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Boston

Medical Library

8 The Fenway

THE LENS

. A QUARTERLY JOURNAL

^^'7^

O F

MICROSCOPY

AND THE

ALLIED NATURAL SCIENCES.

Late President of the State Microscopical Society.

PUBLISHING COMMII'TEE:
E. H. SARGENT, CHARLES ADAMS, M.D., H. A.JOHNSON, M.D.

voLTinME: II

CHICAGO.'
THE STATE MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY OF ILLINOIS.

1873.

INDEX TO VOL. II.

120
121

122

Archebiosis and Heterogenesis,
Frof. H. L. Smith . . ..

A New Mechanical Finger, —
Samuel Wells . ... . . 35

A Simple Mount for Objectives . 114
A Sea that never Gives up its Dead
Anatomy of Necrosis ....

A Munificient Gift to Science . .
A New Method of Viewing the

Chromosphere 176

Analysis of Air in Public Schools 184
A Contribution towards a List of
Rhode Island Diatomaceie, —
.S". A. Briggs ...... 161

A New Thermometer .... 253

A Novel Electric Light . . .255

Brain Stimulants 1 19

Bacillare0e,the Siliceous Shelled, —

Prof H. L.Smith . . . 129, 199
Beads, or Lines ? — Charles Stod-

der 244

Cancer Cells — Their Microscopic

Appearances, — /. N. Danforth 39
Carbolic Acid in Small Pox . . 62
Cutaneous Absorption of Poisons 64

Colored Spectacles 64

Cell, The, — /. N. Danforth . 92, 138
Conspectus of the Diatomacese, —

Prof H. L. Smith .... 65
Chicago Academy of Sciences . 125
Cultivating Wild Flowers, — Prof

Samuel Lockwood 166

Cystidia, The Structure of . .183
Camphor a Dangerous Drug . .257
Cementing Metal to Glass . . .257

Diatomacese : Eupodiscus Argus, —
Cha^'les St odder 29

Diatomace?e, Increase by Self-
Division 53

Depth of Soil 54

Diatomacese, Conspectus of, — Prof.
H. L. Smith -65

Diatomacese, Triceratiiim Fimbria-
tum ? — A. M. Edwards . . .104

Diatomacese, The Eupodiscus Ar-
gus . . . . . . . . . .113

Diatomaceae, Navicula Cuspidata 115

Distinguishing Fibres in Mixed
Goods . . .118

Diatomacese, — H. L. Smith 129, 199
Diatomacese, Rhode Island. — S. A.

161
182

Briggs

Double Fertilization of Flowers .
Diatomacege, On the Preparation of,
— Prof. H. L. Smith .

Diatomaceae of the Baltic, —

Briggs

Desmids, Plow to Mount .
Disinfection of Sick Rooms
Diamonds in California ,

209

232
256
256
256

Euplectella Speciosa . . . .179

Editor's Table . 50, 112, 171, 251

Fish Culture in Michigan ... 52

Food Fishes 56

Frey on the Microscope .... 56
Forests- and Fruit-Growing ... 58
Flora of Chicago and Vicinity, —

PI. H. Bab cock . . . 33, 96, 248
F'oster, John W. LL.D. . . .173
Fermentation, The New Theory of 164

Fovillaof Pollen 181

Fern Pressing 182

P'ungi, Luminous 258

Gundlach's Objectives .... 52
Great Fires and Rain Storms . . 59

Horses, Causes of Influenza in, —

Prof. Jajues Lazv I

Histology, Strieker's ..... 57
Histology, Rindfleisch's . • • 57
Hair in its Microscopical and Med-
ico-I^egal Aspects, — E. Hof
man, M.D 1 91

Iridiscent Engravings . . . . 52
Influence of Colored Light on

Growth 63

Irritability of the P'rog's Heart . 120
Insects, in Obstructing Evolution,

— Thojnas Meehan . . . .158

Is Carbolic Acid a Failure . . . 254

Ink in Adulterated Tea .... 259

Life, The Influence of Light upon 45

Light, Influence of upon Growth 63

Light, Monochromatic . . . . 115

Lens Plres 1 18

Lepidoptera, The Collection of . 195

Index.

Lepisma, Structure of Scales of —

G. W. Morehouse 245

Light, a Novel Electric . , . .255
Luminous Fungi 258

Microscopic Appearances of Cancer

Cells,—/. N. Danforth, M. D. 39
Man as the Interpreter of Nature 55
Microscope, Frey on the ... 56
Monochromatic Light . , . .115

Morse, Prof. Edward S 116

Microscopical Society of Illinois 122
Mr. Wenham and Tolles' Tenth 128
Multiplication^ The Limits of . .180

Nobert's New 20-Band Test- Plate 177
Nervation of the Coats of Ovules

and Seeds 183

Nobert's Tests, — William Webb . 216
Nobert's Tests and Mr. Webb.—

7. y. Woodward, M. D. . . 222
New Researches on Bacteria . .251

On the Similarity of Crystallization
and Organic Structures, — John
H. Martin 99

On the Resolving and Penetrating
Power of Certain Objectives,
Prof. Ardissonne 102

On the Aperture of Object Glas-
ses,—y. y Woodward, M. D. 145

On the Agency of Insects in Ob-
structing Evolution, — Thomas
Meehan 158

On the Utib'tyof i-50th Objectives,
— G. W. Morehouse .... 207

On the Preparation of Diatomacea;,
— Prof. H. L. Smith .... 209

Objectives, The Best Tests for, —
William Webb 213

On Nobert's Tests,— /^. Webb . 216

On Webb's Test, and other Fine
Writing, — J. J. Woodward, . 225

Objectives, Relative Price of Eng-
lish and American, — C. Stodder 243

Popular Science 51

Photographic vSpectral Lines . . 52
Poisons, Cutaneous Absorption of 64
Philadelphia Academy of Sciences 121
Potato Blight, — Thomas Taylor. 152
Photographic Reproduction of Dif-
fraction Gratings 175

Photography of the Invisible . . 252
Preparing Pathological Specimens 258

Rush Medical College, Chicago . 128

Strieker's Histology 57

Spontaneous Movements in Plants 60
Sections of Leaves, Buds, &c . .114
Sedgwick,. Prof. Adam . . . .117
State Microscopical Society . .122
San Francisco Microscopical vSoc. 128
Sulhvant, W. S. LL.D. . . .171
Sponge, The Physiology of . . .178
Spectrum of Chlorophyll, , . . 224

The Yellows of the Peach, — Ihos.

Taylor 36

The New British Scientific Expe-
dition 50

The Lost Arts 54

The Nineteenth Band and Tolles'

Eighteenth cc

The Velocity of Nerve Currents . 60
The Difference between the Sides

of the Heart 61

The Blood Circulation and Heart

Disease 61

The Macropode 62

The Figure of the Earth, — E.

Colbert 106

The Tolles-Wenham Discussion . 112
The Tupodisciis Ai'gus . . . .113
This from the Athens of America ! 116

Torrey, Prof. John 117

The Tyndall Banquet . . . .117
The New Theory of Fermentation 164
The Divisibility of Matter . . .181
The Eyes in Deep Sea Creatures , 182
The Germ Theory and its Rela-
tions to Hygiene, — F. A. P.

Barnard. LL.D 185

TheDiatomacese of the Baltic, — S.

A. Briggs ". .232

The Relative Prices of English
and American Objectives, —

Charles Stodder 243

The Structure of the Scales of Le-
pisma Saccharina, — G. W. More-
house 245

The Study of Nature as a Means

of Development 255

The Botanical Name Andromeda 257

The Gerni Theory 259

The Opeiscope 260

The Absorption Bands of Chloro-
phyll . 260

Why Camphor Spins in Water . 58

Water in Granite 116

What are Instinctive Actions ? ,184

y -t^. V

/-A^

THE LEN

WITH THE

Transactions of the State Microscopical Society of Illinois.

Vol. II.— CHICAGO, JANUARY, 1873.— No. i-

THE CAUSES OF INFLUENZA IN HORSES.

The recent appearance of Influenza in horses affords interesting
material for study, in connection with the question of the origin of
epidemics. Unlike the majority of former epidemics, whose origin
has been obscure, this appears to have sprung into existence in the
centre of the North American Continent, and in a distinct locality
which can be definitely pointed out. It has spread rapidly and
steadily in nearly every direction, from this as a centre, and, thanks
to facilities afforded by railroads and telegraphs, its course has been
traceable with ease. The following is intended as a contribution
towards securing the lessons which may be learned from the
visitation :

The old doctrine of an epidemic constitution of the atmosphere,
has of late years been gradually waning, as cholera, small-pox, typhoid
fever, and other epidemics and epizootics have been traced to
more tangible causes, and placed more under human control.

More than any other epidemic malady, perhaps, has Influenza re-
tained its claim on an atmospheric causation. It has been described
as falling simultaneously on all parts of a given district, or country,
as breaking out in islands a considerable distance from the shore, and
without having had any communication with the main land ; and as
having attacked the crews of ships in mid -ocean, after they had been

Vol. II.— No. i.

2 The Causes of Influenza in Horses. [Jan.

twenty days at sea. No wonder that we should have had all imagin-
able general conditions of the earth, water, and air, by which to
explain its occurrence. That ai; one time it has been attributed to
the lowness and dampness of a locality ; at another, to the height,
exposure, and coldness ; at a third, to crowding of population, with
the resulting impurities of soil, water, and air ; in a fourth case, to
the vicissitudes of weather in late spring, in autumn, or in winter,
or of some unusually variable seasons ; to a persistent low tempera-
ature, or sudden variation of temperature ; to the prevalence of damp,
acrid or fetid fogs and mists ; to excessive rain-fall and unusual hu-
midity of the atmosphere ; to an unusually high or low density of
the atmosphere ; to an excess of ozone in the air ; to the telluric
emanations attendant on great earthquakes and volcanic eruptions,
or, to a modified condition of the atmospheric electricity.

The Epizootic of 1872 affords but the most slender appearance of
support to any of these hypotheses. Neither soil nor elevation has
materially affected it. The prevalence and mortality have been al-
most the same in the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire, as
in the flat and malarious sea coast of New Jersey, Maryland, and
Virginia.

The teinpe7'ature has not exerted any marked influence. The
disease has been general wherever it has reached, and the mortality
has averaged one per cent, or a little over. Indeed, in some cases
the comparison has been altogether in favor of the more northern
and colder localities. Thus in Fulton Co., Ga., it is reported as
universal, and the mortality, up to the date of report, had been one
per cent. In Dodge Co., Wis., on the other hand, although after
the outbreak of the affection, there had been a sudden transition in
a single night, (12 Nov.) from a pleasant Indian summer to the rigor-
ous and persistent cold of winter — the thermometer sometimes
marking 8° below zero — yet the losses in country districts are esti-
mated at I in 300. Over-crowding, with its concomitants of hot,
damp, vitiated air, has unquestionably been a main cause of the
severity and complications of the disease in the large cities, the
pneumonias, pleurisies, purpura hcemorrhagicas, &c., but the malig-
nancy of all specific febrile diseases, occurring with such unwhole-
some surroundings, forbids that we should attach any importance to
these, in estimating the causes of this particular disorder. Influenza
in man, shows a similar irjalignancy and fatality in unwholesome

^^73-] ' -^^ Causes of Influenza in Horses. 3

localities, and in over-crowded portions of cities, where hygienic
arrangements are imperfect. The observations of Pearson, Parkes,
Baker, Gray, and the English Registrar General, have sufficiently
established this fact ; and in equine Influenza, confined as it often
is, to a more limited area than has been the case at present, the
affection has been oftentimes limited, almost entirely, to exposed
stables, open and swept by draughts of cold air, but with an impure^
damp and stifling atmosphere ; or close, and without ventilation,
light, or drainage. Yet such conditions can only retard or prevent
the elimination of effete matter from the system, favor the introduc-
tion of the deleterious products of decomposition in animal and
vegetable matters, saturate the blood with impurities, and by impair-
ing or suspending nutrition and other important functions, lay the
system open to the access of disease. But while they facilitate the
development and increase the severity of all zymotic maladies, they
do hot determine which specific affection shall be developed in a
particular case. That is determined by the prevalence of Influenza,
glanders, or other specific disorder in the locality at the time, and
it is noticeable in this connection, that the equine Influenza of 1872
did not originate in a crowded city, as is generally supposed. Pro-
fessor Smith, of Toronto Veterinary College, assures me that it
existed at a place fifteen miles to the north of that city, before it
appeared among the city horses.

Sudden Changes of Weather and Temperature. — Nasal and bron-
chial catarrhs often prevail extensively among horses as among men
in connection with sudden and extreme variations of temperature,
and especially in spring and autumn. These are liable to be con-
founded with Influenza, and hence the idea that this disease is but a
simple result of such climatic vicissitudes. In the case of the horse,
the changeable seasons are often aggravated by the weakness and
susceptibility of the system, in connection with the spring and
autumn changes of coat ; the transition from the hot stable to the
cool field ; or, from the clear atmosphere of the pasture to the close,
hot, impure air of the stable ; the changes from green to dry food,
or vice versa; and the substitution of work for idleness, or the re-
verse. That the effects of sudden changes of temperature are very
severe on the animal system which has not been habituated to the
new condition of life by a gradual transition from one to the other,
is well shown in Mr. Edwards' experiments on cold-blooded animals.

4 The Causes of Influenza in Horses. [Jan.

Though subjected to a very low temperature in winter, the heat of
their bodies declined barely -f-^ of a degree, whereas, exposure to a
cold temperature in summer, insured a depression of body-heat to
the extent of 3 ° and even 6 ° Centigr. So it is with warm-blooded
animals, transferred from a warm to a cold climate. The French
cavalry horses, sent from the shores of the Mediterranean to the
northern parts of the country, suffer to a great extent from catarrhal
and pulmonary affections. But such catarrhal attacks do not spread
as an epizootic, nor extend from the newly arrived horses to those
which are permanent residents. Catarrhal symptoms are induced,
but the contagion which secures an extensive and general prevalence
of the malady is wanting. Such vicissitudes therefore operate like
other unwholesome conditions of life ; they pre-dispose the system
to the disease, or even increase its severity, but they cannot appar-
ently generate the morbid poison.

The first reported cases of the recent epizootic occurred in Toronto,
in the last days of September. It is, therefore, of the greatest im-
portance, to ascertain what was the state of the weather in that
locality during the month of September. Through the kindness of
Professor Kingston, of the Magnetic Observatory, Toronto, I am
enabled to introduce a table, giving the Meteorological Register for
the month of SejDtember, 1872, at Toronto, and a second table giv-
ing the records of the same month for the last twenty-eight years, at
the same place. \_Fo7' Tables, see pp. 5 and 6.'\

From these tables it is manifest that there was no extraordinary
condition, nor- extreme change in the weather, during the whole of
the month, the last days of which witnessed the outbreaks. The
mean temperature was in excess of that of September, 1871, but con-
siderably below that of this month, in many previous years. Both
maximum and minimumtemperatures were slightly in excess, of those
of 1 87 1, but the maximum is less, and the minimum more, than those
of several previous non-influenza years. The monthly range of
temperature was nearly 2° less than that of i87i,and 11 ° under
that of 1854, which was not an influenza year. It may be added,
the greatest daily range for September, 1872, was 27^5, while for
September, 1 871, it was 3i°5. The greatest velocity of the wind in
September, 1872, was 22.4 miles, on the 13th, with wind at the north-
west, and temperature 6i°4. The highest velocity in September,
1 87 1, was 26 miles^ on the 17th, with wind north-west by north, and
temperature 52^9.

I873-]

The Causes of Influenza in Horses.

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Comparative Register for September, at Toronto.

Temperature.

Rain.

Wind.

4)
>
0

in hO

0 «

X >

3
'S

bJO

0
6
"A

Resultant.

>>
'0

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0

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0
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1844

58.6

+0.6

81.8

28.2

53-6

Inap.

0.26 lbs.

1845

56.0

—2.0

79.6

34-0

45-6

6.245

0-34

1846

63.6

+ 5.6

84.3

37-3

47.0

4-595

0-33

1847

55-6

—2.4

74-5

35-0

39-5

6.665

0-33

1848

54-2

-3-8

80.4

28.1

52.3

3-II5

N71W

2.38

5.81 miles.

1849

58.2

+ 0.2

80.1

32-7

47-4

1.480

N75W

0.69

4-23

1850

56.5

—1-5

76.0

29-5

46.5

1-735

S65W

1.02

4.78

185I

60.0

+ 2.0

86.3

32.0

54-3

2.665

N14E

1.03

5-45

1852

57-5

—0.5

81.8

35-8

46.0

3-633

N17W

0-53

4.60

1853

58.8

+ 0.8

85.5

33-9

51.6

5.140

1.06

4-33

1854

61.0

+ 3-0

93-6

35-8

57-8

5-375

N22W

1-33

4-04

1855

59-5

+ 1-5

82.6

33-0

49.6

5-585

N20E

1.29

7.61

1856

57-1

—0.9

78.4

35-0

43-4

4-105

S79W

1.98

6.53

1857

58.6

+ 0.6

82.0

34-1

47-9

2.640

N68W

1.61

6-55

1858

59-1

+ 1.1

81.4

35-6

45-8

0-735

S74W

1-53

S-69

1859

55-2

—2.8

75-4

35-7

39-7

3-525

N44W

1.60

6-36

i860

55-3

—2.7

75.8

28.7

47.x

1-959

N71W

2.63

5-79

1861

59-1

+ 1.1

78.8

37-1

41.7

3.607

N71W

1-39

4.81

1862

59-6

+ 1.6

79-4

39-0

40.4

2-344

N59W

1.07

5. II

1863

55-9

2>I

80.0

314

48.6

1-235

N16W

1.92

6.46

1864

56.4

—1.6

73-0

37-8

35-2

2.508

N38W

1.89

7.06

1865

64.5

+6.5

90.5

42.0

48.5

2.450

S56E

0.47

4.12

1866

55-2

—2.8

80.0

34-4

45-6

5-657

N33W

1-45

4-63

1867

57-9

-O.I

87.0

31-8

55-2

1.226

N37W

1.48

5-43

1868

56.6

—1.4

75-5

36.0

39-5

4-239

N74W

0.88

6.68

1869

60.7

+ 2.7

81.0

34-4

46.6

4.027

N53W

1.16

4.89

1870

61.8

+ 3-8

78.0

45.8

32.2

6.794

N29 E

2.26

5-04

187I

54-8

—3-2

81.8

34-0

47.8

1.290

N74W

1.72

5-50

1872

59-1

+ I.I

84.4

38.2

46.2

2.526

N79W

1-17

5-24

RESULTS TO 1871.
I 58.04I I 80.88I 34.58I 46.30I 11.06I 3.716 IN52WI 1.06 I 5.44

EXCESS FOR 1872.
|-f;i.07| 1+ 3.52I+ 3.62I — o.io|-f 4.94I— 1.190I I I— 0.20

Togs. — Remarkable aeri'd ox fetid fogs have been observed to
precede or accompany some epidemics of Influenza. Dr. Arbuthnot
remarks on the prevalence of such fogs, not only in England, but in
France and Germany as well, in connection with the Influenza of
1727, and 1732-3. In the latter year there had been a severe

1 8 73-] ^^<^ Causes of lufluenza in Horses. 7

drought, wells were dry, and from Nov. 4 till Christmas there pre-
vailed stinking fogs, a higher temperature than usual, great storms of
wind from the south-east, and lightning without thunder. It was
further observed by surgeons, that wounds showed a great disposition
to mortify. But in the great majority of Influenza epidemics and
epizootics there has been no such coincidence. The present equine
Influenza has neither been preceded nor attended by any such phe-
nomenon. Fogs appeared on but three days, 6th, nth, and i8th,
of September, 1872, whereas they existed on six days, ist, 4th, 5th,
13th, i6th, and 19th of September, 1871. Fogs or vapors, impreg-
nated with sulphurous gases, or other bad-smelling or putrifying
elements, would, undoubtedly, undermine the general health, and favor
the diffusion of such a disease as Influenza ; but the origin and course
of the present epizootic, like that of the majority on record, shows
clearly enough that no such condition is essential to its developement.

Rain-fall and Humidity. — The rain-fall for September, 1872, at
Toronto, was but 2.526 inches, as compared with 1.290 inches in
September, 1871, and 6.794 inches in September, 1870. The rainy
days were 16, in 1872, against 8, in 187 1, and 17, in 1861. The
total rain-fall in September, 1872, was i inch below the average
of the twenty-eight preceding years.

The average relative humidity of the air, in Toronto, in Septembei^,
1872, was 78, against 71 for the same month of the previous year.
Though greater than in the former year this is by no means an ex-
cess of moisture, and any assumed imputation of this excess will be
destroyed by a reference to the following table, giving the relative
humidity of the air at other places where Influenza did not appear
during September, 1872.

Weeks. Toronto. Montreal. Quebec. Detroit. New Vorh.

ist., 73,7 76.5 78.5 70.7 64.4

2d., 80.6 79

3d., 79-5 76

4th., 77.8 74

Av^ge for /^ weeks, 77.9 76

7 83.0 79.0 79.7

8 82.6 72.0 75.5
7 76.0 66.4 81.0

92 80.02 72.02 75-15

The barometer \i-^6. alow average for September, 1872 ; at Toronto
29.5937, against 29.7200 of the same month in 1871. Its range,
too, was less; 0.728, against 0.799 i^ September, 1871. The
average heights of the barometer at Toronto, in June, July^, and
August, 1871, were respectively, 29.5431, 29.5552, and 29.5780.

8 The Causes of hifluejiza m Horses. [Jan.

Ozone. — It has been strongly contended that this agent is in ex-
cess in the atmosphere during epidemics of Influenza. Since Scohn-
lein placed a rabbit for an hour in an atmosphere artificially charged
with ozone, and found a resulting inflammation of the mucous mem-
branes, and the death of the subject a few hours later, the potency
of this agent in causing Influenza has been largely assumed. Ad-
ditional weisrht was ^iven to the theorv bv the observations of
Boeckel, of Strasbourg, who found that an excess of ozone in the
atmosphere, if associated with cold, east or north-east winds, or
snow, was capable of inducing inflammation of the air passages.
Boeckel further found, that when he compelled animals to breathe
strongly ozonized air, lobular pneumonia was produced. — {Levy.^
But there is no evidence that the catarrhs and pneumonias thus pro-
duced were capable of extending, and assuming the character of
an epidemic.

It is found, indeed, that ozone does not exist in an atmosphere
loaded with organic impurities, the product of decomposing material,
or of animal respiration. Birinez could find no indication of the
presence of ozone in the surgical, fever, and venereal wards of the
Military Hospital at Versailles, though it was abundant in the court-
yard of the hospital. James found a great deficiency in the Military
Hospital at Sedan as compared with the garden of the hospital.
Boeckel found it aWndantly on the platform of the cathedral at
Strasbourg during the prevalence of cholera in that city, but he
rarely found a trace in the streets of the town. He further asserts
as the results of his obser%-ations, that in air charged with paludal
emanations ozone is not produced. He was, moreover, unable to
develope ozone to any extent in a cholera ward.

But these are precisely the conditions in which Influenza assumes
its greatest severity and shows its highest death-rate. In the large
cities where the air contains an excess of carbonic acid, resulting
from combustion of fuel, animal respiration, and an abundance
of decomposing organic matter, the products of waste and decay
in organized bodies, this is unquestionably the case. And just in
proportion to the squalor, the filth, the impurity, and the absence of
a proper hygiene, so does the affection prove more severe and fatal.
So it is in the close, unventilated, undrained, or underground sta-
bles of cities, with air loaded to suffocation with the products of
respiration and putrefaction. In these the mortality proves far in

1 873-] I'he Causes of Influenza in Horses. g

excess of that of the horses in the better appointed stables, or in the
country. A review of the whole subject shows very conclusively
that an excess of ozone in the atmosphere cannot be accepted as the
one cause or the main cause of Influenza.

Again, it is difficult to estimate the amount of ozone in the air.
Nitrous acid, which often exists in great amount near the surface of
the earth, which, like ozone, is produced in large quantities during
thunderstorms, and like it decomposes organic matter in the air, has
precisely the same reaction as ozone on iodized starch papers.
Ozone, moreover, is always present in larger amount at the higher
altitudes, but Influenza shows no such predilection for the hills. It
has on the other hand, during the recent epizootic, shown a decided
preference for the valleys along which run the great railroad tracks,
as evinced by its earlier deduf at such places.

Once more, the amount of ozone varies constantly on the sea-
shore, from the great evaporation and the everchanging condition of
the electricity, and a sea-side residence has been accordingly advised
as a safeguard against the evil effects of an excess of ozone. But
the recent epizootic had its origin near the borders of a large lake,
and has in the main prevailed earlier and more severely in the large
towns on the Atlantic sea-board than in the inland districts. As ex-
amples, may be mentioned New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City and
Boston, attacked on or about Oct. 2 2d ; Portland, Me., Newport, R.
I., and New Haven, Conn., on Oct. 23d j Portsmouth, Va., Nov.
ist, and Charleston, S. C, Nov. 2d, whereas it only appeared at
Kingston, N. Y., on Nov. ist, and at Scranton, Forrest Co., Clear-
field Co., and elsewhere in Pennsylvania, about Nov. 14th.

Dropsies and other dangerous complications were also very preva-
lent in these sea-port towns.

I have not been able to obtain ozonometric observations made
during the epizootic, but beside as the above considerations, the evi-
dences of the transmission of the disease by contagion may be ad-
duced as disproving its pathogenisis and propagation by ozone.

Electricity. — As in the case of ozone, no reports of the state of the
atmospheric electricity are available, but like ozone, if potent at all,
this agency could only be so in producing the first case or cases. It
might be conceived of, as affecting the nutrition of the animal body,
so as to produce from its elements a morbid poison capable of indef-
inite reproduction, and of communicating the disease from animal

lo The Causes of Influenza in Horses. [Jan.

to animal. But to conceive of the same electrical condition spread-
ing by slow and regular advances over the greater portion of the
continent for the space of three months, in all the varied phases of
hill and plain ; of rain, snow, and fair weather ; of clouds and sun-
shine, of atmospheric moisture and dryness ; of storm and calm ; in
city and country ; on the inland table-land and valley, and on the
sea-shore, is not in keeping with what we know of this agency.

According to Peltier the electricity of the earth is always negative,
and that of a dry atmosphere positive. Guy-Lussac and Biot found
that the greater the altitude they attained in a balloon, the stronger
was the positive electricty. Becquerel and Breschet found no evi-
dence of positive electricity in the six feet nearest the surface of the
earth, in close-sheltered places in the court-yards of houses, in the
streets of cities, or in narrow valleys. In a calm, pure atmosphere
the electricity is uniformly disseminated and therefore little marked,
but with a lowering of temxperature and the condensation of the con-
tained watery vapor into more or less dense clouds, the electricity
concentrates itself around the watery particles and leads to extensive
disturbances of the equilibrium. The action of the earth renders
these clouds more negative in their upper than in their lower portions.
Water falling in rain is as often positive as negative, falling as snow
it is positive four times in five. Slight rains do not modify the at-
mospheric electricity, while heavy rains increase it positively or
negatively. The approach of a hailstorm determines great irregular-
ities in the electric tension of the air. Strong winds also seriously
disturb the equilibrium. It has been stated that rains occurring
during south, southeast and southwest winds are mostly negative,
while those with north, northeast and northwest winds are oftener
positive. — \Levy.'\

Setting aside the regular diurnal variations, it follows, that in the
same latitude, location, the proximity of trees or buildings, the
force and direction of the prevailing winds, the existence or non-
existence of clouds, and the occurrence of heavy rain, hail or snow
mainly affect the atmospheric electricity. Some approximation to
the electrical disturbance might therefore be attained by noting some
of these conditions during the month. The resultant direction of
the winds during September, 1872, at Toronto, was N. 79° W.,
and in September, 1871, N. 74° W. The mean velocity for the
month was 5.24 miles per hour in 1872, and 5,50 miles per hour

1 8 73-] The Causes of Influenza in Horses. il

in 1 87 1. The maximum velocity in September, 1872, was 29 miles,
in 1 87 1, 26 miles. In September 1872, twenty days had each a less
average than 6 miles per hour, while ten days each averaged from 6
to 10 miles. In September, 1871, eighteen days individually
averaged under 6 miles per hour, while twelve days had averages
ranging from this up to 10 miles.

Rain fell on sixteen days of the month in 1872, the total duration
of fall being 43.4 hours. It fell on eight days in 1871, the duration
of fall being 27. 7 hours.

, The observations made thrice daily in September, 1872, at
Toronto, report the weather in 29 instances cloudy, 3 times hazy, i
time foggy, 3 times threatening, 5 times a light, rain, and i time a
heavy rain; it is 26 times reported clear. It was noted calm on 28
occasions, 7 times calm and clear, 14 times calm and cloudy, and 7
times calm and foggy.

It is manifest from these data that there must have been consider-
ably more disturbance of the electrical tension during September last
in Toronto than during the same month of 1871. And the frequency
of thunder and lightning testifies to the same truth. September,
1872, had thunder and lightning on the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 12th,
i8th, 19th, 22d, 23d, 26th and 29th. September, 1871, has thun-
der reported on the 3d, and thunder and lightning on the i8th. I
have not before me the report of the thunderstorms at Toronto for
the earlier months of 1872, but for 1871 there were but 6 storms
reported for July, 6 for August and 3 for June. Altogether there
appears to be testimony to the existence of an unusual amount of
disturbance of the electrical equilibrium for the month of September,
1872. But whether this is sufficient to account for the origin of
Influenza may still be disputed. It is needless to deny how man and
beast often suffer during the prevalence of the electrical disturbances,
and especially just before the bursting of a thunderstorm. And con-
sidering how the nuclei (nutrition centres) of the different animal
tissues have their functions arrested or perverted by inflammatory
action, and considering further the varied development of many of
the lower organisms, when placed in different circumstances, it does
hot seem very irrational to assume that under varying conditions of
electrical action and of other attendant circumstances there may be
developed from these ultimate living particles of the animal body, or
from' vegetable organisms, new organic particles, with novel and

12 The Causes of Influenza in Horses. [Jan.

pathogenic properties, capable of multiplying indefinitely, and dis-
seminating a specific disease.

But there is no evidence that this is really the case. We have
merely the coincidence of extensive electrical disturbances and the
outbreak of the influenza of 1872. With regard to former epidemics,
Dr. Parkes says that '^no evidence has been collected which shows
any connection with conditions of telluric magnetism, or atmos-
pheric electricity, and indeed the peculiar spread and frequent local-
ization of influenza seem inconsistent with general magnetic condi-
tions." And how often do we see thunder-storms occurring day
after day for a length of time without the supervention of influenza !

It is not at all improbable that this electric condition of the atmos-
phere had something to do with the development of the epizootic,
but in view of all the known facts, and of our experience of the past,
we can only look on it as predisposing the system to the attack of a
poison, which previously existed, but had remained latent for want
of a receptive subject. Considering the feverish condition of the
system in times of great electric tension, the amount of ozone result-
ing from electric discharges, and the known action of ozone on the
respiratory mucous membrane, the doctrine is at least plausible, that
the diseased condition and lowered vitality of this membrane at such
a time lays it open to the attack of the poison. But in support of
this theory, as invariably operating, we must assume, either the super-
vention of this electrical derangement at each place whenever an
animal is attacked, or that the reception of the poison into the animal
body changes its character and intensifies its virulence. This gradual
march of the electric tension over the continent seems an extrava-
gant and unwarrantable assumption. The acquisition of increased
potency or virulence by passing through an animal body, is not
altogether incompatible with what we know of the varied develope-
ment of some of the lower forms of animal life in different media.

It will be observed that this hypothesis of the etiological impor-
tance of electricity and ozone, does not touch the question of the
primary origin of the poison. It assumes the poison to be already
in existence, and that these agencies merely lay the system open to
receive it as do impure air, exhaustive, unsuitable food, and other
health-depressing causes.

Whatever the significance of the electrical disturbances at Toronto,
in September, the fact ought to be recorded for the guidance of
future observers.

1 8 730 '^^^ Causes of Influenza in Horses. 13

Progress from East to West, or from West to East. The old doc-
trine was, that Influenza always extended from east to west, as it had
been repeatedly traced over Asia, into and through Europe. The
epidemics of 1781, 1800, and 1833, were remarkable examples of
this. Yet it has often followed an opposite course. The epidemic
of 1768 prevailed in America before it reached Europe, and Web-
ster claims the same course for those of 1757, 1761, and 1781.
Gluge, from an induction of all the epidemics known to have
occurred for 300 years, concluded that the general course was from
west to east. The recent equine Influenza has spread from Toronto
in a direction east, west, and south, and indeed, any conclusions
based on the direction pursued by the malady must be given up.

Contagion. — Is there a specific contagion ? This is manifestly a
question of vital importance with reference to the etiology of the
disease. If there is a contagion which may exist in the body of the
sick animal, increase there, and be the means of communicating
the malady to an indefinite number of sound stock, all our theoriz-
ing on noxious gases and putrid fogs, inclemencies and extreme
vicissitudes of the weather, excess of ozone, magnetic disturbance,
and the like, will be of small account. Indeed, no one of the con-
ditions we have been considering, nor all of them put together, can
explain the regular progress of the recent epizootic, step by step,
from a given point of origin, over the whole Atlantic Slope of the
Continent, extending over a period of now near three months, and
without being naturally influenced by locality, soil, altitude, weather,
or climate. No such condition will explain the fact that horses
only have suffered, while all the animal creation beside have escaped.
In other great epizootics man has often suffered at the same time
with the horse. If these resulted from atmospheric causes alone,
how comes it that man has escaped now? The explanation would
be easy if the equine and the human malady were alike due to
specific contagia, distinct from each other but closely allied in their
manifest results, and in the conditions which favor their local devel-
opment, or reproduction.

Were the morbific agent a simple gas, it would be excessive in
amount and easily appreciable at the point of origin ; it would con-
tinue to exert its influence at this point if its production lasted ; it
would not expend its power there and advance by successive steps
over newly conquered territory, each to be as promptly relinquished

14 The Causes of lufluenza in Horses, [Ja^-

in its turn ; and, unless uniformly diffused through the atmosphere,
and in all parts of the globe, it would be speedily diluted and
rendered inert as it spread from its centre of origin.

The same remarks would apply to putrifying organic matter in the
atmosphere. This would soon be changed by the action of oxygen
into new compounds and lose its original properties. It would be
easily appreciable in the atmosphere, and would soon expire by its
own limitation, and by the completion of the putrefactive process:

The only theory that will accord with the history of the malady
and its steady increase and extension, is that which recognizes the
existence of a contagion capable, like other specific disease poisons,
of assimilating its appropriate food, of re-producing its elements,
and of thoroughly increasing the area of the disease.

The history of the recent visitation shows an unmistakable ten-
dency on its part to progress most rapidly along the lines of com-
merce and travel. It broke out near Toronto, Canada, in the latter
part of September, was reported in the city on October ist, and
prevailed in Montreal and generally in the Canadas on October 1 8th.
On October 13th it was known to exist in Detroit; on October 14th
in Buffalo; on October 17th Rochester had half its horses sick; on
October ipthLockport, Canandaigua, Geneva, Syracuse, and Albany,
were reported attacked; while Batavia, Auburn, and Utica were
still reported sound. On October 2 2d it had reached Revere and
Boston, Mass. ; Lewiston, Me. ; and New York, Brooklyn, and
Jersey City. Yet Poughkeepsie was only attacked on Oct. 27th,
and Kingston, Duchess Co., N. Y., on Nov. ist, though ajpparentiy
in the direct line of the atmospheric wave, had such there been. It
reached Philadelphia on Oct. 27th, Washington on Oct. 28th,
Columbus*, O., on Oct. 29th; Cleveland, Ohio, on Oct. 30th, and
Pittsburg, Pa., on Oct. 31st; Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., on Nov.
ist; Goldsboro, N. C, and Charleston, S. C, on Nov. 30 ; yet
it only reached Binghamton, N. Y., on Oct. 28th; Ithaca, still
further north, on Oct. 31st; Titusville, Pa., and Nyack, N. Y.,
on Oct. 29th; Kingston, N. Y., on Nov. ist, and Scranton, Pa., on
Nov. 13th.

Not only do we find a tendency to follow the great lines of rail,
but in many cases a temporary avoidance of many of the .smaller
towns on the track whose commercial relations are less active and
whose danger of infection is accordingly less.

1 873-] ^^ Causes of Influenza in Horses. 15

It only remains to be determined whether the disease will
spread in a new locality from a newly imported sick animal as a
centre. If it can be introduced in this way into a new locality well
out of the former area of the disease^ and spread promptly from the
imported sick animal as a centre, it must be ^possessed of a specific
contagium. Were the body merely charged with noxious gases, with
decomposing organic matter, or with electricity, it could never be-
come the centre for a wide diffusion of a specific disease. These
agents would soon pass from the system and lose their noxious qual-
ities by diffusion or decomposition. The presence of a sick animal
would be no more injurious than a chemical laboratory, a putrid
carcase, or an electric machine.

