were carried on to determine whether the colorless corpuscles of the blood, which are known to be capable of passing from the vessels into the intervascular tissue, are also the sources of the new tissue which the inflammatory processes may produce. Cohnheim had made a positive affirmative reply to this question, and held steadfastly that the colorless corpuscles which wander from the blood-vessels into an area of inflammation were not only the source of pus when pus-cells appeared, but were the formative cells for the new tissue if any new tissue was formed. Zeigler's conclusions were of a similar character, while other authors have disputed them. The present authors, having determined to repeat Ziegler's experiments, studied the question of the capacity of leucocytes to produce a fibrous connective tissue. In most points the observations confirmed the original ones of Ziegler. But an important disagreement was noticed, in the fact that in the present experiments there were in the tissue plasma of a part subjected to irritation two kinds of cell: namely, leucocytes indistinguishable from and probably identical with the colorless corpuscles of the blood; and plasma corpuscles, cell elements proper to the connective tissue of the part offended. The cell believed to play the only actively constructive part in all the energetic upbuilding of new tissue is the plasma-cell, a corpuscle absolutely distinct from the colorless corpuscle of the blood. These free cells seemed to exist in small number in the tissue plasma even under normal circumstances; and where the connective-tissue corpuscles are proliferating, as within an inflamed area, they were enormously more numerous. Out of them, in the experiments arose the permanent or inflammatory membranes that were formed. The colorless blood-cells that may have entered along with them had no permanence of possession; and no support was given by the observations to Cohnheim's view of the genesis of cicatricial tissue from leucocytes. Muscular System. The views of different observers upon the nature of the coloring matter of muscle vary. Kölliker described it in 1850. Valenciennes and Frémy ascribed it to a peculiar substance, which in the trout they called salmonic acid. Kuhne regarded it as identical with hæmoglobin. Krukenberg and Wagner with rhodophane. MacMunn has recently sought to show that the tissues of many vertebrates and invertebrates contain a special coloring matter which he names histohæmatin, having a spectrum closely resembling that of hæmochromogen, while the muscles contain a special coloring matter named myohæmatin, with a peculiar spectrum. Ludwig Levy has concluded that MacMunn's myohæmatin is not a coloring matter proper to muscle, but is a product of the disintegration of hæmoglobin, and identical with hæmochromogen. It is observed by Dr. Lauder Brunton that there are several phenomena connected with muscular contraction that are not easily explained on the ordinary supposition that muscular fiber, voluntary and involuntary, contracts only in a longitudinal direction; while they may be explained on the hypothesis that relaxation is not a mere passive state, but is due to contraction in the transverse direction. These phenomena are the local dilatation which occurs in veins on electrical stimulation; Weber's observation of the elongation of a loaded muscle on stimulation; the active dilatation of the iris on the application of atropine in animals where no dilator muscle has been satisfactorily shown to exist; and the fact observed by Dr. Cash and the author that theine may cause in muscles either enormous contraction, no contraction, or relaxationa phenomenon which seems to indicate the presence in muscle of two opposing forces, which may either counterbalance one another or cause positive elongation or contraction; and the observation of Von Kries that when a muscle has been made to contract by stimulation, a second stimulus affecting the muscle during its relaxation does not at once arrest the descent of the curve, but only does so when the second stimulus by itself would cause marked action. The process by which the quadriceps muscle is stimulated in the movement called knee-jerk which takes place when the ligamentum patellum is struck-has been investigated by Dr. Warren P. Lombard in studies on what he calls its re-enforcement. The action has been considered by some as reflex, by others as a purely peripheral process. The latter regard the excitation as similar to that which results from a direct blow on the muscle; they urge that the quickness with which it takes place forbids any other explanation; and when the advocates of reflex action show that the jerk is lost if the reflex arc is destroyed, they assume that the ability of the muscle to respond to the twitch transmitted to it from its ligament is dependent on the tension of the muscle, and that, in turn, is dependent on tonus impulses coming to it from the spinal cord. Dr. Lombard finds, after his experiments, that the reflex theory readily explains the intimate dependence of the phenomenon on the spinal cord, while the time-argument is inconclusive; and that the peripheral theory is not tenable, because the explanation which