Abstract
LONDON. Royal Society, January 23.—Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., president, in the chair.—E. Mellanby: The metabolism of lactating women.—Dr. F. W. Edridge-Green: Colour adaptation. As in dark adaptation there is a considerable effect which takes place immediately on entering a dark room, so is there a considerable effect produced when a person enters a room illuminated by an artificial light, having previously been in daylight. This effect, which may be designated colour adaptation, increases with the time during which the eyes are subjected to the adapting light. The effect of colour adaptation was estimated by four methods.—Dr. F. W. Edridge-Green: Trichromic vision and anomalous trichromatism. The following are the conclusions arrived at after the examination of a large number of persons belonging to each class:—(1). Trichromic vision (on the author's classification of colour-vision) is not synonymous with anomalous trichromatism. (2) Many persons with otherwise normal colour perception make an anomalous equation. (3) Many colour-blind persons (dichromics and trichromics) make an absolutely normal match with no greater mean deviation than the normal. (4) Colour weakness is not characteristic of anomalous trichromatism but of trichromic vision. (5) Anomalous trichromatism and colour weakness are not synonymous. (6) A large mean deviation indicates colour weakness. (7) Anomalous trichromatism appear to be due to an alteration in the normal relations of the response to the three colours (lights) used in the equation.—W. E. Agar: The transmission of environmental effects from parent to offspring in Simocephalus vetulus. The main result of a number of experiments on the transmission of environmental effects in a common Daphnid, S. vetulus, has been to show that certain characters, acquired ontogenetically by individuals placed in abnormal environments, may appear in their offspring which have been born and have lived in a normal environment, i.e. one in which control individuals do not show the characters in question.—Dorothy M. Cayley: A preliminary note on a new bacterial disease of Pisum sativum.—Dr. J. Homans: The relation of the islets of Langerhans to the pancreatic acini under various conditions of secretory activity.—H. O. Peiss and W. Cramer: Contributions to the histo-chemistry of nerve; on the mature of Wallerian degeneration.—I. B. J. Sollas: Onychaster. a Carboniferous brittle-star.—Prof. H. E. Armstrong, E. F. Armstrong, and E. Horton: Herbage studies. II., Variation in Lotus corniculatus and Trifolium repens (cyanophoric plants). During the past summer, by testing very carefully the apparently acyanophoric form of L. corniculatus described in part i., it has been found that this contains a minute proportion of cyanide; moreover, two varieties of this form have been met with, in close proximity, the one rich in enzyme, thue other having little, if any, enzymic activity towards linamarin. The manner in which the plant has been found to vary, especially in different parts of Scotland, is discussed at some length. Attention has also been directed to white clover in particular, on account of its importance as the chief leguminous plant in pasture lands. The authors have been forestalled by Mirande (C.R., 1912, vol. civ., p. 651) in the discovery that this plant is cyanophoric like L. corniculatus. But their observations go further and show that whilst the wild form of T. repens is uniformly more or less cyanophoric, the cultivated form is destitute of cyanide.—T. G. Brown: The phenomena of “narcosis progression” in mammals.—Prof. C. S. Sherrington: Reciprocal innervation and symmetrical muscles.—Dr. F. Medigreceanu: The manganese content of transplanted tumours.—Dr. J. W. W. Stephens and Dr. B. Blacklock: The non-identity of Trypanosoma brucei (Plimmer and Bradford, 1899) with the trypanosome of the same name from the Uganda ox. In this paper the authors deal with the T. brucei causing Nagana in Zululand and T. brucei of Uganda. It has generally been accepted that these two trypanosomes are (morphologically) identical, and that they are both of the dimorphic type, presenting long free flagellated forms and short stumpy forms without free flagellum. The name T. brucei was first given by Plimmer and Bradford to the parasite, but they do not mention short stumpy aflagellar forms. Again, Laveran regards T. brucei as a monomorphic trypanosome which always has a free flagellum. The authors have had the opportunity of examining both strains of T. brucei, i.e. that from Zululand and that from Uganda, and in addition have had access by the courtesy of several observers to their films of the Zululand strain. As a result of their investigations they have come to the conclusion that the trypanosome called brucei from Uganda presents very distinct and obvious morphological differences from the Zululand parasite. In order to avoid confusion, it is considered advisable that this Uganda trypanosome should be re-named, and the name T. ugandae is proposed.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 90, 635–639 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1038/090635a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/090635a0