Attention is called then to the following facts : The first cases in
Detroit were in several horses imported from Canada, about the
loth or 12th of October, and which were noticed ill on the 13th,
and the malady appears to have been confined for nearly a week to the
two stables into which these horses were taken. The first cases in
Syracuse were newly arrived Canadian horses. The earliest cases
which I have been able to trace in Ithaca, were in the livery stables
of Mr. Jackson, who had just returned from running a mare in a
more Northern part of the State. In Pittsburg, the disease first
appeared in the livery stables of Messrs. Moreland and Mitchell,
after the arrival of five or six horses from New York City where the
epizootic was then at its height. In each case it rapidly spread
through the city. From Washington the first note of alarm was
sounded on October 28th, to the effect that sick horses had been
brought into the city from the North, and on October 31st, it was
reported to be generally prevalent. In Lehigh County, Pa., it
appeared about November 4th, and ^'spread like fire along the
canal and into the surrounding country. ' ' On November 19th, it was
reported at Giles, Rutterford, Maury, and other places in Davidson
and Summer Counties, Tenn., that had been visited by a circus
which came from an infected locality. . Several of these were instances
of the appearance of the disorder in an entirely new locality, far
beyond the limits of the region formerly pervaded by the disease,
and fi;om such new points the affection spread widely, before the
general country or many of the towns in the interval between there
and the former diseased area, were involved. Instances of the same
kind could easily be adduced from the history of former epizootics.

i6 The Causes of Influenza in Horses. [Jan.

In influenza in man, similar observations have been made by such
authorities as Barker, Haggarth, Williams, Parkes and Sir Thomas
Watson. Persons just arrived from an infected place have so fre-
quently proved the centre for a new diffusion of the poison, that
some have attempted to trace all cases to contagion alone.

It will be objected to this doctrine that Hertwig's inoculations,
and even the transfusion of blood from a sick to a healthy horse,
have failed to transmit the disease. In the face of such testimony
as is furnished above, the conclusiveness of this evidence may be
safely denied. Every individual is not susceptible. I can point to
horses which have been freely exposed m the streets, and have even
stood in the stalls just vacated by sick horses, and have yet com-
pletely escaped the disease. The argument from transfusion is no
more conclusive than was the failure of the blood of cholera patients
to induce in healthy men. It does not disprove the existence of a
poison, but merely that the subject was an insusceptible one; or
that the poison is not present in the blood.

Nature of the Contagium. — The existence of a contagium being
acknowledged, the question next arises as to its nature. We are
left to choose between two theories, ist. That which recognizes
in fungi and other low organisms the specific poison ; and 2nd.
That which seeks the pathogenic element in the infinitesimal granules
of organic matter fouhd floating in'the infected atmosphere, as well
as in the solids and fluids of the diseased body. The first named
theory is liable to the objection that no specific vegetable germs have
been found in the air, blood or nasal discharges during the preva-
lence of the influenza. Before the advent of the recent epizootic at
Ithaca, the writer subjected the floating elements of the air obtained
in stables and fields, to microscopic observation, and repeated the
observations while the affection was advancing to a climax. Spores
were found abundantly, but of the same kind before and after the
arrival of the disease. The mucus from a sick horse's nose con-
tained similar spores, and the dust obtained by shaking a little hay
contained them in great abundance. This ^conclusion is fully cor-
roborated by the observations of Dr. Woodward, on the air of stables
and the morbid discharges from the nose.

The other doctrine is the most reasonable one, and is one which
appears to explain all the pathological phenomena. It recognises
in the granules, which exist abundantly in the diseased organs, the

1 8 73-] ^^^ Causes of Inflicenza in Morses. it]

morbid agent capable of transmitting the disease. Those granules
which are merely microscopical particles of variable size and form,
often possess many of the characters of the ultimate nutrient centres,
(nuclei, germinal matter, of Beale,) even to the power of absorbing
coloring matter, which seems. to imply their power of appropriating
other material and of increasing, or multiplying their substance.
These nuclei or granules are reproduced with extraordinary rapidity
in the substance of the, diseased mucous membrane, and at , the ex-
pense of the vital elements, liquid and solid, of the body, so that
Beale and others have concluded that they either constitute the vir-
ulent principle or contain it. Yet nuclei or granules increase to an
extraordinary extent in parenchymatous organs, the seat of simple
inflammation. These of course cannot be considered as pathogenic.
And yet there is no. greater reason for assuming a similarity of deveb
opmental power in these nuclear products of a simple inflammation,
and those of an Influenza or Rinderpest^ than for assuming equal
powers of growth in the nuclei of different healthy organs and struc-
tures. If nuclei, apparently indistinguishable from each other in all
respects except their position, never fail to build up the substance of
that particular tissue to which they belong ; the nuclei of bone in-
variably producing bone ; those of gristle, gristle ; those of fibrous
tissue, fibrous tissue ; those of muscle, muscle ; and those of nervous
matter, nervous matter ; and if we can engraft the nuclei of bone
and other tissues so as to build up such tissues in unusual situations,
is there any objection to the conclusion that one class of such mor-
bid granules are harmless, while another class invariably develop
Influenza and that alone, a third class small pox and that alone, a
fourth class glanders and nothing else, a fifth class Rinderpest only,
a sixth the contagious lung-plague of cattle, and so on. The physio-
logist has learned to realize that living particles which are almost
infinitesimal in their minuteness have character as. constant and a
power of development as certain and definite as the genera of ani-
mals from which they were derived.

There is no valid objection, therefore, to the theory which recog-
nises in these products of a specific disease, the virulent elements by
which the affections are perpetuated and transmitted. And this is
the theory which at the present time appears to be most in accord-
ance with the history of Influenza.

Vol. II. — No. 1.2

1 8 The Causes of Influe7iza in Horses. [Jan.

In taking this position it is not sought to deny the conveyance of
the diseased product by atmospheric means. The numerous instan-
ces of horses having been attacked in the open fields apart from all
roads and from other horses, and the rapid diffusion of the disease
over a city or district, seem to imply the intervention of the atmos-
phere. But the position assumed by no means precludes such an
agency. It only assumes that there is a specific virulent element,
which finds in the body of a susceptible animal the material essential
to its growth, its unlimited reproduction and its extensive diffusion.
The air may still be invoked as an important medium through which
the dried and drying virus or bioplasm (Beale) may be carried to
long distances, to infect new animals and localities. It is further in
keeping with the theory that the skin and clothing of human beings
and solid objects of nearly every kind may become the medium
through which the disease is conveyed from place to place, and
would thus explain many outbreaks which would otherwise appear
spontaneous.

This theory further explains the outbreak on islands near the shore
simultaneously with its appearance on the mainland, and all well
authenticated cases of the infection of ships' crews at sea. Thus the
Equine Influenza is alleged to have appeared on Block Island, above
ten miles at sea, on the same day that it broke out on the Connecticut
shore. Were it proved (which, however, has not been attempted)
that there had been no recent communication between the island
and the shore, there would be nothing in the fact to overthrow the
position taken in this paper. A similar case is that of the Stag
frigate recorded by Watson. In 1833 this ship was coming "up the
English channel, and when off Buckley Head, in Devonshire, the
wind blew strongly from the shore at 2 o'clock, at which time all the
men were healthy (and it is presumed, but not affirmed, that there
had been no communication with the shore); at half past two, forty
men were suddenly seized with Influenza, at six o'clock sixty men
were ill, and by next day one hundred and sixty.

The instances of Admiral Kempenfeldt's and of Lord Howe's
Squadrons, attacked while cruising at different parts of the same
channel, in 1782, after they had been from twenty-two to twenty-
seven days at sea, are no more difficult to explain. Indeed, the fact
that a squadron had been technically a number of days at sea, is no
proof that officers and men had not availed of their near proximity

to pay frequent visits to the shore.

Prof. James Law.
Cornell University^ Hhaca^ N. Y.

1 S 7 3 • ] Archebiosis and Heterogenesis. 1 9

ARCHEBIOSIS AND HETEROGENESIS.

In investigating a subject so difficult as " The Beginnings of Life,"
or " Archebiosis," as Dr. Bastian calls it, we cannot be too careful
in experimenting, or too cautious in interpreting results. Dr. Bas-
tian very properly insists upon this, when criticising the views of the
'' Panspermatists, " and himself devises certain crucial experiments,
so they appear to him, and at present we feel disposed to admit the
conclusions to which he has arrived from these experiments, viz.,
that life can originate de novo, so fa.r as bacteria, torulce, and certain
minute algoid filaments are concerned ; but of all which we have
only the slightest knowledge ; very little, in fact, except that certain
minute things, apparently living, and called by these names, do
really exist. Granting, then, for the present, that Dr. Bastian has
made out a clean case, as to the de novo origin of these organisms,
we must plant ourselves just here, and affirm that he has not proved
anything beyond this ; all the wonderful changes and transforma-
tions, or at least the majority of them, as detailed in Part in of the
second volume of his " Beginnings of Life," under the name of
'' Heterogenesis," are simple conjectures, as he will find when he
subjects these claims to such critical tests as he has those of Pasteur,
arid others of the " air germ " school. This is the more unfortunate,
because the perusal of the first volume of Dr. Bastian 's so far really
excellent book, led us, as doubtless it has others, to believe that the
same care and conscientious search for truth would characterize the
whole. But now, when we find so much of manifest error, in
ground which, for fifteen years past, we have carefully and patiently
worked over, how can we help feeling somewhat shaken as to the
truth of the results which Dr. Bastian has arrived at in those parts
of his book in which he treats of subjects with which we are less
familiar? If Dr. Bastian, or any one competent, '' will but devote
two or three months to the careful study of the changes which ' ' (he
supposes) ' ' are apt to take place in the substance of many of the
fresh water Algse, or in those beautiful green animalized organisms
known by the name of Euglence, some of whose marvellous trans-
formations " (as the Dr. asserts) '^were faithfully described more
than twenty years ago in the highly valuable, but much neglected
memoir of Dr. Gros," then he, or any other competent observer,

20 Archebiosis and Heterogenesis. [Jan.

will find that there is no proof for the majority (if not for all) of these
, '^ marvellous transformations "'; and Dr. Bastian will yet learn that
he would have produced a better book if he, (as well as others) had
neglected the memoir of Dr. Gros*

That it may. appear plainly what is Dr. Bastian' s real belief, for
he himself confesses that he has not witnessed actually these wonder-
ful transformations, though he does not doubt them, ''rashly trust-
ing " to his " own theoretical convictions," a freedom for which he
rightly blames others,* we quote verbatim from the Index to the
two volumes : " Desmids, convertibility of into Diatoms or Algse,
ii, 455. Diatoms, origin of, ii, 412, 416, .418, 441, 444, 453; ter-
minal forms of a divergent series, ii, 455 ; Euglenae, transformation
of into Diatoms, ii, 441, 444, into Desmids and Pediastreae, ii, 446."
We propose to examine somewhat critically the places indicated
above, as well as others, principally from Dr. Bastian's second vol-
ume, in which at p. 455 we find the following passage : "It seems,
however, to be quite certain that a community of nature exists be-
tween Algse, Pediastreae, Desmids, and Diatoms, since similar vege-
tal cells may, on the same or on different occasions, grow into forms
belonging to either one of these groups ; and, m.oreover, the forms
are strictly convertible with one another until they chance to assu?ne
the forms of Diatom^. * * Diatoms constitute the terminal forms
of a divergent serit ;. The middle terms of the series, however,
viz., Pediastreae and Desmids, are convertible in both directions,
either back into Convervae or onwards into the less vitalized Diatoms. ''\
The italics are our own. Now here is a distinct as§ertion ; but, as
we shall see, it is simply an assertion, supported by no real proof
Dr. Bastian knows very little about Diatoms or .Desmids, and deals
with them altogether at second hand, and from very doubtful
authorities. As to the less vitalized character of Diatoms, and their
cha?icing from Pediastreae and Desmids, no one at all familiar with
them in the living condition can for a moment believe it. They
have a far more complicated internal structure than the more highly
vitalized (!) Pediastreae and Desmids, from which, according to Dr.
Bastian, they may chance to assume their forms. We have observed
the growth and reproduction of Diatomaceae to little purpose,
according to Dr. Grps and Dr. Bastian.

We have witnessed more of the phenomena of conjugation and
growth, probably, than any other person, and can affirm, without

*Preface, Vol. i, p. xii.

1 8 7 3 • ] ^ rchebiosis and Heterogenesis. 2 1

fear of its being dispiroved, that such chance, or indeed any kind
of transformation of Pediastreae or Desmids into Diatoms, never
has happened, nay more, never will happen. Dr. Bastian has never
seen it, and. as for Dr. Gros, .well, twenty years ago men might be
pardoned for believing many things which we smile at now. When
Dr. Bastian, or any competent observer, watches the transformation
through every stage, and no link. of the chain is missing or defective,
then, and, not till then, can we believe it. , , It will not do to take for
the same things in different phases of development, certain micro-
.scopic appearances of agreeing size, form, or place. What we insist
upon is the. positive proof; and that Dr. Bastian has been misled by
appearances (and by Dr. Gros), or to use his own words nearly, that
his "■ presumptions have stolen a march upon established facts," will,
we think, be tolerably evident as we explain the real significance of
some of the appearances, actually observed by Drs. Bastian and
Gros.

■ Passing by Dr. Gros' own^words, quoted by Dr. Bastian, we come,
on pp. 414, 415, 416 and:, 417, to the actual observations of the
latter. We will not question now, that part which relates to the pro-
duction of ^'unmistakable filamentous Desmids,'.' (though there is
no proof of their Desmid character, other, than a remote resem-
blance), we look more, particularly; to. the account , of evolution of
Diatoms, fully convinced, however, that the errors in misinterpret-
ing what he saw, are quite as great with the Desmids as with the
Diatoms. The wood-cut, p. -41 7, fig. 82, entitled, ''Modes of Origin
of Desmids and Diatoms, " has, byway of explanation, "^ <?', * *
* * " Pediculated Diatoms were also seen budding from the same
Cladophora filament." r^ Poor as the cut is, we easily recognize these
" pediculated diatoms "as Achnanthes exilis in its normal condition ;
and, if Dr. Bastian ^vishes, we can show him thousands of this well
known form, pretty much as he figures it, growing on a pedicel, the
result of its own secretions, not only on , Cladopi. ^ra, but quite as
frequently on Mougeotia, Vaucheria, or some othcx fresh water Alga.
The marine forms, Achnanthes longipes, A. previpes, A. subsessilis,
&c., all attach themselves by ^ similar stipes, to marine confervse.
E. g., we have A. brevipes 1 / us now, abundantly, on Ecto carpus
siliculosus .

What is represented by Dr. Bastian, then, is no process of budding
at all. . The littlej diatom in, question, A. exilis, we have found con-

2 2 Archebiosis and Heterogenesis. [Jan.

jugating, and it differs in no wise, in its life history, from the larger
well known forms. Any one who will observe the large and living
Diatoms with care, will notice the nucleus and ramifying nerve-like
threads, and the beautiful distribution of endochrome with reference
to these. These have been partly figured by Prof. Max Schultze, in
Miiller's Archiv. 1858, Taf. xiii, and copied (not equal to the orig-
inal) in the Microscopical Journal, vol. vii, pi. 2.

In addition to the nucleus and ramifying threads, many Diatoms
exhibit a germinal dot, with reference to which the endochrome is
arranged, rather than to the nucleus ; particularly is this the case
with Surirella. We may add, that the colored figures in Smith's
British Diatomacece, almost without exception, are caricatures;
indeed, the late Tuffen West admitted to us, that some of those
representing conjugations were manufactured to order. We assert
then, that the little *' budding" Diatom figured by Dr. Bastian, fig.
82, is growing quietly, after the fashion of Diatoms, a direct result
of self division of some former A. exiiis, and so back, to a sporan-
gial frustute ; and that, if it had been allowed to live, it would have
continued the process of self division, until finally, at the proper
season, and under proper influences, a new sporangium would have
been formed, the commencement of a new series, in all respects,
however, like the normal form ; and that no transformation of
Euglena, Fediastruni, Desmids, Vaucheria, or Cladophora, is ever
in any way connected with it. We have by us now a gathering of
this Diatom with conjugating forms, and the process is entirely sim-
ilar to what we have witnessed in the marine forms belonging to the
same genus, as well as to Diatoms in general.

With regard to the marine forms, which are far more numerous
than those of fresh water, we might ask, where did they originate, or
rather how become terminals of a series, with Pediastreae and Des-
mids for middle terms? since, if we mistake not, these middle terms
are seldom, if ever, found except in fresh water ! Perhaps this
might not appear to be much of an objection, inasmuch as some
species affect equally well fresh and salt water, but if we get the gist
of Dr. Bastian's argument, he would not only have us believe that
bacteria, &c., originate de novo, which at present we grant, but that
somehow (the way not yet proved), say fungus spores, Euglence,
Astasice, Actinophrys, or something else, come from these ^' first
beginnings ' ' ; and next, that somehow, not yet shown how, Pedias-

1 8 73-] Archebiosis and Heterogenesis. 23

treae and Desmids, and finally^ Diatoms, come from the previous
existing organisms, all a series of transformations, not effected once
for all, but continually going on ; so that all these things are being
manufactured, as it were, every day.

Doubtless bacteria were developed at a very early period of the
earth's history (Dr. Bastian informs us, and we have no desire to
question it, that they soon make their appearance after a prolonged
boiling of the infusion), but somehow these primaeval ''beginnings"
appear to have been very chary of evolution, as neither Diatoms or
Desmids appear earlier tha". the Creteceous, or what is far more
probable, the Tertiary. Somehow, through all this long period,
they behave just as we have always found them to do now, viz., not
long after their appearance, die, or at least become quiescent ; and
if other organisms appear where they were, or among them, it is by
no means proved that these are transformed bacteria, or torulce, or
anything similar. And while upon this subject of the first of appear-
ance of bacteria, we may be permitted to ask, why, in watching
their development in their films of fluid, beneath a covering glass,
after it had been cemented to the glass slip, it is necessary, as
explained in the foot note, vol. i, p. 294, ''to leave a minute aper-
ture at the circumference of the glass uncovered by the cement ' ' ?
Is this for admission of air germs ?

We resume our consideration of figure 82 and the explanation.
Certain algoid vesicles, budded (probably like A. exilis) off from
Vaucheria, "gradually become converted into different kinds of
Diatoms! (//', m m'^y With reference to these algoid vesicles.
Dr. Bastian states, vol. ii, p. 416, that "These bodies increased in
size, and it soon became obvious that they were young Naviculce (//').
The exact pattern assumed in the early stages is subject to much
variation, and several different Diatoms seemed (italics ours) to be
produced corresponding to these different initial forms {in m.'y
This would be" wonderful, if true ; but, not only is there no evidence
that actual Diatoms did come from the vesicles of Vaucheria, but
any one familiar with the observations of living Diatoms can tell
where they did come from. We venture to assert, that not a Diatom
observed by Dr. Bastian came from the vesicles in question, but that
they, or their immediate progenitors, were in the gathering which
contained the Vaucheria, and made their appearance out of the
debris and general mass after a little period of quiet, as we know

24 Arch^biosis and Heterogenesis. [Jan.

they will do under influence of light (of which something more
presently). But besides, Diatoms do not grow by increase of size,
there is no such thing as broods of young frustules, as the late W.
Smith and others have supposed ; they generally diminish by continual
self-division, or at least continue of the same size, as we have abun-
dantly proved. The late Dr. Greville, a recognized authority as to
Diatoms, fully agreed with -us as to this. We are not disputing
that Dr. Bastian saw these minute and various little NaviculcE, but
we do say, he is building his theory upon what seemed to be, not on
what really were, the facts. The influence of light and quiet in
bringing these little forms out of their recesses in the nmd, was well
illustrated in an experiment we once performed. An immense num-
ber of minute NaviculcE were very carefully scraped off the blue mud
of a river bottom, in shallow water, and transferred to a phial ; of
course, though as great care as possible was used to get them pure,
the mass when shaken up appeared quite slaty. Observing that a
leaf, when lifted from the hard bottom, left its form outlined dis-
tinctly, the Diatoms coming up to the light all around it, we tried
the following experiment : The mud (and Diatoms, together a
slate color) was spread in some thickness upon a strip of glass, and
a number of pieces of moistened blotting paper laid upon it. The
slide was then turned over, and a pattern (lace) placed on the glass,
and the whole exposed, as in printing a photograph. In something
like half an hour the pattern was removed, and the outlines were
distinctly shown by the little Diatoms coming up towards the light.
It is a quite common dodge to separate, and get Diatoms pure, by
exposing the material containing them to a strong light, in a saucer
under a glass cover ; and, if Dr. Bastian wishes, we can show him
many excellent specimens thus prepared. We proceed, however, in
connection with the appearance of these ^' young (?) NaviculcBy^'' to
refer to figure 84, q, vol. ii, where, in explanation, it is stated, '' q
Resolution of Euglena into Diatoms " ! ! In the text, however, the
author says, ^'I have only distinctly observed appearances indicative
of this transformation on one occasion, 5ut in this case, the whole of
the contents of a Euglena seemed to have been resolved into seven
distinctly striated Naviculce. * * Although the earlier stages of
the transformation were not seen (italics ours) , I have no doubt that
the Diatoms originated in this way." Vol. ii, p. 441. The Dr. is
more easily satisfied that a Euglena can transform into a Diatom,

1 873-] Archebiosis and Heterogenesis. 25

which possesses a wonderful, siliceous, and beautifully sculptured
epiderm, than he is that bacteria come from air-germs. It will not
do to trust '■'■ the misguiding influence of a treacherous analogy " in
Dr. Bastian's case, more than in that of the Panspermatists, and to
decide that, because these seven JVaviculce \\Qrt in what appeared to
be the thickened envelope of a Etcglena, about the size of an encysted
form, figured near by [b), they came from the transformation of
such a cyst.

As to Dr. Gros' observations about Gomphonemce, they are sim-
ply absurd ; and the packing of Naviculce (and other forms) into the
empty ( Vaucheria or other alga) filaments is quite a common occur-
rence. The true explanation of the encysted NavieulcB we can
easily give, and we have by us at present a slide with over two hun-
dred of these cysts on it. In this case, the Diatom is Colletonema
vulgar e, but we have seen it also with Synedrce, Cocconemce, Gom-
phonemce, and, though more rarely, with mixed forms. To the
same category belong figures iii, iv, v, of Smith's British Diatoma-
cecE, vol. ii, pi. C, and very erroneously referred to by him as result-
ing from the sporangium, figure ii. So also, pi. B^ fig. 89, same vol.,
refered to erroneously as conjugation of Synedra. All these, as
well as Dr. Bastian's solitary example;, are readily explained, and we
have repeatedly witnessed the whole phenomenon. It is the work
of an Amoeba (or an amoeboid mass), no way connected with any
development, evolution, or transformation. We have an elaborate
series of representations, carefully drawn, showing the progress and
mode of encysting. Of course, from its very nature, as will be
shown, the phenomenon must include that the encysted forms shall
be mostly, if not altogether, of one species, and so we find it.
Clusters of sessile Synedrce, or of stipitate Gomphonemce, or Colleto-
nemce, or small NaviciUce, the tubes of the former having become,
by quiet, an amorphous jelly ; and in such a formless, gelatinous
appearing mass, the small Navicidce (^Frustulia of older authors)
are often imbedded. The Amoeba, moving freely through the field,
over and along the stems of Confervas, often throwing out long,
thread-like arms ? of sarcode, like that of Rhizopods, we have
repeatedly observed, the moment it reaches a mass of Diatoms (fre-
quently, even for one or two), whose bright, clear endochrome
showed active life, to spread itself out over them, completely encyst-
ing them. The Diatoms soon after change appearance \ the clear

2 6 Archebiosis and Heterogenesis. [Jan.

yellow and olive tints disappear, and only dark red, small masses
remain, somewhat like Smith's figure^ British DiatomacecE, vol.
ii, pi. B, fig. 89. Meanwhile, what is not the least remarkable, a
transparent wall, of some tenacity, apparently, forms around the
Amoeboid mass. After a long period the Amoeba escapes by rup-
turing this outer shell, often at only one point, out of which the
mass issues, as a long string, soon gathering itself up, however, to
travel on in search of new food. The encysted mass, after the
escape of the Amoeba, remains, showing the envelope, and the frus-
tules are stuck, or half fused, as it were, together. After treatment
with acids, &c., in the usual way, for preparing the frustules, this
outer envelope disappears, but the frustules still cohere in bunches,
as though the silex had been partly dissolved, and they had thus
been cemented. We have slides as well as material showing this,
in abundance. Sometimes, after thus encysting, the Amoeba mass
will remain for days, showing no disposition to move away. We
think that it will be quite evident that Dr. Bastian's seven encysted
Naviculce. belonged to the group we have just explained, and are no
development of a Euglena.

We pass on to figure 85, p. 447, the title of which is, '' Origin of
Diatoms, Desmids, Pediastrse and Algjie from Euglenae and other
vegetal Matrices," and at p. 444, under the caption, '■'■ Traiis-
formationinto Diatom^,'''' it is stated, that ^' some of them (Euglense)
are apt, at certain times, to be converted into large Diatoms." The
authority for this astounding statement is Dr. Gros, for Dr. Bastian
is careful to say, p. 445, '' Whilst I have not myself been fortunate
enough to trace the actual origin of any of these large Diatoms, I
have, on several occasions, been struck with the comparatively sud-
den appearance of very large specimens (about -3^' in length) of
NaviciUa librilis still presenting an embryonic appearance, in vessels
containing Euglense and Vaucheria." Dr. Bastian apologizes for
Dr. Gros' nomenclature (foot note p. 412), but surely he himself
was not writing at a period when " precision was not given to
nomenclature," '^ and in a region in which books of reference were
not accessible." True, "^ what's in a name ?" yet we fancy that the
old names, ' Hiartshorn " and ''glue-like," would not suit Dr. Bastian,
or modern science, as well as '' Ammonic carbonate," or '' colloid,"
aud so it would have been quite as well to give the true name to
what is no Navicula at all. But this after all is of little moment,

1 8 73-] Archebiosis and Heterogenesis. 27

since we know that the Diatom meant is Cymatopleura solea, one of
the most persistent forms, if indeed there is any difference at all in
this respect among the Diatomaceae. We think that Dr. Bastian can-
not consider what he has seen, as to this Diatom^ is really of any
value in proving transformation of Eugle?i(E into Diatoms. As to
the transformations of Euglence into Desmids, he has been equally
unfortunate ; but then, '' Dr. Gros has observed it on several occa-
sions," indeed ! !

Figure 85 e (from Gros, of course) shows a Euglena, no doubt ; it
is about the length of (y) which is, no doubt, a Closterium. More-
over, the Euglena is represented with a central transverse blank space,
very like that of the Closterium ; but unfortunately, both ends of
a C/osterhnn, as everybody knows, are alike, so are not both ends
of a Euglena. Now, the Euglena does undergo many changes, no
doubt, but we believe generally, if not invariably, passes from the
long spindle shape into the ball. The very slight resemblance as to
length and central blank space, is really all that Dr. Gros has to
build his transformation upon ! Dr. Bastian says, p. 448, '■^ Although
I have never seen the final stages of this transformation, I had, even
before becoming aware of Dr. Gros' views, noticed the curious fact
that very small specimens of Closteria were never to be seen. * * *
So that, just as in the case of the large Diatoms already alluded to,
their origin by metamorphosis is much more reconcilable with these
facts (transformations of Euglena) than with the notion that they are
derived from small germs, more especially since no one has ever seen
or knows anything about the mode of production of such germs in
Closterium." The authority for this latter statement is given —
'' Pritchard's Infusoria, 4th Ed., p. 12." We do not question that
such a statement is in Pritchard, for there are manv erroneous state-
ments in it ; it is not on page 12, however; but no doubt this is a
misprint, peculiar to American editions. As to the small Closteria,
considering that Dr. Bastian is not "where books are not easily
accessible," we refer him to '^2\.V'=, British Desmidicce,'" T. xxvii ;
Rev. W. Smith, A. N. H., 1850, p. 4 ; and Pitchard's Infusoria 4th
Ed., p. 15. We do not of course vouch for Mr. Jenner's observa-
tion, but we think it entitled to as much respect as M. Gros', to say
the least ; and, if such be the office of the sporangium of Closte-
rium (result of conjugation), to serve as a resting spore over the
winter, and the final production of broods of young Closteria, then

28 Archebiosis and Heterogenesis. [Jan.

we have, in the very marked difference between the results of con-
jugation of Desmids and Diatoms, one of the strongest proofs of
their complete dissimilarity ; for the sporangium of the latter which
is generally of much larger size than the parent frustules, serves to
restore again the cycle by commencing self-division in a large form,
when, by the act long repeated, the frustules had become very small.
No doubt many do go on until myriads of small forms appear, thus
self-dividing until finally they die out, without any renewal by con-
jugation.

To finish our remarks on figure 85, (reproduced from M. Gros),
(^) and {c) are referred to as two forms of Diatoms which fnay arise
from transformed Euglen(B ; these are probably JVaviculce, one in
front, the other in side view ; but what Naviculce this representation
is too imperfect for decision, {d) and {d'^ are called Chlajnidomonas,
(sic) giving origin to Diatoms. Dr. Gros' account of this transfor-
mation is too absurd to be worth repeating here, (d) Is very
much like a small Amphora possibly a Cocconema, self-dividing,
and (^') may be dorsal aspect of a Coccone7na ; any resemblance to
Chlamidomonas , or any reason to infer development from this is
most fanciful. In view, then, of this entirely insufficient evidence,
how can Dr. Bastian say, p. 420, that ''the actual transformation
has been witnessed by independent observers, whereby algoid or
Euglenean corpuscles are bodily converted into Diatoms or Des-
mids ' ' ? We have dwelt thus long and particularly on one special
portion of the book, because upon this we felt best qualified to act
the part of an honest critic. We have no " constitutional objec-
tions " or '^ religious scruples " about accepting anything which can
be proved, either as to Archebiosis or Heterogenesis, but we want
no fancy pictures. As to other parts of the work, upon which we
are not so capable of judging, e. g., such as refer to the development
of Nematoids from spores of Vaucheria, we have no doubt there are
many bubbles that might be pricked. This we leave for others, and
begging a correction in the Chart, facing p. 552, where it is stated
that Diatoms produce two embryos, much larger than their parents,
which is only partially true, for often there is but one sporangium,
and often but one parent frustule, we close, sorry that the author
has been led so much astray, and very nearly spoiled a good book.

Prof. H. L. S?nith.

Geneva. New York.

1 8 73-] The Striccture of Eupodiscus Argus. 29

THE STRUCTURE OF EUPODISCUS ARGUS.

"On the structure of the valves oi Eupodiscus argus and Isthmia
enervis, showing that their silicious deposit conforms to the gen-
eral plan of deposition in simpler forms," is the title of a paper in
the Monthly Microscopical Joitrnal, for December, by Henry J. Slack,
F. G. S. , read before the Royal Microscopical Society, November 6th.
In this paper Mr. Slack gives his ideas of the structure of these two
diatoms which he formed from their examination with Mr. Wen-
ham's "Improved Reflex Illuminator." Anything coming from so
experienced a microscopist as Mr. Slack is entitled to great consid-
eration, and one would hardly venture to differ from him, without
most convincing observations, often repeated. In this case, I be-
lieve, that though his figure and description of Eupodiscus argus
correspond with what he saw, and with what can be seen by other
apparatus, yet that he has failed to see or understand the true struc-
ture of that species. I shall say nothing of the other diatom at
present. I have not used or seen the Reflex Illuminator. From Mr.
Wenham's description and the theory of it, it must be a most valuable
acquisition to the microscopist, but from my observations on the
Eupodiscus argus, I cannot think that it can add any thing to our
knowledge of its structure ; or in other words, that it is unsuitable
for that species. Mr. Slack's description of the diatom is: "It
is entirely composed of spherules of different sizes and varied aggre-
gation. Radiating from a central portion, occupied by minute and
closely packed spherules, bands will be seen proceeding to the cir-
cumference, each one composed of minute spherules that appear in
close contact under a ^, with eye-pieces up to D of Ross' system."
Between these bands are larger spherules, frequently but by no
means universally arranged in fours. **>!<* TYi^
figure Plate xl. corresponds very well with the description. I have
obtained very nearly the same appearance by transmitted light, but
such appearance does not disclose the complicated structure. I have
long ago made out that to be, that the valve was composed of two
layers (of silex), the outer one comparatively opaque or translucent
only, with thin apertures in it through which could be seen the
"veil" referred to by Mr. Stewart in the discussion of Mr. Slack's
paper before the Society. (See M. M. J. December, 1872,/. 280.)

3°

The Structure of Eupo discus Ai^gus.

[Jan.

Very recently I have seen two examples of the shell from which the
outer layer is entirely or partially removed. One of them was
preserved, and since reading Mr. Slack's paper, has been carefully
examined, with the following result : It is made up of radiating
"spherules" or granules, but under certain adjustments of focus
^ig I my.2 the radiating ar-

"^ rangement disap-

pears. Figure i,
by my friend Mr.
E. Fontarive,
shows a portion

of this inner plate or veil as seen by Tolles' immersion ^^ and B
eye-piece, (= about 1400 dia.) where the focus was adjusted to
show the " spherules " or bright dots on dark ground; the bright
dots not circular but elliptical. Depressing the lens and bringing the
surface of the valve into focus, {instead of the cone of light that came
through the spherules,^ the appearance changed to Figure 2, when all
the radiation disappeared and a cellular appearance was presented,
not circular, but of irregular polygonal forms. A little variation of

light or focus pre-
sents Figure 3.
^ _ Different observ-

^^^•'^ % ^ A^J ?- ers are likely to

put various inter-
^ ^ pretations on these

varying appearan-
ces. What is the true one may be an open question. So far, the
foregoing relates to the '' veil " or inner plate. Mr. Slack suggested
the examination with Prof. H. L. Smith's Opaque Illuminator. Act-
ing on that suggestion, I applied it to specimens mounted in balsam
with Tolles' s jL- in. The effect and result was a new revelation.
The diatom now looked like a piece of white lace, with black holes,
showing that its '' structure " .is unlike that of any other of the order
known, unless it be its near relative, E. Rogersii Bail. Under this
mode of examination the diatom is perfectly opaque ; under that
power (yL and B) only a very small part of a disc can be illuminated
at once ; but what is seen, is seen very clearly, and not a sign of a
" spherule " can be seen on it, but the surface seems to be composed
of an aggregation of shapeless particles. The black holes are usu-

1 873-] '^he Structure of Eupo discus Argus. 31

ally irregularly disposed, but two or three valves have been seen in
which there was an approximate radical arrangement. Now while
thus illuminated as opaque, the light from the mirror may be turned
on, giving the illumination of transmitted light ; a wonderful change
takes place. I^ach black hole of the opaque body has become trans-
parent; in each may be seen bright dots, ''frequently, but by no
means universally arranged in fours," and in the intermediate
spaces faintly seen, and consequently looking smaller, other dots or
spherules, as in Mr. Slack's figure. Now we have the full explana-
tion of the structure, and the origin, not only of Mr. Slack's figure,
but of all the other imperfect figures and descriptions heretofore
published.

Figures 4 and 5 are representations of small por-

Fig, 5 tions of the disc as seen with the opaque illumina-

^ 9 at tor, and as represented by two observers. Figure
# d# 5' ^^^^^ by the camera, is a close approximation

^09 ^ to the apparent size.

These results were mostly obtained from nine discs mounted by
my friend, Samuel Wells, Esq. But I have studied, also, nineteen
specimens mounted by Moller. Mr. Wells called my attention to the
circumstance that all the Eupodiscus argus on the Moller slide were
mounted inside up. I examined another slide of Moller's and
found the same thing on that, a third slide (Probe JPlatte) was exam-
ined by a friend, when the discs proved to be in the same condition.
Here were at least forty-one specimens mounted in this manner. It
is evident that this must have been intentional, that it is Moller's
constant practice for which he may have some special reason, and
undoubtedly those studied by Mr. Slack were mounted the same.
Now when one of these is examined with the opaque illuminator,
the effect is exactly what might be anticipated from the considera-
tion of the structure as above described. The appearance generally
is a little different from that, when the outer surface is in view, less
sharply marked, but here and there may be seen the minute spher-
ules of the inner plate, reflecting the light as glistening balls of
glass.

What I have described as the outer opaque surface does not look
like a plate ; but a crust seems to be the most appropriate term to
describe it.

Mr. Slack says that his observations '' tend towards the conclusion

32 The Structure of Eupodiscus Argus. [Jan.

that the silicious deposition in diatom probably follows one uni-
form plan, and that the silex is deposited in spherules, varying in
dimensions and degrees of proximity." In the discussion of his
paper before the Society he said: '' the vegetable matter of the dia-
tom acts chemically upon the silex in the water, which is the con-
dition of colloid silica, and the deposition always take place in
the spheroidal form." I have seen abundant evidence that the de-
position does not always take place in that form. What is the
intermediate matter between the ''spherules of different degrees of
proximity?" The very species under consideration furnishes evi-
dence of another mode of deposition. The ''feet" or processes of
this diatom are sometimes quite conspicuous, and are as structure-
less, smooth and transparent as glass ; not a trace of spherules can
be detected in them with the highest powers applied. The chemical
action of the vegetable matter must be the same in one part of the
valve as another.