it offers of dependence upon the spinal cord is unsatisfactory. Its assumptions that muscle-tonus is continuous, and that the irritability of the muscle to mechanical stimuli is dependent on its tension, are without proof. It is also opposed by facts which are set forth in the paper. We should therefore adopt the reflex theory, and look to future experimental work on reflex times to remove the doubt cast upon it by the rapidity of the process. From experiments on the action of lime, potassium, and sodium salts, Sydney Ringer has found that skeletal muscle differs from cardiac muscle in that its contractility lasts longer in saline solution; that contractility is not improved or restored by adding lime salts to saline; and that lime salts cause no prolongation of the beat, no delay in relaxation. It is similar to cardiac muscle in that lime salts added to saline sustain its contractility, and are antagonistic to potash salts. This contractility remainder is removed or prevented by lime salts, in a much less degree by sodium bicarbonate, and is increased by potassium chloride. The contractions in saline solution of a muscle previously weakened by frequent contractions are strengthened by adding to saline a potassium salt. A strong contraction induces much contraction remainder. J. R. Green finds that fibrin on being acted on by solutions of neutral salts of from 5 to 10 per cent. strength is decomposed with the formation of two fibro-globulins, which differ from each other as to their coagulating points, their solubility in 1-per cent. salt solution, and their behavior with acids. Neither body corresponds to either fibrinogen or paraglobulin, and they can not be made to reform fibrin. The change is brought about quite apart from putrefactive influences. The investigation of muscle-plasma, heretofore exemplified by the researches of Kühne with frogs, has been extended by W. D. Halliburton to warm-blooded animals. Incidentally, this author's research included an investigation of the proteids of muscle-plasma and of muscleserum. With a few slight exceptions, the facts discovered by Kühne in relation to the preparation of muscle-plasma from frog's muscle are also true with regard to mammalian muscle. These facts are, principally, that the substance can be prevented from coagulating at temperatures below 0° C.; that at about this temperature it coagulates slowly, and at a temperature of 40° C. almost instantaneously. It is described as a liquid of sirupy consistency, of a faintly alkaline reaction, and separating at a suitable temperature into a solid clot composed of the proteid substance called myosin, and a liquid residue which is squeezed out by the contraction of the clot, and which has received the name of muscle-serum. Of the influence of neutral salts on muscle-plasma, it was shown that admixture with their solutions is able to prevent coagulation; that dilution of the salted muscle-plasma brings about the coagulation thus prevented; that the coagulation of diluted salted muscleplasma occurs readily at temperatures of between 30° and 40° C., more slowly at lower temperatures, and is prevented by a temperature of 0° C.; that with the exception of the formation of acid which occurs simultaneously with the production of a clot of myosin, the phenomena regarding the formation of myosin are similar to those which are observed in the formation of fibrin from blood-plasma; and that this similarity suggests that the formation of myosin may be due to a ferment, in the same way that the formation of fibrin from the fibrinogen of bloodplasma is due to the action of the fibrin ferment. Myosin which had been coagulated, or that taken from a muscle which had undergone rigor mortis, and had been redissolved by the salt solution, underwent recoagulation when that salt solution was diluted. The clot which thus appeared was determined upon various grounds of evidence to be the result of a real process of coagulation, and not of a simple precipitation upon dilution. From muscle-plasma were obtained the proteids paramyosinogen, myosinogen, myoglobulin, musclealbumen, and myoalbumose or proteose, together with the pigment products hæmoglobin and myohæmatin. Myoglobulin, muscle-albumen, and myoalbumose, together with hæmaglobin in the case of the red muscles, constitute the proteids of the muscle-serum. Secretion. A series of experiments made in order to determine the connection between the coloring matters of blood, bile, and urine, are described by Dr. C. A. MacMunn, in a paper "On the Origin of Urohæmatoporphyrin, and of Normal and Pathological Urobilin in the Organism." They were chiefly conducted spectroscopically. From the results, the author is led to suggest as the simplest way, for the present, of explaining the origin of the coloring matters referred to, that bilirubin and biliverdin are produced in the liver mainly from effete hæmoglobin; these are acted on in the small intestine by the digestive and putrefactive ferments, and some at least are changed into simple metabolites like the urobilin-like substance of bile. The hæmoglobin and histohæmatin of meat, or their metabolites, are by the influence of the same ferments acted upon in the same manner, and