and not to increase the general growth of the organism. Growth on propionic and butyric acids was like that on lactic acid.-J. A. Gardner and F. W. Fox: The origin and destiny of cholesterol in the animal organism. Pt. 12: The excretion of sterols in man. Measurements of the intake arfd output of sterols in twenty-six cases on known diet show that in every case, except one, there was an excess of output over intake. The average daily negative balance was 0-3 gram, but individual balances were very variable. A considerable portion of the cholesterol of the food and of the bile is re-absorbed in the intestine along with the bile salts, but this process appears to be limited by the reduction of cholesterol to bi-hydrocholesterol in the intestine, a process especially characteristic of the adult human subject. The excess of output of cholesterol over intake leads to the conclusion that there is some organ in the body capable of synthesising cholesterol. The intake of un-saponifiable matter not precipitable by digitonin is much larger than the output.-S. J. Lewis: The ultraviolet absorption spectra and the opt ical rotation of the proteins of the blood sera. The absorption curve of pseudo-globulin is constant and the same for both the horse and human varieties. The curve for eu-globulin differs considerably from that for pseudo-globulin in extinction coefficients, but not in general form. The absorption curves for the horse and human varieties of albumin are similar, except for a constant ratio in their magnitudes, and this difference may be due to the association of an aggregate possessing little or no selective absorptive power, e.g. an aliphatic amino-acid or a polypeptide, with the principal aggregate. The close similarity in form of all the curves when corrected to a common amplitude, and the fact that the amplitudes are nearly all simple multiples of a common factor, point to similarity of constitution amongst these proteins and to a variable "concentration"of the active group. Processes for the separation and purification of the proteins have been elaborated.