Mr. Slack also says: "Until Mr. Wenham's researches settled the
old disputes as to whether the markings on ordinary diatoms were
elevations or depressions," certain phraseology (quoted by Mr.
Slack) "might be admissible, but careful examination of the
objects with the best optical means now at the command of the mi-
croscopist may be expected to banish such terms as " areolar," " cell-
ules," &c., from the 'descriptions of diatoms." In the discussion
following the reading of the paper, "Mr. Brooke would like to
know how it happened, if the structure of these objects were really
hollows and not bosses, that the line of fracture runs between the
dots and not through them. He had fractured a great many dia-
toms under the microscope, and had never seen a single instance
in which the line of fracture did not run equi-distant between two
consecutive dots."

Unfortunately for me I have never seen Mr. Wenham's "settle-
ment " of that " dispute, " and consequently I cannot be influenced
by it. Since reading the report of that discussion, I have examined
some hundreds of broken diatoms, in which the fracture runs exactly
as Mr. Brooke never saw it. In this state of the observations, as
Mr. Slack does not specify what was meant by " ordinary diatoms,"
I shall continue to use the terms "cellules" and "areolae," until
convincing evidence is offered that they are improper, for either ordi-
nary or extraordinary diatoms.

Charles Stodder.

Boston.

1 8 73-] ^^<^ Flora of Chicago and Vicinity. 33

THE FLORA OF CHICAGO AND VICINITY.

JUNCACE.^.

LuzuLA, DC. L. cajnpestiHs, DC. ; Glencoe and Hinsdale ;
common.

JuNCUS, L. J. Balticus, Dethard ; lake shore ; common. J.
bufonius, L. ; rare i^H. A. JV.). J. nodosus, L. ; Hyde Park and
S. ; common.

PONTEDERIACE^.

PoNTEDERiA, L. F. co7^data, L. ; Evanston and Miller's ; com-
mon.

COMMELYNACE^.

CoMMELYNA, Dill. C. Virgiiiica, L. ; sandy hills S. of Mil-
ler's ; abundant.

Tradescantia, L. T. Virginica, L. ; N., W., and S. ; very
abundant.

XYRIDACE^.

Xyris, L. X. flexiwsa, Muhl.,-Chapm. ; S. of Calumet; rare.

CYPERACE^.

Cyperus, L. C diandrus, Torr. ; abundant, especially S. C.
erythrorhizos, Muhl. ; along I. C. R. R., between Oakland and Hyde
Park ; common. C inflextts, Muhl. ; low, sandy soil N. and S. ;
common. C Michauxianus , Schultes. ; with C. erythrorhizos ; not
common. C. Schweinitzii^ Torr. ; sandy soil near lake shore and at
Miller's; abundant. C filicuhnis, Vahl. ; abundant S. and S. E.

DuLiCHiUM, Richard. D. spathaceum, Fers.; borders of sandy
sloughs at Miller's; abundant.

Eleocharis, R. Br. E. obtusa, Schultes ; Hyde Park and S. ;
common. E. acicularis, R. Br. ; Hinsdale ; common.

SciRPUS, L. S. validus, Vahl. ; bogs ; common. S. debilis,
Pursh ; Hyde Park ; common.

Eriophorum, L. E. Virginicum, L. ; sloughs near Miller's;
abundant. E. polystachyon, L. ; low prairies W. and S. ; common.

Rhynchospora, Vahl. R.glomerata,Y2,\\\.; Miller's; not abun-
dant.

Vol. II — No. i. 3

34 The Flora of Chicago aud Vicinity. [Jan.

ScLERiA, L. S. trigeomerata, Michx. ; Calumet and Miller's ;
common.

*Carex, L. C. aperta, Boott., var. B.; woods at Riverside;
abundant. C. aurea, Nutt. ; very abundant about sloughs at Pine
Station, where also is found the var. androgyna, Olney. C. Bux-
baumii,'Wah\. ; bogs; S. of Hyde Park and at Miller's; common.
C. cephalophora, Muhl. ; Hinsdale ; common. C. comosa, Boott. ;
Pine Station and Gibson's; not common. C. Crawei, Dew.; S.
W. of Hyde Park ; rare. C. fiiiformis, L. ; sloughs at Pine station;
not common. C. Gi^ayii, Carey ; Thatcher and Riverside, near
banks of Desplaines R. ; abundant at latter locality. C. hystricina,
Willd. ; Pine station ; abundant. C. intitmescens, Rudge ; S. of
Michigan City ; common. C. lanuginosa, Michx. ; Glencoe ; com-
mon. C. laxiflora, Lam. ; Glencoe ; abundant : var, blanda, Boott ;
Downer's Grove; very abundant. C. Muhlenbergii, Schk. ; lake
shore, near Kenwood ; not common. C. panicea, L. ; var. Bebbii,
Olney, and var. Meadii, Olney ; Hinsdale ; common ; var tetanica,
Olney; S. W. of Hyde Park; not common. C. Pennsylvanica,
Lam. ; woods at Hinsdale and Calumet; common. C. pubes-
cens, Muhl. ; Hinsdale and Downer's Grove; common. C. rosea,
Schk. ; Hinsdale ; not common. C. scoparia, Schk. ; Hyde Park ;
not common. C. spai^ganioides, Muhl. ; lake shore, near Kenwood;
also at Hinsdale ; common. C ste?'ilis, Willd. ; Hyde Park ; not
common. C. stricta, Lam. var.; Hyde Park; common. C. ten-
taculata, Muhl. ; Michigan City; abundant. C. vulpinoidea, Michx. ;

Hinsdale ; common.

H. H, Babcock.
Chicago.

*From determinations kindly furnished by Col. S. T. Olney, of Providence, R. I.

I873-]

A New Mechanical Finger.

A NEW MECHANICAL EINGER.

Having occasion to mount a gathering of diatomacese, mixed
with a very large proportion of fine sand, I endeavored to pick out
some of the larger specimens with a fine needle, attached to the end
of an inch objective with beeswax, and succeeded in making some
satisfactory mounts in this primitive fashion, but the obvious incon-
veniences of such an arrangement led me to seek for a better appa-
ratus. I could only learn of two mechanical fingers previously
designed, one by Professor Smith, and the other by Zentmayer, and
after a trial of the former, kindly loaned by Mr. Stodder, and an
examination of the drawing and description of the latter, I had one
made difi"erent from either.

It is represented in the
accompanyirjg drawing, in
which A is the frame which
slips over the nose of the
tube of the microscope,
^C and is held in place by
the objective, which, when
screwed up, presses against
the thin flange a, projec-
ting inwards.

The socket B is soldered
to a flat spring, b, fastened
by two screws at the bot-
tom, and derives a reciprocating motion from^the milled head screw
C. The two arms, D D, swing round the end of the objective, sus-
taining the needle-holder on the further side. In using this finger,
a slide containing the mixed sand and diatomacese is placed upon
the stage and moved about by the ordinary movements of a mechan-
ical stage. When the desired object is brought into the centre of
the field, a turn of the screw C brings the end of the hair or needle
into the field and down upon the object, a backward turn of the
course adjustment clears the stage, and the glass cover on which the
specimen is to be mounted can then be substituted for the slide con-
taining the mixture. I have used this finger for some time, and its
performance is very satisfactory ; its advantages lie in its cheapness

7,6 The Yellows of the Peach, [Jan.

and simplicity, and in its keeping the hair or needle out of the way
and out of the field of view until wanted, when a turn of the screw
C brings it into position.

It was made from my drawing, with great nicety, by Messrs. Buff
& Berger, of this city, and one like it can be made by any philo-
sophical instrument maker; but any microscopist ordering one should
have it fitted to his instrument so that it will stay in place on the
nose without the assistance of an objective.

Samuel Wells.

Boston, Nov. 4, 1872.

THE YELLOWS OF THE PEACH.

On the first of July last I commenced a series of experiments by
the moist process with the bark of a peach tree affected with the
yellows. Into five glass receivers I placed, respectively, a few drops
of water, just sufficient to form a moist atmosphere in each. Into
the first I put a piece of bark afi'ected with the yellows ; into the
second a piece of bark from a healthy peach tree ; into the third a
handful of peach leaves from the unhealthy tree ; into the fourth a
similar quantity from the healthy tree ; and into the last portions of
bark from the healthy and unhealthy tre^s mentioned. All the spec-
imens were secured from outward atmosphere. The temperature
of the room in which the specimens were kept was frequently at. 90°
Fahrenheit. These conditions were highly favorable to the devel-
opment of such fungi-germs as mature under excess of heat and
moisture. Previous to arranging the specimens in the receivers they
were examined minutely with a low power, but no signs of fungi
were visible. On the fifteenth day the unhealthy specimens in Nos.
one and five exhibited on their external surface a spotted appear-
ance. When viewed with a power of 75 diameters they were seen
to consist mostly of the translucent, yellowish-brown, spiral, thread-
like fungus known as Nemaspora.

When a small portion of this fungus is placed under a one inch
object glass and secured in the usual manner by means of a disc,
with dilute gum-water, the spiral forms are seen to dissolve gradu-
ally, and ultimately to form a yellowish stain. On viewing it with

1 873-] Th^ Yellows of the Peach. 37

an eighth, it appears to be a mass of curved spores, resembling in
form caraway seeds, but invisible to the naked eye. Each spore has
a life-like motion confined to the centre of its own. When they are
treated to the action of nitric, muriatic, and nitro-muriatic acids, no
immediate change is observable ', and in those strong acids the life-
like motion continues, which, I think, proves that the motions are
not the result of any form of organic life, but simply what is known
as Brownian motion, which is frequently seen when minute particles
of inorganic matter are placed under a high power. When the
spores are combined either with concentrated sulphuric acid or caus-
tic potash they become completely destroyed, forming a homogene-
ous mass, and their organic structure is no longer visible.

About the twentieth day mycelium was found in abundance grow-
ing from the spiral threads, resembling double-celled Puccinia, the
spores varying in number from one to ten, and so small that a power
of one-eighth was required to give good definition. Since contact
with water dissolves Nemaspora without destroying the life of the
spores, it is evident that the action of rain or washes of pure water
will only tend to diffuse the spores over the body of the tree and
roots, while the application of solutions of sulphuric acid and alka-
lies will destroy them. Hence a remedy may be found for peach-
yellows in the application of alkalies and sulphates, and their
compounds, to the bark and roots of the trees. Statements have
frequently been made that the application of hot lye has been known
to cure peach-yellows v/hen applied to the bark and roots. My own
observations seem to confirm these common rumors.

In the fifth receiver, the healthy bark was not contaminated, seem-
ingly, with the Nemaspora, notwithstanding its immediate contact
during several weeks with the unhealthy bark. As might be expec-
ted, the common molds, Penicillium and Mucor, grew all over the
surface of the specimens, healthy and unhealthy. The leaves in
Nos. three and four were next examined. They had been subjected
to the same treatment as the bark. The healthy leaves, although
confined during four weeks in a moist atmosphere, at a temperature
ranging from 80 ° to 90 °, exhibited no signs of mildew. A split
branch to which the leaves were attached exhibited a small portion
of Mucor fruit, and mycelium on the sap-wood and pith ; but the
unhealthy leaves were completely covered in two weeks with mycel-
ium, and the fruit of the common blue, yellow, and black Penicil-

38 The Yellows of the Peach. [Jan.

Hum and Mucor. I have repeated these experiments several times,
always with the same results. It is evident that the healthy leaves
possess an antiseptic substance, which prevents the growth of com-
mon molds on them. A portion of healthy and unhealthy leaves
from the trees above mentioned was analyzed in the laboratory to
determine the respective amounts of moisture, organic matter and
ash in them, and gave the following results :

Healthy peach leaves :

Unhealthy leaves :

Moisture,

- 29.20

Moisture,

- 36.9

Organic Matter. - - -

63.22

Organic Matter, -

- 59-4

Ash,

- 7-58

Ash, - - - .

Z-1

100.00

lOO.O

The fact of the absence of ash or solid matter and of the increase
of moisture in the unhealthy leaves, would of itself account for their
greater tendency to mold. Since leaves do not absorb earthy mat-
ter from the atmosphere, it is evident that the cellular structure of
the tree has in some way failed to perform its functions ; for, had
the ascending sap carried with it potash, lime, or other earthy mat-
ter, the leaves would have been stored with them, since the leaves
have no power to evaporate them. Tlie deficiency of earthy mat-
ter in the leaves may also account for the absence of ash in the fruit.
If the theory is well 'founded that the leaves elaborate juice for the
growth of the fruit, the leaves being deprived of proper nourish-
ment, the fruit cannot mature. It has been long observed that trees
affected with the yellows, fruit earlier and mature permaturely, and
soon decay. The^ presence of a larger amount of sap in the un-
healthy than in the healthy, indicates an earlier and greater flow
than in that of the healthy tree. The presence of watery sap in the
leaves, twigs, and buds would induce naturally an early growth of
fruit and premature decay. From these and other observations the
disease seems traceable to the body of the tree or roots. Applica-
tions of washes in this case to the leaves would probably prove use-
less, but if applied to the bark and roots, might prove curative ; and
for that purpose, judging from microscopic observations, I would
recommend the frequent application of hot lye as the best substance.

Thomas Taylor,

Microscopist to the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D, C.

1 8 73-] Microscopic Appearances of Cancer Cells. 39

MICROSCOPIC APPEARANCES OE CANCER CELLS.

Twenty years ago, the opinion was pretty generally entertained in
the medical world, that the microscope, if used by skillful hands,
was entirely competent to decide as to the malignancy or benig-
nancy of any and all morbid growths. In the twenty-fifth volume of
the American Joicrnal of the Medical Sciences, may be found a
lengthy and elaborate article, evidently the product of much and
careful study, in which the author. Dr. F. Donaldson, of Baltimore,
sets forth the distinctive characteristics of cancer cells, and adds
many figures intended to illustrate these peculiarities. Dr. Donald-
son's attempts at classifying cancer cells should have convinced him,
it would seem, that these cells at least, construe very liberally their
obligations to conform to the requirements of a uniform law of type.
He makes six varieties : — The polygonal, or more or less spherical
and ovoid cell ; the caudated cell ; the fusiform cell ; the concen-
tric cell ; the compound, or mother cell ; and agglomerated nuclei,
connected by granular homogenous substance.

This classification must certainly have been conceived in a truly
liberal spirit. It is broad-gauged enough to cover every cell in
every part and organ of the body, whether in health or in disease ;
and not only that, but also to include every cell in every plant and
animal that flourishes upon or walks over the earth, and of every
inhabitant of the boundless ocean. Let any one set himself squarely
down to the work of imagining what the microscopic appearance of
^'the polygonal, or more or less spherical and ovoid cell " must be,
and he will find himself engaged in a task which is limited only by
his powers of imagination. Indeed I can scarcely conceive of an
exercise better calculated to develop that faculty of the mind. The
fact is. Dr. Donaldson's observations, instead of proving that any-
thing like uniformity exists in the structure and appearance of can-
cer cells, very clearly prove that the distinguishing churacteristic
of these bodies is a most perverse and constant want of uniformity,
and in doing this, he made a very important and welcome addition
to our knowedge of the minute structure of cancerous growths. The
very active researches which have been going on in every depart-
ment of pathological histology during the last few years, have but
served to buttress and substantiate the statement that there is no typ-

40 Microscopic Appearances of Cancer Cells. [Jan.

ical cancer cell, as there is a typical pus cell and a typical epithelial
cell. The very nature of cancer ; its comparatively rapid growth ;
its lawless invasion and destruction of all adjacent tissues ; its short
life and imperfect organization, and, moreover, its rapid decay, are,
each and all, sufficient reasons for expecting many and varying types
of cell growth. These several peculiarities are worth glancing at a
little more closely.

First. Cancer is a structure of essentially feeble organizing
power ; in other words, it is endowed with a low grade of vital
power. In its mode of growth its behavior is strikingly like the so-
called fungus or proud-flesh, which is so apt to sprout up in
wounds which do not heal kindly. Indeed, it is not perhaps far out
of the way to describe it as a sort of fungus growth implanted
within or engrafted upon normal tissue. Hence, like all produc-
tions of like nature, its growth is rapid as compared with healthy
structures ; and this very rapidity necessitates incompleteness, or a
faulty and unfinished growth. Hence, also, we should expect to find
cells in all stages of growth, as well as a multiplicity of cell forms.
We find caudate cells, pushing out their processes where they meet
with the least resistance — in other words, growing wherever they find
room to grow, without, in their haste, stopping to consider the
results ; we find half-grown cells, looking like overgrown nuclei ;
large, awkward, angular cells, frequently with several nuclei, (the
so-called '' mother " or " brood " cells) which seem only intent upon
leaving a numerous progeiiy behind them ; cells with one or more
"buds" or processes protruding from their walls, which is also a
form of cell mutilplication ; and, finally, cells which combine two
or more of these various phases of growth. Therefore, one peculi-
arity of cancer cells depends upon their rapidity of, as well as
faulty growth.

Secondly. Cancer is notoriously lawless and unsparing in its
progress. Unlike other morbid growths, it invades all structures
which occupy its pathway, infiltrating glands, insinuating its grow-
ing germinal matter between the fibres of muscle, or actually tres-
passing upon the substance of the individuul fibre itself; plowing
its way into and through osseous tissue ; perforating membranes ;
tapping blood vessels ; surrounding and compressing nerves ; and,
ultimately, destroying and disintegrating whatever it touches. But
in accomplishing this work of destruction, cancer liberates very many

1 8 73'] Microscopic Appearances of Cancer Cells, 41

formed and forming cells which do not properly belong to it. That
is, the nojinal cells of healthy structure, whether it be glandular or
otherwise, become admixed with the abnormal cells of diseased (can-
cerous) structure, just so fast as the latter invades and disintegrates
the former. A specimen of epithelial cancer of the lip before me,
shows a multitude of epithelial cells which cannot be distinguished
from those of the healthy structure, and these are most abundant at
or near the junction of the healthy with the diseased tissue. A
specimen of encephaloid of the liver contains very many cells pre-
cisely like, and undoubtedly identical with, the seecreting cells of
this organ, and in both instances, the cells of health and disease lie
in the most intimate relations. Here, then, we have another reason
for the great variety in regard of form and size, which we so con-
stantly meet with in the study of cancer cells.

Thirdly. The term of life of any given cancer cell is necessarily
a brief one ; its organization necessarily imperfect, or of low type,
and its decay and disorganization rapid. Hence, in almost every
specimen of cancer cells, we may expect to find, and, indeed do find,
many cells in different stages of- decay, and, consequently, undergo-
ing various morphological changes. That part of the cell which is
first formed is likewise first to die, and the external part, or periph-
ery, (the so-called '' formed material ") is now almost universally
regarded as the oldest portion of the cell ; hence we find cells with
angular or roughened boundaries, because the external portion is
slowly or rapidly disintegrating ; but sometimes large masses of the
''formed material " will disappear at once, and this gives to many
cells their awkward and ill-shaped appearance ; others seem to
wither and become shriveled, or, possibly, dessicated ; hence, we
find cells presenting a pinched, dried, starved appearance : others
still maintain their integrity in regard of form and size, but become
filled with granular matter, which is probably the product of fatty
degeneration ; hence, we find cells which are dark or granular, or
cloudy or nebulous in appearance. Again, all cancers speedily
undergo — or are constantly undergoing — fatty degeneration, both
within and between their component cells ; or perhaps it is more
correct to say that this change always commences in the cells, but
that the fat drops are shortly liberated as the result of cell-decay.
Here then we find still another element of complexity— namely, the
presence of many fat globules, both floating free between the pro-

42 Microscopic Appearances of Cancer Cells. [Jan.

per cellsj and likewise enclosed within, or forming a part of, these
cells.

It need not, therefore, be a matter of surprise that cancer cells
should bid defiance to any and all rules of classification. It is,
indeed, rather a matter of surprise that any attempt at such a classifi-
cation should ever have been made, seeing that, for all diagnostic
purposes, w^e are far better off as we are ; and, for all pathological
purposes, we should not be a hair's breadth nearer the truth regard-
ing the real nature of cancer with a formal classification than we are
without one.

A very important practical question, however, still presents itself,
namely, can cancer be diagnosticated with any degree of certainty,
by its microscopic appearances ? It is easy enough to answer this
question to my own satisfaction ; it is possibly less easy to make the
response intelligible to those unaccustomed to the study of cell
forms. I believe that the practical microscopist can have little diffi-
culty in satisfying himself as to the character of a morbid growth,
provided always he receives the specimen in a state fit for examina-
tion. I have myself received many specimens for examination
which consisted of little bits, snipped from the surface of a morbid
growth, and then rolled in a dry paper or rag, and carried in the
pocket for hours afterward, until they became perfectly hardened
and dry. The idea of forming a conclusion from such specimens as
these is simply absurd and ridiculous. The constituent cells of such
a specimen must of very necessity undergo changes of form and
consistency which cannot be obviated by any artificial means;
hence, any conclusions drawn from them must be, to say the least,
very unreliable. A specimen intended for microscopic examination
should be taken from beneath the surface of the tumor, and as near
its centre as possible ; it should be examined at once whenever this
is practicable, and in any event, it should be kept moist until it
passes to the hands of the microscopist. If these conditions be
complied with, I believe that a correct conclusion can be arrived at
in so large a proportion of cases, that the exceptions are not worth
considering, if the examination be made by one accustomed to the
study of morbid growths. Morover, I believe that any one who
possesses a microscope of fair quality, and who can use it with a rea-
sonable amount of common sense, can satisfy himself as to whether
a morbid growth is or is not cancerous in its nature. Possibly a

1 873- Microscopic Appearances of Cancer Cells. 43

description of cancer cells will still be expected. They are at once
very easy and very difficult to describe. If the illustrations and
descriptions of these cells given by Gluge, Paget, Henry H. Smith,
Beale, Gross, Moore, Bennett and others, be consulted, they will be
found to be all very like and all very unlike, except when the same
engravings have been used by two or more different authors ; and
this is simply because no two illustrations representing actual speci-
mens can be alike. The distinguishing characteristic of cancer cells
is a want of uniformity, or an absolute non-conformity to any law of
type — and this for reasons which I have already given. It is,
indeed, true that a cancerous growth, especially in its early stages,
attempts to produce cells which are more or less like those of the
tissue out of which, or within which, or near which, it is differentiated,
as we so often see in the case of epithelial cancer; but this attempt is
never successful, even at the very beginning, and it is shortly aban-
doned in so far as an allegiance to typical forms is concerned. Hence
this very want of uniformity in regard of cell forms, constitutes the
pivot upon which the diagnosis turns when the microscope is
appealed to. It is not because we can classify cancer cells that we
call them such ; but rather because we cannot classify them. It
is not because they are old microscopic acquaintances that we call
them malignant ', but rather because they are always strangers. In
fact it is just precisely this diversity of appearance that proves their
malignancy ; for it indicates their rapid and lawless growth, their
disrespect for and destruction of adjacent tissues, and their rapid
death ; and these, taken together, constitute the very essence of
malignancy. If fifty specimens of keloid be examined, the ultimate
elements of each one will be found to be, not precisely alike — for
cells are no more precisely alike than leaves or apples or men are pre-
cisely alike — but formed on the same general model as regards shape
and size, and, therefore, conforming to a law of type. If fifty
specimens of ordinary fatty tumor be examined, the same law will
be found to hold good. Moreover, in both these cases, the morbid
growth will show some respect for the rights of neighboring tissues.
If, indeed, the latter are crowded out of their rightful position, they
will not therefore be denied the privilege of existing somewhere
else. But on examination of twice this number of cancer speci-
mens will only the more absolutely demonstrate the fact that in
place of law of type we have lawlessness of type^ and that this very

44 Microscopic Appearances of Cancer Cells. [Jan.

lawlessness is the microscopic peculiarity of cancer. Hence, in the
so-called ''innocent" or "benignant" growths, we are to look for
a kind of multiform unity, and in malignant growths, we may, with
equal confidence, expect a uniform multiformity, or an absolute non-
conformity to any ideal cell type.

One other, and scarcely less important point should be noticed.
Errors of location are generally coincident with diversity of form
in cancerous growths, and this should be taken into account in
establishing the diagnosis. The very fact that a mass of cells have
infiltrated or invaded a tissue or organ, and that they persistently
and unaccountably vary in size, form and behavior from the normal
cells of such tissue or organ, is all but, and perhaps quite, sufficient
to stamp them with the seal of malignancy. They are at once rec-
ognized as marauders and pirates, intent only upon the destruction
of everything within their reach. To attempt to describe a speci-
men of cancer cells, is to huddle together as many epithets as we
can lay our hands on, to pester and perplex the dictionary makers
by bringing forth a new progeny of words, and appropriating them
to the same use, and, after all, to fail of giving a reliable description
of bodies which obstinately refuse to look twice alike. It seems to
me that we best describe cancer cells when we simply say that we
cannot describe thqm ; when we say that they present an endless
diversity of forms, and that, therefore, they are cancer cells.

In conclusion, I would lay down the following simple rules for
drawing the distinction between innocent and morbid growths :
whenever a description of one of the cells of a microscopic specimen
is a description of all of its cells, the chances are as ten to one that
it is not cancer ; — whenever, on the other hand, the cells of such a
specimen are so varied in form and size that philology and ingenuity
and imagination, and the most unflincing resolution combined,
utterly fail to accomplish the task of describing them, the chances
are as ten to one that the specimen is from a malignant growth,
whatever may be its name or location.

/. N. jDanforth, M. D.

Chicago.

1 8 73-] "^^^ Influence of Light upon Life. 45

THE INFLUENCE OF LIGHT UPON LIFE.

Lavoisier somewhere says : '' Organization, voluntary movement,
life, exist only at the surface of the earth, in places exposed to light.
One might say that the fable of Prometheus' torch was the expression
of a philosophic truth that the ancients had not overlooked. With-
out light. Nature was without life ; she was inanimate and dead. A
benevolent God, bringing light, diffused over the earth's surface
organization, feeling, and thought." These words are essentially
true. All organic activity was very clearly at first borrowed from
the sun, and if the earth has since stored away and made its own a
quantity of energy, that sometimes suffices to produce of itself that
which originally proceeded from solar stimulus, it must not be for-
gotten that those living forces, of startling and complex aspects,
sometimes our pitiless enemies, often our docile servants, have
descended, and are still descending upon our planet, from the inex-
haustible sun. The study of animal life shows us by striking instan-
ces the physiological efficacy of light, and the immaterial chain, it
may be called, which links existence with the fiery and abounding
heart of the known universe.

In plants, respiration at night is the reverse of that by day. There
are infusoria which behave, under the influence of light, exactly like
the green portions of plants. These microscopic animalcula are
developed in fine weather in stagnant water, and in breathing pro-
duce oxygen at the expense of the carbonic acid contained in the
liquid. Morren saw that the oxygenation of the water occasioned
by these little beings varied very perceptibly in the course of twenty-
four hours. It is at the minimum at sunrise, and reaches its maximum
toward four in the afternoon. If the sky is overcast, or the animal-
cula disappear, the phenomenon is suspended. This is only an
exception. Animals breathe at night in the same way as in the
daytime, only less energetically. Day and night they burn carbon
within their tissues, and form carbonic acid, only the activity of the
phenomenon is much greater in light than in darkness.

Light quickens vital movements in animals, especially the act of
nutrition, and darkness checks them. This fact, long known and
applied in practical agriculture, is expressly noted by Columella.
He recommends the process of fattening fowls by rearing them in
small dark cages. The laborer, to fatten his cattle, shuts them up

46 The Influence of Light upon Life. [Jan.

in stables lighted by small low windows. In the half-light of these
prisons the work of disassimilation goes on slowly, and the nutritive
substances, instead of being consumed in the circulating fluid, more
readily accumulate in the organs. In the same way, for the sake of
developing enormous fat livers in geese, they are put into dark
cellars, kept entirely quiet, and crammed with meal.

Animals waste away as plants do. The absence of light some-
times makes them lose vigor, sometimes entirely changes them, and
modifies their organization in the way least favorable to the full
exercise of their vital powers. Those that live in caverns are like
plants growing in cellars. In certain underground lakes of Lower
Carniola we find very singular reptiles resembling salamanders, called
proteans. They are nearly white, and have only the rudiments of
eyes. If exposed to light they seem to suffer, and their skin takes
a color. It is very likely that these beings have not always lived in
the darkness to which they are now confined, and that the prolonged
absence of light has destroyed the color of their skins and their
visual organs. Beings thus deprived of day are exposed to all the
weaknesses and ill effects of chlorosis and impoverishment of the
blood. They grow puffy, like the colorless mushroom, unconscious
of the healthy contact of luminous radiance.

William Edwards, to whom science owes so many researches into
the action of natural agents, studied, about 1820, the influence exer-
cised by light on the development of animals. He placed frogs'
eggs in two vessels filled with water, one of which was transparent,
and the other made impermeable to light by a covering of black
paper. The eggs exposed to light developed regularly; those in the
dark vessel yielded nothing but rudiments of embryos. Then he
put tadpoles in large vessels, some transparent, others shielded from
the light. The tadpoles that were shone upon soon underwent the
change into the adult form, while the others either continued in the
tadpole condition or passed into the state of perfect frogs with great
difficulty. Thirty years later, Moleschott performed some hundreds
of experiments in examining how light modifies the quantity of car-
bonic acid thrown off in respiration. Operating on frogs, he found
that the volume of gas exhaled by daylight exceeds by one-fourth
the volume thrown off in darkness. He established, in a general
way, that the production of carbonic acid increases in proportion
to the intensity of light. Thus, with an intensity represented by

1 873-] ^^^ Influence of Light upon Life. 47

3.27, he obtained i of carbonic acid, and, with an intensity of 7.38,
he obtained 1.18. The same physiologist thinks that in batrachians
the intensity of light is communicated partly by the skin, partly by
the eyes.

Jules Beclard made more thorough researches. Common flies'
eggs, taken from the same group, and placed at the same time under
differently-colored glasses, all produce worms. But if the worms,
hatched under the different glasses, are compared at the end of four
or five days, preceptible differences may be seen among them.
Those most developed correspond with the violet and blue ray ;
those hatched under the green ray are far less advanced ; while the
red, yellow, and white rays exert an intermediate action. A long
series of experiments on birds satisfied Beclard that the quantity of
carbonic acid thrown out in breathing, during a given time, is not
sensibly modified by the different colors of the glasses the animals
are placed under. It is the same with small mammifers, such as mice;
but it is to be observed in this case that the skin is covered either
with hair or feathers, and the light does not strike the surface. The
same physiologist examined also the influence of the different-
colored rays of the spectrum on frogs. Under the green ray, the
same weight of frogs produces in the same period of time a greater
quantity of carbonic acid than under the red ray. The diff'erence
may be a half greater ; it is usually a third or a fourth greater ; but
if the skin is afterward taken off the frogs, and they are replaced
under the same conditions, the result alters. The amount of car-
bonic acid thrown out by the flayed frogs is greater in red than in
green light. A few experiments tried by Beclard on the exhalation
of the vapor of water by the skin show that in the dark,
temperature and weight being alike, frogs lose by evaporation a half
or a third less moisture than under white light. In the violet ray
the quantity of moisture lost by the animal is perceptibly the same
as in white light.

Light acts directly on the iris of almost all animals, and thus
produces contraction of the pupil, while heat produces the reverse
phenomena. This stimulus is observed in eyes that have been sepa-
rated for some time from the body, as Brown-Sequard has shown.

Bert lately took up some very curious experiments on the prefer-
ence of animals for differently-colored rays. He took some of
those almost microscopic Crustacea, common enough in our fresh

48 The Influence of Light upon Life. [Jan.

waters, the daphne-fleas, remarkable for their eager way of hurrying
toward light. A number of these insects were put into a glass vessel,
well darkened, and a spectrum of the ray then thrown into it. The
daphnes were dispersed about the dark vessel. As soon as the spec-
trum-colors appeared, they began to move, and gathered in the
course of the luminous track, but when a screen was interposed they
scattered again. At first all the colors of the spectrum attracted
them, but it was soon noticed that they hurried much more toward
the yellow and green, and even moved away a little if these rays were
quickly replaced by the violet. In the yellow, green, and orange
parts of the spectrum there was a thronging and remarkable attrac-
tion. A pretty large number of these little beings were remarked in
the red, too, a certain number in the blue, and some, fewer in pro-
portion to the distance, in the most refrangible portions of the violet
and ultra-violet. For these insects, as for ourselves, the most lumin-
ous part of the spectrum was also the most agreeable. They behaved
in it as a man would do who, if he wished to read in a spectrum
thrown about him, would approach the yellow and avoid the violet.
This proves, in the first place, that these insects see all the luminous
rays that we see ourselves. Do they perceive the chlorific and
chemic rays, that is to say, the ultra-red and ultra-violet ones, which
do not efl'ect our retina? Bert's experiments enable us to answer
that they do not. That physiologist is even led to assert that, with
regard to light and the different rays, all animals experience the same
impressions that man does.

Let us now look at the influence of light upon the color of the
skin in animals, noticing first the being which presents the strangest
peculiarities in this respect, the chameleon. This animal, indeed,
experiences very frequent modifications of color in the course of
the same day. From Aristotle, who attributed these changes to
a swelling of the skin, and Theophrastus, ,who assigned fear as
their cause, to Wallisnieri, who supposes them to result from the
movement of humors toward the surface of the animal's body, the
most different opinions have been expressed on this subject.
Milne-Edwards, thirty years ago, explained them by the successive
inequalities in the proportions of the two substances, one yellowish
and the other violet, which color the skin of the reptile, inequali-
ties due to the changes in volume of the very flattened cells that
contain these substances. Bruck, renewing these researches, proves

1 8 73-] '^^^ Influence of Light upon Life. 49

that the chameleon's colors follow from the manifold dispersion of
solar light in the colored cells, that is to say, from the production
of the same phenomenon remarked in soap-bubbles and all very-
thin plates. Its colors, then, come from the play of sunlight among
the yellow and violet substances distributed very curiously under its
wrinkled skin. It passes from orange to yellow, from green to blue,
through a series of wavering and rainbow-like shades, determined
by the state of the light's radiation. Darkness blanches it, twilight
gives it the most delicate marbled tints, the sun turns it dark. A
part of the skin bruised or rubbed remains black, without growing
white in the dark. Bruck satisfied himself, moreover, that temper-
ature does not effect these phenomena.

All animals having fur or feathers are darker and more highly
colored on the back than on the belly, and their colors are more
intense in summer than in winter. Night-butterflies never have the
vivid tints of those that fly by day, and among the latter those of
spring have clearer, brighter shades than the autumn ones. The
gold-and-azure dust that adorns them harmonizes with the tones of
colors in surrounding nature. Night-birds, in the same way, have
dark plumage, and the downiness of their coverings contrasts with
the stiffness of those that fly by day. Shells secluded under rocks
wear pale shades, compared with those that drink in the light. We
have spoken above of cave-animals. What a distinction between
those of cold regions and those of equatorial countries ! The color-
ing of birds, mammals, and reptiles, peopling the vast forests or
dwelling on the banks of the great rivers in the torrid zone, is daz-
zling in its splendor. At the north we find gray tints, dead and of
little variety, usually close upon white, by reason of the almost con-
stant reflection from snow.

Not only the color of organized beings, but their shape too, is
linked with the action of light, or rather of climate. The flora of
the globe gains increasing perfection as we go from the poles toward the
equator. The nearer these beings approach the highest degree of
heat and light, the more lavishly are richness, splendor and beauty
bestowed on them. The energy and glory of life, perfect forms as
well as brilliant arraying, are the distinguishing mark of the various
and manifold races of tropical regions, giving this privileged world
its characteristic aspect. A pure emanation from the sun. Nature
here lives wild and splendid, gazing unshrinkingly, like the Alpine

Vol. II — No. i. 4

50 Editor' s Table. [Jan.

eagle, on the eternal and sublime source which inundates it with
heat and glow. Look, now, at the regions of the pole ! A few
dwarfish shrubs, a few stunted and herbaceous plants, compose all
its flora. Its animals have a pale covering and downy feathers ; its
insects, sombre tints. All around them are the utmost limits of life
— ice invades everything, the sea alone still breeds a few acalephs,
some zoophytes, and other low rudimentary organizations. The sun
comes aslant and seldom. At the equator he darts his fires, and
gives himself without stint to the happy Eden of his predilection.

Revue des Deux Mondes.

(Translated for the Popular Science Monthly.)

EDITOR'S TABLE.

The New British Scientific Expedition. — The Challenger, an eighteen-
gun screw corvette, commanded by Capt. Nares, with Commander Maclear, of
the Eclipse Expedition, as second, left SheeiTiess in December for a lengthy
voyage which is expected to confer very great benefits upon the scientific world.

The vessel is fitted out for the purpose of sounding, dredging and investigating
the science of the deep sea, the Government having been very liberal in provid-
ing all the funds and necessaries required. The scientific staff consists of Pro-
fessor Wyville Thomson, as director; Dr. Von Willmoes Saum, Mr. H. Mose-
ley, and Mr. J. Murray, as naturalists; Mr. Buchanan as chemist; with sundry
other competent assistants in the different branches of science. The Challenger
is well supplied with boats of different kinds, including a steam pinnace, and
carries an ample assortment of the various appliances used in dredging, and an
almost inexhaustible stock of spirits and bottles for the preservation of objects.
Under the experienced supervision of Professor Wyville Thomson, she has been
furnished with everything that can possibly aid in exploring the different seas
through which the vessel will pass ; and a small aquarium will afford an oppor-
tunity for studying interesting animals alive.