carried with the changed bile-pigments through the branches of the portal vein into the liver, where they undergo changes of which we are at present ignorant. A portion of both the bile and hæmatin derivatives are, however, passed on along the intestinal canal and form stercobilin. This may, under certain unknown conditions, be taken up, probably accompanied by ptomaines, and excreted in the urine as pathological urobilin. But sometimes we meet with pathological urobilin which shows such a resemblance to Le Nobel's urobilin as to lead one to suppose that it is entirely derived from hæmatin, or sometimes it is accompanied or replaced by urohæmatoporphyrin, the latter having, undoubtedly, no biliary origin; in such cases it must be produced by destruction of hæmoglobin or histohæmatin in various tissues besides the liver. Normally, doubtless, the liver and other bloodmetabolizing glands are able to pick the effete pigments out of the circulation and change them into bile-pigments or others, and to a certain extent do so when they are present in slight excess, but under certain conditions these organs are unable to deal with the excess of pigment. There is little doubt that in acute rheumatism a large amount of urohæmatoporphyrin is formed, and in that disease, probably, the muscles are the seat of the formation of a great part of it. Indeed, it would appear that, in some cases, the presence of urohæmatoporphyrin indicates the existence of some very active fermentation attended by energetic reduction, but beyond this one can, with our present knowledge, say very little else. Dr. A. Baginski has communicated the results of his observations and experiments respecting acetonuria in children. He found that acetone was present in small quantities in the urine of healthy children, though not in all; and that in the case of fever attending any of a very wide range of diseases, the quantity of acetone present in the urine was increased. When children were affected with convulsions, attended by serious disorders in the digestion, a larger proportion of acetone was regularly observed in their urine. Experiments showed that actone was not produced in the blood by carbo-hydrates, but from the decomposition of albumen. A longer course of flesh food yielded a considerable increase in the secretion of acetone, whereas, during a course of feeding with farinose and fatty food, the yield of acetone rapidly declined, and at length ceased. When a large deposit of urine occurred in the animal body, after the period of lactation, for example, no acetone was found in the urine, even though food rich in albumen was adminis of the peptones, it also affords evidence of the presence of one or more of the cadaveric alkafoids; and such alkaloids must either be insoluble in alcohol themselves, or in combination with some substance which makes them so; and, unless the alcohol were alone sufficient to produce them in the putrid solution, their pre-existence may be reasonably inferred. tered. No causal connection between acetonous urine and convulsions could be demonstrated either clinically or experimentally. In rachitis, in which convulsive attacks often occurred, no acetone was found in the urine, nor was the administration of large quantities of acetone found to produce any effect on the nervous system. Action of Poisons. It has been shown by Brown-Séquard and D'Arsonval that the poi- In connection with the danger of eating dissonous effects of exhaled air are produced not eased meat, says Dr. J. Lauder Brunton, some by carbon dioxide, but by some poison, simple experiments of Bocklisch may serve to explain or complex, not yet examined and identified. the rarity of ptomaine-poisoning. In observaIn the experiment demonstrating this view, a tions upon Finkler's bacillus, found in the deseries of air-tight metallic cases were connect- jections in cases of sporadic cholera, no poisoned with one another, and a current of air was ous substances appeared to be produced. When, drawn through the series by means of a suc- however, that organism developed in connection tion-pump. In each of the cases was placed with putrefactive bacteria, a highly poisonous a rabbit. The rabbit in the first case thus substance, methyl-guanidine, was formed. A breathed only pure air; those in the succeeding similar combination of micro-organisms may cases breathed the air which came from the pre- serve to explain cases of acute poisoning by ceding cases, and which was therefore more and meat or game which is undergoing decomposimore contaminated. With the exception of those tion. The intermediate products in the splitting in the first and second cases, young rabbits died up of the complex albuminous molecule, such as very quickly, those in the last two cases living albumose and peptone, though representing esonly two or three days. If a dying rabbit was sential stages in the process of digestion, appear removed and placed in pure air, it recovered after to act as powerful poisons when introduced into from five to ten days. The results in the case the blood without passing through the liver. of older rabbits were the same, but took more The thymus gland, too, which is commonly eaten time to develop. Although