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462 THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. He strongly deprecated operation in cases of spinal caries, ) and considered that rest was in the great majority of cases i quite satisfactory from the therapeutic standpoint. He I admitted that his experience lay mostly with children. : Dr. REYNOLDS and Sir VICTOR HORSLEY replied, the latter emphasising the difference existing, as he considered, between child and adult cases of spinal caries in the matter of operation. Dr. CoLiN F. McDOWALL (Leek, Staffordshire) read a paper on The Nuclei of the Neutrophile Cell in Acute Insanity. After describing his technique and his method of enumera- tion and description, he brought forward evidence, based on the repeated examination of acute cases of insanity, to show that the nuclei of the neutrophile leucocytes underwent changes at irregular intervals throughout the disease not corresponding to any particular mental state, but probably the expression of a call on the organism to overcome a toxin. PHYSIOLOGY. THURSDAY, JULY 25TH. President, Professor J. S. MACDONALD (Sheffield). Dr. T. GRAHAM BROWN (Liverpool) read a paper on Tlte fflee7tanies of Progression. c He likened progression to a pendulum swing, in which theoretically no work was done from one point to another ; [ but as the conditions in progression were not perfect a [ certain amount of energy had to be used in giving a con- t tinuous "incremental velocity " which served in overcoming c these imperfections. He illustrated his remarks with an { analysis of flight by gliding in birds and of progression by walking in man. The PRESIDENT gave some figures with reference to the energy used in progression, and Dr. GRAHAM BROwN replied. ( Professor BENJAMIN MooRE (Liverpool) opened a dis- ] cussion on The Importance of Minimal Substances in Diet. ] He spoke of the importance of the study of internal secretions, and emphasised their widespread occurrence in the body. He gave a valuable description of the experiments and observations of the significance of minimal substances in diet; referred to Eichhorn’s obser- vations with birds, in which he fed them upon washed rice, and to the neuritis thus produced; and then passed on to the consideration of beri-beri, pointing out that in this condition a state of neuritis followed the ’use of polished rice. He described the body that might be isolated from rice and yeast, and referred to the experiments of Casimir Funk, and to the work done in his own laboratory. He stated that Funk had shown the body-which was present in very minute quantities-to be of the nature of a base. He considered scurvy and the experiments of Axel Holst, which showed the importance of fresh food in the case of guinea-pigs and rabbits. The relative values of sterilised and non-sterilised milk and the experiments thereon done in his own laboratory were discussed, and he thought that in sterilising milk they were on the wrong lines in thinking that milk must need sterilisation for certain purposes, and in not realising the greater importance of the purity of the source. He turned to the question of minimal substances in bread, stating that the subject would repay investigation. Important nitrogenous constituents-which might be even necessary-might yet be reduced in milk and in bread. The nature of these important substances was discussed. He questioned the accuracy of an assumption that they were phosphatides, but. thought them probably closely connected therewith, and he endorsed the likelihood that they might be decomposition products of phosphatides. Dr. CASIMIR FUNK (London) gave an interesting account of the basic substances which he had isolated from rice, yeast, milk, and ox brain, and of the methods of isolating them. He spoke of the substances in lime-juice and said that there were probably present two substances-an anti- scorbutic and an anti-neuritic body. In conclusion, he treated of the importance of allantoin. Mr. G. C. E. SIMPSON (Liverpool) noted the differences between the substance which he had isolated and that of Dr. Funk. He- noted the possibility of some forms of infanti’le paralysis being of similar origin to beri-beri, although in the nain the condition was toxic. He mentioned Holst’s experi- nents with guinea-pigs and scurvy, in which it was shown ,hat these animals readily contracted scurvy when fed on any ’estricted diet if it did not contain greens. He then said ;hat he could not absolutely confirm the statement that guinea-pigs lived longer on oats and fresh milk than on oats and sterilised milk ; he himself could not get any absolutely constant results. He, however, endorsed the statement as to the value of fresh milk and the relatively smaller value of sterilised milk. He noted the differences in nature of the anti-scorbutic substances in dandelion and cabbage, and passed to the consideration of pellagra. In this connexion he described some interesting experiments with albino guinea-pigs and rabbits in which they were fed upon maize and exposed to the sunlight. He suggested that pellagra was due to a neuritis of sensory nerves and beri-beri to neuritis of motor nerves. He turned then to the question of rickets, and, in conclusion, raised the interesting question of the relationship of the incidence of beri-beri to the price of rice. Dr. H. M. VERNON (Oxford) discussed the question of the important substances, and suggested that they were of the nature of complex lipoids which might be destroyed by solution in chloroform, but escaped if dissolved in ether. Dr. PIKE (New York) treated of the composition of the lipoids. He believed that combination of the lipoids with certain inorganic bases played an important part. Professor W. H. THOMPSON (Dublin) stated that they were at the opening of a new chapter in the study of nutrition, and would probably find that along with every article of diet there was some important minimal substance, of different composition in each case. He gave an account of some experiments with arginin and endorsed the opinion that white bread was a satisfactory article of diet in the case of the better classes of people, for they obtained the necessary removed portions in other ways, but that for the poorer classes the products from the outer layers should not be removed. Dr. HADDON spoke about chemical constitution and physiological action of foods. Professor A. S. F. GRÜNBAUM (Leeds) asked regarding the experiments done in Professor Moore’s laboratory. Dr. HEWETSON (Birmingham) gave some interesting- observations from his own experience with regard to scurvy. He thought that the scurvy seen in South Africa was not the same as that experimentally produced in animals. Professor MooRE, in replying, stated that there was a close connexion between the lipoids and the metabolism of muscle proteins, and emphasised the importance of the avoid ance of restricted diets. He referred to the experiments of Professor Hopkins, and also dwelt upon the importance of various stimulants of the central nervous system in food. In referring to the differences in the chemical constitution of the active substances isolated from rice and from yeast, he noted the probability that the substances were chemically different. Dr. H. E. ROAF (London) then opened a discussion upon Tissue Respiration. He observed that certain of the processes carried on in the body were unaccompanied by an increase of gaseous exchange, and drew the conclusion that therefore they apparently did not involve transformation of energy. He quoted, as instances of these processes, the glomerular filtration in the kidney and the activity of the extensor muscles in ’’ decerebrate rigidity." He considered the differences between oxygen tension and the total amount of oxygen consumed, and stated that the oxygen tension in the tissues was not zero. Dr. VERNON referred especially to the part played by’ enzymes in the various processes of oxidation and the experiments of S’tepp and of Hopkins. He stated that tissues varied in their oxidase content. He admitted that the presence of intra-molecular oxygen was not proved, but held that there was strong evidence in favour of it. Professor F. A. BAINBRIDGE (Newcastle) spoke of the gaseous exchange in the kidney, both at rest and in activity. He was tempted to believe that the evidence in favour of the statement that there was no transformation of energy in glomerulàr filtration was inadequate. Professor T. H. MILROY (Belfast) referred especially to the gaseous exchange in apncea. He particularly emphasised the possibility that investigation of the gaseous exchange of