The first haul is expected to be made in the Bay of Gibraltar, after which she
will probably visit Madeira, sailing thence for the West Indies, and after touch-
ing at sundry places on the Brazilian coast, cross to the Cape of Good Hope.
The Islands in the Southern Ocean will then be examined, with a run to the ice,
and after exploring the Australian seas and Oceania, the expedition will proceed
to Japan, Kamschatka, passing through Behring's Straights to the Northern Ice,
and back to Vancouver's Island and the western coast of the Americas, round
the Horn and home. The voyage will occupy probably four yeai's, and the
expedition cannot fail to be of lasting benefit to science, if not directly to the
nffctioa^ large.

1 8 73-] JEdttor's Table. 51

Inoculation with Dead Blood, — It is well known that surgeons are often
seriously injured by accidentally cutting themselves with instruments that have
been recently used for dissecting purposes. The wounded part swells, and
mortification often ensues, necessitating amputation and sometimes causing
death. In order to determine the poisonous properties of this putrid blood, M.
Davaine communicates to Les Mondes the result of several experiments made
upon rabbits. The liquid used was the blood of an ox that had been ten days
slaughtered. This, by subcutaneous injection, he administered to his subjects in
varying quantities, obtaining by successive dilutions with water the most infinites-
imal attenuations. Killing one animal, he would take its infected blood and
force the same into the veins of another, and so on until he reached what he
terms the twenty-fifth generation. On this last experiment he says : " Four
rabbits received respectively one trillionth, one ten-trillionth, one hundred-tril-
lionth, and one quadrillionth of a drop of blood from a rabbit belonging to the
preceding generation that had died from the effects of a one-trillionth dose. Of
the four, but one animal died — that which received the one ten-trillionth. It
appears then, that the limit of transmissibility of the poison in the rabbit reaches
the one-trillionth part of a drop of decayed {septique) blood."

"Popular Science." — Science will never be successfully popularized until
the popularizer be himself deeply read in Science. No smatterer need expect to
inculcate a love for any exact science by cramming for special occasions, and
presenting crude and ill-digested material, thereby incurring the risk of perpetrat-
ing the most egregious blunders.

A lecturer on Natural History, in discoursing on entomological topics, recently
made the following statements. They are no more astounding than many others
made at the same time, which some regard for the credulity of our readers
compels us to omit :

That no true insects are wingless. That the Hymenoptera are so called because
their wings are split nearly up to the body. That in America we have no
locusts. That on the western plains certain chocolate-colored beetles are so
numerous and provided with antennse so rigid that with them they are able to
goad the buffaloes to death. That the house spider has 3,000 eyes. That the
different sizes of flies are due entirely to difference of species.

The lecture was appropriately illustrated by means of charts on which were
represented creatures to worship many of which would involve no violation of the
second article in the Decalogue. Platysamia Cecropia and Danaus Archipptis,
figured on the same chart, were of about the same size, the Cecropia stilted high
up on the tips of his yi??/r legs, having possibly just emerged from the cocoon
which hung by one end from the twig on which the Cecropia was supposed to be
crawling.

And what shall be said of " this larvae" and "that larvse," of " these probosces"
and " those maxilla," of "his eggs" and " his ovipositor."

Why will our dear friends at the East still persist in coming to these " Western
Wilds" to instruct us? Such doses as these are grievously unpalatable. Shall

52 Editor's Table. [Jan.

the representative educational men of one entire Western State sit in silence at
the feet of any peripatetic philosopher because he comes from the neighborhood
of the Modern Athens, and accept without remonstrance stuh science? Shades
of Linnceus, Fabricius, Godart, forbid !

Fish Culture in Michigan.— Mr. N. W. Clark, of Clarkston, Mich., is
largely engaged in hatching whitefish and salmon ova for the United States Fish
Commission. He has arranged with James W. Milner, Esq., Deputy Commis-
sioner, to hatch from fifty to one hundred thousand salmon ova which have been
procured from the Fish Commissioner of Maine, Mr. Atkins. A considerable
portion of the young fish is to be sent to California for experiment in her waters.

A few gentlemen have erected a hatching' house at Clarkston, of sufficient
capacity to hatch half a million ova, and caused to be placed in its troughs that
number of whitefish ova. They were placed there November 15, 1871, and
about fifty per cent, of them were duly hatched on the ist of April, 1872, and dis-
tributed in the waters of the Detroit river, and a few of the inland lakes in Oak-
land county. Again on the 13th day of November, 1872, these same gentlemen
caused to be placed in the same hatching establishment 500,000 more of the white-
fish ova, and these are now doing finely, and it is expected that a much larger per
cent, of the young fry will be ready for distribution in April, 1873, ^s the
capacity of the hatching house has been doubled for the accommodation of the
General Government.

Photographic Spectral Lines. — We call our readers' attention, lest they
may have overlooked the fact in admiring the resolution of the object itself, to
the remarkable series of spectral lines lying entirely outside the frustule, in the
Woodburytype illustration of Dr. Woodward's resolution of Frusttdia Saxonica
in our last number.

Gundlach's Objectives. — We are glad to be able to note (see advertisement
in this number) the removal of Mr. Gundlach from Berlin to the United States.
'He has established himself at Hackensack, N. J., where he will devote himself
to the production of first-class objectives only. His scale of prices will be found
to be very low. In our next number we shall publish a paper by Prof. F. Ardis-
sonne, of Milan, communicated to the Nuevo Giornale Botanico Italiano, giving
the relative resolving power upon well known test-objects of various objectives of
the best continental makers, including Mr. Gundlach, from which it appears that
Mr. G's objectives did him high honor. One of them, a sixteenth, equivalent to
his No. VII. (European nomenclature), now belongs to Mr. H. H. Babcock, of
Chicago, who mentions it to us in terms of unqualified praise.

Iridescent Engravings. — The beautiful iridiscence of the pearl is shown by
the microscope to be due to the presence upon its surface of exceedingly fine
i-idges or lines, the edges of which unequally refract the rays of light and pro-
duce many shades of color of marvelous delicacy. This effect may be artificially
produced upon glass and other substances, by cutting lines thereon of sufficient

1 873-] Editor' s Table. 53

fineness. Mr. L. M. Rutherford, the well-known scientist of New York, was one of
the first to construct a machine capable of engraving these iridescent lines, which
he ruled upon glass, as test objects, the cutter being worked by an electro-magnetic
machine. M. Nobert, however, has surpassed as yet all others in this field by
the delicacy of the rulings of his famous Test Plate. Another of these instru-
ments is now to be seen at Harvard University, and is thus described- in the
Boston Globe:

" Among the many curious inventions existing beneath the dome of the Cam-
bridge observatory, there is a machine which is used to delineate upon glass the
figure of a circle or square, by means of finely drawn lines. This machine,
which is the invention of Mr. Rogers, who is connected with the observatory, is
very simple in its operation, and draws each line with an accuracy which is very
surprising. This is done by means of a graduated plate of metal, which acts
upon a very sharply and very finely pointed needle, so that it may be set at
any distance from a line already drawn. By actual trial, the skillful inventor
drew upon a small piece of glass twenty-four lines, separated by a distance of
one 2400th of an inch, in about a minute's time. These wonderful lines could be
easily counted through a microscope, but viewed with the naked eye they formed
a single, but somewhat imperceptible, line. It was nearly impossible to imagine
the exceedingly minute distance which separated them. Parallel lines had been
drawn upon other plates of glass, which, though apparently single, were found,
when placed beneath the microscope, each to be composed of several distinct lines.
A circle, also, which was about a quarter of an inch in diameter, contained sixteen
hundred lines. The light was very beautifully reflected from their minute sides,
and the circle glistened and sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow. Upon
one plate of glass had been traced circles within circles, the lines of which
they wsfere composed being scarcely discernible; but when perceived through the
miscrocope each line assumed a perfect precision, and the delicate symmetry of
each circle came out in exquisite relief. The extremely minute space in which
this immense number of circular lines was contained appeared to be very wonder-
ful. There were many other drawings, which were equally astonishing, and
which showed equally well the fine skill of Mr. Rogers."

The Increase of Diatomace^ by Self-Division. — In a late communica-
tion from Prof. Smith relative to the self-division of diatoms, he says : " It may-
be objected that if by self-division the frustules become smaller, then the persistent
filamentous forms, at least some of them, should, upon measurement, actually
exhibit this gradation in size. I reply that this is the case, and in a filament of
thirty-seven double frustules of a large Melosira Moniloformis, I find the middle
frustules larger by .oooi-'^ (with the y^^^ objective 30 divisions of my Powell &
Lealand thread micrometer), and so repeatedly of other chains of frustules. It
would at first appear that the largest frustules should be at the ends, and not the
middle of a filament. We must remember, however, that although the two
larger primary valves may be carried to the ends if the filament remains un-
broken, yet all the time self-division is occurring between; so that a series of
nodes, or swellings, will exist all along the chain. For example, if after the

54 Editor's Table. [Jan.

formation of, say, half a dozen frustules, so nearly the same size that we may
consider them equal, we now suppose self-division to occur simultaneously, so
that each frustule produces six others, then these latter, smaller than the older
ones, would be distributed throughout the chain, and these again, all simultane-
ously dividing, would give rise to still smaller ones interposed ; and it is manifest
that a chain, if parted, would very likely be severed at the smaller frustules, and
the partial filaments would have the larger and older (perhaps thus more siliceous)
frustules, near the middle, unless we should chance to find one of the ends with
the valve of the primary frustule, which would rarely happen. As for W. Smith's
broods of young frustules, these are but casts of amoeba, excrementitious. I have
seen them hundreds of times, and quite often a heterogeneous mass of small Cym-
bellece, Gomphone77iecB and Naviculea. All this will be fully illustrated in the
proper place."

Depth of Soil. — Dwellers in the West, on prairies, or on the alluvial bottoms
of the South, have naturally a sincere contempt for regions where the depth of
soil is measured by inches, rather than feet. Nevertheless, in the most highly
cultivated parts of Europe the average depth of soil is but about six inches. Experi-
ments made in Germany show that if a soil six inches deep is represented by
fifty, a soil seven inches deep would be represented by fifty-four, and one only
three inches deep would be represented by thirty-eight. In New England the
soil is probably from four to six inches deep, some of the rich alluvial meadows
being deeper, and some of the arable uplands much less. Any soil can be
deepened by proper cultivation, and every one knows that the deeper it is the
more luxuriant will be the crops. The cost of cultivating a three-inch soil is not
very much less than that of a six-inch soil, and the crop raised on the latter is
nearly certain to be double that of the former, or, if we take the German rule,
as fifty to thirty-eight. Enthusiastic microscopists say that they have found that
the roots of red clover will, in some instances, penetrate to the depth of six feet,
and those of winter wheat to a depth of seven feet. If planted in a deep hole
filled with rich loam, parsnips and the like will sometimes send their rootlets to
the bottom. All these instances are merely to show what vegetables will do if
they have a chance, but it is a fair inference that the deeper a soil is, the deeper
it will naturally become. A great mass of roots decaying every year constantly
increases the amount of vegetable matter in the soil, makes it better able to resist
the effects of drought, gradually converts the upper part of underlying strata into
something better, and thus tends to increase its own productive powers.

The Lost Arts. — Mr. Wendell PhilHps recently delivered, in New York,
for the how-many-hundredth time? his famous lecture on this subject, and the
Tribune reported it in full. It is, of course, interesting; but it strangely con-
founds legend and fact ; and ignores some plain and elementary distinctions.
For instance, Mr. Phillips takes pains to argue from the minuteness of ancient
gem-carvings that the microscope is not so modern as we think. Does he not
know the radical difference between the magnifying glass and the microscope ?
From an alleged ring with a gem in it, through which Nero looked at the gladia-

1 873-] Editor's Table. 55

tors, lie infers that Nero had an opera-glass. This repeats the error we have pointed
out. The knowledge of the magnifying glass among the ancients is not at all
surprising, and need not be so ingeniously inferred. There is a description of a
burning-glass in the Nubes of Aristophanes ; any drop of water could have given
the idea ; and it is scarcely possible to manufacture glass without obtaining por-
tions of it in forms that will magnify objects. But the invention of the microscope
is a very different affair, and came to pass only after the discovery of the camera
obscura. The story of the way in which Solomon's temple (or some other ancient
edifice) was protected with spear-heads, which the sentinels touched, to ascertain
the electrical condition of affairs, if correctly reported, seems to indicate that the
ancients knew as much about lightning-rods as Mr. Phillips. The fact is, that
the " lost arts " are very few, and mostly not worth the finding. Outside of the
glass business, which is the strongest point in their favor, the achievements of the
ancients were principally accomplished by individual patience and manual dex-
terity on the one hand, or by masses of men under despotic direction, on the
other. An element in both cases was the small value of labor. The art which
they had, and we have comparatively lost, is the art of wasting time.

The Nineteenth Band and Tolles' Eighteenth. — Prof. H. L. Smith has
lately been in Boston, and writes as follows, concerning a resolution of this
famous test : The angular aperture, as stated by Mr. Tolles was 130°, as I had
forgotten the number of lines in this band, my attempts at a " count," were cer-
tainly unbiased ; estimating the centre of a band, and counting outwards, in three
several counts the difference was but one or two from the true number. Subse-
quently with a I -6th which, as immersion, had an angle (as stated by Mr. Tolles)
of 170°, I saw Amphipleuj'a pellucida handsomely resolved. The illumination
was by lamp (in day time) at an incidence of 45°. The specimens were, as I
understood Mr. Tolles, received from Dr. Woodward. The resolution was very
clear and distinct.

Man as the Interpreter of Nature. — The recent address of Dr. Car-
penter to the British Association is extremely suggestive. Speaking of man as
the interpreter of Nature, Dr. Carpenter insists on the necessity of inquiring into
the origin and validity of human conceptions, and especially of such dominant
ideas as matter and force, cause and effect, law and order. The ancients imposed
their own conceptions upon nature as eternal laws, and this error is as active
and misleading to-day as it ever was. We may, if we choose, believe in the
uniformity of nature, but this, and other beliefs which serve as a foundation of
scientific reasoning must be inquired into, and not absolutely assumed. It is to
be noticed, for instance, that, although modern science is held to have shown
that the sun is invested with a chromosphere of incandescent hydrogen, this
assertion is but an induction from observed phenomena, and depends for its
validity upon the unproved assumption that a certain line seen in the spectrum of
a hydrogen flame means hydrogen when seen in the spectrum of the sun's chro-
mospere. Dr. Carpenter then passes to the controversy between the intuitionalists

56 Editor's Table. [Jan.

and the sensationalists, and would reconcile the two by the idea that the intuitions
of one generation are the embodied experiences of the previous generation.
Knowledge cannot descend from father to son, but an increased aptitude for
acquiring knowledge may be inherited, and so it happens that conceptions that
prove inadmissible to the minds of one generation subsequently find acceptance
and are acknowledged to be self-evident. In regard to those who insist that
force does not exist, and that we know nothing but matter and its laws. Dr. Car-
penter holds that it would be more plausible to regard matter as an intellectual
conception and force, as precisely the one thing of which we have a direct knowl-
edge, as we have personal experience of it in resistance and weight, derived from
our own perception of exertion. That interpretation of nature which does not
co-ordinate the idea of force with that of motion, and regard the former as the
cause of the latter, must be very inadequate. The doctor, in fine, believes that
modern science has been too exclusively phenomenal — too much confined to gen-
eralizations.

Food Fishes. — The report of the Fish Commissioners of Maine, to be made
to the legislature this month, contains a very full discussion of the question of
restoring to the rivers the different food fishes with which they formerly abounded.
They argue that in view of the increased and constantly increasing price of liv-
ing, the products of the water should be increased, and food that is now confined
to the tables of the rich, should be afforded to the poor at a cheap price. They
present the opinion of some of our most eminent naturalists that something of the
old-time experience can be regained when the rivers of New England were
almost blockaded by shad, salmon and alewives seeking to ascend for the pur-
pose of depositing their spawn; and they argue that the decrease of these species
is the cause of the diminution of the cod and other deep-sea species near the
coast. The people living along the rivers have at last come to demand the res-
toration of the river fish, and are disposed to aid the Commissioners in enforcing
the laws for the construction of proper fishways, and for preventing the criminal
destruction of fish. The experiments of hatching ova by artificial means have
been attended with great success ; and the Commissioners ask for a small appro-
priation for engineering services, and for obtaining a good clear highway from
the upper waters of the rivers to the ocean, by suitable fishways through dams,
and keeping the streams clear by prohibiting the throwing of saw-dust, edgings,
&c., into them, and they ask the co-operation of mill-owners in their efforts..

Frey on the Microscope.* — This is an admirable work, elegantly translated.
We hardly know whether to praise most its high scientific character, its condensed,
though clear and beautiful style, or its thoroughly practical treatment of the sub-
ject.

The work begins with a sketch of the theory of the microscope and a descrip-
tion of different styles of instruments, more especially the continental forms.

*The Microscope and Microscopical Technology; A text-book for Physicians and Students,
by Dr. Heinrich Frey. Professor of Medicine in Zurich. I'ranslated from the German and edited
by George R. Cutter, M. D., Clinical Assistant to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. New York :
William Wood & Co. '

1 873-] Editor's Table, 57

Then follows a chapter on drawing, measuring, and micro-photography. Then a
chapter on testing the glasses, and test objects; with the names of the more prom-
inent objective makers and the character of their glasses. Then come hints in
regard to the use of the instrument, and several chapters on the preparation of
objects, the use of chemical agents, cutting sections, injecting, and mounting.
This portion of the work occupies two hundred and twenty-eight pages. The
remainder of the work is devoted to normal and pathological histology, and the
methods of study of each particular organ. Finally, an appendix is added, con-
taining a price list of different microscope makers, a valuable feature.

The work can hardly take the place of Beale's work, but it is one which every
histologist will find very useful,

Stricker's Histology.-^— The want of a comprehensive work on Histology
has long been felt, and it is the object of the present work to supply it. It is
made up of various articles written by different persons. The opening article on
the preparation of tissues, by Strieker, is valuable but incomplete. The second
article, also by Strieker, on the cell, evidently cost the writer a grent deal of
trouble. It is a careful summary of all that is known on the subject. It is how-
ever, diffuse and unsatisfactory. The writer seems unable to come to a definite
conclusion on any point. He gives facts and theories, qualifies them with doubts,
and then checks the doubts with counter-doubts. He states his own opinions so
mildly that they are likely to be overlooked among the mass of doubts and con-
flicting opinions by which surrounded. The remaining articles on less pretend-
ing subjects are good, though most of them are difliise and dry. The work as a
whole, is cumbrous. It would be improved by more illustrations. It is well
translated, however, and is the best work on the subject in the language,

RiNDFLEiscH ON PATHOLOGICAL HISTOLOGY, f — The seeker after knowledge
(knowing of Prof, Rindfleisch's reputation in Germany as a good writer as well
as a standard authority in pathology) who opens this translation for the first time
expecting to find a clear exposition of the subjects on which the work treats, will
be sorely disappointed. He will be met by an array of German idioms and bad
English frightful to contemplate, especially if he has before him the task of mas-
tering its six hundred and eighty-one muddy pages. These blemishes, however,
appear to be mainly the fault of the translator, for the matter of the work is good,
the arrangement fine, and the different articles are exhaustive, but short and to
the point.

The author is cautious to a marked degree in his reception of theories which are

*A Manual OF Histology, by Prof. S. Strieker, of Vienna, in co-operation with Th. Meynert,
F. Von Recklenghausen, Max Schultze, W. Waldeyer, and others. Translated by Henry Power of
London ; James J. Putnam, and J. Orne Green, of Boston ; Henry C. Eno, Thos. E. Satterthwaite,
Edward C. Seguin, Lucius D. Bulkley, Edward L. Keyes, and Francis E. Delafield, of New York.
American translation edited by Albert H. Buck, Assistant Aural Surgeon to the New York Eye and
Ear Infirmary. New York, William Wood & Co.

fA Text Book of Pathological Histology. — An introduction to the study of Pathological
Anatomy, by Edward Rindfleisch, 0.6. , Professor of Pathological Anatomy in Bonn. Translated
from the second German edition, with permission of the author, by William C. Kloman, M. D.,
assisted by F. T. Miles, M. D., Professor of Anatomy, University of Maryland. Philadelphia,
Lindsay & Blakiston.

58 Editor's Table. [Jan.

not well proven, and he seems to ride no hobbies. He accepts cautiously Con-
helm's theory of the origin of pus by the " emigration" of the colorless blood-
corpuscles, modifying it by the statement that it has by no means been proved
that there are not other sources for its formation.

He. rejects their clinical history as a basis for the classification of tumors, and
classifies them according to their microscopic structure. He occupies a neutral
ground in the dispute in regard to the constitutional or local origin of malignant
growths. The section devoted to the diseases of the lungs is a very satisfactory
one. The author accepts the theory of the non-tubercular origin of most cases of
phthisis which Niemeyer so ably advocates, but cautions his readers against
restricting too much the domain of tuberculosis, thinking that tubercles have more
to 'do with many cases of lung disease than the advocates of the catarrhal origin
oi phthisis are accustomed to acknowledge. The work as a whole, is excellent,
and one which no one who wishes to be fully informed of the present state of
pathology can aftbrd to be without.

Why Camphor Spins about in Water. — In a late number of the Popular
Science Monthly, Prof. Clifibrd says : " If small pieces of camphor are dropped
into water, they will begin to spin round and swim about in a most marvellous
way. Mr. Tomlinson gave, I believe, the explanation of this. We must observe,
to begin with, that every liquid has a skin which holds it; you can see that to be
true in the case of a drop, which looks as if it were held in a bag. But the
tension of this skin is greater in some liquids than in others; and it is greater in
camphor and water than in pure water. When the camphor is dropped into
water, it begins to dissolve and gets surrounded with camphor-and-water instead
of water. If the fragments of camphor were exactly symmetrical, nothing more:
would happen ; the tension would be greater in its immediate neighborhood, but
no motion would follow. The camphor, however, is irregular in shape ; it dis-
solves more 'on one side than the other; and consequently gets pulled about,
because the tension of the skin is greater where the camphor is most dissolved.
Now, it is probable that this is not nearly so satisfactory an explanatiori to you as
it was to me when I was first told of it ; and for this reason : By that time I was
already perfectly familiar with the notion of a skin upon the surface of liquids,
and I had been taught by means of it to work out problems in capillarity. The
explanation was therefore a description of the unknown phenomenon which I
did not know how to deal with as made up of known phenomena which I did
know how to deal with. But to many of you possibly the liquid skin may seem
quite as strange and unaccountable as the motion of camphor on water."

Forests and Fruit-Growing. — In the same journal we find the following:
Fruit has become a necessary of life — a great variety of fruit indeed, and a great
deal of it ; and this will become more and more the case with the increase of
intelligence and thrift. The great abundance of most kinds of fruit for the last
two or three years may cause us to feel a security, which is not well grounded,
with regard to the conditions of climate necessary to the unfailing production of
fruit. Only within a few years past have there been seasons when the fruit-crop

1 8 73-] Editor' s Table. 59

was very light, and not at all adequate to the demand. One of the causes of
this is the capriciousness of the seasons, and this capriciousness, I believe, is
becoming constantly greater as the country grows older.

An inquiry, then, of much scientific interest, and of great material importance,
has reference to what may be the cause of this increasing uncertainty of the
fruit-crop. In the early settlement of the country, it was easy to grow peaches,
even in localities where growing peaches now seldom gladden the eye. In Ohio
between the parallels of 40° and 41°, for example, peach-buds were seldom
injured by winter or spring frosts, and the crop was abundant almost every year
when the country was " new." For the last twenty-five years, peaches miss
oftener than they hit, and in many parts this has told so fearfully against the enter-
prise of production that scarcely a peach tree is now to be seen.

The clearing of the country had made this change. The continued clearing
of the country will increase the mischief still more. The growing of peaches
and of most other fruits will be driven, as indeed it already has been, to special
localities and special soils. It is now for such localities to look out in time and
preserve as far as possible the favorable conditions they now have, and if possible
to increase them."

Great Fires and Rain-Storms. — In an article published in the JoMrnal of
the Franklin Institute, July, 1872, by Prof. I. A. Lapham, assistant to the Chief-
Signal officer U. S. A., entitled. The Great Fires of 187 1 in the Northwest, we
find the following in regard to the burning of Chicago : " During all this time —
twenty-four hours of continuous conflagration upon the largest scale — no rain was
seen to fall, nor did any rain fall until four o'clock the next morning; and this
was not a very considerable ' down-pour,' but only a gentle rain, that extended
over a large district of country, differing in no respect from the usual rains. The
quantity, as reported by meteorological observers at various points, was only a few
hundredths of an inch. It was not until four days afterward that any thing like
a heavy rain occurred. It is therefore quite certain that this case cannot be
referred to as an example of the production of rain by a great fire. Must we
therefore conclude," says Prof. Lapham, "that fires do not produce rain, and
that Prof. Espy was mistaken in his theory on that subject? By consulting his
reports (Fourth Report, 1857, p. 29), it will be found that he only claimed that
fires would produce rain under favorable circumstances of high dew-point, and a
calm atmosphere. Both of these important conditions were wanting at Chicago,
where the air was almost entirely destitute of moisture, and the wind was blowing
a gale. To produce rain, the air must ascend until it becomes cool enough to
condense the moisture, which then falls in the form of rain. But here the heated
air could not ascend very far, being forced off in nearly an horizontal direction
by the great power of the wind. The case therefore neither confirms nor dis-
proves the Espian theory, and we may still believe the well-authenticated cases
where, under favorable circumstances of very moist air and absence of wind, rain
has been produced by large fires." Prof. Lapham also remarks, " The telegraph-
wires indicated no unusual disturbance of the electric condition of the atmos-
phere." Upon reading this last remark, the question occurs to us, Can there not

6o Editor' s Table. [Jan.

be a change in the electrical state of the atmosphere which, although too small to
manifest itself upon telegraph-wires, may occasion storms ?

The Velocity of Nerve Currents. — An interesting article on this subject,
in the Revue des deux Mondes, by R. Radau, has been translated by Mr. A. R.
Macdonough, and is published in the January number of the Popular Science
Monthly. It is shown that thought never springs instantaneously under the influ-
ence of an external cause. The nervous current, which transmits sensations to
the brain, requires a certain appreciable time; and a similar interval is consumed
in the transmission of the commands of the will to the members, which obey the
motive thought. Several attempts have been made to measure this velocity. A
doctor of the middle ages, conceiving the nerves to carry a material fluid, fancied
its speed must bear a relation to that of the blood, in the inverse ratio of the
areas of their respective channels. This calculation gave " six hundred thou-
sand million yards per minute^— six hundred times the rapidity of the motion of
light." [We quote this from the article above mentioned. Whether the mediaeval
doctor or his modern commentator is to blame, we do not say ; but the rate given
is not six hundred times — it is only about thirty times — the velocity of light.]

Haller, reasoning from the number of letters he could pronounce in a minute,
and the number of muscular motions requisite for each, deduced a speed of 154
feet per second for the nervous current. His reasoning was erroneous and his
data were loose ; but he stumbled upon a tolerable approximation of the true
result.

Helmholtz, the distinguished German physicist, has solved the problem by a
new and satisfactory method. He measured directly, by means of a galvanic
chronoscope, the peHod that elapsed between the irritation of a fi^og's muscle
and its contraction ; also the period between the excitation of an adherent nerve,
and the contraction of the muscle. The difference shows how , long a time is
required to send the news of the irritation to the brain, and the command of the
brain to the muscle. The speed of the nervous current was thus found to be, in
the frog, nearly eighty feet per second. Improvements of the experiment, and its
application to the human subject, have shown that sensation is transmitted in the
human body between ninety and one hundred feet per second. This is certainly
not very high speed; and it shows pretty clearly that the " nerve-fluid" is not
identical with electricity, though electrical currents exist in nerves. The reader
will see, on reflection, that people killed by lightning must die without pain, since
the electrical discharge traverses the body so much more swiftly than the currents
of sensation.

Spontaneous Movements in Plants. — In the Popular Science Revieiv, Mr,
Alfred W. Bennett presents an extremely interesting account of the spontaneous
motions and irritability observed in the vegetable world, of which the sensitive
plant [A'limosa) affords a well-known, but by no means a solitary, example. One
of the commonest and most mysterious of such phenomena is that of the convolu-
tion of climl)ing plants. These, as is notorious, always twine round their support
in one direction, that is, always from right to left or from left to right, and always,

1 8 73-] Editor's Table. 6i

for the same species, in the same direction. This is manifested when there is no
support, or when the end of the growing shoot stands or hangs free from the prop
to which the lower portion ah'eady clings. When a climbing plant first springs
from the ground, the extremity of the shoot performs slow gyrations in the air, as
if, as Darwin expresses it, it were searching for a support. This movement, Mr.
Bennett says, is spontaneous ; that is, it is not the necessary result of known
physical laws acting upon the individual. If it were so, individuals of different
species, under similar conditions, would turn in the same direction ; and indivi-
duals of the same species, under different conditions, would follow different direc-
tions. Mr. Bennett does not distinctly claim for plants the actual possession of a
voluntary or sentient faculty; but he points out that facts do not support the
dogma of a clear line of demarcation separating the animal from the vegetable
kingdom — the power of voluntary motion belonging to one and not to the other.

The Difference between the Two Sides of the Heart. — In an article
entitled Foul Air and Disease of the Heart, by Dr. Cornelius Black, in the De-
cember number of the Popular Science Monthly, the following statement is made
as to the difference between the two sides of the heart :

" Why are the affections of the two sides of the heart essentially different in
their nature ? Why do those of the left side of the heart point to an inflamma-
tory origin; those of the right side of the heart, with but few exceptions, to a
non-inflammatory origin ? There must be some cause for this difference. What
is it ? The reason is found in the difference which exists between the constitu-
tion of the blood which reaches the left side of the heart from the lungs, and
that which reaches the right side of the heart from the general system. The
blood reaching the left side of the heart from the lungs has been replenished with
all the elements necessary for the growth of the tissues; it has been purified,
renovated, and vivified by its oxygenation in the lungs, and it is thus rendered in
the highest degree stimulating to the left heart. The blood reaching the right
side of the heart from the general system has been deprived, by the requirements
of growth, of the chief portion of its nutrient materials ; it has been fouled by
the debris of tissue-waste ; it has been further poisoned by its impregnation with
carbonic-acid gas : it is therefore a depressant, rather than a healthy excitant, to
the right heart. True, it brings with it to the chambers of the right heart the
products of the digestion of food ; but what are they, either as nutrients or excit-
ants, when they reach that point? They are no more than inert, unusable,
passive elements. Not until they have passed to the lungs, and have .there re-
ceived the vivifying influence of oxygen, can they enter into the real composition
of the blood, and thus become active, exciting, disposable constituents of it."

The Blood Circulation and Heart Disease, — In the same paper, the
necessity of a uniform and normal circulation of the blood is thus urged :

" The third great vital function which influences the degenerative tendency of
the heart is that of the circulation of the blood. To preserve the health of the
tissues, the blood must not only be pure and rich in the materials of growth, but
it must flow with a certain speed through all the blood-vessels. If the speed

62 Editor' s Table. [Jan.

with which the blood moves is on the side of either plus or minus of the stand-
ard of health, disease will shortly arise. If it is on the side of plus, active
disease of the heart, where that organ is the one to suffer, will follow. If on the
side of mimis, tissue degeneration will ensue. Active disease will be the con-
sequence before middle age; degeneration after that period.

" These facts teach that all violent and long-continued efforts of the body-
should be avoided. They huiTry the heart's action to an inordinate degree; they
cause it to throw the blood with great force into the extreme vessels, and, as there
is almost always one organ of the body M'eaker than the others, the vessels of
this organ become distended, and, remaining distended, the organ itself becomes
diseased. Running, rowing, lifting, jumping, wrestling, severe horse-exercise,
cricket, football, are fruitful causes of heart-disease. Those which require the
breath to be suspended during their accomplishment are more fruitful causes in
this respect than those which require no such suspension of the breathing. Row-
ing, lifting heavy weights, wrestling, and jumping, do this ; and, of these, rowing
is the most powerful for evil. At every effort made with the hands and feet, the
muscles are strained to .their utmost ; the chest is violently fixed ; no air is
admitted into the lungs ; blood is thrown by the goaded heart with great force
into the pulmonary vessels ; they become distended ; they at length cannot find
space for more blood ; the onward current is now driven back upon the right
heart ; its cavities and the blood-vessels of its walls become in like manner dis-
tended ; the foundation of disease is laid. Hypertrophy, haemoptysis, inflamma-
tory affections of the heart and lungs are the consequences in the young ; valvular
incompetency, rupture of the valves or of the muscular fibres of the heart,
pulmonary apoplexy, ^and cerebral haemorrhage, are too frequently the imme-
diate consequences in those of more mature years."

Carbolic Acid in Small-Pox. — In a recent number of the Lancet, Dr.
Alexander Watson recorded several cases of small-pox and scarlet fever, in
which the external application of carbolic acid met with marked success. In
the case of one patient with small-pox, whom he saw at the period ^h.e\\ papulce
appeared, he ordered an enema, and then had the patient — a girl of eleven years
— sponged all over with carbolic acid soap-suds. On the next day, a severe
attack of confluent small-pox was threatened, but the child was sponged as she
had previously been, and then her whole body was painted with the carbolic acid
glycerine of the British Pharmacopoeia. Five grains of Dover's powder were
then given to allay ii-ritability, and the little girl slept quietly for several hours,
when she was sponged again. No vesicles formed and the patient was conval-
escent in a few days. Carbolic acid was, in the meantime, plentifully used about
the room.

The Macropode. — This little fish forms the subject of a paper communicated
to the French Academy of Sciences by M. N. Joly. Eight years ago, M. Agassiz
said that he had found among the fish tribe metamorphoses as considerable as
those which had been remarked in reptiles ; and this is a case in point. The egg

1 873-] Editor's Table. d-T^

of the macropode, not bigger than a poppy seed, when hatched is perfectly trans-
parent and hghter than water. It is hatched in about sixty-five hours, just as is
the case with the egg of the tench. But on account of this rapid birth, the
creature is necessarily in an imperfect state. It makes its appearance in the shape
of a tadpole, the head and trunk of which are attached to. a large belly, the tail
being free and surrounded with a natatory membrane which is exceedingly trans-
parent. Although the animal seems to have no striped muscular fibers, it is very
nimble under the microscope and is not more than a millimeter and a half in
length. Its head has two large eyes still deprived of their pigment ; there is no
mouth, and no digestive apparatus either. But the heart is already active, and
some circulation is perceptible in the upper part of the tail. There are no gills,
so that respiration must be effected through the skin. There are no secretory
organs and no fins. The same as in all fish, the nervous system is formed at an
early period,, and is composed' of two parallel cords which branch out into the
head. Of the skeleton, nothing appears as yet but the dorsal cord. Numerous
pigmentary spots appear all over the body. A short time after, the mouth, intes-
tines, liver and air bladder are formed, together with the gills. New vessels
gradually make their appearance, while the earlier ones are obliterated. The
caudal natatory membrane is gradually formed into two pectoral fins, and brilliant
scales cover the body, and from that moment the creature assumes the shape of a
regular fish. Here, therefore, we have changes similar to those which are ob-
served in Planer's lampreyj in insects and in Crustacea. This is an important
fact, since naturalists had hitherto denied the existence of such changes in fish.

Influence of Variously Colored Light on Growth. — This subject is
at present attracting a good deal of attention, and, strange to say, it is regarded by
many as a new matter for investigation, a patent even having been recently granted
for the use of blue glass in the cultivation of plants. Several years ago, a com-
mittee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science investigated
the whole question very thoroughly, and at various times individual observers
have devoted their attention to the subject. The general result seems to be that
growing plants thrive best in white light, while seeds, during the process of
germination, do best under blue rays. The well-known seedman, Charles Law-
son, of Edinburgh, thus details the results of some experiments made by him in
1853 : " I had a case made, the sides of which were formed of glass, colored
blue or indigo, which case I attached to a small gas stove for engendering heat ;
in the case shelves were fixed inside, on which were placed small pots wherein
the seeds to be tested were sown. The results were all that could be looked for ;
the seeds freely germinated in from two to five days only, instead of from eight
to fourteen days as before. I have not carried our experiments beyond the ger-
mination of seeds, so that I cannot afford practical information as to the effect of
other rays on the after culture of the plants.

I have, however, made some trials with the yellow ray in preventing the ger-
mination of seeds, which have been successful ; I have always found the violet
ray prejudicial to the growth of plants after germination."

64 Editor's Table, [Jan.

Beware of Green Wall Papers. — A physician in Western Massachusetts
recently had a lady patient who, for several weeks, had been suffering from
nausea, general prostration, and other symptoms of slow poisoning. Failing to
discover the cause of the symptoms, says the Hartford Courant, as a last resort
the doctor requested her to move from her chamber, the walls of which were
covered with paper of a very light shade of green, so light, indeed, that in the
evening it could scarcely be distinguished from white. After- leaving the room
the symptoms immediately disappeared, and the patient rapidly recovered. A
sample of the paper was forwarded for analysis to the State chemist, Mr. Joseph
Hall, and was found to contain a large quantity of arsenic. Mr. Hall obtained
the poison in the various forms of metallic arsenic, yellow tersulphite, silver
arsenite and arsenious acid or common white arsenic. He estimates that every
square foot of this innocent-looking paper contained an amount of the poison
equivalent to five grains of arsenious acid, or double the fatal dose for an adult
person. This, in the moist, warm weather of last July and August, was amply
sufficient to keep the air of a room constantly impregnated with the poison, and
any person occupying such a room would be as certainly poisoned as though the
arsenic had been taken into the stomach.