the last of the cases as sweet-bread, was shown by the late Dr. Woolnever contained more than 6 per cent. of carbon dridge to cause almost instantaneous clotting dioxide, it was deemed desirable to prove that of the blood when the juice was injected directthis did not cause the death of the animals. It ly into the veins of the rabbit. The albumoses could not be removed with caustic alkali, for and peptones formed during digestion seem to that would also remove or destroy the poison; have the opposite action and to prevent coagubut by passing the air through a tube filled with lation. They produce coma, convulsions, and glass beads moistened with strong sulphuric death. The venom of serpents has been shown acid, the poisonous matter was destroyed and to belong, in part at least, to this class of subthe carbon dioxide was left unchanged. By stances, and its poisonous effects are weakened placing such a tube between the sixth and sev- but not destroyed by boiling. An interesting enth cases it was found that the rabbit in the link between the ferments or albumoses and disseventh case, although having a full supply of ease is furnished by the discovery of Roux and carbon dioxide, did not die. In other experi- Versin that the poison formed by some diseasements the authors have shown that air contain- germs, as in diphtheria, has its virulence deing a considerable percentage of carbon dioxide stroyed by boiling. As albuminous molecules (free from hydrochloric acid) can be breathed become more broken up, the products of decomwith impunity by men, dogs, rabbits, etc. If position no longer have their poisonous properthe poison contained in exhaled air be absorbed ties destroyed by heat; but while they are too and the solution injected into an animal, death much altered to permit of reconstruction into generally results. The fact that the solution albuminous substances, a further process of demay be heated to the boiling-point of water composition converts them into the comparawithout destroying its fatal properties goes to tively harmless ammonia and carbonic acid, so show that its effects are not due to microbes. that, by the time they reach the blood through the normal avenues, these intermediate substances are harmless. The alkaloids derived from the decomposition of albumen in the animal body have been termed leucomaines or ptomaines, according as the decomposition occurs before or after death. Many of them appear to be compound ammonias. Doubts have been expressed by some authors of the capability of the process of putrefaction in itself to produce the cadaveric alkaloids or ptomaines. More recently, V. Oliveri has shown that the most dilute acids will cause the production of those substances from the decomposition of the lecithin and proteids present in the preparation. Prof. Panum, of Copenhagen, had demonstrated in 1865 that albuminous substances yield by putrefaction a poisonous body soluble in water, insoluble in alcohol, and capable of withstanding the temperature of the boiling-point. This has been confirmed by Bergmann, who described the compound, sepsin, as generated by putrefaction, and by Prof. Burdon Sanderson, Dr. Drysdale, and others. John M. Wyburn, experimenting with Panum's sepsin, has obtained reactions from which it appears that, while it possesses many of the characters PORTUGAL, a constitutional monarchy in southwestern Europe. The present sovereign is Carlos I, the third of the line of Braganza-Coburg, born Sept, 28, 1863. He married at Lisbon, on May 22, 1886, the Princess Amélie, born Sept. 28, 1865, eldest daughter of the Comte de Paris. Their children are the Prince Royal Louis Philippe, born March 21, 1887, and Prince Manuel, born Nov. 15, 1889. While Duke of Braganza, Carlos devoted himself to the improvement of agriculture, especialy the cultivation of wheat, with the view of making Portugal independent The Cabinet that was in office in 1889 was first constituted in Feb. 20, 1886. It was composed of the following members; President of the Council and Minister of the Interior, J. L. de Castro Pereira Corte Real; Minister of Justice, F. A. de Veiga Beirao; Minister of Finance ad interim, H. de Barros Gomes; Minister of War, Gen. J. J. de Castro, appointed Nov. 15, 1888; Minister of Marine and the Colonies, J. Ressano Garcia, appointed Feb. 23, 1889; Minister of Foreign Affairs, H. de Baros Gomes; Minister of Public Works, Commerce, and Industry, E. J. Coelho, appointed Feb. 23, 1889. On Nov. 10, 1889. Augusto Cunho became Minister of Finance, and Maj. Franzini Minister of War. Finance. The total receipts for 1887-'88 were 48,543,302 milreis, comprising the balance in the treasnry of 7,702,863 milreis, 39,731,254 milreis of ordinary receipts, and 1,109,185 milreis of extraordinary receipts. The expenditures for ordinary purposes were 38,244,042 milreis, and for extraordinary purposes 6,003,714 milreis, leaving a surplus of 4,295,546 milreis. The internal debt at the end of 1887 amounted to 261,836,308 milreis, and the foreign debt to £50,801,576 sterling, or 228,607,695 milreis. The Army. The peace effective of the army on Aug. 31, 1889, was 2,129 officers and 33,294 men, with 4,034 horses and mules. The war effective in 1888 was 3,862 officers and 121,195 Railroads. The main lines of railroad in July, 1888, had a total length of 1,761 kilometres, besides 382 kilometres not yet open to traffic. Of subsidiary lines there were 144 kilometres completed and 109 kilometres building. Posts and Telegraphs.