Dr. Van Someren’s paper attracted the attention of Sir Michael Foster, Professor of Physiology at the University of Cambridge, England, and Permanent Honorary President of the International Congress of Physiologists. Professor Foster entered into correspondence with Dr. Van Someren, and this was followed by an invitation to Dr. Van Someren and the writer to attend the Congress which was to convene in Turin, Italy, during the month of September following. At the Congress Dr. Van Someren presented a technical thesis on the probable causes of the economy attained, and gave a demonstration of the movement of his Swallowing Reflex in relation to food in the process of liquefaction and preliminary digestion in the mouth. Following the Congress we received an invitation to visit Cambridge, England, and submit to tests of nitrogenous measurements in the Physiological Laboratory of the University, under the direction of Dr. F. Gowland Hopkins; and also to an examination of the bacterial flora incident to the nitrogenous estimations, under the direction of Dr. George H. F. Nuttall. The report of the experiments in the Chemical-Physiological Department is given in the “NOTE” of Sir Michael Foster, which follows Dr. Van Someren’s paper, but the bacterial examination was not carried far enough to warrant a scientific report, owing to difficulty of obtaining, at the time, sufficient data.—HORACE FLETCHER.] WAS LUIGI CORNARO RIGHT? A PAPER READ BEFORE THE PHYSIOLOGICAL SECTION OF THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, AUGUST, 1901, BY ERNEST VAN SOMEREN _Mr. President and Gentlemen:_ Being a general practitioner, it is with some trepidation and an apology that I present myself before this section. The reasons for my doing so are: First, that I believe that a hitherto unsuspected reflex in deglutition has come to light which has an important bearing on health, the prevention of disease and on metabolism. Second, that any theory whatever, based on a possible physiological function, claiming to diminish, as this does, the amount of sickness and suffering now existent, should have serious investigation. Third, that I desire to enlist your skilled help in the consideration of the theories I have doubtless crudely erected on my premise.