Cutaneous Absorption of Poisons. — In a recent note to the Paris Academy,
M. Bernard describes a series of experiments for the purpose of testing the
degree of cutaneous absorption which took place in a bath impregnated with the
substances to be tested. Every precaution was taken to prevent the possibility
of the substances entering the system of the patient by any avenue except the
skin. He was then submitted for a short time to steam vapor charged with
iodide of potassium, and two or three hours afterwards the urine gave unmis-
takable evidence that the iodide had been absorbed and was passing through the
system.

In these experiments the medicinal agent reached the skin in hot aqueous
vapor, and therefore acted more readily than an ordinary cold solution ; but the
fact of cutaneous absorption was very definitely illustrated. M. Bernard adds :

" M. Colin has described an experiment in which he allowed water charged
with cyanide of potassium to fall for five hours on a horse's back. This caused
the death of the animal ; the sebaceous matter having been destroyed through
percussion, and cutaneous absorption taking place."

Colored Spectacles. — Dr. Stearns writes : " The photographer uses orange
colored glass to exclude the actinic rays of light, and why some optician has not
had the genius to see that orange is the proper color for spectacles, instead of
green or blue, for persons with weak eyes, is beyond my comprehension. A room
in the hospital with which I am connected is lighted through orange colored
windows, and is used by patients who have certain diseases of the eyes requiring
the exclusion of the actinic rays of light. It has been very satisfactory. Orange
is also, I believe, the proper color for bottles containing chemicals affected by
lieht."

LENS VOL. ir, PL. I.

AMPHORAE.

DTATOIvIACEAE PL. I.

VVt^ltraB.NifngfsvingCo Ch

THE LENS;

WITH THE

Transactions of the State Microscopical Society of Illinois,

Vol. IL— CHICAGO, APRIL, 1873.— No. 2.

CONSPECTUS OF THE DIATOMACEJE,~ANALYSIS
OF THE SPECIES OF THE GENUS AMPHORA.

A STRANGE misconception has existed as to the position of the
genus Amphora ; even so experienced an observer as Dr. Walker
Arnott, while justly criticising the views of Gregory, Kiitzing, and
W. Smith, himself falls into error ; and he presents a very fanciful
and false view of the structure of the frustules. Mr. Ralfs alone
appears to have had a right conception, when he remarks that
'^'Amphora contains several species of Agardh's genus Cymbella,
and ought, in our opinion, to have retained that generic appellation."
Although I have not united them with this genus, yet I have placed
them in the family Cymbellese, and may hereafter consider them as
a sub-genus, at least, of Cymbella. They are, in fact, exaggerated
Cymbellese. Bearing in mind that all the diatomaceae are built
after the same type, or are siliceous boxes, as I have already indi-
cated in the preface to the Synopsis, a reference to the following
diagrams will make the structure of Amphora plain. If we com-
mence with a typical navicula form, as in figure i, presented in side
view, we have the median line {raphe) dividing the valve symmetri-
cally. Passing to figure 2, we have the typical Cymbella, the median
line being nearer to one margin than the other, or dividing the valve
unsym metrically. The most convex margin is termed the dorsum,
and the other the venter. Although these are objectionable terms,

Vol. IL— No. 2.

Conspectus of the Diatomacece.

[April,

yet, as they have been extensively adopted, I shall continue to use
them. If we pass now to figure 3, we have a more decided depart-
ure from the navicula in the curved raphe and more or less curved
ventral margin. Let us now look at these frustules in front view
and end view. Figure 4, represents the navicula in front view ; a
and d are the striated valves, with central nodule, while the dotted
lines, c d, represent the lines of suture. (In all the figures the sutu-
ral lines are dotted.) Figure 5 is the end view of same frustule.

I 2

While the valves, as seen in figures 4 and 5, are slightly convex, the
sutural zone, or hyaline part which has upon it the sutural lines, is
of the same width at the two ends c and d, figure 4, and again at
the middle of the frustule, as seen in figure 5. Suppose now the
sutural zone to become wider at one margin of the frustule, where it
passes from figure i to figure 2, and widest at the middle of the
dorsal surface, it would now appear as in figure 6, which is the end
view of a Cymbella. We should still find the frustule, under action
of gravity, lying upon one of its valves when allowed to fall freely,
and so it would present itself generally in side view. Imagine now
an excessive development of the sutural zone, as in figure 7 (which
is an end view, as in figure 6), the frustule would no longer rest upon
one of its valves, as in figure 6, but upon the expanded connecting
zone between the two dorsal surfaces, and generally we would look
down upon the frustule from c through to d, in which case both
median lines ef would be in view, and if the median line incurved
toward c, as it does in many species of the Amphorae, we would
now have the view presented in figure 9. Such is the simple struc-
ture of the frustules of this genus, which, through Cymbella, comes
from Navicula.

1 873'] Conspectus of the DiatomacecB. • 67

I may here remark that in another group of diatomacese we have
the same unequal development of the connecting zone, as in figure
8, front view, of a Gomphonema ; here the greatest expansion is
axial, or at one end of the median line, instead of equatorial, or at
right angles to it, as in Cymbella and Amphora. This variation in
the development of the connecting zone is not a distinctive feature,
available for classification, for it would cause us to separate closely
allied species, e. g. in Surirella, some of which are cuneate and
some are not. The same remark applies to Diatoma.

The characters, then, which are available for classifying the
Amphorae, are mainly to be drawn from the aspect of the frustules
in front view, as in figure 9 ; this, in fact, being the only posi-
tion in which the frustule, if whole, will place itself when free
to move. The following definitions will be found useful : The
median line is either inflexed, as in all the figures in Plates I and II,
or straight or slightly curved toward the outer margin, as in all the
figures except 1-6 in Plate III. This gives us two great groups, and
this feature is generally evident, even when but one valve is seen, in
s. V. The space between the outer margin of the frustule and the
raphe (or median line), is termed the outer portion of the valve,
and in frustules with the incurved raphe, as in figure 9, is termed by
Mr. Ralfs canoe-shaped j the inner margin of the valve is slightly
curved or even straight, and generally (though not invariably)
touches the nodule, the latter also generally touching (but not
always) the connecting zone, upon which are the sutural lines, as
shown by the dotted lines in figure 9. The outer portion of the
valve is often striated or marked much more strongly (often only
apparently) than the inner portion ; the latter is sometimes obsolete,
or, if present, very faintly striate or hyaline. The connecting zone
between the nodules is frequently longitudinally striate, as is also
the dorsal surface, or that portion which lies between the dorsal
margins, and often these lines show through the valves. In describ-
ing the species, this feature of the markings of the frustules is used,
but it must not be relied upon too strongly. In a few cases, the
median line is so near the margin that the frustule is scarcely to be
distinguished, except by the greater development in front view.

The student is advised to use the Synoptical Table rather than
the Plates, in determining the position of any questionable speci-
men. Nothing can supply the place of concise descriptions.

Conspectus of the Diatomacece.

[April,

GENUS I.

Amphora. ap.(p\ and (pipo). E. 1840.

So called from resemblance to the ancient jar or urn, with two ears,

or handles.

A. Median line incurved in f. v., Plate I, Plate II, and Plate

III, figures 1-6.

Margins f with stauros 1 i

constricted J . , [ hyaline 2

undulate,

Margins

not

constricted,

rarely,

very slightly.

, ^ ^ 1 T ( with longitudinal lines. . . ^

stauros, not hyaline, i .^1 ^1 -^ a- ^^•

^ \^ ^ ' ( without longitudinal lines. 4

f with rows of f . ^ • i ^

.,1 1 -.A- 1 margins straight ........ c;

with longitudinals ^. • a z. a ^

-< ?. margins inflated 6

stauros, ) lines, (^ °

1^ without longitudinal lines 7

f hyaline 8

f with rows of I f margins

longitudinals ^. ,. straight,

?. not hyaline, < °. '

lines, ^ ' margins

without
stauros.

without j
longitudinal \
lines.

not hyaline,
hyaline . . . .

inflated.

not hyaline, <

margins
straight

or
gibbous,
margins
inflated.

10
II

12
13

B. Median line not incurved in f. v., Plate III, figures 6-37.

Margins f with stauros i

constricted, ( without stauros 2

with I median line curved 3

stauros, | median line straight 4

median ~]

Margins

not

constricted,

rarely,

very slightly.

rostrate, ■<

without
stauros,

not rostrate,

with line

longitudinal J curved,
lines j median
on valves, line

straight,
median
without line \ 7

longitudinal J curved,
lines I median ^
on valves, line > 8

[ straight, J

f median line curved 9

I median line straight 10

i873»] Conspectus of the DzatomacecB. 69

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.

A. N. H. — Annals and Magazine of Natural History, London.

A. N. S. P. — Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.

B. C. — Bailey. Smithsonian Contributions, 1850.

B. M. O. — Bailey. Smithsonian Contributions, 1854.
B. J. N. H. — Loring W. Bailey, Boston Journal of Nat. History,
Vol VII, No. iii. Two plates.

B. Ch. — Note sur quelques Diatomees Marines par M. Alphonse De
Brebisson, Cherbourg.

C. S. & N. D. — Svenska och Norsk a Diatomaceer Af P. T. Cleve,
ofversight af K. Vet. Akad Forhandl. 1868, T. iv.

C. S. D.— Diatomaceer fran Spetsbergen Af P. T. Cleve, ofversight

af K. Vet. Akad. Forhandl. 1867, T. xxiii.
E. A.^Ehrenberg. Verbreitung und Einjfiuss des Mikroskopischen

Lebens in Siid und Nord-Amerika, 1843.
E. M. — Mikrogeologie von Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, 1854.

E. R. B. A. — Ehrenberg. Reports, Berlin Academy.

F. E. A. — Flora Europaea Algarum. Dr.. L. Rabenhorst, 1864.

G. D. C— On new forms of Marine Diatomacese found in the Firth
of Clyde and in Loch Fine. Wm. Gregory, M. D. ; F. R. S. E.

G. S. P. — New Genera and Species of Diatoms from the South

Pacific. Parts i, 11 and iiij by R. K. Greville, L. L. D. ; F. R.

S. E., &c. Ed. New Phil. Journal, Vol. xviii.
G. D. H. — Diatomeen auf Sargassum von Honduras, gesammelt von

Lindig, untersucht von A. Grunow.
Grun.— Ueber einige Neue und Ungeniigend bekannte Arten und

Gattungen yon Diatomaceen, von A. Grunow, 1836.
K. B. — Die Kieselschaligen Bacillarien von Dr. Fr. Traug. Kiitzing,

1844-
K. S. A. — Species Algarum Aitctore, Fr. Traug. Kiitzing, 1849.
M. J. — Quarterly Journal, Microscopical Society, London.
N. D. — Reise seiner Majestat Fregatte Novara. Botanischer Theil,

Algen von A. Grunow, 1868.
R. S. D. — Die Siisswasser-Diatomaceen, Dr. L. Rabenhorst, 1853.
S. B. D. — A Synopsis of the British Diatomacese, by the Rev. Wm.

Smith, F. L. S. Vol. i, 1853. Vol. 11, 1856.
Sch. — Preussiche Diatomeen. 1862, 1865,1867. J.Schumann.
T. M. — Transactions Microscopical Society, London.

70 Conspectus of the Diatomacece. [April,

SECTION A.

1. A. Icevis. Greg. G. D. C. PL iv, f. 74.

Rectangular, slightly incurved at the middle, ends rounded or
nearly square. Marine. Length .0017" to .0032", breadth .0007^''
to .0012^^; striae transverse, 60 in .001". (i. f. i.)

2. A. ocellata. Donk. M. J., Vol i, N. S, PI. i, f. 11, b.
Rectangular, ends rounded, middle slightly incurved. Stauros a

hyaline band, causing a dark spot apparently on each margin, at
its end. Marine. Length .0028", breadth about .001". (i. f. 2.)

II.

3. A, flexuosa. Grev. G. S. P. 11, PL iv, f. 4.

Frustules with six gentle undulations, and marginal row of minute
punctae. Nodules at the angle of the constriction. Marine. Length
.0034". (i. f. 3.)

4. A. undata. n. s.

Doubly lyrate, sharply and somewhat angularly constricted at the
middle. Nodule distinct, valves with several longitudinal lines in-
flexed like the margins of the frustule, and convergent at the ends;
inner margins of yalves slightly curved ; connecting zone with longi-
tudinal lines. Marine. Length .0017", breadth .00075^^, trans-
versely striate; striae fine, about 55 in .001^^, dry frustule, straw
color. (i. f. 21.)

This pretty form associated with^^. aponina, Amphiprora pukhra,
Bacillaria paradoxa and Nitzschia Sigmoidea was found in brackish
ponds near New Haven, Conn. The longitudinal lines are often
much more strongly shown than in our figure.

5. A. obtusa. Greg. T. M. v. PL i, f. 34.

Frustules broad, ends rounded, length .0037^^ to .004^^, constric-
tion slight, striae fine, 70 in .001^^. (i. f. 5.)

III.

6. A. Milesiana. G. D. C. PL v. f. 83.

Nearly rectangular, with constriction at middle, between which
and the ends, the margin is a little convex, several longitudinal bars
between the lateral segments, nodules marginal. Marine. Length
.0023^^, breadth .001^^, striae conspicuous, 28 in .001^^. (i. f. 7.)

1 8 7 3 • ] Conspectus of the DiatomacecB. 7 1

7. A. Magnifica. Grev. G. S. P. 11, PL iv. f. i.

Frustules large, rectangular, slightly constricted, outer portion
narrow, only visible at the middle, nodule minute ; dorsum with
numerous longitudinal lines, about 10 in .001^^, and brilliant scat-
tered punctse. Marine. Length .004^^ to .0055^^ (i. f. 8.)

8. A. complanata. Grun. G. D. H. No figure.
Rectangular, ends slightly rounded, frustules with numerous lon-
gitudinal lines, and small lanceolate points; slightly constricted,
resembling Greville's A. magnifica, but smaller, and without the
remarkable punctae on the longitudinal lines. Marine. Striae very
fine. Grunow gives no figure.

9. A. pulchra. Greville. G. S. P, 11. PI. iv. f. v.

Large, panduriform, outer portion narrow, dorsum with numerous
longitudinal lines, and four brilliant sub-marginal punctse on each
side. Marine. Length .004'' to .005". (i. f. 9.)

IV.

10. A. binodis. Greg. G. D. C. PL iv, f. 67.

Frustules deeply constricted. Marine. Length .00175" to .002," x
striae obscure, about 30 in .001^^. (i. f. 6.)

11. A. sarniensis. Grev. T. M. Vol. 11, N. S. (x) PL ix, f. 12.
Frustules sharply constricted, lobes with a double undulation, ends

produced, truncate. Marine. Length .0017" to .0022", striae 30
in .001". (i. f. 4.)

12. A. undulata. Grev. G. S. P. 11. PL iv, f. 3.

Frustules rectangular, with four sub-equal inflations. Marine.
Length .003", striae coarse, 14 in .001". (i. f. 10.)

13. A. proboscidea. Greg. G. D. C., PL vi, f. 98, 98 b.
Frustules nearly rectangular, narrower at the ends, which are trun-
cate and slightly produced, constriction of margin slight ; inner
margin of valves bent outwards at the ends. Marine or brackish.
Length .003" to .005", breadth .001" to .0015'' ; outer portion
coarsely striate, 20 in .001^^, inner portion hyaline. (i. i. 11.)

This diatom appears to be A, affinis of W. S. as figured S. B. D.
PL II, L 27, and which is not A. affinis of K.

72 Conspecttts of the DiatomacecB. [April,

14. A. oMonga. Greg. G. D. C. PI. v, f. 78. 78 b.

Linear elliptic, ends obtusely acuminate, constriction of margin
very slight, central nodules conspicuous. Marine. Length .0034''''
to .004^^, breadth .001^^ to .0014^^. (i. f. 12.)

15. A. kamorthensis. Grun. N. D. T. i, A. f. 12, a b c.
Frustules sub-rectangular or slightly constricted in the middle,

ends rounded, valves with a longitudinal furrow parallel with the
dorsal margin, ends produced in s. v. connecting membrane with
longitudinal lines. Marine. Striae punctate, subradiate, 35 in .001,
smaller or obsolete in the space between the median line and the
longitudinal sulcus. (i. f. 13.)

Formerly described by Grunow as A. Grevilliana, from which,
however, it is quite distinct.

16. A. vitrea. Cleve. C. S. & N. D. T. iv, f. 5, 6.
Rectangular, with rounded corners ; connecting zone with evi-
dent longitudinal lines, ventral margin of valves concave, dorsal
margin convex in s. v. Marine. Length .004^^, striae about 22 in
.ooi"^ (11. f. I.)

VI.

17. A. litoralis. Donk. T. M. vi, PI. in, f. 15. 15 b.

Oval, with truncate ends ; connecting zone marked with several
longitudinal lines of linear, transversely set punctae. Marine.
Length .002^^ to. 003^^, breadth .0008''^ to .0012^^; strise distinct,
moniliform, finer on the inner compartment. (i. f. 15.)

18. A. ostrearia. Breb. in K. S. A., p. 94.

Frustules elliptic-oblong, with regularly rounded ends, connecting
zone with numerous fine longitudinal lines. Marine. Length .0013^^
to .003^'^, finely striate, 80 in .001^^. (i. f. 16.)

A. quadrata, Breb., differs from A. ostrearia only in its straight
margins, as stated K. S. A. p. 95. Rabenhorst unites them, Flora
Eiiropaea Algarum, Sectio i, p. 88. A. membranacea of W. S. also
belongs here, the figure by Roper, M. J. vi, PI. 3, f. 8, a, b, is very
good. Grunow states that it is very variable in striation, he having
found specimens with 40 to 60 in .001^^. A. elegans of Gregory
T. M. v. PI. I, f. 30 (i. f. 17) appears to be same as A. ostrearia and

.ENS VOL.n,PL.II.

AMPHORAE

DIATOMACEAE PL.H.

ajy-

(ft) b ri.iFfiQtoiig ''jo r:i>ic.:)()0

1 8 7 3 • ] Conspectus of tJi e DiaiomacecE. 7 3

A. membraiiacea, but since the strise^ as he states, are more readily
seen, and as he makes no mention of the very distinct longitudinal
lines, I have not united them.

VII.

19. A. elegans. Greg. T. M, v. PI. i. f. 30.

Frustules elongate, with somewhat truncate extremities, stauros
more distinct than in A. osfrearia, and striation, though fine, more
readily seen, connecting membrane very transparent, length .001''''
to .0025^'. (i. f. 17.)

20. A. decussata. Grun. G. D. H. No figure.

Valves semi-lunate, ventral surface straight, or sub-concave, and
slightly biundulate ; dorsum convex ; a longitudinal line near ven-
tral margin of the valve ; narrower and inner portion of valves
transversely striate, outer portion obliquely, decussating with distant,
interrupted, somewhat obsolete and variously curved lines; under
careful examination the oblique lines are perceived to arise from elon-
gated connected cellules \ dorsal margin strongly punctate. Marine.
Length .0027''^ to .0065^^, breadth .0007^^ to .0012^^, strire 40 to
48 in .001^^.

Grunow gives no figure; he says, "^'this diatom under name of ^.
Stauroneiformis was first observed by Dr. Lorenz ; a name not suit-
able as it belongs to a whole group ; " he further remarks that he
has never seen the whole frustule, but has no doubt that in front
view is very similar to A. oslreajia which indeed, is sometimes
represented with diagonal markings.

21. A. IcEiissima. Greg. G. D. C., PI. iv, f. 72.

Elliptic, rather narrow, and very hyaline. Curve of median line
gentle, stria? exceedingly fine and seen with difficulty. Length
.0025^^ to .003^^. (i. f. 14.)

22. A. delphina. L. W. B. ; B. ]. N. H., vii, PI. i, f. i.
Elliptic, oblong, ends broad, slightly rounded, center gibbous,

nodules large, extending in a bar across the valve, terminal nodules
distinct, finely striate. Marine. (i. f. 18.)

A. minutissbna, W. S. ; S. B. D., pi. 11, f. 30. (1. f. 19.)

A. Libyca. Ehr. E. M. passim. . (i. f. 20.)

A. gigas. Ehr. E. M., PL vi, 2 f. 13.

The three last named species are varieties of A. ovalis. As for
A. 7mmitisswia, I have never seen it with finer stria? tlian about

74 Conspectus of the Diatomacece. [April,

40 in .001^^, instead of 64 in .001^^, as stated by W. Smith; it is
quite common, parasitic as well as free, associated with others,
ranging from these minutest to the normal size. Ehrenberg's
figures of A. Libyca are about as unlike as anything purporting to
be a representation of the same thing, could be. Oi A. gigas, only
a fragment is represented, no way differing from A. ovalis. I place
these three names here on account of the pseudo-stauros. Indeed,
with the smaller forms always, and sometimes with the larger, the
central nodule, under such focal adjustment as exhibits best the
outlines of the frustule, will expand into an apparent stauros. All
three are fresh water forms.

VIII.

23. A. lineolata. Ehr., Raben. R. S. D., T. ix, f. 9, 10.
Inflated, ends truncate, nodules distinct, outer portions with

strong, and inner with fine, longitudinal lines ; fresh water ; length
.002^^ to .004^^. ' (i. f. 22.)

Ehrenberg, Kiitzing, and Donkin, have given this name to three
different species of Amphora, and Ehrenberg himself, has again
given it to forms which are true A. ovalis j e. g. in the Liineburg
deposit ; and again in E. A. he has figured an entirely distinct
marine form under same name. Kiitzing' s form is probably a
variety of A. coffe(Eformis, and Donkin' s name was changed by
Rabenhorst to A. Donkiiiii. According to Grunow, A. lineolata of
E., has 70 striae in .001^^. He remarks that ''it is found in salt
and brackish water, varying considerably in size and coarseness of
striation, as do most species of Amphora. The largest and strongest
marked forms have 36 to 40 striae in .001^', and answer to Greg-
ory's representation of ^. sidcata Breb."

24. A. hyalina. K. B. PI. 30, f. 18. W. S., S. B. D., PI. 11, f. 28.
Hyaline, elliptic lanceolate, with acute or truncate apices, and a

few delicate, longitudinal lines; central nodule often very small,
median line feebly bow-shaped, valves without color when dry, and
often imperfectly siliceous. Marine. Finely striate, about 60 in
.ooi^^ (n. f. 2.)

A. hemispheric a. Grun. G. D. H. Grunow described this as a
new species having fine transverse striae, 55 to 60 in .001^^, with
distant, interrupted, obscure longitudinal striae; subsequently he
became convinced that it was A. hyalina; see A. crystallina.

i873«] Conspectus of the Diatomacece. 75

25. A. plicata. Greg. T. M., v. PI. i, f. 31.

Rectangular, broad, corners rounded, median line deeply curved,
outer portion of valves faintly marked with transverse striae difficult
to be seen; median space marked by strong longitudinal, slightly
curved lines^ which appear as folds. (11. f. 3.)

IX.

26. A. excisa. Greg. G. D. C., PI. v. f. U.

Rectangular, median line near the outer margin except at the
middle, where it bends inward to a nodule ; on the outer margin
is another, larger and more conspicuous, causing it to appear deeply
notched at this point. Marine. Length .0028^^ to .004^^, breadth
.0015^^. Connecting zone with a number of convergent longitud-
inal bars ; valves hyaline, finely striate, about 52 in .001^^. (11. f. 4.)

27. A. biseriata. Greg. T. M., v., PI. i, f. 32.
Rectangular, corners rounded, margins somewhat incurved, median

line not conspicuous, projecting very little from the margin in the
middle point ; connecting zone with longitudinal bands of short
transverse striae. Marine. Length .003^^ to .0045^^, striae about
18 in .ooi^^ (11. f. 6.)

I have doubts whether this is an Amphora ; it has much the
appearance of Lewis' N. Poweliimi. v.; the blank spaces, however,
are much more strongly marked.

28. A. pusilla. Greg. G. D. C., PI. 6, f. 95.

Small, linear, with rounded ends, nodule and median line near
the margin ; lateral segments narrow. Between the lateral segments
are several narrow bars separated by fine sharp lines, and marked by
sub-distant granules, or short striae. Marine. Length .0014''^ to
.0021^^, breadth .0004^^ to .0006^^, striae conspicuous, 24 in .001.

(II. f. 10.)

29. A. crassa. Greg. G. D. C.=^. sulcata. Breb. See below.

29. A. sulcata. Breb. B. Ch., f. 8.

Oblong, or elliptic-oblong, or sometimes slightly incurved, con-
necting zone with longitudinal lines of transverse striae. Marine.
Length .0041^'', breadth .002, valves striate. I give Brebisson's
figure. (11. f. II.)

76 Conspectus of the DiatomacecB. [April,

Grunow remarks, G. D. H., p. 14, that "the largest and strong-
est marked forms oi A. Imeolata, E., answer to Gregory's represen-
tation of A. sulcata, which latter appears to be a more strongly
marked species, judging from Brebisson's only figure, and is perhaps
A. crassa, Gregory." Mr. Roper appears to have first noticed, in
England, the form to which Prof. Gregory afterwards gave the
name ^'^ crassa,'' and he figures it in M. J. vi, PI. in, f. 7, as A.
sulcata for he was unwilling to add, upon doubtful grounds,
another to the long list of native species. The following is a
description of this diatom :

A. crassa. Greg. G. D. C, PI. vi, f. 94.

Rectangular, broad, ends rounded, dorsal margin sometimes
slightly incurved, five to eight longitudinal convergent bars between
the lateral segments, marked like the valves with sub-distant, entire
striae. Marine. Length .0025''^ to .004^^, breadth .0008^'' to
.0013''^, striaB coarse, about 12 to .001^''. (11. f. 5.)

Certainly Gregory's figure of y^. crassa and Brebisson's of A. sul-
cata are not remarkably alike, but as there is little doubt that Gru-
now is right in placing them together, we may judge somewhat of
the value of these pictorial repesentations of, too often, the fancy of
the observer. Gregory's figures, however, made by Greville are
nearer a true representation, but this diatom is represented, as it
appears to me, too coarsely. Mr. Roper's figure, /. c, is better. I
have this species in a gathering from Cherbourg, and have little
hesitation in uniting them as Grunow suggests. I cannot, however,
include the much finer marked form, A. plicata, which he also
thinks belongs to A. sulcata. Brebisson's remark that his diatom
differs from A. costata, W. S. by the latter having produced apices,
would indicate that A. sulcata was coarsely striated. I would, how-
ever, include

A. truncata. Greg. G. D. C, PI. v, i. 77.

Frustules barrel-shaped, with truncate ends, median line bending
gently inwards to a small nodule ; space between the valves broad,
with longitudinal lines, or bands, of short strici3 ; valves transversely
striate, more conspicuous at the margin. Marine. Length .0028^^.
30. A. elongata. Greg. G. D. C, PI. v, f. 84.

Elliptic, lanceolate, long, narrow, with truncate extremities ;
lateral segments very narrow, median line near the outer margin,

i873-] Conspectus of the Diatomacem. ))

connecting zone with several convergent longitudinal bars. Marine.
Length .0044^^, breadth .0011^^, striae conspicuous, transverse, 26
in .001. (n. f. 8.)

31. A. quadrata. Greg. G. D. C, PL v, f. 85.

Nearly rectangular, sides slightly convex, ends truncate ; several
broad longitudinal bars which are striated on the connecting zone,
between the nodules. Marine. Length about .0007^^, breadth
.0018''^, valves transversely striate; striae 34 in .001^^. (11. f. 7.)

A. Gregorii. Ralfs. The name qitadrata having already been
given to an Amphora by Brebisson, Mr. Ralfs altered the name
of this species to A. Gregorti, but as already noticed under A. ostre-
aria, Brebisson's form is only a variety of that species, and so Prof.
Gregory's name can be retained. I am not certain but that it is one
the varieties of the next group.

32. A. Grevilliana. Greg. G. D. C.^ PL v, L 89.

Frustules broad, barrel-shaped, dorsum with a longitudinal series
of somewhat convergent bars, composed of striae. Marine. Length
about .005^^, breadth about .002^^. (11. f. 9.)

A. fasciata. Greg. G, D. C., PL v, f. 90.

A. complexa. Greg. G. D. C, PL v, f. 91.

Mr. Ralfs has already, very properly, united these with A. Grev-
illiana.
Z-^. A. Arcus. Greg. G. D. C., PL v. f. ^%.

Frustules barrel-shaped, ends truncate. Marine. Length .0035"
to .0045^^, breadth about .002". Valves coarsely moniliform striate.
Striae 16 to 18 in .001^^. (11, f. 13.)

34. A. obtecta. J. W. B., L. W. B. ; B. J. N. H., vii, PL 11, A.

Frustules barrel-shaped, with straight truncated ends, nodules
wanting or obscure, whole frustule covered with close transverse
striae, which in f. v. intersect fine longitudinal lines or folds in the
connecting membrane, giving the frustule the appearance of being
woven all over; marine. (11, f. 12, a b c.)

ProL L. W. Bailey states in a letter to me, that the figure, though
a fac-simile of the drawing left by his father, who found this diatom
in soundings off the coast of Brazil, is not satisfactory. Probably it
is only a variety of ^. sulcata.

78 Conspectus of the Diatomacece. [April,

35. A. Semen. Ehr. E. M., PL 38, 17, f. 10.

Inflated, with broad, shortly produced truncate ends, without
striae, (?). (n. f. 18.)

This is another of Ehrenberg's unsatisfactory species. The associ-
ated diatoms are fresh water forms, and the figure is very imperfect.

36. A. pellucida. Greg. G. D. C., PL iv, f. 73, 73, b.

Broad oval, delicate and transparent, nodules distinct, median
line strongly inflexed, ventral margin excessively hyaline, outer
portion of valves striate. Marine. Length .002^^ to .003^^, breadth
.0012^^ to .0018^^, striae shallow, 30 in .001. (n. f. 15.)

Rabenhorst considers this as a variety of A. ovalis, for which it
might pass were it not for the marine habitat, and singular delicacy
of the striae; Ehrenberg's figure of A. lineolata from the Liineburg
deposit, and which is A. ovalis, is exceedingly like this.

A. incurva. Greg. M. J., in, PL iv, f. 6.

A. Erebi. Ehr. E. M., 35 A. 23, f. 3.

Single valves of these two species are figured ; they appear to
belong here. The description of ^. Erebi is '' lateral view arcuate,
with obtuse apices, concave venter, and about 30 striae in .001^^."
E. R. B. A. 1853, p. 526. The valve as figured, has a strongly
arcuate raphe, exactly like the valves oi A. pellucida.

37. A. arenaria. Donk. M. J., vi, PL iii, f. 16.

Frustules hyaline, rectangular, colorless, extremities slightly
rounded, sides somewhat uneven, slightly bulged out at the middle,
and at the extremities. Dorsal surface faintly marked with six to
eight longitudinal lines, the outer converging at the extremities ;
exceedingly transparent, and marked with transverse, very delicate
moniliform striae. Marine. Length .004^^ to .006^^, breadth about
.0016^^. (iL f. 14.)

■^i'i. A. inflexa. H. L. S. Amphipleura inflexa. Breb. K. S. A.

Linear, valves arcuate, with rounded extremities; median lines
distinct, nodules very minute, whole frustule hyaline. In f. v. median
lines inflexed and touching the sutural lines; marine, (n. f. 16.)

There has been always some doubt of the propriety of placing this
diatom among the Amphipleurce. I received specimens from De
Brebisson just before his death marked ''not an Amphipleura; the

1 873-] Conspectus of the Diatomacece. 79

proper genus is Toxonidia.'" Doubtless the inflexed median line
induced him to place it in this genus. Grunow thinks it should be
the type of a new genus.

XII.

39. A. naviculacea. Donk. M. J., Vol. i, N. S. PI. i, f. 12.
Rectangular, extremities slightly rounded,, striae on dorsal or

outer half of the valve continuous, and nearly parallel j on the inner
or ventral half coarser, and absent opposite the central nodule ;
strongly divergent on either side of it, and convergent near the term-
inal nodules; space between -sutural lines blank. Marine. Length
about .0032^^, breadth .0011^^. (iii. f. 4-)

Donkin's figure in M. J. is not numbered on the plate.

40. A. Donkinii. Rab. F. E. A.=^. lineolata. Donk. M. J. i.
N. S. PI. I, f. 13.

Nearly rectangular, slightly convex laterally, hoop with several
longitudinal plicae, median line gently incurved. Marine. Length
about .003^^, breadth .0012^^, finely striated transversely, striae
delicate. (iii. f. 5.)

The name lineolata having already been appropriated by E. for
another species of Amphora, Rabenhorst changed the name of this
species to Donkinii. The figure is not numbered on the plate in
M.J.

XIII.

41. A. Proteus. Greg. G. D. C., PI. v, 81, 81^, 81^, 81^, 81^.
Somewhat variable in outline, lanceolate, elliptical, barrel -shaped,

or truncate. Inner margin of raphe or median line, marked with
longitudinal moniliform lines or bars. Marine. Length .0015''^ to
.006^'', breadth .0013^'' to .0024^^, outer compartments distinctly
striate, about 22 in .001^''. (iii. f. i.)

The name indicates the variable appearance both as to size and
outline of this form, which, were it not for the marine habitat,
might pass for A. ovalis. It is exceedingly abundant on the Atlantic
coast, and a variety from Florida, found also in New Jersey, shows
a strong line limiting the striae between the median line and the
margin.

8o Conspectus of the Diatomacece. [Apr^l,

42. A. spectabilis. Greg. G. D. C, PI. v, f. 80, 80^? 80^?
Nearly rectangular^ broad, with rounded ends, and occasionally

sub-elliptical ; aspect of the whole form soft and indistinct, so that
in general only the marginal ends of the striae can be easily seen ;
with high powers and careful adjustment of focus, the dorsal surface
is found to be marked with longitudinal bars of fine striae, 50 in
.001''^. Marine. Length .003^"^ to .0047^'', breadth from .002''^ to
.0025^^, outer portion of valves striate, 14 to 16 in .001^^. (iii. f. 3.)

A. dubia. Greg. G. D. C, PI. v, f. 76.

This appears to be a frustule in act of self-division, belonging to
one of the preceeding species, perhaps A. spectabilis, the striation
is 24 in .001^^. From the occurrence of longitudinal bars, com-
posed of fine striae, and which in the case of A. spectabilis, are not
visible unless under high power, and careful focussing. Dr. Gregory
concludes that this species belongs to his group of complex Am-
phorae ! These bands of longitudinal striae are not uncommon on
the connecting zone of a great many diatoms, when usually it has
been considered structureless, e. g. in the large Amphiprora pulchra,
they are well shown. I need hardly remark that it is no evidence
of a complex structure. Dr. Gregory has drawn largely on fancy.

43. A. robusta. ^ Greg. G. D. C, 79, 79^.

Broad oval, with sub-truncate extremities, frustules thick, marked
with strong striae ; in the outer compartments transverse, in the
inner somewhat radiate. Marine. Length .003^^ to .0048^^, breadth
.0018^^ to .0024^^, striae sub-distant, moniliform, about 16 in .001^^.

(ill. f. 2.)

44. A. angusta. Greg. G. D. C, PI. iv, f. 66.

Small, rectangular, linear, elliptical, narrow, ends truncate, valves
transversely striate both sides the median line. Marine. Length
.0015''^, breadth .0004^^, striae fine, 44 in .001^^. (in. f. 6.)

45. A. ovalis, K. K. B., PI. v, f. 25. S. B. D., PI. 11, f. 26.
Turgid oval, with broadly rounded or truncate ends, striae monil-

form, distant, 24 in .001^^. Fresh or brackish. (11. f. 17.)

A. elliptica. Rab. Elliptic, gradually attenuated towards the

ends.

A. gigas. Ehr. E. M. T. 4, 2, f. 13.

A. globidosa. Sch. Preuss. Diat. T. i, f. 25. (11. f. 19.)

A. 7Jiinutissima. W. S. ; S. B. D.^ PI. 11, f. 30. (i. f. 19.)

LEN"S VOL.11, PL. III.

AMPHORAE

DIATOMACEAE PL. III.

aiernBNJEngiwinjCo CMorjo.

1 8 73-] Conspectus of the Diatoinacece. 8i

A. Normani. Rab. F. E. A., p. 88=^^. iJiiniUissimaj from warm
baths near Hull.

A. nana. Rab. Alg. Sti-b. No. 765. Long, ovate, with round
apices.

A. abbreviata. Bleisch in Raben. Alg. Sub. No. 1489. Small,
smooth, constricted at ends.

A. Libyca. Ehr. E. M. passim. E. A. PL in, i, f. 42, and vii, f. 17.

SECTION B.

46. A. lyrata. Greg. G. D. C., v. f. 82.

Doubly lyrate, ends truncate, whole form transversely striate, four
or five longitudinal bars between the lateral segments. Marine.
Length .0011^^, breadth .00075^^, striae fine, 36 in .001^^. (iii. f. 9.)

II.

47. A. angularis. Greg. M. J., iii, PL iv, i. 6.
Sinuato-constricted at the middle, with short, broadly linear,

truncate produced ends; striae distinct. (in. f. 7.)