-The number of internal letters that passed through the post-office in 1887 was 15,906,792; post-cards, 2,994,476; registered letters, 448,795, circulars and printed inclosures, 15,605,752. In the international service there were 3,927,606 ordinary letters, 116,799 post-cards, 2,789,737 printed inclosures and circulars, and 222,369 registered letters. The receipts of the postal and telegraph service were 4,575,774 francs and the expenses 4,862,295 francs. The telegraph lines have a total length of 5,137 kilometres, with 11,948 kilometres of wire. Colonial Possessions.-The possessions of Portugal in Africa have an estimated area of 1,805,550 square kilometres and an aggregate population of 4,138,300 souls. The area of the Asiatic possessions is estimated at 19,666 square kilometres and the population at 849,600 souls. There were 60 kilometres of railroad in Angola completed in 1888, 315 kilometres were in process of construction, and 250 kilometres under consideration. On Oct. 31, 1889, the section of the Royal Trans-African Railroad between San Paul de Loanda and Ambaca was inaugurated. In Mozambique the railroad from Delagoa Bay to the Transvaal border has a length of 91 kilometres. In the Asiatic colonies there are 54 kilometres of railroad in India. Legislation. The attempts of the Government to extend the system of monopolies in 1889 excited popular opposition. A proposal to pay a debt of 2,500,000 francs to the heirs of the farmer of the tobacco monopoly, was denounced as illegal, and raised such a storm in the Chamber that on Feb. 4 the Cortes, which had met on Jan. 2, were closed by royal decree till April 5. Senhor Navarro, the Minister of Public Works, and the Minister of Finance, Cyrillo de Carvalho, resigned. Barros Gomes, who had temporarily administered the department of Marine and the Colonies, gave that charge into the hands of Ressano Garcia, and assumed provisionally the direction of the Ministry of Finance. The other vacated Ministry was given to José Cœlho. The cause of the political crisis was two measures of the Government interfering with the course of trade. One of these, with the object of preventing smuggling, required that every piece of cloth should be stamped by officials, and that goods not bearing the official stamp might be seized as contraband. The other was the establishment of a subsidized wine company, which should deal in wines that had been inspected and guaranteed pure by Government officials, and have the assistance of consuls in finding markets. The object was to improve the quality and reputation of Portuguese wines, and aid wine-growers by extending the foreign sales. The retailers of dry goods and the wine-merchants, English and Portuguese, by way of protest, closed their establishments. A second attempt to introduce the wine monopoly in May was followed by a general lock-out of all the trades connected with the export of wine in Oporto, and excited meetings of workmen, which were broken up by cavalry charges. A bill was passed in June abolishing the export duty on wine and brandy, and granting bounties to winegrowers producing wine suitable for export. In the general election, which took place in October, the Opposition gained the seats in Oporto and its suburbs, yet the Government majority was not otherwise diminished, the Ministerialists elected numbering 102 out of the total of 140. In November the provisional contract made in March, granting a subsidy to the new wine company, was pronounced illegal by the courts, and was therefore annulled. PRESBYTERIANS. I. Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.The "Comparative Summary" of this Church, published with the "Journal" of the General Assembly, exhibits the growth during the fifteen years since 1874. The statistics of the first and last of those years are here given. $9,120,792 $12,890,818 Baptisms, adults Baptisms, infants Sunday-school members Contributions: Home missions Foreign missions... Publication Relief fund Freedmen Sustentation General Assembly. Aid for colleges Congregational.. Miscellaneous.. 69,558 Total *Includes part of Centenary fund. The receipts for the Centenary fund as a total amount to $695,734.86. According to its report made to the General Assembly, the receipts for the year of the Board of Home Missions had been $810,391 for current work, $6,159 for Permanent and Trust funds, and $16,097 for the Sustentation department. The board returned the amount of the Permanent fund, the income only of which could be used, at $268,200, and held real estate valued at $125,000. It had in its service 1,592 missionaries and 313 missionary teachers, who returned as connected with their work, 93,188 members of the church, with 156,748 persons in congregations; 2,439 Sunday-schools, with 149,348 members; 10,490 additions during the year on profession of faith; 4,183 baptisms of adults and 5,090 of infants; 1,804 church edifices, valued at $4,702, |