48. A. sinuata. Grev. G. S. P., n, PL iv, f. 5.

Narrow, oblong elliptical, with truncate, shortly produced ends ;
undulations six, the two middle ones largest ; nodules considerably
within margin ; striae obscure. Marine. Length .0028^^. (in. f. 8.)

in.

49. A. rimosa. Ehr. E. M., PL 13, 2, L 17.
Elliptic-oblong, ends rounded, hyaline, (?) with a strongly devel-
oped stauros. (in. f. 12.)

Like many of Ehrenberg's figures, this is exceedingly unsatis-
factory ; probably it will prove a variety of some other species.

50. A. nobilis. Greg. G. D. C, PL v, f 87.

Broad, ends truncate, somewhat hyaline, with numerous converg-
ing longitudinal bars in the middle. Marine. Length .0013^^ to
.0028^^, striae fine, about 40 in .001^^. (in. f. 10.)

IV.

51. A. acuta. Greg. G. D. C., PL v. f 93. PL vi, f ()T^b.
Elliptical, with extremities slightly produced, connecting zone

with strong longitudinal lines, outer portion of valves moniliform
Vol. IL — No. 2. 3

82 Conspectus of the Diatomacece. [April,

striate. Marine. Length .0035^'' to .0055^^, breadth .00075^^,
striae about 36 in .001^^. (iii, f. 14.)

Gregory gives no front view of this species, but remarks that
probably it is like A. nobilis, from which it differs by the inner
margin being straight, and valves stronger moniliform striate ; it is
quite probable they may be varieties of same species.

52. A. rectangularis. Greg. T. M., v, PI. i, f. 29.

Nearly rectangular, slightly constricted, ends rounded, their mar-
gins slightly undulate, hyaline part of connecting zone widest at
the ends, length .0025^^ to .0045''^, valves transversely striate, 40 in
.001^^. (hi. f. 13.)

This is doubtfully an Amphora ; Prof. Gregory placed it here on
account of the stauros ; probably it is a {Navicula) Stauroneis. I
have found it associated with A. plicata in gatherings from Atlantic
City.

53. A. coffe(^formis. Kiitz. K. B., PI. v, f. 2i^.

Elliptic oblong or lanceolate, turgid at the middle, apices somewhat

elongated, truncate ; longitudinal lines on the marginal, and very

fine ones on the central, portion ; length .0012^^ to .0021^^. (iii. f. 17.)

A. lineolata. Kiitz. K. B., PI. 5, f. 36. (iii. f. 16.)

A. Fischerii. Kiitz. K. B., PI. 5, f. ^i^. (in. f. 19.)

It is already conceded by Ralfs, Rabenhorst, and others, that A.

lineolata of Kiitzing is not A. lineolata of E., and that A. Fischerii

should be united with A. coffecsformis. A. Hohenackeri, and A.

quadricostata differ in having a straight median line, and apices not

produced, yet little reliance can be placed on the figures, and they

may prove to belong here. Rabenhorst gives also A. acutiuscula as

a synonym ; it appears, however, to be a Navicula. He also quotas

as synonym A. exigua, Greg., which is much more coarsely striate,

28 in .001^^, and also A. lineata, Greg., which I have considered

an entirely distinct form.

54. A. lineata. Greg. G. D. C., PI. iv, f. 70.

Elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, with short produced apices, which
are truncate ; outer portion of valves marked with strong longitud-
inal lines. The whole frustule has a characteristic linear aspect.

i873-] Conspectus of the Diatomacece. '^'^

Marine. Length .0022^^ to .003''^, breadth .0007'''' to .008^^^ finely
striate, 42 in .001. (iii. f. 21.)

I am by no means sure that Rabenhorst is not right in uniting this
with A. coffece,fo7'mis ] it is closely allied to the next species^ and with
it is not uncommon in gatherings from the Atlantic coast.

55. A. costata. W. S. S. B. D., PL xxx, f. 253.

Frustules ventricose, with short, broad, truncate beaks, longitud-
inally costate ; transversely striate, 16 in .001^'', according to Prof.
Gregory; my own measures give 24 in .001^^, and Smith's figure
appears altogether too coarse. I found it in brackish ponds, N.
Haven. Marine, or brackish. Length .002^^ to .0033^^,, breadth
.0012^^ to .0016^^. W. Smith's figure. (iii. f. 28.)

56. A. Terroris. E. E.R.B.A., 1853, p. 156. E. M., 35 A.
23, f. 2.

Valves elongated, semi-lunate, suddenly attenuated into styliform
beaks; strongly granulated transverse striae, about 16 in .001^^.
Marine. (iii. f. 20.)

Very likely this may prove to be A. costata ; I give Ehrenberg's
figure. This, and A. Erebi, named after the two vessels, Erebus
and Terror, were from sea ice near north pole. In the Mikrogeologie
the figures are wrongly referred to in the text.

VI.

57. A. monilifera. Greg. G. D. C, iv, f. 69.

Elliptic, slightly incurved at the apices, which forms short pro-
duced extremities ; inner compartment obsolete, nodules on ventral
margin ; valves marked with longitudinal rows of distant round
granules, giving a dotted aspect. Marine. Length .0017^^ to .0026^^,
breadth .0008^'' to .0011^^. (iii, f. 23.)

VII.

58. A. aponina. Kiitz. K. B. T. v, f. 2)Z-

Frustules small, hyaline, elliptic-lanceolate, constricted gently
towards the ends ; apices more or less produced or rostrate. Marine.
Length .0009^^ to .0019^^, generally parasitic. (iii. f. 22)

I have had it in great abundance, living two or three years after
the original gathering was made, and had undergone the putrefac-

^4 Conspectus of the DiatomacecB. [ApriL,

tive fermentation, the bottles meanwhile corked, and for months
away from the light. Often the frustules cohered after self-division,
forming in some cases, when viewed endwise, complete rings, after
the manner of Ehrenberg's "s^o cd^A-^A Syncyclia. The frustules were
often hanging in festoons from the large, but now dead, frustules of
Melosira momlifonnis, of which the bulk of the gathering consisted.

A. veneta. Kiitz. K. B. T. 3, f. 25.

Small, elliptic oblong, ends truncate, hyaline, dorsal surface of
valves convex, venter straight ; marine. Were it not for its fresh
water habitat, A. borealis might also be united into this species.

59. A. salina. W. S. S. B. D., PI. 30, f. 251.

Frustules elliptic oblong, with slightly produced truncate extrem-
ities, valves linear, rostrate, scarcely siliceous, finely transverse striate.
Brackish. Length .0012^'' to 0015^^ striae 64 in .001.^^ (iii, f. 29.)

There is great similarity between this and A. aponina, the latter,
however, appears to be not only smaller, but more rigidly siliceous.
Smith's figure shows it too coarsely striate.

60. A. exigiia. Greg. G. D. C, T. iv, f. 75. •
Linear elliptic, with somewhat obtuse ends. Marine. Length

.0015" to .0022", striae 28 in .001". (111, f. 30.)

Rabenhorst considers this as A. coffeceformis j the longitudinal
lines obsolete. I would unite with this,

A. macilenta. Greg. G. D. C., PL iv, f. 65.

Elliptic, long and narrow, contracting towards the ends, which
are again slightly expanded. Median line well marked. Marine.
Length .0018^^ to .0022", breadth .0005^^ to .00086^^, striae about
30 in .001".

61. A. flu77ii7iensis. Grun. 1863, T. xiii, f. 15.
Sub-orbicular, with obtusely truncate produced apices. Median

lines of valves approximate, nearly straight. Marine. Length
.0012^^ to .0017^^, breadth .0003^^ to .0004^^, stria? very fine, 50
in .001". (hi, f. 25.)

62. A. Riechardtiaiia. Grun. G. D. H. No figure.

Slightly bow-shaped, ends rounded, sometimes recurved, so that
the appearance is very much like Eunotia monodon ; inner margin
of frustule curved, with line joining the ends and central nodule j
transverse, radiate-punctate, striate, 30 to 40 in .001^^.

1873-] Conspectus of the JlDiaiomacece. 85

d^i' A. cynibifera. Greg. G. D. C, PL vi, f. 97, 97^^, 97^.

Broad, with short, produced, truncate apices ; somewhat radiately
coarsely striate, 22 in .001", Marine. Length .0025" to .0045",
breadth .0012^^ to .0016^^ (iii, f. 26.)

64. A. Ergadeiisis. Greg. G. D. C., PL iv, f. 71.
Elliptic-lanceolate, narrow, with truncate apices, which are slight-
ly expanded, nodules conspicuous, valves transversely striate. Ma-
rine. Length .0035", breadth .00075", striae 24 in .001" (in, f. 33.)

A. ventricosa, Greg. G. D. C., PL iv, f. 68.

This is figured as having straight median line, but, no doubt, be-
longs here. Length .0023" to .0035", breadth .0005" to .0008^',
striae about 22 in .001^^. A form to which Dr. Lewis first called
my attention, and which Prof. A. M. Edwards provisionally named
lanceolata, is common on the Atlantic coast ; in s. v. it resembles,
somewhat, A. ventricosa ; it is very doubtfully an Amphora. (See
No. 70.)

VIII.

65. A. granulata. Greg. G. D. C., PL v, f, 96, 96, b. c. d, e.f.
Linear, broad, with slightly convex sides, and truncate extremi-
ties ; nodules inconspicuous, inner margins of valves and median
line straight, or nearly so ; dorsum marked with longitudinal con-
vergent bars of sub-distant granules, 14 to 18 in .001". Marine.
Length .0017^^ to .003^^, breadth .0008^^ to .0013^^, valves trans-
versely striate, 24 to 36 in .001^^. (iii, f. 31.)
6(i. A. turgida. Greg. G. D. C., PL iv, f. (y^,.

Nearly orbicular, with short, square, produced apices ; nodules
conspicuous. Marine. Length .001^^ to .002^^, breadth .0008^^ to
.0015^^, striae somewhat coarse, radiate, 24 in .001^^. (iii, L 27.)

A. ventricosa. See A. JSrgadensis, 64.

A. macilenta. See A. exigua, 60.

IX.

67. A. borealis. Klitz. K. B. T., iii, f. 18. '

Small, elliptic-lanceolate, sometimes acute, sometimes truncate.
Fresh water. (in, f. 18.)

A. veneta. See A. aponina, No. 58.

86 Conspectus of the Diatomacece. [April,

d^. A. crystallina. Ehr. E. R. B. A., 1840. No figure.

Smooth, dorsal surface convex, venter concave ; at each end
broadly truncate, hyaline. Marine. (iii, f. 37.)

I have specimens from Greenport, L. I., agreeing pretty well with
the description ; they are, however, pointed as well as truncate; in-
deed, often very much like W. Smith's figure of ^. hyalina, without
the longitudinal lines ; perhaps it is only a variety of this latter.

69. A. affinis. Kiitz., non W. S. K. B., T. 30, f. 66.
Oblong, apices broadly truncate, narrowed towards the ends, lon-
gitudinally striate, striae of the middle very fine. Length .001^^ to
.002^^. Marine. (in, f. 11.)

W. Smith's A. affinis may be Kiitzing's species, but it does not
agree with it, either in figure or description. Smith's figure agrees
exactly with specimens I obtained at Guernsey, and which I con-
sider as A. proboscidea, Greg. They are slightly incurved on the
outer margin ; and the inner margins of the valves are bent outward
at the ends of the frustule. The raphe is slightly inflexed; they
have much the general aspect of ^. ovalis.

70. A. lanceolatOy. Cleve. C. S. D., T. 23, f. 2, a, b.

Front view lanceolate, ends somewhat constricted, striation dis-
tinct, slightly radiate, nodules indistinct, connecting zone without
longitudinal lines, s. v. with bulging border, and extended rounded
ends. Marine. Length .0052^^, breadth .0016''^, striae nearly
parallel, about 16 in .001''^. (iii, f. 34.)

Cleve remarks that this species is closely allied to A. ventricosa,
Greg. , from which it difi'ers in the stronger striation, also in the
elongated nodule on the ventral margin, probably, however, they
are the same species. This appears to be the form already alluded
to under A. Ergadensis, as common on the Atlantic coast. Prof.
A. M. Edwards has recently informed me that I am probably cor-
rect in considering the species to which he had given the name
" lanceolata " to be the same as Cleve's. I have already alluded to
this form under No. 64. Gregory's figure of A. ventricosa, shows
the ventral margin straight, while that of ^. Ergadensis is apparently
curved ; a feature, after all, of little importance, though I have em-
ployed it for convenience in classifying.

1 8 7 3 • ] Conspectus of the DiatomacecE. 8 7

71. A. cymbelloides. Grun. G. D. H. No figure.

Small, valves cymbellseform, oblong-lanceolate, ends truncate,
valves unequally lanceolate, somewhat pointed ; dorsal margin very
convex, ventral curved slightly or not at all ; median line straight,
central nodule small, valves very finely striate, striae more conspicu-
ous at the margin ; dry frustules without color. Marine. Length
.0014^'' to .0031^^, breadth .0004''^ to .0005^'', striae about 80 in

.001 .

Grunow remarks, " Not abundant ; similar to Qxxtgor^ '$> angusta
and nana which have same breadth, and 40-50 striae in .001^^;
perhaps it is Syncyclia salpa, E. " Var. Mauritiana, Grun., has
valves more slender sub-acuminate, transverse striae distinct, sub-
radiant, longitudinal furrows more or less distinct in outer part of
valves, which are pale yellow, striae 65-70 in .001^^.

72. A. nana. Greg. G. D. C., PI. iv, f. 64.

Narrow, linear elliptic, sutural lines very near the ventral margin
of valves, and nearly straight ; nodules small near the ventral mar-
gin. Marine. Length .001^^ to .0016^^, breadth .0004^^ to .0005^^,
striae about 50 in .001^^. (iii, f. 32.)

73. A. gracilis. Ehr. E. M., PI. 37, 3. f. i.

Small, narrow, oblong, truncate; valves slender, transversely
striate. (iii, f. 35.)

Doubtful. To a slender variety of this, Ehrenberg gave the
name angusta.

74. A. 7narina. W. S. A. N. H., 1857, PI. i, f. 2.

Elliptic, with somewhat truncate extremities, nodules faint, striae
40 in .001^^. (ill, f. 24.)

Smith says, '' not unfrequent, but has been overlooked from its
exact resemblance in outline to A. affinis, but may be known by its
more delicate striae, and inconspicuous nodules." If this is correct
then Smith's figure, which is copied in PI. iii, f. 24, is poor indeed,
for it has no resemblance at all to his A. affinis, and very little to
Kiitzing's. Dr. Arnott, M. J. Vol. vi, p. 206, says: ''A. marina
of Smith, is precisely what Dr. Gregory calls A. Proteus. Some
years ago Smith gave it the provisional name of y^. Scotica ; but
omitted it in the second volume of his 'Snyopsis,' being not quite
satisfied with its claims to be specifically distinguished from A.
affi?tis, but these doubts were removed by afterwards finding it in

SS Conspectus of the Diatomaceoe. [April,

the summer of 1856, near Havre and Biarritz, on the French coast,
and thus having an opportunity of studying it in the living state,
and drawing up a specific character." It seems hardly possible
that Smith could publish a figure, which, even if poor, would so im-
perfectly represent his species, as not to show the median line at all
incurved, as in all the varieties of ^. Proteus.

75. A. bacillai'is. Greg. G. D. C, PI. vi, f. 100.

Linear, narrow, ends somewhat rounded, dorsum with narrow
converging longitudinal bars ; inner margins of valves straight.
Marine. Length .0017^^, breadth .0003^^, finely transverse striate.

(ill, f. 15, a, b.)

76. A. Hohenackeri. Rab. R. S. D., PI. 9, f. 11.

Frustules minute, oblong, or oblong-lanceolate, with longitudinal
lines. (hi, f. 36.)

Grunow is no doubt right in uniting with this species, A. quadri-
costata, Rab., and his own A. tumidula, and I would also add
A. fasciata, Ehr.

The following are either doubtful, or wrongly placed in this
Genus :

77. A. acutiuscula. K. K. B., T. 5, f. i2^=Navicula.

78. A. yEgcea. Ehr. E. R. B. A., 1858. No figure.

79. A. amphioxys. Bailey. B. M. O., PI. 11, f. 20, 2 2=iV//^j-r/^/a

amphioxys.

80. A. atomus. Ehr. =Synedra atomus ^2iQgQ\\\. = Frustulta pelli-

culosa ^\:€{y^'i,'~>Q)T\. = Navicula atoffius.

81. A. cai'inata.' Ehr. E. R. B. A., 1840. No figure.

82. A. conserta. Grun. G. D. W.=A7nphiprora conserta, Lewis.
'^■T^. A. cymhiforniis, Ehr. E. M., PL 16, i, f. Af-^=-Cymbella.

84. A. elliptica. Ag. Kiitz. K. B., T. 5, f. T^\=^Navicula.

85. A. iniermedia. Lewis. Acad. N. S., Phil., 1865, PL f. '],ad c.

This, from examination of numerous specimens, appears to

be a true Amphiprora.
Zd. A. navicularis. Ehr. E. A., T. 1. i, f. i2=Navicula.
87. A. Nilotic a. Ehr. Neither figure nor description known to me.

i873.]

Conspectus of the Diatomacece.

89.
90.

91,

A. ocellata. Ehr. Neither figure nor description known to me.

A.paradoxa. Ehr. Neither figure nor description known to me.

A. stauroptera. Bail. B. C, vii, f. 14, 15. Examination of
Bailey's specimens shows this to be a Navicula of the iV".
fofctpata type, with well marked median line. Bailey's
figure is not good.

A. tenera. W. S. S. B. D., Vol. i, PI. 30, f. 2^2= JVavicula.
A form figured by Rabenhorst and Janisch in ''Beitrage zur
Nahern Kenntniss und Verbreitung der Algen." Heft i,
1863. T. II, f. 4, as Amphiprora maxima Greg., is much
more like an Amphora, perhaps A. obtusa Greg.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.

PLATE L

Amphora Isevis.

12, Amphora oblonga.

ocellata.

13,

kamorthensis.

flexuosa.

14,

Isevissima.

sarniensis.

15,

litoralis.

obtusa.

16,

ostrearia.

binodis.

17;

elegans.

Milesiana.

18,

delphina.

Magnifica.

19,

minutissima.

pulchra.

20,

Libyca.

10,

undulata.

21,

undata.

II,

proboscidea.

22,

PLATE IL

lineolata, E., Rab,

Amphora vitrea.

II, Amphora sulcata.

hyalina.

12,

obtecta.

plicata.

13.

Arcus.

excisa.

14,

arenaria.

crassa.

15,

pellucida.

biseriata.

16,

inflexa.

quadrata, Greg.

17,

ovalis.

elongata.

18,

Semen.

Grevilliana.

19,

globulosa.

10,

Vol.

pusilla.
II No. 2.

Conspectus of the Diatomacece.

[April,

PLATE III.

I, Amphora Proteus.

20, Amphora Terror is.

robusta.

21,

lineata.

spectabilis.

22,

aponina.

naviculacea.

23.

monilifera.

Donkinii.

24,

marina.

angusta. Greg.

25,

fluminensis.

angularis.

26,

cymbifera.

sinuata.

27,

turgida.

lyrata.

28,

costata.

lO,

nobilis,

29,

salina.

11^

affinis K.

30.

exigua.

12,

rimosa,

31.

granulata.

^3.

rectangularis.

32;

nana, Greg.

14.

acuta.

33.

Ergadensis.

15.

bacillaris.

34-

lanceolata.

16,

lineolata K.

35-

gracilis.

17;

coffeseformis.

Z^^

Hohenackeri

18,

borealis.

37-

crystallina.

19.

Fischerii.

INDEX.

Amphora abbreviata

Amphora carinata

acuta

coffeceformis

acutiuscula

complanata

Aegcea

complexa

affinis, K.

conserta

affinis, W. S.

costata

ainphioxys

crassa

28,29

angulans

crystallina

angusta, Greg.

cymbelloides

angusta, Ehr.

cymbifera

aponina

cymbiformis

A reus

decussata

arenaria

delphina

atomus

Donkinii

bacillaris

dztbia

binodis

elegans

biseriata

elliptica, Rab

• 45

borealis

elliptica, Ag.

K. 84

1873-]

Conspectics of the DiatomacecB.

Amphora elongata
Erebi

30
3^

Ainphora naviculacea
navicularis

39
S6

Ergadensis

'Nilotic a

excisa

nobilis

exigua

fas data, Ehr.
fasciata, Greg.
Eischerii

60
76

32
53

oblonga
obtecta
obtusa
ocellata, Donk.

5
2

fiexuosa

ocellata^ Ehr.

fiuminensis

ostrearia

gigas 2 2
globulosa
gracilis
granulata

Gregorii

Grevilliana

.45
45
73
65
31
32

ovalis

paradoxa

pelliLcida

plicata

proboscidea

Proteus

45
89

25
13
41

hemispherica
Hohenackeri

24
76

pulchra
pusilla

hyalina
incurva

24
36

qtmdrata, Greg.
quadrata, Breb.

inflexa

ijttermedia

kamorthensis

38
85
15

quadricostata
rectaitgtUaris
Reichardtiaita

52
62

Icevis

rimosa

Icevissima

robusta

lanceolata

salina

lineata

saj'niensis

line 0 lata, Ehr.

Semen

line 0 lata, Donk.

sinuata

lineolata, K.
litoralis

53
17

spectabilis
Stauroneiformis

42
20

Libyca 45
lyrata
macilenta 60

, 22

, 66

stauroptera
sulcata 28;
tenera

, 29

Magnifica

Terroris

marina

tricncata

mauritiafia

twnidula

membranacea

turgida

Milesiana

undulata

minutissima 22.

'45

undata

monilifera
nana, Greg.

57
72

veneta 58, 67
ventricosa 64, 66

nana, Rab.

vitrea
Prof H. L. S??zith

Geneva, N. V.

92 The Cell. [April,

THE CELL.

III. THE NUCLEUS, OR '' GERMINAL MATTER."

Life, whether in its simplest or most exalted phases, is but the
expression of those changes which are constantly going on in that
little body which we somewhat stiffly call the ' ' cell. " If we examine
the little amoeba which revels in the vilest of mud puddles, we find
that it consists of a cell, or a congeries of cells j if we ascend to the
gray matter of the cerebral hemispheres, we find practically the same
structure. Indeed, for aught we can discover with our most power-
ful lenses, the protoplasm of the unicellular amoeba is as finely tex-
tured, and as highly charged with vital force as are those cells which
are endowed with the power of intellection. More than this, the
structure of each is essentially the same, so that it might trouble the
most expert microscopist to distinguish the amoeba cell from that
which had its origin in the brain. Hence, in studying the general
make-up of the cell, it matters little where we obtain our specimen,
provided always, we base our conclusions upon the phenomena exhib-
ited by a living and not a dead specimen. In former years, cell
studies were prosecuted upon cells which had ceased to live ; hence
the conclusions (Jrawn were as likely to be wrong as right. No one
would think of attempting to describe the habits and life-history of
an animal, after having examined a dead specimen only ; but it is
equally absurd to write the history of cells after examining those
which have ceased to live. Of late years, this fact has been recog-
nized ; especially since the researches of Beale, Cohnheim, Strieker
and others; but in spite of all this, the ingrained errors of former
investigators are still to be found in books and periodicals. The term
''cell," now so common in medical literature, is far too narrow-
gauged and arbitrary to answer the purpose which so important a
generic term should ; it almost inevitably leads us back to the days
of Schleiden and Schwann, and compels us to look upon the '' cell "
as a closed sac, passive and quiescent, which contains a minute quan-
tity of gelatinous or fluid material, besides a ''nucleus" and a
" nucleolus." Hence the very first thing to do, is to break through
this time-honored notion, and prepare ourselves to accept the facts
which the living cell reveals, regardless of all that has been said
concerning the dead cell in the earlier years of cytological enquiry.

1 873-] The Cell. 93

The "cell " or "elementary part" {Beale~), in its simplest (per-
haps more properly, youngest) form, consists merely of a minute
mass of soft jelly-like matter, endowed with a power of growth and
reproduction which is theoretically without limit, but which is prac-
tically limited by its supply of nutrient material or "pabulum."
As examples of this primary and typical cell, we may mention the
mucous corpuscle, and the cells found in the terminal extremities of
succulent and rapidly growing plants. All cells, whether vegetable
or animal, whether in health or disease, seem to commence life in
this simple manner. As infant cells, they are scarcely to be distin-
guished from one another ; during the period of what we may call
their childhood, visible shades of difference appear ; and when the
stage of full development, or adult cell-life appears, broad structural
distinctions are apparent ; and these variations in structure are but
the necessary result of the fact that cells must perform, and must
therefore be structurally fitted to perform, a great variety of func-
tions. To properly study the cell, then, we should commence with
its simplest or "type" form, and follow it through its subsequent
changes. This period of cell-life, it will be observed, is but transi-
tory ; it is notably the stage of transition ; the stage of develop-
mental, not of functional life. It is now preparing for duty ;
presently it will be advanced to the front, and be required to perform
duty.

All young cells present essentially the same general appearance,
from whatever source they are taken. When a cell first starts out in
life, it is merely and entirely what Beale has very aptly called amass
of " germinal matter. " It presents no appearance of a cell wall or
a " nucleus." Indeed, at this stage of its existence, it is all "nu-
cleus," or matter which is endowed with the power of growth and
reproduction only. At a later period of its existence, we find that
it consists of two parts, namely, "nucleus" or "germinal matter,"
and " formed material," the latter having been developed by and
around the former. It will be convenient to consider these two por-
tions of the cell in the order of their development.

First. — The Germinal Matter. It is desirable to retain the
term "germinal matter" for the central portion of the fully-devel-
oped cell, for the simple reason that it correctly describes its
functions.

94 The Cell. [April,

The "germinal matter," as seen in the full grown cell, is formed
in the centre of the cell. Structurally, it presents generally faint
traces of being granular — or of being composed of extremely minute
particles ; but if these latter be carefully examined by a power as
high as Wales' -^-^^ {immersioit), they are, so far as I am able to
judge, "structureless ' ' ; that is, they are apparently ultimate. These
infinitessimal particles, then, whereof the masses of germinal matter
are composed, appear to me to be the last division which we can
make of these tissues of the body, without carrying our investiga-
tions into the realm of chemistry ; in other words, they are probably
the true home of vital force. Prof. Beale states that the " germinal
matter" is colorless — a statement which I at present believe to be
quite correct.

The proportion of "germinal matter " — in other words, the size
of the nucleus — varies with the age, and somewhat with the func-
tion, of the cell of which it forms a part. The youngest form of
the cell, for example, those found in the lowest stratum of the epi-
dermis, is composed exclusively of germinal matter. Advancing a
single step towards the surface, we find the germiinal matter sur-
rounded by a thin coating of formed material — that is, the cell is
\yt\x\g prepared iox the duties which await it; — proceeding at once to
the surface, we find that the germinal matter has nearly disappeared,
while the formed material is enormously increased ; that is, the cell
is now quite fitted for, and has entered ipon its duties. Hence, we
may judge pretty accurately of the age of a cell by its relative
amount of germinal matter.

It is well known that an alkaline solution of carmine will perma-
nently stain the germinal matter, while the formed material either
does not stain at all, or receives a very much fainter tint. Dr. Beale
seems to make this fact a sort of test as between matter which is alive
and that which is dead.

Concerning this, I wrote as follows in April, 1871 {^Chicago Med.
Journal), and still hold the same opinion : " Whether or not ger-
minal or living matter may always and everywhere be stained by
carmine, or whether or not it ;z<fZ7<?;'" stains by carmine, is a matter of
utter indifference to us, only in so far as it enables us to distinguish
between two kinds of matter. The mere fact that a certain part of
the cell may be so colored, does not of itself prove that it is either

1 873-] '^^^^ Cell. 95

alive or dead." I am now pretty well convinced that, in some
instmices, the germinal matter refuses to imbibe carmine at all, while
in others, the formed material seizes upon carmine with quite as
much avidity as the germinal matter. At least such has been my
experience, and my carmine has been carefully prepared;, by hands
more skillful than my own.

Possibly this may be due to the chemical changes which are
known to occur in ammoniacal carmine (as shown by Thiersch) ;
but even if such be the case, it gives additional emphasis to the fact
that the carmine test has been pushed into a prominence quite beyond
its deserts.

When we discuss the function of germinal matter, we attempt to
thrust out thought down below the mystery of life. We therefore
attempt an impossibility ; and yet up to a certain point we can go
forward with considerable confidence. Every vital act costs some-
thing. Whether we think or shovel \ whether we work with our
brains or our hands, we are constantly wearing away the cell-struc-
tures of our bodies. Some provision must be made for repairing
this waste, and its accomplishment is a vital act. The germinal
matter seems to be specifically charged with this duty. It is cer-
tainly endowed with a developmental or assimilative power. Our
food is brought under the influence of the germinal matter already
living and active in the various tissues of the body ; it is, by virtue
of an inherent and specific power, resident in this germinal matter,
converted into new germinal matter, precisely like, and coequal in
power with, that already existing. Thus, this newly assimilated
'' pabulum," as Beale has already pointed out, is the youngest, as
well as the innermost or central part of the germinal matter. Mean-
time the oldest, or peripheral portion, is by an analagous exercise of
power, converted into '^formed material." At this point its devel-
opmental or assimilative life (power) ends, and its functional life
(power) begins ; henceforth it is to exert its capabilities, not, as in
the past, for itself alone, but for the general good ; and in this capac-
ity we shall meet and study it hereafter. The conversion of food
into living tissues, capable of answering the functional requirements
of the body, is in some sort a creative act. It is a long step from
the beef steak which frizzles upon our gridirons to the cells of the
gray matter of the cerebrum. Somewhere between the two extremes,

g6 The Flora of Chicago and Vicinity. [April,

there must be a power capable of grasping the one, and converting
it into the other ; a power capable not only of fashioning matter,
but of endowing matter ; a power capable of reaching down to the
dead albumen on the one hand, and of lifting it up to its own vital
altitude on the other. We find precisely this power in the germinal
matter ; indeed we find it specifically charged with the duty of per-
forming just this one simple and only, vital act. More than this, we
find that it has no other office in the economy. We shall hereafter
see that the boundary line between germinal matter and formed ma-
terial, is more sharply drawn than the carmine test would indicate ;
and that it turns not so much upon structural variations, as upon
radical differences in functional power.

7. N. Danforth, M. £>.,
Lecturer on Pathology , Rush Medical College.
Chicago.

THE FLORA OF CHICAGO AND VICINITY.

VI.

GRAMINE^.

Leersia, Soland. L. Virginica, Willd. ; common everywhere.
Z. oryzoides, Swartz ; less common.

ZiZANiA, Gronov. Z. aquatic a, L. ; Calumet, Miller's and S. ;
common.

Phleum, L. p. prate7ise, L. j common.

ViLFA, Adans. V. vaginceflora, Torr. ; Maywood ; 'abundant.
{H A. W.)

Sporobolus, R. Br. S. heterolepis, Gray ; common, near lake
shore.

Agrostis, L. a. perennans, Tuck. ; Maywood. {H. A. JV.) A.
scabra, Willd. ; dry prairies ; common. A. vulgaris, With. ;
Maywood. (H. A. W.)

CiNNA, L. C. arundinacea, L. ; woods on Desplaines river.
{H. A. W.)

1 8 73-] The Flora of Chicago and Vicinity. 97

MuHLENBERGiA, Schrebcr. M. glomerata, Trin., M. Mexicana,
Trin., M. sylvatica, Torr. and Gray, and M. Wildenovii, Trin.,
Desplaines river near Maywood. i^H. A. JV.)

Calamagrostis, Adans. C. Canadensis, Beauv. ; Haas's Park.
{H. A. W.~) C. lo7igifolia, Hook. ; near lake shore. C. areitaria,
Roth. ; with last.

Stipa, L. S. spartea, Trin. ; near Cornell. {H. A. W.)

Spartina, Schreber, S. cynosi^roides, Willd. ; common.

DiARRHENA, Raf. D. Americana, Beauv. ; woods near Grace-
land. (H. A. W.)

Dactylis, L. Z>. glomerata, L. ; Maywood Park. {H. A. IV.)

Kgeleria, Pers. J^. cristata, Pers. ; common. (ZT. A. PV.)

Glyceria, R. Br. G. Canadensis, Trin., G. fluitans, R. Br.;
common.

PoA, L. P. annua, L. ; everywhere. P. serotina, Ehrh. May-
wood. (ZT. A. W.) P. pratensis, L. ; with last.

Eragrostis, Beauv. E. reptans, Nees ; Desplaines river. E.
poceoides, Beauv., var. megastachya. Gray; everywhere. E. pilosa,
Beauv. and E. Frankii, Meyer. ; along R. R.

Festuca, L. F. nutans, Willd. and F. elatior, L. ; woods at
Maywood. {H. A. TV.)

Bromus, L. p. secalinus, L. and P. Kalmii, Gray; along R.
R. P. ciliatus, L. ; woods.

Phragmites, Trin. P. commimis, Trin. ; Hyde Park and S. ;
common.

Triticum, L. T. repeits, L. ; along lake shore and at Maywood.
{H. A. W.)

HoRDEUM, L. H. jubatum, L. ; prairies; common.

Elymus, L. E. Virginicus, L. ; Maywood. {H. A. W.) E.
Canadejisis, L. ; lake shore. E. striatus, Willd. ; woods at River-
side.

Gymnostichum, Schreb. G. HystiHx, Schreb. ; woods ; common.

Phalaris, L. p. Canariensis, L. ; 20th street, near R. R. P.
arundinacea, L. ; Maywood. {II. A. W.)

Panicum, L. p. glabrum, Gaudin. ; on R. R. near Stock Yards;
rare. {H. A. W.) P. sanguinale, L. P. capillar e, L. P. Crus-
galli, L. P. dichotomum, L. and P. latifolium, L. ; common. P.
virgatum, L. ; Maywood. {H. A. W.)

98 The Flora of Chicago and Vicinity. [April,

Setaria, Beauv. S. glauca, Beauv. ; S. viridis, Beauv. ; S.
Italica, Kunth. ; common.

Cenchrus, L. C. tribiiloides, L. ; abundant, especially along
lake shore.

Andropogon, L. a. fiLrcatus, Muhl. ; Hyde Park and S.

Sorghum, Pers. -5". nutans, Gray ; Hyde Park and Pine Station.

EQUISETACE^.
Equisetum, L. E. arvense, L. ; common.

FILICES.

Pteris, L. p. aquilina, L. ; abundant.

Adiantum, L. a. pedatum, L. ; Glencoe and Hinsdale ; not
common.

Woodwardia, Smith. W. Virginica, Smith ; abundant in sphag-
nous bogs, at Miller's.

Asplenium, L. Filix-fceinina, Bernh. ; Glencoe ; rare.

Phegopteris, Fee. P. polypodioides, Fee ; woods S. of Michigan
City; rare. P. hexagonoptera, Fee; Glencoe, and with the last;
less rare. *

AspiDiUM, Swz. A. acrostichoides, Swz ; S. of Michigan City.
A. Thelypteris, Swz. ; Hyde Park and S. ; common ; A. spinulo-
sum, Swz. var. inter?nedium, Willd. ; Glencoe ; not common. A.
cristatum, Swz. ; a single specimen found S. of Michigan City.

Onoclea, L. O. sensibilis, L. ; common.

Cystopteris, Bernh. C. fragilis, Bernh. ; Harlem, Riverside
and Hinsdale ; not common,

OsMUNDA, L. O. regalis, L. ; Hyde Park ; not common. O.
Claytoniana, L. ; Rose Hill and Evanston ; common. O. cinna-
mo7nea, L. ; Rose Hill and Calumet ; common.

BoTRYCHiUM, Swz. B. tematiim, Swz., var. obliquum lAildt', N.
of Miller's; rare. B. Virginicum, Swz.; woods; common.

H, H. Babcock.

Chicai^o.

1^73-] Crystallization and Organic Structures. 99

ON THE SIMILARITY OF VARIOUS FORMS OF

CRYSTALLIZATION TO MINUTE ORGANIC

STRUCTURES.

It may have been noticed by casual observers, even, that certain
forms of inorganic nature partake of the appearance of various forms
of vegetable or animal life. As for instance the stalactite caverns,
in which the stalactite and stalagmite formations so often resemble
beautiful growths of flowers; but it is in the minute forms of crystal-
lization that this is most apparent. I have lately noticed the
remarkable similarity of the crystals of some salts, more especially
after they have been dissolved in colloid silica, to various organisms ;
and it has occurred to me from the resemblance which certain salts
when dissolved in the silica have, to the so-called Xanthidia in flint,
that possibly these bodies which have long been thought to be the
spores of diff'erent species of Desmids, may after all be found to con-
sist of various crystalline deposits. This at present is only a sug-
gestion, for to elucidate the truth of the matter many more experi-
ments must be made, but from my farther remarks I believe it will
be found not to be quite an erroneous idea.

Flint is of marine origin, so that it seems against all probability
that the spores of plants inhabiting fresh water can have found their
way in large quantities into such an unlikely place as the sea, and
have been afterwards deposited at its bottom together with organisms
of a much greater specific gravity, as the Foraminifera found in the
chalk. This difficulty, as to the specific gravity, would be overcome
by imagining the gradual deposit of fine particles of the difl'erent
ores \ but it appeared to me that if particles of chalk, carbonate of
lime, were taken instead, that all difficulty as to the surrounding
natural deposit, &c., would be overcome. I therefore tried as nearly
as possible to follow the process by which nature had possibly formed
these minute bodies, as follows : — I deposited in an open cell, such
as is used in mounting objects for the microscope, a small quantity
of colloid silica. Into this Lplaced a very minute quantity of chalk
dust, and then stood it aside until the silica had assumed its jelly-
like appearance, and from thence let it pass into its hard character,
which, when examined under the microscope, showed a globular

loo Crystallization and Organic Structures. [April,

crystallization closely resembling Xanthidia.^ Other forms of dust
beside the chalk gave a similar appearance ; it is therefore evident
that many of the forms that we notice in flint are simply caused by
crystallization around a nucleus precisely like the globular deposits
of carbonate of lime around grains of sand, as seen in rocks belong-
ing to the Oolitic system. But this alone will not account for all
the forms to be seen in a section of flint. Many of the so-called
Xanthidia are of a star-shaped form ; these must therefore, if of an
inorganic character, be some salt which would be naturally held in
solution together with the silica, and by its gradual condensation
crystallize into these forms. So, not to take this theory for granted,
I dissolved carbonate of lime in an excess of carbonic acid, and
mixed this with a solution containing silica and sea salt with a slight
excess of chlorine. This I believe would as nearly as possible rep-
resent the chief constituents of the sea bottom as it then existed.
On evaporating this solution until it assumed its flinty form and
character, I found by the microscopical examination of its structure
that many of the forms were similar to \\\^, Xanthidia. I have there-
fore opened this subject for further investigation, and of its truth
there seems to me to be but little doubt, for it is a well-known fact
that a considerable quantity of carbonate of lime is held in solution
by the sea, from wjhence it is absorbed by oysters and other shell
fish, &c., and any excess of carbonic acid gas might be accounted
for from volcanic action. And again, it is highly probable that
many of the forms of carbonate of lime contained in the chalk
which are called crystalloids, may have been isolated in some instan-
ces and deposited in the gradually thickening flint. I have a section
of flint in which, nearly in the centre of the field, is a cast of a Fo-
raminifera, most likely a species of Rosalina, which tends to prove
that the sea bottom was at least slightly acid, for I believe that the
only way to obtain these casts is by the application of an acid which
liberates the carbonic acid gas of the carbonate of lime, the lime
remaining in solution. In the same section is another species of
Foraminifera found in the chalk, Gaudryna pupoides, which is
nearly entire. This circumstance would certainly prove that there
was not any great excess of carbonic acid gas in the water, for if
there had been why should its shell be nearly entire, and the shell
of the Rosalina completely dissolved ? But if we allow only a small

1 873-] Crystallization and Organic Structures. lot

percentage of the carbonic acid gas in the water, this difficulty might
be got over, on account of the greater specific gravity of the Gau-
dryna ; its shape would also conduce to its being precipitated at the
bottom much sooner^ more especially if the depth was not great ;
time would not therefore allow of its shell being entirely dissolved
as in the case of the Rosalina. Again, around the lenticular forma-
tions, the flint has crystallized in a rayed form. This is often seen
in sections of flint, and I believe I am at liberty to take it as another
favorable example which tends to prove my theory, that the Xanthidia
are of a crystalline origin.

Leaving this subject for the present, I now draw the attention to
many other forms of crystallization, which have a remarkable resem-
blance to other forms of animal and vegetable origin, although in
this case the resemblance is only apparent. The best method to
obtain the Foraminifera is to take a small piece of chalk and scrape it
fine, or what is better, a small quantity of the natural powder found
at the base of the chalk pits ; put this into a six or eight ounce phial
and fill with water ; keep on adding fresh water as long as it comes
away of a milky tint ; the deposit will then be found to consist of
minute shells, &c. The waste water is best removed with a glass
siphon. They may then be examined under the quarter-inch power
of a microscope. Many of the crystals of carbonate of lime pre-
pared from animal secretions have a great resemblance to some of
the organisms in the chalk. The form which the crystals of bichro-
mate of potassium assume under certain conditions, bears close
resemblance to a species of moss {Hypnum rutddulum), though this
form is not constant in its power of crystallization. Crystals of ni-
trate of silver, under certain conditions, resemble the spores of the
minute star-spored fungus, Asterosporium Hoff7nanni. Ammonic
chloride, formed by treating a film of hydrochloric acid on a glass
slip with ammonia gas, often crystallizes in the form of the beautiful
feathery moss, Hypnmn proliferum, which' is commonly found on
our heaths and sandy waste grounds. Many of its forms crystallize
into objects of great beauty, often resenbling leaf branches, &c.
Ammonia gas seems to have, when forming its chloride from other
solutions, films, &c., a power of producing wonderful forms of crys-
tallization, although most of them are unstable. Zincic chloride,
when treated with this gas, resolves itself into beautiful stellate forms,

102 On Resolving and Penetrating Power. [April,

many of which greatly resemble the Raphides, composed of oxalate
of lime, which are found in Turkey rhubarb, Rheu7n palmatum.
Ferric chloride, when treated with the same gas, produces forms sim-
ilar in appearance to the fern called the green spleenwort {Aspleniimi
viride). Many of these beautiful forms appear endless, which in
fact they are, for their great fault is, that like the snow crystals, they
cannot be preserved. Another form, which may be preserved, is
the crystallization of a solution of colloid silica with boracic acid ;
this crystallizes in the form of a zoophyte {SiLrtularia pumila^.
After the solution has been crystallized, it must be dried and kept in
a dry atmosphere. Nearly all these forms of crystallization may be
observed under the low powers of the microscope, and the process
of their formation will be found an exceedingly interesting study,
leading into a held rarely trod.

Joh7i H. Martin.
Maidstone, England.

ON THE RESOLVING AND PENETRATING POWER
OE CERTAIN OBJECTIVES.

Professor x\rdissone publishes in the New Italian Journal of
Botany the following tables showing the relative resolving and pen-
etrating power of objectives by different makers. In the determin-
ation of the separating or resolving power he employs the diatoms
ordinarily used as test objects, and for the reason that they are more
generally accessible than Nobert's Test-plates. In publishing these
tables, Prof. Ardissone does not intend to pronounce a judgment
upon the relative value of the work of the different makers. He
very justly states that the separating or resolving capacity is only
one of the qualities of a good objective. The same is also true of
the quality of penetration.

In the Table, N refers to Nachet, G to Gundlach, H to Hartnack,
and Z to Zeiss.

1^73.]

On Resolving and Penetrating

Power. 103

Grade

Bals

am n,r. . T,

of
Difficulty.

TEST. or
Dr

Minimum Jr'ower
of Objective.

Direct Light.

Isthmia enervis I

\ N., 0 — G.,i

Triceratium Favus '

(. a .i

Coscinodiscus omphalanthus '

Biddulphia pulchella ^

i Ci iC

Amphitetras antediluviana '

i a a

Pinnularia nobilis '

i ic a

III

Triceratium arcticum '
Aulacodiscus orientalis '

' ' N., I — G., II

Navicula Lyra '

i it. a

Arachnoidiscus ornatus ^

id iC

Cocconeis punctatissima '

I cc

Rhabdonema arcuatum '■

I i(

Synedra superba '

' H., IV — G.,iii,iv

Pinnularia interrupta '

i a a

VII

Stauroneis Phoenicenteron '

' H., vii — N., Ill

Pleurosigma balticum '■

i ii * a

Grammatophora marina '

i a a

VIII

Synedra splendens '

i a li

' ' fulgens '

i a a

Pleurosigma attenuatum '

c a ((

Synedra pulchella '

' H., VIII — N., v

Pleurosigma angulatum I

) a a

'' acuminatum ]

^11 n

Nitzschia sigmoidea I

) Z., F N., V

Surirella Gemma (transverse) '■

i a a

a a (( 1

3 H.,ix,x — G., VII

Nitzschia amphioxys '

i a a

Pleurosigma strigosum I

) a li

XII

' ' Spencerii '

Oblique Light.

iC ii (

N., V Z.,F

Direct Light.

" angulatum ]

3 H.,ix,x — G., VII

Oblique Light.

a a i

' H.VII,VIII G. V, VI

XIII

Nitzschia sigmoidea '

' H., IX — G., VII

Grammatophora subtilissima '

i a a

XIV

Cymatopleura elliptica '

' H., X

Pleurosigma Fasciola '

i ii a

XVI

Surirella Gemma (longitud.) I

) a ii

Artificial Light.

XVII

a ic I

3 H., X — G.,vii

Monochromatic Light.

a a i

' H., VII G., V

XVIII

Frustulia saxonica '

H., IX Z., F

XIX

Nitzschia curvula '

H., X — G.,vii

Amphipleura pellucida '

' a a

104

Triceratium Fimbriaticm ?

April,

TABLE II. GRADE OF PENETRATION.

Objective.

Central Light.

Oblique Light.

Gundlach

Nachet

Gundlach

III

Hartnack

Nachet

VIII

XII

Hartnack

VII

VIII

XII

Gundlach

XII

Hartnack

VIII

XII

Zeiss

XII

Hartnack '

XII

XIII

.'(

XII

XVI

Powell & Lealand -^-^

XII

XVI

{immersion

)

Gundlach

VII

XII

XVI

VIII

XII

XVI

XII

XVI

XII

XVI

TRICE R A TIUM FIMBRIA TUM?

In the number of the Lens for April, 1872, Vol. I, page 100, is a
paper by Dr. Woodward, on the double markings of Triceratium,
wherein he figures two valves, one whole, the other broken, as, both
of them, belonging to Triceratiu7n Fimbriatum. If my friend Dr.
Woodward, will permit me to do so, I should like to say something
about his plate and the species.

First, then, as to the species. It was founded on what is now
generally considered very insufficient grounds by Dr. G. C. Wallich,
in 1858 {^Quar. Jour. Mic. Sci., vi. page 242), and Ralfs has {Frit

1 8 73"] Triceratium Fimbriatum ? 105

Infus. 1 86 1, page 855), ranked it under the older name of T. Favus,
For my part, although I have never seen Dr. Wallich's original spec-
imens, I must say I think it cannot be separated from that species.
Moller in his Typen-Platte, has chosen to retain the name, attach-
ing it to a four-sided form and giving Brightwell as the founder. I
do not wish to be too severe on Mr. Moller, who has given us such
beautiful specimens of his mechanical skill, but I have known of
more than one beginner at the Diatoms led astray by errors which
have crept into his slides. The form he names T. fimbriatum, can
not be. with justice, separated specifically from T. Favus, Ehr., as
Dr. Woodward's plate shows plainly. The finer set of markings can
be shown in every valve of T. Favus which has not been too long
acted upon by chemicals. As to the other specimen figured in the
plate, and which is in the cabinet of Dr. Johnston, I have seen and
examined it critically. Dr. Johnston lent me the specimen in 1866,
and I took several photographs of it. I was particularly interested
in it as it came from the Moron earth, and I had found the same
species some time before in the Monterey deposit, but with six sides.
About the same time Mr. C. G. Bush, of Boston, found a three-
sided form of the same in the Monterey material and sent it to me
for photographing. I obtained one or two pretty good negatives of
it and sent it back to him. Soon after I was sorry to hear that the
balsam had contracted, drawing the cover down and breaking the
diatom. I have never been able to find another three-sided form
of this, as I consider it, distinct species. I also lost my six-sided
form, and for awhile was in despair. Thereafter, however, I found
in the Monterey material a beautiful and perfect six-sided valve, be-
sides several fragments. The group including Dr. Johnston's, Mr.
Bush's and my specimens, I consider deserves to rank as a separate
species, and I have provisionally, in the manuscript of my report on
the specimens collected by the California State Survey, called it
Triceratium ponderosum. Therefore, I would ask as a favor of Di-
atomists, that, until my said report sees the light, when I will give
my reasons for so ranking these forms, they be called by the name
I have proposed for them.

A. Mead Edwards, M. D.
Newark, N, J.

Vol. II — No. 2. c

io6 The Figure of the Earth. [April,

THE FIGURE OF THE EARTH; AND ITS EFFECT

ON ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE

IN THE PLANE OF THE MERIDIAN

It is now exactly two centuries since the deviation of the earth
from the strictly spherical form was first noticed ; when Picard found
that the pendulum of his transit clock, which beat seconds at Paris
( France ), must be shortened to beat seconds at Cayenne, near the
Equator. The fact that the earth is flattened at the poles, giving an
elliptic shape to any meridian coinciding with the sea level, was
demonstrated by Sir Isaac Newton, about the same time, to be a
necessary consequence of rotation on the axis ; and it was practically
proved by measurements of different parts of the earth's surface,
made in the last century. From this followed the important astro-
nomical fact that the perpendicular, or line pointing to the zenith,
does not coincide with the line directed from the earth's centre
through the place of observation, except at the equator and the
poles.

There were, however, numerous discrepancies between the results
thus obtained, which could not be reconciled with the theory that
the ocean level forms the surface of a simple spheroid ; though those
results were discussed by several of the ablest mathematicians of the
time. Within a few years past, the problem has been again at-
tacked ; and it is now claimed to be established that the equatorial
curve itself at the sea level is an ellipse, having a major axis 8800
feet, or i 2-3 miles longer than the minor axis. The following
table shows the differences between the measures recently deduced
and those given by Bessel.

True: Feet. Bessel: Feet.

Major equatorial radius 20,926,400 20,923,600

Minor equatorial radius 20,922,000 20,923,600

Mean equatorial radius 20,924,200 20,923,600

Polar radius 20,854,350 20,853,660

These give the following results for the Chicago Observatory,
(north lat. 41° 50' i" ; long, west, oh. 42m. 14.72s.; or 10° -^iTi
40.8"), assuming the ground surface to be 590 feet above the sea
level :

1 8 73-] The Figure of the Earth. 107

Distance from earth's center, feet 20,892,740

Proportion of same to mean eq. radius 0,998,497

Logarithm of which is 9.9993467

One degree of latitude, feet 364,380.3

Difference for 10 minutes of arc (plus) io-58

One degree of longitude, feet 272,479

Difference for 10 minutes of arc (minus) 706.93

Angle of Vertical 0° 11' 5.53"

Angle by Bessel's table 11' 26.18"

The new mean equatorial radius is 600 feet greater than the old
value; yet the distance of Chicago from the earth's centre is above
400 feet less than the value of that quantity as calculated on the
supposition that the earth's equator is a circle, with a radius of
20,923,600 feet.

This little difference of (say) 1000 feet is, however, insignificant
as compared with that apparent when we consider the effect on
longitude. The position of the major axis of the equatorial ellipse
is 14° 23' east from Greenwich, and 165° 37' west from that,
meridian. Hence the observatory of Chicago is situated 12° west
from the meridian, the plane of which passes through the minor
axis. Now, a little calculation shows us that at the corresponding
point on the equator the perpendicular to the tangent line inclines
o' 17.65" eastward from a line directed from the earth's centre. In
other words the geographical meridian of observation makes so
much of an angle with the true meridian, the plane of which passes
through the earth's centre.

Multiplying 17.65" into the cosine of the latitude, we obtain
13.15" as the deviation of the perpendicular at the Chicago Ob-
servatory from the plane of the true meridian. And we arrive at
the startling conclusion that a correction must be made for this
hitherto unacknowledged error of direction, in every observation
in right ascension made with the Dearborn transit instrument, if we
would ascertain the exact positions of the objects observed.

It is true that this discrepancy is not so great as it may appear at
the first blush. The transits of all stars being observed on the same
false meridian, those stars lying on the same parallels of declination
will exhibit ( sensibly ) the same differences of right ascension as if
observed at their transits over the true meridian. But if two stars

io8 The Figure of the Earth. [April,

have a considerable difference of declination, especially if on the
same side of the zenith, the error will be an important one. The
stars catalogued at the Dearborn Observatory are all " zenith stars " ;
and at 5° of zenith distance the change in the direction of the false
meridian is but 0.07 seconds of arc, or one out of 200 equal parts
of a second of time ; so that the errors in their differences of right
ascension will be very small. But it is important to note that the
constant of their errors in right ascension will be large if the funda-
mental stars do not also culminate near the zenith ; and the places
of all the fundamental stars should be carefully revised from observa-
tions made only at observatories noted below as being but little
affected by this error. The Greenwich observations should not be
used in this revision.

It is evident that as the different observatories on the earth's sur-
face are widely scattered in longitude, the error of one, due to this
deviation from the perpendicular, will be different in amount ( some-
times in direction ) from the errors of the rest. And here we have
a fact, which, if rightly applied, will enable practical astronomers
to enter on a series of comparative observations for the purpose of
ascertaining with a little more precision, the shape of the earth's
surface, and the ,errors of observation resulting therefrom. It is
very probable that in the ellipticity of the earth's equator, we have
the true cause of several of the difficulties that have been met with
in reconciling the positions of stars as taken at different observa-
tories. I use the word "stars " in its more extended sense; for I
cannot resist the hope that many, if not all, of the snags that are
perpetually encountered in the attempt to make the calculated lunar
elements agree with her observed places, will be traced to the fact
that our observations are not made in the plane of the true meridian.

It is singular, however, that while Chicago and Greenwich are so
situated that observations made at those places are chargeable with
large errors on this account, there are a great many observatories,
including the national one at Washington, which lie almost exactly
on one of the meridians that pass through the axes of the equatorial
ellipse. The following table shows the distances of some of these
from the major axis, and the error of the vertical at the equator.

These equatorial errors must be multiplied into the cosine of the
latitude to obtain the deviation at the observatory.

i873-] The Figure of the Earth. 109

Observatory. Longitude. Angle Sees.

Prague 0° 2 ^ E 0.06

Naples 0° 8 W 0.22

Kremsmunster 0° 15 W 0.39

Philadelphia ( High School ) 89° 32 1^ W 0.72

Berlin 0° 59 W 1.54

Palermo 1° 2 W 1.62

Washington .91° 26 W 2.24

Copenhagen ., 1° 48 W 2.84

Rome 1° 54 W 2.98

Leipsic 1° 59 W 3.07

Vienna...' ....2° o E 3. 11

Padua 2° 31 W 3.92

Munich 2° 46^ W 4.35

Cape Good Hope .4° 6 E 6.40

Cambridge (U. S. ) 85° 30^^ W 7.02

Chicago 102° o W 17-65

Greenwich 14° 23 W 21.64

It would, perhaps, scarcely be advisable as yet, to calculate and
apply a table of corrections, for this meridional error at each ob-
servatory ; because we are not absolutely certain that the exact
amount and direction of the equatorial ellipticity has been deter-
mined. We do know, however, that the assumptions above stated
harmonize with the measured facts much more closely than the
circular theory ; and it would, therefore, be advisable that our celes-
tial land-marks be accepted only as they have been determined at
places situated near the prime meridians, and that we should choose
as fundamentals only the stars that differ but little in declination
from those which are to be observed. The latter condition is
generally adhered to; but for other reasons.

The proposed observatory on the Rocky Mountains will be un-
favorably situated in this respect ; though affording unequaled
facilities for the discovery of new objects, and the close examination
of old ones. The Australian observatory is nearly midway between
the major and minor meridians; and its *^'work" in cataloguing
the stars in the southern hemisphere will, therefore, be charged with
more error than that of the observatory recently established in
South America.

no The Figure of the Earth. [April,

' This matter has an important bearing upon another grand prob-
lem— the distance of the sun from the earth — which, it is hoped,
will be solved from the observations of the transit of Venus, in
December, 1874. If the earth's equator be an ellipse, then the length
of a degree on any given parallel of latitude, varies with the longi-
tude ; and a degree of the meridian is longer at Washington than on
the same latitude in Greece. Hence the lengths of the base lines
connecting the several stations from which the transit will be ob-
served, are not the same as if the earth were a true oblate spheroid
at the sea level. An error of one mile in the calculation of these
base lines would involve an error of 20,000 miles in the computation
of distance from earth ]to sun, though the measures oi position were
absolutely exact.

The above considerations suggest the advisability of remodeling
our tables of longitude. Hitherto it has been said that we have no
natural starting point ; and each nation has been free to reckon
longitudes from its own capital, or national observatory — as some
date their acts of legislation from the accession of their rulers. Our
prime meridian of longitude runs through the Mediteranean, Mount
Vesuvius, and Prague; and within one degree (53') of Uraniburg,
the meridian to wl^ich the Rudolphine tables were calculated by the
immortal Kepler from the observations of Tycho Brahe. We have
just as much reason for reckoning our longitudes from that meridian
as we have for reckoning latitude from the equator ; and the change,
so obviously proper in itself, would be attended with very little
trouble.

We must not forget that, even with the correction noted above,
the discrepancies found in dealing with the earth's figure do not en-
tirely disappear ; but they are very much reduced in number and
amount : and most of those remaining could perhaps be accounted
for if we knew the densities of the underlying strata at the several
places where the pendulum experiments have been made for deter-
mining the force of the attraction of gravity. It is well known
that the earth's crust is not homogeneous. With regard to the
condition of its interior we may remark that while the experiments
of Maskelyne, Cavendish, and others, prove that the average
density (5.4) of the whole mass is at least double that of the crust,
yet there is reason to believe that the density near the centre is not

1 8 73-] The Figure of the Earth. iii

so enormous as some have supposed must result from the exterior
pressure. It has been demonstrated that the excess of the equa-
torial over the polar radius, divided by the latter, would be one in
230, if the earth were homogeneous throughout, all the particles at-
tracting each other; while it would be one in 580 if the force of
attraction acted solely at the centre of the mass. Our measures
give nearly one in 289.44, and one in 308.27, for the two equatorial
axes; average one in 298.6, showing a compression at the centre
which is comparable with the density at the surface.

In conclusion, I will state my suspicion that the above quoted
idea of what we may call a double ellipticity, is but an approximation
to the truth. The major meridian passes through the continents
of the old world ; and, on the other side of the globe, it traverses
the whole extent of a vast ocean — the Pacific. Now, we cannot
conceive of any other cause for departure from the circle, in a figure
of revolution, than the necessity of preserving an equilibrium,
among materials of different attractive force ( weight ) . In the
ocean of water on the Pacific side of the globe, we have a mass of
matter that is only 0.4 the density of the old world continents, for
a depth of perhaps several miles. It is difficult to see that the
equilibrium could be preserved unless the bulk of matter on the
Pacific side of the earth's axis, were increased in inverse pro-
portion to its relative density ; and further search will probably lead
to the conclusion that, while the parallels of latitude on the conti-
nent side are nearly circular, those on the Pacific side form semi-
ellipses, the eccentricity of which is somewhat more than twice as
great as that now ascribed to the equator and the parallels to that
curve.

This subject has an even more important bearing on the deter-
mination of the unit of length in the solar system ; as the observa-
tions of the next transit of Venus will necessarily be made from the
Pacific side of our globe.

E, Colbert,
Chicago,

112 Editor's Table. [April,

EDITOR'S TABLE,

It is undoubtedly known to most of our readers that there has been going
on for the past year and a half between Mr. F. H. Wenham, of London, and
Mr. R. B. Tolles, of Boston, a discussion as to the possible angular aperture of
immersion objectives. Some may remember that Mr. Wenham challenged " any
one" to get more incident light through an immersion lens than would in the
other case be totally reflected. [M. M. Jour., Vol. IV, page ii8.)

Dr. Josiah Curtis, in a communication to the Am.eriean Naturalist, stated that
he saw Mr. Tolles obtain angular aperture greater than 82° in Canada Balsam,
with several objectives, and Mr. T., in a communication to the M. M. Journal,
repeated the same statement, and gave the results of his trials, varying from 82°
to 110° of angular aperture, in balsam, and sent one of the objectives of his make
to Mr. Wenham for him to try. The January issue oitheM. M. Journal conta,ins
the following certificate, which we copy in full (italics ours), also a long paper
by Mr. Wenham :

" On the 14th day of November, 1872, the dry and immersed apertures of Mr. «
Tolles' -^ objective were tested in the presence of the undersigned.

" The angle in air [taken at the best adjustment for a Podura scale) measured
145°. With the front in water, the angle became reduced to 91°, and lastly in
Canada balsam, the result was 79°.

" CHAS. BROOKE, F. R. S., V. P. R. M. S.
" H. LAWSON, M. D., F. R. M. S.
" W. J. GRAY, M. D., F. R. M. S.
" S. J. M'INTYRE, Esq., F. R. M. S."

Now, was this a fair trial and fair usage for Mr. Tolles ? This is a question
that all lovers of the microscope and microscope construction have to consider.
On what principle and for what reason did Mr. W. select the adjustment for a
Podura scale ? Mr. Tolles never intimated that that was the adjustment that he
used (in fact it appears that the objective never was made for that kind of work).
Podura scales are usually mounted in England with very thin covering glasses, so
as to permit the use of English objectives with very short working distance. Of
course a very thin cover requires a different adjustment from a thicker one, yet
Mr. Wenham gives no measurement nor indication whether it had a thick or thin
cover, or none at all. Of course Mr. Wenham knows that the angular aperture of
an objective usually varies as the lenses are brought closer together; and in this

1 8 73-] Editor's Table. 113

trial, instead of adjusting for any object, it seems to us that he should have sought
for that adjustment which would give the maximum angle in air, instead of the
minimum. We do not propose to enter into the discussion of the question, as to
whether the angle in balsam would be more than 79° or not, that we leave for the
experts ; we have only to say, that by Mr. Wenham's own account he has not
thrown any new light on the subject. Mr. Wenham has presented a dilemma,
neither horn of which is creditable to him. Either he was ignorant of the fact
that an objective may vary in its angular aperture according to the adjustment for
covering glass (which is a preposterous supposition), and thought he might obtain
the same results at any adjustment ; or, if he knew that, then he must have inten-
tionally made an adjustment that was not the maximum. We would exonerate
the four gentlemen who witnessed the trial from any share in the trick, for it prob-
ably did not occur to them that there would be any in such a case.

There are some passages in Mr. W.'s paper that call for observation, " It needs
but a very limited knowledge of optical theory to demonstrate that the utmost
angle of possible transmission, or conversely, of emergence from the first surface
of ordinary crown glass with a refraction index of 1.531, does not exceed 40°
43^" What has that to do with the Tolles' objective ? Has Mr. T. ever said
that the first surface of his objectives was ordinary crown glass with a refractive
index of 1.531 ? If he has, then Mr, W. does well to harp on that index ; but
Mr. T. had intimated, and if Mr. W. had been wide awake, he would have
taken the hint, that something else could be used. Suppose it was a diamond,
refractive index 2.473, what becomes of his possibilities with " ordinary crown
glass " ?

Referring to Dr. Curtis' communication to the Am. Naturalist, Mr. Wenham
says : " Dr. Curtis has given his faith to the trial without proof that he has paid
any attention to the principles of refraction involved in the experiment." Well,
we do not think it is common when a scientist writes for publication, for him to
accompany his paper with " proof" of his competency. Certainly the gentlemen
who certify to Mr. Wenham's experiment do not add any "proofs" to their sig-
natures, that they have " paid any attention to the principles of refraction." If
we were in a facetious mood, we could say with truth that Dr. Curtis can legally
put more letters after his name than the whole four have put to theirs.

Mr. W. takes the opportunity to compare, gratuitously, the Tolles' objective
with one of his own, and finds his own the best. He gives no intimation as to
what objects he used for the trial, consequently no one knows whether it was a
work that the objective was intended for or not. Under such circumstances his
opinion may go for what it is worth. It was a good chance for an advertisement,
and he improved it.

The Eupodiscus Argus. — Mr. Charles Stodder thus writes us under date of
February 1 1 , respecting this form :

After my paper in the January Lens had gone to press, Prof. H. L. Smith
suggested that the specimen referred to on page 30, was E. Rogersii and not

114 Editor's Table. [April,

E. Argus. Since then Prof. S. has kindly furnished me with two specimens of E.
Rogersii^ and a comparison with these and several others shows that undoubtedly
he is correct, the one I had being unusually hyaline. Still more recently my
friend Mr. S. Wells, has found a frustule of E. Argus in the condition that I
described, the crust worn of, or decayed from some cause. A study of these
specimens confirms all that I said in that paper. The two species are essentially
alike in structure, and unlike any other diatom that I know. The E. Rogersii
is more transparent, the crust having large apertures and constituting a less
proportion of the surface. It has a blank umbilicus, that is absent from E. Argus.
These are about all the differences. Strictly, they should be deemed varieties of
one species. I have examined Mr. Wells' specimen with Prof. Smith's opaque
illuminator, and Tolls' i-6 and l-io immersion ; and by transmitted light with
the i-i8, and find that I can add nothing to my previous description.

Sections of Leaves, Buds, &c. — Mr. John H. Martin, in a late number of
the English Mechanic says :

I see in an article by H. P. H., in this Journal for December 6, on " Leaves
Microscopically Considered," that he recommends the student to take sections
of the bud, leaves, &c., by cutting with a razor. I should recommend a special
treatment of the leaves prior to sections being cut : Soak the leaves in alcohol,
3 parts; water, 3 parts; glycerine, 2 parts; allow them to lemain in the solu-
tion from six hours to two days, according to their thickness. The greater part
of the water and alcohol having evaporated by the aid of moderate heat, take
them out and soak in a solution of gelatine ; keep the leaves in the solution for
a few hours, so that they may be thoroughly saturated ; keep the gelatine fluid
during the time by the aid of moderate heat; after 6 or 7 hours take the leaves
from the solution and allow them to dry, and after the gelatine is sufficiently set,
sections may be cut with a razor. After the sections have been cut they must be
placed for a fev\' hours in distilled water, and the gelatine evaporated from them
by the aid of heat, by which means they will retain their original form. They
may then be mounted in glycerine jelly, or any suitable fluid, or dried under
pressure and mounted in balsam, if so desired.

" A Simple Mount for Microscope Objectives." — The January No. of
the Mofilhly Microscopical yournal has a description and figure of " A Simple
Mount for Microscope Objectives," by Dr. R. L. Maddox. Anything coming
from Dr. Maddox in the microscope line may be anticipated to be good, and
no one can be surprised that he says, " It works quickly, easily, has consid-
erable range, aiid no sensible slip." By slip he undoubtedly means what the
mechanic terms back-lash ; a fault that is so annoying to the microscopist, and
almost universally found in objectives imported from Europe.

Hundreds of American microscopists will confirm Dr. Maddox's opinion of
his " simple mount," for essentially it is the same as Tolles devised, and has used
for some ten years past.

iS73-] Editor's Table. 115

There are some minor details of construction in which the two differ, viz., Dr.
M. introduces a spiral spring of two turns, Tolles a spring of several turns.
Maddox's spring lifts the tube, Tolles' depresses it. These differences are not
essential. Maddox's spring acts against one steel pin screwed into the inner tube.
This pin must be liable to wear in its bearing in the thin inner tube ; and besides,
the pressure of the spring acts on one side only of the tube, having a tendency to
press it sideways. These defects are remedied in Tolles' mount.

But Dr. Maddox takes no notice of the most important point in this arrange-
ment, that is — moving the inside bases instead of the front base. Mr, Wenham
many years ago devised some means of moving the middle and back bases, leav-
ing the front base stationary. Although he spoke of this plan as a great improve-
ment on the old one, although it has been highly commended by those who have
had objectives specially mounted so since, yet it has not been adopted by the
English makers, or by any American except Tolles. Why ? The only explanation
seems to be, that such construction, if done well by first class workmen — and it
must be done as only the best workmen can do it, or it will not be satisfactory —
will cost from one to three guineas extra, for each objective.

Navicula Cuspidata. — Prof. J. Edwards Smith sends us the following item
of interest on the structure of this well known form : " About a year ago, in
looking over Moller's Diatom Plates, I found on Navicula Cuspidata, longitudinal
as well as transverse lines, the former much finer or closer than the latter. So
far as I can learn, these longitudinal "lines" or markings, have never been
described in print. Pritchard makes no mention of them. Microscopists will find
the study of these markings replete with interest."

Monochromatic Light. — The same gentleman speaks as follows regarding
the use of monochromatic light in the study of the finer striated diatoms : — " I
have recently been using monochromatic light for the study of the finer Diatoms.
A rude appliance for this purpose can be arranged in a very few moments, as fol-
lows : Take a piece of thin board, say 15 x 20 inches, and provide several pieces
of plain cleaned glass, either light green or blue ; spectacle glasses will answer.
Cut a hole of proper size through the board, and at about the height of level of
microscope stage ; this aperture to be occupied by the colored glasses, using the
combination which proves to give the best definition. At present I am using one
pale blue outside and four interior ones of light green, all placed in contact. The
combination should be deep enough to prevent any blazing effect when the full
beam is turned on. Such a contrivance, so placed as to transmit the solar rays to
the mirror of the instrument, will prove to be far superior to any lamp-light illumina-
tion, and no condensers required. With it, and a Tolles' -L dry, or -^-^ wet objec-
tive, I have easily shown Amphipleura Pellucida on balsam in beads, under
high eye piercing, and with lowest eye pierce the transverse and longitudinal
*'. strige" are easily seen. Nos. 18, 19 and 20, of Moller's Probe Plate, which
have resisted my protracted efforts by lamp light, yield at once to this illumina-
tion. Probably other combinations of colored glass may be found superior to
that described." It is to be hoped that others will experiment in this direction.

ii6 Editor* s Table. [April,

Prof. Edward S. Morse. — This gentlemen delivered, early in March, two
lectures in Chicago, the one with the title " From Monad to Man^'' the other on
" Evolution.'''' They were illustrated with ofif-hand drawings on the black-board,
with rare skill, and were listened to by large and appreciative audiences.

In the lecture on Evolution, Prof. Morse makes two statements worthy of
special note. In the one, he alleges that the prejudice against Darwin and the
ridicule so freely expended upon him, are based on an entire misapprehension.
Darwin has never taught that man is a development from a monkey, or from any
lower species. Nor is there anything in his philosophy that even admits of in-
ference to this effect. He simply teaches, or suggests the probability, that man
or monkey is simply " evolved " from a lower basis of life. The several streams,
all starting from one source, as they branch, — the one goes to the monkey and
there stops ; and the other to man and there stops. It is not Darwinian that man
himself or the monkey itself shall keep on till there is development into some-
thing higher and different. The other statement was to the effect that Science
deals with phenomena, not with the intelligent cause. It notes and defines law ;
has nothing to do with the creator of the laws. Science therefore cannot take
the place of religion. And when the man of science passes from the law to the
author of law, he drops his character of scientist and assumes to teach religion.
The scientist is not therefore censurable for restricting himself exclusively to the
phenomena, making no reference to the power lying behind phenomena.

This from the Athens of America ! ! — In the Proceedings of the Boston
Society of Natural History^ Vol. XV, Part I, January — April, 1872, is an elabo-
rate and able paper o^ some one hundred pages, " On the Post-Tertiary History
of New England," &c. On page 141, treating of the Peat Period, occurs the
following passage: "The beds [of peat] are largely composed of silex in minute
particles, and from one or two to five or six feet in thickness. For the most part,
the material was derived from the silicious shields of certain microscopic animals
known as infusoria. This deposit being formed gradually, and almost entirely
of the flinty bucklers of these animalculce, as they from generation to generation
passed off the stage of existence, and a single cubic inch, according to Prof.
Bailey, containing the remains of some 15,000,000,000 of individuals, we see,"
&c. &c. Italics not in the original. This would do credit to a scientific Rip Van
Winkle after a twenty years' nap.

Water in Granite, — It is novy about fifteen years since Mr, H. C, Sorby, of
Sheffield, England, read his celebrated paper before the Philosophical Society of
that city, announcing the discovery that granite contained water in appreciable
quantity. Ar, it had been the fashion to class granite among the igneous rocks,
this statement caused considerable astonishment, and was vigorously debated,
both sides appearing to believe, at first, that the presence of water in the rock,
being proved, would necessitate the adoption of the hypothesis of its sedimentary
origin. The discussion and the further investigation had a somewhat unexpected
result. It is now admitted that many granites are sedimentary ; but the conclu-
sive evidence is found in their stfatigraphical position and relations, not in the

j873-] Mditor' s Table, 117

water they contain ; for it has been shown that recent eruptive rocks, such as
lava, also contain water. Indeed, as water is invariably an element in volcanic
eruptions, furnishing the motive force and constituting a large part of the ejected
material, it may naturally be expected to enter into the crystalline result. The
fires at Chicago and Boston illustrated this fact with regard to granite, by the
manner in which blocks of this stone in buildings exploded, or were disintegrated
and splintered by the expansion of their water. Brick is the true fire- proof,
and weather-proof, and time-proof building material. It will not oxidize, because
it is oxidized ; it will not burn, because it is burnt. But these remarks apply to
good brick only.

Professor John Torrey, a most eminent botanist, died on March 10, at
Columbia College, of which institution he had long held the botanical professor-
ship. His first contribution to science was a catalogue of the plants growing
within 30 miles of New York city; this was published in 1817, and was followed
by the " Flora of the Northern United States " in 1824.

His learning was extensive and varied. In 1824 he was Professor of Chemistry
at "West Point, and he afterward held a similar appointment at the College of
Physicians and Surgeons in this city. He was also chief of the Assay Office in
the United States Sub-Treasury. He was stricken by pneumonia at the age of 80
years. Columbia College is largely his debtor for his eminent services as a
teacher, and for his fostering care of her interests.

Professor Adam Sedgwick, the eminent veteran geologist, died on January
27, at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, at the age of 87 years. His contri-
butions to the literature of his favorite science were exceedingly numerous and
valuable, and make up a large amount of work even for a career so lengthened.
He was elected to a fellowship of his college in 1810, and had won for himself
a name in science while the youth Roderick Murchison was fighting battles in
Spain. His services to the world of knowledge are everywhere known and
valued. By his care and, to a great degree, through his generosity, the collec-
tion of rocks and fossils under his charge at Cambridge, have become the most
complete of any now open to the student.

The Tyndall Banquet. — The farewell dinner given in honor of Professor
Tyndall, in New York, February 4th, by the scientific, literary and professional
men of New York, was attended by a large representation of the leading minds
of the country as guests. Probably there has never been gathered in the United
States a company comprising so many active and distinguished intellectual labor-
ers. The significance of the occasion went even beyond its primary meaning as
a testimony of the regard of our people towards Professor Tyndall, It indicated
an era of harmonious co-operation among the followers of physical science them-
selves, and between them as a class and the teachers of moral science on the one
hand, and the men of action on the other.'

Ii8 Editor's Table. [April,

Distinguishing Fibres in Mixed Goods, — Mr. Charles Stodder, the veteran
Boston microscopist, in a recent issue of the Scientific American, thus answers the
enquiry of a correspondent: "Unquestionably the microscope is the best means
of accomplishing the purpose of your correspondent; it is the simplest, quickest,
easiest and surest. All and each of the fibres named in the article are construct-
ed— built up, so to speak — in different manners, so distinct from each other that a
moderate magnifying power, say 400 diameters, of a decently good instrument,
will show at once what they are. Any one with a very little skill in manipula-
tion can obtain the result. The differences have been described and figured in
the books, but there is no need of books. Every one can obtain genuine fibres
of either kind, with almost less trouble than referring to a book, for comparison
with those found in the fabric, and the original comparison is of far more value
than the authority of a picture. No chemical test is known to distinguish flax
from cotton fibre, but their difference in the microscope may be seen at a glance.
Jute fibre has more resemblance to flax, but can be distinguished with a little
more study. The materials of paper may also be ascertained, in part at least, by
the microscope: for example, your number dated March 15, is printed on paper
containing no cotton or linen; it is mostly wood fibre, with "pitted " and " sca-
lariform " ducts, not peculiar to any kind of wood, with possibly fibres of manilla,
esparto or ramie, of which I have not the means of comparison,

" But the microscope cannot do everything. There is a certain fabric in use
purporting to be made entirely of cows' hair. The question came up : Is there
any sheep's wool in it ? This could not be answered. For, while the bulk of each
is easily distinguished, there are some hairs from each animal that cannot be
known from the other. In this case, so far as is known, chemistry is equally
powerless."

Lens Fires. — Dr. H. C. Bolton, of Columbia College, New York City, states
that on a recent occasion, at 9 A. M., on entering his laboratory he found a
wooden table on fire, ignition having been occasioned by the rays of the morning
sun, which fell upon a glass spherical flask containing water. The flask served as
a lens, which concentrated the rays and set fire to the wood. Dr. Bolton also
alludes to the statement of Lactantius (A, D. 300), who mentions the use of glass
globes, filled with water, to be used in kindling fires ; while Pliny recommends
the use of lenses for the purpose of cauterizing the flesh of sick persons. As to
the latter, one Mr, Barnes, of Connecticut, took a patent in this country some five
years ago, for the use of lenses for the purpose suggested by Pliny,

In respect to fires occasioned by lenses, doubtless there are many examples.
It is well known that vessels at sea have been set on fire by the bulls-eye glasses
used to admit light to between decks. These glasses were formerly made convex
on one side, thus forming powerful lenses. In consequence of the loss of prop-
erty and danger, their use has been discontinued, and thick plates of glass, flat
on both sides, have been generally substituted. Captain Scoresby and Dr. Kane
used to astonish the natives of the polar regions by taking blocks of clear ice and
cutting them into the form of lenses, with which they instantly kindled fires.

1 873-] Editor's Table, 119

Brain Stimulants. — On the subject of Brain Stimulants, we find in a recent
number of Hygiene the following sensible suggestions :

A prominent clergyman in a neighboring city writes us, that for many years he
has been in the habit of limiting his use of tea and coffee, and his " occasional
cigar," to the latter part of the week, and, as he fancies, with the result of being
able to compose with less effort than when he has either abstained entirely from
their use, or when, as once or twice, he has indulged in them continuously for a
brief period.

Herein is a valuable suggestion to brain-workers in any profession the exigen-
cies of which call for occasionally increased and severe efforts. Tea, coffee,
tobacco and alcohol, by retarding the changes in the tissues of the body, which is
their physiological action, are supposed to allow the energy thus conserved to
manifest itself in the higher form of cerebral activity — in simple language, they
arc stimulants to the nervous system ; and, in the proper dose, there can be no
question that they do exalt and stimulate brain-action. But there is equally no
question that the retarded tissue changes are at the expense of vitality generally
— the vitality of the body, that is, its health and strength, being ever in relation
to the newness of the atoms which compose the body — and these tissue-changes,
the work of waste and repair, must be accelerated in some manner, and to a cor-
responding extent, in order to preserve the balance.

The obvious lesson to be gained from these facts, is, that during periods of in-
tense and unusual mental activity — a lawyer in trying an engrossing case, a
banker during a financial stress, a company officer at periods of increased respon-
sibility, an editor or political leader carrying through an important measure-
that at such times brain-work may be done with more facility and at less expense,
by a judicious use of this class of agents. Provided, however — provided that
the balance be struck at once when the necessity for them is obviated.

The means of restoring the balance include first, abstinence from the agents
themselves ; second, comparative rest for the brain ; and lastly, and quite as im-
portant as the preceding, those measures which accelerate tissue-changes and of
which the essential ones are physical exercise and bathing — notably, the Turkish
bath — and nutritious, easily assimilated food, by the first of which, the breaking
down of the older particles, and the excretion of poisonous waste-matter are
facilitated, and so tissue-change in the interest of waste is promoted ; while the
last furnishes material for renewal and growth.

With such a regimen, based on an intelligent application of means to ends,
we would have a fewer cases of men prematurely breaking down under efforts
they might make with ease did they only know when and how to open the
throttle-valve, or to put on the brakes. This view of the subject must not be
construed into an argument for a mere sensual indulgence. It is intended for
men as they are, and with regard to conditions as they exist. These agents are
used, and probably always will be. They have their uses ; and knowledge of
these will do more to prevent their abuse than the wholesale condemnation
which frequently arises from ignorance.

t:^6 Editor^ s Table, [April,

Irritability of the Frog's Heart. — Taken all in all, the batrachians are
marvelous beings. Besides being obliged to pump air down into their own lungs,
which explains why the gular membrane underneath the under jaw is so elastic,
acting on the volume of inhaled air in the cavity of the mouth on the mechanical
principle of bellows, they catch game with the point of the tongue, drink through
the spongy texture of the skin on the back, and live months in succession con-
cealed in the mud bed of a pool without respiring; and yet the systole and dias-
tole, or in plainer words, the contraction and expansion of the heart, is not
suspended. Their vitality is remarkable, since the small amount of oxygen intro-
duced into the arterial blood when making the final plunge in autumn keeps the
spark of life alive till emerging from the water in the spring. If the heart of a
frog is cut from its connections within the pericardium and placed on a table, it
will pulsate and throb energetically for some minutes. When apparently quies-
cent, the point of a needle will rouse it again into spasmodic energy. Finally, by
the touch of irritants, its irritability is completely exhausted. After experiment-
ing full half an hour in that manner, we were struck with the lively vaultings of
the frog from which the heart had been taken. Certainly it was conscious of its,
relations, for it avoided many cautious attempts to capture it, on the part of the
operator. It was some hours before death closed the scene.

The vital tenacity of reptiles, particularly batrachians and chelonians, which
include the tortoise family, are remarkable, and worthy of more extended scien-
tific investigation.

An Inland Sea that Never Gives Up its Dead. — Some twelve or four-
teen persons have been drowned in Lake Tahoe, California, within the past ten
years ; none of the bodies have ever been recovered. Superstition, ever ready to
weave a sensation from nature's laws, asserts that there was a doubtful mystery in
the non-recovery of the drowned ; that, in fact, a monster had its abode in this
fresh-water sea, and that the bodies all passed into his capacious maw. The true
explanation of this mystery never has been given. The non-appearance of the
bodies is due to three causes : The first is, the great purity of the water, and its
consequent lack of buoyancy. Drowning is very easy in it for this reason, though
I have not, while swimming in it, found any more than ordinary difficulty in sus-
taining myself. The second and main cause is due to the great coldness of the
water. Even at this, the warmest season, the surface water is as cold as the
drinker desires it to be, but it is warm there compared with its temperature at the
depth of one hundred to two hundred feet. It is as cold there as the arctic cold
of an iceberg. When a body sinks in the lake to the depth required, it is frozen
stiff. The process, of course, preserves it, so that the gas which originates in the
body from decay in other water is prevented, and distension checked. The body
is thus kept in a state of greater specific gravity than the water in which it is sus-
pended, and thereby prevented from rising to the surface. The third cause lies
in the great pressure of the pure water on anything that is sunk to a great depth
in it. Corks placed on deep sea nets are pressed down in a week to half their

1 873-] Editor' s Table. 121

size; and one of the oldest residents of the lake expresses the belief that, by the
time a man's body has been suspended for a week at a depth of about 200 feet (it
is not likely that it ever reaches the cavernous and almost fathomless bottom of
the great lake), the compression of the water has reduced its size to that of a
child's. Doubtless the idea of uncoffined suspension in such a " world of wa-
ter" is not a pleasant one to contemplate; but to be pressed into a solid mass,
and suspended in a liquid coffin of ice temperature, is quite as pleasant as inter-
ment and moldering in the ground.

The Anatomy of Necrosis. — At the meeting of the Albany County (N. Y.)
Medical Society, January 22, Dr. William Hseles read a paper on The Anatomy
of Necrosis, and the Process of Repair, illustrating the subject by the stereopticon.

The general plan of his remarks was first to treat of necrosis as it occurs in
connective tissue, and to compare the processes which nature adopts in dealing
with the same affection in the more compact and unyielding tissues, as the osseous
and tendinous.

The subject he illustrated by a series of diagrams of the microscopical appear-
ances of normal and inflamed bone, and a large number of photographic slides
made directly from pathological specimens in the museum of the Albany Medical
College, thrown upon a white wall by means of the oxy-calcium lantern. The
college museum is extremely rich in the variety and number of its specimens, be-
ing one of the finest collections in the State.

The mode of separation of the sequestrum, the formation of the involucrum, the
presence of the living wall of granulation tissue between the septic elements of
decaying tissues and the open mouths of absorbent vessels, and the almost com-
plete analogy existing between the various structures in accomplishing the separa-
tion of dead parts and the reproduction of the new were spoken of at length.

The microscopic and pathological anatomy of the subject was fully illustrated.
The minute structure of the parts at the different stages of the affection, and the
appearance of actual specimens in the various phases of necrosis were exhibited.
The modifications of the vascular supply in different tissues, and their various
powers of anastomosis were fully discussed.

Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. — The Academy now pos-
sesses more than 6,000 minerals, 700 rocks, 65,000 fossils, 70,000 species of
plants, 1,000 species of zoophytes, 2,000 species of crustaceans, 500 species of
myriapods and arachnidians, 25,000 species of insects, 20,000 species of shell-
bearing molluscs, 2,000 species of fishes, 800 species of reptiles, 21,000 birds,
with the nests of 200 and the eggs of 1,500 species, 1,000 mammals, and nearly
900 skeletons and pieces of osteology. Most of the species are presented by
four or five specimens, so, that, including the archseological and ethnological
cabinets, space is required now for the arrangement of not less than 400,000
objects, as well as for the acconiodation of a library of more than 22,500
volumes. A new building to cost half a million is now in process of erection.

Vol. II— No. 2. 6

122 Editor's Table. [April,

A Munificent Gift to Science. — Some time since Professor Agassiz in an
address before the Legislature of Massachusetts, called the attention of that
body to the need and value of a summer school for the instruction of both
teachers and students in Natural History. He also suggested that, during the
coming summer, a session should be held on the island of Nantucket. These
remarks attracted the attention of Mr, John Anderson, a wealthy and well-
known tobacco merchant of New York, who with great munificence has donated an
entire island for the purpose of the institution, supplementing his gift with a fund
of ^50,000. The island, which bears the name of Penikese, is of about one
hundred acres in extent, and is situated in the Elizabeth group, at the entrance of
Buzzard's Bay, on the southern coast of Massachusetts. It has been largely im-
proved, and contains several buildings valued at ^100,000, while the fertility of
its soil is such as to render it possible to raise sufficient produce to pay all ex-
penses of the school.

Professor Agassiz considers that the site is eminently suited for the purpose as
affording ample opportunity for original investigation as well as instruction. The
institution will be carried on throughout the year, in connection with the museum
of Cambridge, and measures will be speedily taken to prepare the buildings for
use. Arrangements have already been made to hold a school of Natural His-
tory, under the supervision of Prof. Agassiz during the summer vacation,
chiefly designed for teachers who propose to introduce the study into their schools,
and for students preparing to become teachers.

State Microscopical Society. — A Scientific Meeting of the Society, the first
of the season, was iield on the evening of October nth, 1872, President Briggs
in the chair. Members present : Drs. Johnson and Curtis ; Messrs. Babcock,
Westcott, Thompson, Wiley, Bulloch, Adams, (W. H.) Johnson, Mrs. Fairbank,
and the Secretary.

Dr. Van Heurck, of Antwerp, Belgium, Dr. R. H. Ward, of Troy, N. Y.,
and Mr. A. B. Tuttle, of Cleveland, O., were elected Corresponding Members of
the Society.

Mr. H. H. Babcock made some remarks on the manner in which the discharge
of fern spores is accomplished. According to his observations it is done by a
method which differs materially from that described in the text books on botany.

A paper, by Dr. J. J. Woodward, on Nobert's Test Plate, was read by the
President, .after which he exhibited to the Society an optical illusion which
provoked considerable discussion, and which will be hereafter again referred to.

Scientific Meeting, October 25th, 1872, at the residence of Mr. H. H. Bab-
cock, President Briggs in the chair.

Members present: Drs. Johnson, Jackson, Curtis, Davis, (F. H.) and Adams;
Messrs. Babcock, Langguth, Waters, Davis, Silversmith, Bulloch, Adams, (W.
H.) Johnson, Thompson, Mrs. Fairbank, Mrs. Johnson, and the Secretary.

Mr. W. K. Steele was elected to active membership.

Mr. H. H. Babcock, presented a paper, which contained facts substantiating his
previously expressed opinion regarding the existence of a current in Lake Mich-

1873-] Editor's Table. 123

igan, whose direction is southerly. This is proven by the existence of plants,
on the beach of the southern shore of the lake, whose ordinary habitat is on the
northern shores. Prominent among these is the Shepherdia Canadensis. The
seeds of these plants are carried to the spot mentioned, about thirty-five miles
southeast of Chicago, by the current, and there thrown on the beach.

Dr. H. A. Johnson made some remarks on the value of H(smatoxylin as an
imbrication for animal tissues. The use of this agent, for the purpose mentioned,
was recommended by Dr. J. W. S. Arnold, of N. Y., in an article in No. 3 of
the Lens. The experiments of Dr. Johnson agreed substantially in result with
the statements of Dr. Arnold. The President read a paper by Prof, H. L. Smith
on the Bailey Collection of Diatomacece, at present in the museum of the Boston
Society of Natural History. The meeting then resolved itself into a conversazione
for the examination of objects exhibited.

Scientific Meeting Nov. 8th, 1872, Vice-President Babcock in the chair.

Members present: Drs. Johnson, Jones, Curtis and Smith; Messrs. Biggs,
Thompson, Thomas, Adams (W. H.), Langguth, Steele, Johnson, and the
Secretary .

Dr. H. A. Johnson exhibited sections of a Bright's Kidney in which the
arterial walls were much thickened — an inner layer of longitudinal fibers being
largely developed. The patient had hypertrophy of the left ventral of the heart
without valvular lesion. In presenting the specimens. Dr. Johnson stated that
he had within the last few months had an opportunity of seeing the preparations
of Dr. George Johnson, of Kings College Hospital, London, illustrating the
same pathological condition. He remarked upon the different interpretation of
their thickened walls, by Beale, George Johnson and others, and inclined to the
opinion that it was a condition of true hypertrophy.

Dr. H. A. Johnson also exhibited sections of the lung of a human foetus
that was known never to have made an effort to breathe. The lung was
injected through the pulmonary artery with Beale's Prussian Blue preparation,
and the air cells filled with melted tallow subsequently dissolved out with ether.
The object of the preparation was to show the condition of the arterial walls.
In transverse sections, the arteries presented a small irregular opening with very
few circular fibers and these wavy in direction, conforming to the irregular
inner wall of the artery. Outside of the circular fibers there exists a thick layer
of connective tissue cells and longitudinal fibers. The condition readily admits
of dilatation as shown at points were the force of the injection had expanded the
veins, but the artery is not expanded by artificially filling the air vesicles. In
an infant that was known to have made a few efforts to breathe, a portion of the
lungs was still in their foetal state, and a portion was aerated so as to float in
water. In the aerated portions the foetal state of the arteries was not observed,
but in the non-serated portions the thick wall, and small, irregularly shaped lumen
of the vessel were everywhere present.

Dr. Samuel J. Jones remarked, that the facts suggested or demonstrated by these
specimens might become of value in medico-legal investigations. In artificial in-
spiration the lung will float, but the microscope may show that the pulmonary cir-

124 Editor^ s Table. [April,

culation has now been established. An effort to save the life of a child by forcing
air into the lungs may quite possibly produce a condition of these organs, assumed
to be evidence of life, and furnishes, therefore, presumptive proof that death has
taken place after birth. Dr. Johnson remarked, that he had nowhere found a
description of the change in the arteries by the establishment of the pulmonary
circulation. He was unable therefore to say whether or not the facts presented
were new to histologists.

Mr. Babcock stated that he had received a circular from the Secretary of the
State Board of Health, of Massachusetts, requesting microscopists and scientific
men generally, to examine the atmosphere for indications of the then prevailing
Horse Epidemic. After discussion the following committee was appointed to make
examination and report at the next meeting : Drs. Johnson, Jones, Smith, Curtis,
Davis, (F. H.,) and Adams.

Mr. Babcock made some remarks on the four species of Cornus found in this
section of the country, noting particularly the coincidence of the name given by
the ancients signifying horn, and the fact that the hairs on the under side of the
leaf have the form of pairs of horns. Some slides were then exhibited, after
which the meeting adjourned.

Scientific Meeting : Dec. 13, 1872, Vice President Babcock in the chair.

Members present : Drs. Johnson, Curtis, and Smith ; Messrs. Ebert, Sargent,
Adams (W. H.,) Bullock, Johnson, and the Secretary.

Dr. John Bartlett was elected to active Membership.

A verbal report was made by Dr. H. A. Johnson on the examination of the
atmosphere with regard to the Horse Epidemic. The results arrived at, the
Doctor said, showed nothing to which the epidemic could be traced. He thought
no satisfactory result could be reached unless investigations should be periodically
made for a considerable length of time, at least two years. The Society then
resolved itself into an informal meeting for the examination of some new ob-
jectives, among which was a 1-16 of special merit, by Gundlach.

Scientific Meeting : January 24, 1873, Vice President Biggs in the chair.

Members present : Drs. Davis, (F. H.,) Johnson, Curtis, Adams, and Jack-
son ; Messrs. Bullock, Johnson, and the Secretary.

A donation of six slides of pathological specimens was received from Dr.
Johnson, to whom the thanks of the Society were tendered.

Dr. Adams read a letter from Prof. Sanborn, of Boston, Mass., on a new
form of microscope, to be used for the examination of parts of the observer's
own face. The instrument consists of an ordinary microscope tube bent twice
at right angles, forming thereby a body and two arms. Inside the tube at the
angles are affixed prisms or mirrors. The objective being adjusted in one arm
and the eye-piece in the other, the light traversing the axis of the objective is
reflected by the mirror or prism in the first angle and thrown on the mirror in
the other angle, whence it passes through the eye-piece. The instrument is
held in position by a clamp fixed to the middle of the body, and firmly screwed
to a table or rest. The observer assumes the reclining position, and adjusting
the eye to the eye-piece, brings the objective to bear on the part of the face

1 8 73-] .Editor's Table. I25

under examination. Sunlight is used for illumination and the objectives are,
of course, low. It is the purpose of the Professor to study in this way the
pathological processes involved in vesication, etc. Any one possessing a micro-
scope can, at slight expense in procuring a tube and mirrors, avail himself of this
means of study, by using his own objectives and oculars. After some dis-
cussion on the subject the meeting adjourned.

Scientific Meeting: February 14, 1873, President Briggs in the chair.

Members present : Drs, Johnson, Curtis, Adams, and Davis, (F. H.) ; Messrs.
Thompson, Sargent, Babcock, Bullock, Johnson and the Secretary,

A paper on the Histology of the Lobule of the Liver was read by Dr. Curtis.
The paper reviewed, at some length, the various views at present entertained on
the subject, and the writer exhibited some slides which apparently showed the
biliary ducts originating in channels having distinct boundaries within the lobule.
The paper was to be continued at a subsequent meeting.

The President exhibited slides of a new infusiorial earth from Charlton, Mass.,
and stated that he had a considerable quantity of the same which he would be
glad to distribute to any persons wishing the same.

After discussion, and an examination of slides, the Society adjourned.

Joseph Adams, Secretary.

Chicago Academy of Sciences. — The annual meeting of the Chicago
Academy of Sciences was held January 14, 1873, in the library of Hon. J. Y.
Scammon, Mr, Scammon m the chair. This was the eighth annual meeting since
the reorganization, and the seventeenth since the commencement of the Academy.

Mr. George C. Walker then read the following report of the Board of Trus-
tees, which was received and ordered placed upon the records ;

At the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Academy of Sciences,
held this day, the undersigned. Secretary and Treasurer of the Board, was
directed to submit the following report :

That early in the spring of 1872, the Board of Trustees, after a careful consid-
eration of the whole subject, thought it best to improve the lot on Wabash avenue by
building a store on the front, and rebuilding the Academy Building on the rear,
with such changes as the past expecience of the Academy had made advisable.

To this end plans and estimates were prepared and made by a competent
architect, and it appearing from such estimates, as nearly as could then be deter-
mined, that it would cost about $80,000 to erect the two buildings, that sum was
borrowed of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company at eight per cent,
interest, on a bond individually guaranteed by some of the members of the Board
of Trustees, and secured by mortgage on the lot. With the money thus obtained
the erection of the two buildings has been prosecuted as diligently as possible,
and they are now approaching completion.

The Board cannot yet state the exact cost of the two buildings, but to complete
the store ready for occupancy, and also make the rear building ready for the fin-
ishing and furnishing, will require all the cash resources of the Academy on
hand, and the amounts thus borrowed.

The receipts and expenses of the Academy for the year A. D. 1872, exclusive
of the cost of buildings, were as follows :

126 Editor^ s Table. [April,

RECEIPTS.

Annual dues ^215.00

Initiation fees 20.00

Subscription notes collected 500.00

Interest 580.65

Donation 1 5 .00

Dividend Excelsior Insurance Company 1,000.00

EXPENDITURES.

Liabilities previous to fire ^214.35

Curator and assistants 1 ,3 1 2 .00

Purchasing and collecting specimens , 292.53

Sundry general expenses 355-98

Taxes I47'92

The Board hope and expect to have the library room of the Academy Building
so far completed within a few weeks as that it may be used by the curator and his
assistants, and also by the Board and the Academy for their monthly meetings ;
and the whole building is plastered and may be made ready for its cases and fit-
tings in a short time.

It thus becomes imperatively necessary that the Academy take some immediate
steps toward the construction of permanent and fitting cases for the exhibition and
preservation of its rapidly increasing store of specimens.

This will require an outlay of some thousands of dollars, to obtain which the
Academy, in the judgment of the Board, should at once make a vigorous, and,
until successful, continued effort.

The unpaid subscription notes amount at the present time to ^^5,291.25. Some
of the subscribers are abundantly able to meet their obligations, and the Board
urgently request then\ to do so, for the money is needed now more than ever be-
fore in the history of the Academy.

Thirty-one members of the Academy have neglected to pay their annual dues
of five dollars for, the past year, and a few are also delinquent for the year previ-
ous. Unless payment is soon made, the Academy should enforce the provision of
the by-laws for such neglect.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

The donations to the library of the Academy of Sciences since the great fire
have been : Bound volumes, 389 ; pamphlets, 925 ; total, 1,314: one complete
set of lake charts ; one complete set of coast charts ; one complete set of Florida
Reef charts ; one engraving of J. J. Audubon. Number of foreign contributors,
55; number of home contributors, 26; total, 81.

The donations to the museum of the Academy of Sciences since the great fire
have been the following: Mounted mammals, 12; mounted head of elk, i;
mammal skins, including the skin of the elephant Romeo, i6 ; mammal heads, 3 ;
total, 32. Mounted birds, 770; mounted bird skins, 1,060; bird eggs, 750; bird
nests, 10; total, 2,590. Skeletons of mammals, including elephant Hannibal,
10; skeletons of birds, 4; skeletons of heads, 6; skeleton of shark's jaws, i;
skeleton of python, i; total, 22. Mineral specimens, 126; fossil shells, 2.000;
recent shells, 4,000; botanical specimens, 500; mounted fish, 28; mounted tur-

i873-] Editor's Table. 127

tie, I ; insects, about 1,000; 2 five-gallon cans and 20 jars and bottles of speci-
mens in embryology, reptiles, crustacese, mollusca, radiates and insects ; 2 barrels
of coral from Florida.

There is also quite a large collection now packed in boxes, which it is not pro-
per to open until the cases are prepared to receive the specimens.

The Academy then proceeded to the election of officers for the ensuing year,
the following being duly balloted for and elected : President, J. W. Foster,
LL. D. ; Vice Presidents, E. W. Blatchford, Dr. H. A. Johnson ; Recorder, Dr.
Norman Bridge; Librarian, Dr. J. W. Viele; Committee on Membership, Dr. E.
Andrews, E. W. Blatchford, Dr. John H. Ranch; General Committee, Dr. J.
W. Foster, Dr. E. Andrews, E. W. Blatchford, H. A. Johnson, G. C. Walker, S.
A. Briggs, E. H. Sargent, Wm. Bross, Dr. A. E. Small, H. H. Babcock.

Among the objects of interest exhibited to the meeting were some plates accom-
panying the work of Captain Charles M. Scammon, United States Revenue Ma-
rine, on the natural history of cetaceans and other marine mammals of the
western coast of North America. The plates have been pronounced by Prof.
Baird, Prof. Agassiz, the State Geologist of California, and other sompetent
authorities, to be the finest ever published. There was also exhibited a case of
reptiles, colccted by Major Robert Kennicott, in Michigan, and which has been
in the possession of Dr. Davis. Specimens of artesian well water from the new
well in Scammon Court were also seen and tasted, and passed upon.

Messrs. Albert E. Ebert, Norman Bridge, and George F. Rumsey, the special
committee appointed to solicit funds, have issued the following circular appeal,
which ought to receive a generous and early response from every member and
friend of the Academy :

Chicago, February ist, 1873.

Dear Sir: — At the annual meeting of the Academy of Sciences, held Jan.
14th, 1873, it was resolved that the help of all those interested in Science
in this community, be solicited to re-establish the Academy in its former position
of usefulness.

The Academy buildings have been replaced in the same location, and superior
in all respects to those destroyed by the fire. This expenditure having exhausted
all the available resources of the Academy, it now becomes necessary to appeal
to those interested, to supply the means required to make the interior ready for the
reception of the large collections of books and specimens pertaining to the
Natural Sciences, now being received from kindred Societies and individuals in
all parts of the world.

For this purpose there will be required, cases, fixtures, containers, etc., involv-
ing an outlay of at least ^20,000.00.

The Chicago Academy of Sciences has heretofore held a prominent position
among the scientific instilutions of the country, and we confidently appeal to the
citizens of Chicago to aid in maintaining its reputation, and furthering the pro-
gress of scientific research, thereby keeping pace with the extraordinary recuper-
ation of this city.

12;

Editor' s Table. [April.

You are respectfully asked to make such a donation as you deem proper, for
this purpose, by filling the accompanying blank and returning it to the Treasurer
of the Academy, Geo. C. Walker, Esq., Chamber of Commerce Building, as
soon as convenient.

The committee hope, by fhis appeal, and by personal solicitation, to raise the
amount necessary, during the present season.

San Francisco. — The Microscopical Society of San Francisco, Cal., held its
annual meeting on the evening of February ii, at the Society's rooms on Clay
street. Dr. A. Kellogg presented for examination a section showing the reticula-
tion of the cuticle of the bulb-covering of the onion.

General Hewston presented a sample of infusorial earth, containing some rare
forms of Diatoms.

The new seal of the Society was pi-esented and adopted.

The following officers were unanimously re-elected for the ensuing year : Henry
G. Hanks, President; Arthur B. Stout, M. D., Vice President; C. Mason
Kinne, Recording Secretary; Henry C. Hyde, Corresponding Secretary; D. P.
Belknap, Treasurer.

Owing to the numerous applications for membership, a resolution was adopted
increasing the limit of membership to fifty.

The meeting then adjourned.

Rush Medical College, Chicago. — We are glad to note in the announce-
ment r^ " the spring course that this institution continues the Concour system, which
has heretofore been 39 successfully pursued.

[Advertisement.]

Mr. Wenham and the Tolles' Tenth. — In the discussion of angular aper-
ture, Mr. Wenham writes to the Monthly Microscopical journal (Msirch, 1873),
respecting the -^-^^ objective of Mr. Tolles' make, of which he professes to have
measured the angular aperture, that when the lenses were brought as close as
the arrangement of adjustment would allow, "then the aberrations were such
that it would not define objects under any thickness of cover. The maximum
angular aperture of the objective is not at that point. As the owner and constant
user of the instrunaent for three years, I believe that I know its character as well
as Mr. Wenham. The idea conveyed in Mr. W.'s letter is, that the objective will
not define well at the maximum angle, but only at the adjustment he fixed on.
This position I claim is utterly untenable. It may be believed in England, but I
do not intend to send the objective there again for examination. If there are
any microscopists — English or American — that have faith in Mr. Wenham's
results, I now invite them to call on me and look through that instrument them-
selves. If there is any yL- objective that will work through a thick cover and
give sharper definition, I have yet to see or hear of it.

Charles Stodder

Boston, March X'jth, 1 873.

THE LENS;

Natural 3tmm,

WITH THE

Transactions of the State Mic7'oscopical Society of Illinois,

Vol. IL— CHICAGO, AUGUST, 1873.— No. 3-

THE SILICEOUS SHELLED BACILLARE^ OR
DIATOMACEyEf'

I. — Preliminary Part.
I. — Historical Introduction.

Already for four thousand years had the mind of man searched
the wonder works of creation, yet a vast field remained unexplored,
closely connected with the numerous forms of that endless Nature
which the unaided eye had recognized, and the higher probing
mind had arranged; then, in the commencement of the 17th cent-
ury, a compound microscope was invented by Zacharias Janson and
his son, in Middleburg, and with that men ventured upon the un-
known, and till then, invisible field of smallest organisms, the dis-
covery of which opened an entirely new world in miniature.

The Diatoms, or Bacillariae, whose natural history is given in
this work belong to these minute microscopical objects.

Although it is uncertain what particular forms of the diatom group,
the first observers found, and endeavored to represent, by descrip-
tion and picture, yet it may be taken for granted, with great cer-
tainty, that they must have met with isolated specimens, since they
are so numerous and widely distributed.

•'••The introdaction of Kutzing's BacillariBe presents so many points of interest for the student,
and is so valuable as an historical summary, that I propose in the intervals between the appear-
ance ot the different parts of my own Synopsis, to give a somewhat free, though accurate, transla -
tion of it.

Vol. II. —No. 3.

130 Siliceous Shelled Bacillarece. or Diatomacece. [Aug.

For the first discovery of forms belonging here, which are, in some
measure, given with certainty, we have to thank O. F. Miiller, who
described and figured a Gomphonema in 1773 as Vorticella pyraria,
and in 1783 a Fragilaria as Conferva pectinalis, also a Melosira as
Conferva armillaris. A much greater sensation was made by the
discovery of the so called staff animalcules ( Vibrio paxillifer^ by
Miiller, and which the discoverer, at first, did not know where to
classify, but later embodied it in the genus Vibrio, in his large work
on Infusorise.

Gmelin, in the 13th edition of Linne's '' Systeina Naturce,''' cor-
recting the mistake, founded a special genus upon this form, to which
he gave the name BacillaricB, and from this, the whole group
received from Zoologists the name of Bacillarice, or staff-animal-
cules.

The great similarity of several Bacillarian forms to Conferva,
soon caused the Algologists to pay more attention to them ; already,
indeed, O. F. Miiller, himself the first of living infusoria investi-
gators, had declared his Conferva pectinalis, and C armillaris, to
be Algae.

The lower Algse had, at the end of the last century, very zealous
friends in Germany, in Mertens, Trentpohl, Roth, Weber, and
Mohr; in England in Dillwyn, and in France in Girod-Chantrans
and Draparnand ; and several forms, now distributed among the
genera Fragilaria, Melosira, Tabellaria^ Diatoma, and Schizonejna,
were described by these naturalists as confervse.

The knowledge of these forms at the beginning of this century,
was increased almost entirely by the Algologists, and among the
illustrations furnished in the Flora Danica, the English Botany, and
the large copper-p'ate work of Dillwyn, were several Bacillariae
mentioned as confervse ; but while the figures of Dillwyn, and the
Flora Danica, left room for many improvements as to the represen-
tation of the exacter microscopic proportions, those of the English
Botany were better ; and were especially good on the figures of Con-
ferva stipitata (Tab. 2488=Achnanthes longipes). Conferva obliquata
(Tab. i869=Isthmia enervis), Conferva Biddiilphiana (Tab. 1762
= Biddulphia pulchella).

Although DeCandolle, so far as is known, made no special study
of these organisms, yet he was the first who separated the form pre-
viously known as Conferva flocculosa, as a special genus which he

1^73-] Siliceous Shelled Bacillare(B or Diatomacece. 131

called Diatoma. Agardh followed DeCandolle in this, inasmuch as
he incorporated this genus into his ^^ Synopsis Algarum, 181 7," but
he combined with it other species, {D. Swartzii, D. pectinalis, and
D. fascial latuni), which are now distributed among as many differ-
ent genera.

For the most important investigations, however, which were made
of the Bacillarise the same year, we. have to thank Nitzsch, and
rightly does Ehrenberg call them '^ classic." He furnished in his
little work, long since out of print, " Contributions to the Knowl-
edge of Infusorice, or a Natural History of the Zerkarice, and the
Bacillarice, with six colored copper-plates, Halle, 181 7," the first
really good pictorial representations, and recognized first the pris-
matic shape of these forms (which he mentions as a principal char-
acter of the group). He carefully observed the propogation of the
staff (Stabchen) through length division, from which he explained,
quite correctly, the separation of certain forms in the peculiar zig-
zag like chains, as also the production of ribbon-like formS;, from an
imperfect separation. He showed the unchangeable character of
the external parts, after death, and also distributed several new
species, associating however, very different forms, from his personal
dislike to minute distinctions. All these forms he placed in two
main groups, viz. : vegetable and animal, the former containing
those which appeared to him immovable; later observations how-
ever, have shown that most of his vegetable species, possess also
voluntary motion. Two years later, 1819, appeared Lyngbye's
^^ Tentamen Hydrophytologice daniccB,^^ a work which, for that time,
was of the greatest importance. In this, more Bacillarian forms
were described, and figured, than had been done hitherto in any
other work. Twenty-five different forms were distributed among
the genera Diatoma, Fragilaria, (a new arrangement of Lyngbye)
and Echinella. The name of this last genus had been previously
given by Acharius (in Weber's Aid to Natural History, 2d Vol., p.
240) and incorporated for several years in the ^'■Systematic Hand-
books,'''' and had even been given out by me in my ^'•Decades of
Fresh Water Algce,^^ to a form which, in the following year, 1835,
was recognized as insect eggs; but the genus of Lyngbye of this
name did not contain the true form of Acharius, from which the
name had been transferred to quite a different plant form ; also the
remaining Echinellece of Lyngbye were foreign to, and only a few

132 Siliceous Shelled BacillarecE or DiatomacecE. [Aug.

exhibited the prickly aspect of, the form of Acharius. Soon after,
1820, Link (In the HorcE Physical derol.) described two genera,
Lysigorium ( = Melosira) and Hydrolinimi (=Schizonema.)

Bory de St. Vincent wrote for the ^'' Dictionaire Classique d'' His-
torie nat.^' the article ^'- Arthro dices '' which appeared in 1822, and
besides Oscillaria, Conferva and Zygnema treated also of some Bac-
illai'ice. In this article, the Echinella stipitata was described, and
figured, as Achnanthes stipitata ; he placed however in this genus
.other forms not belonging to it. The genus Fragilaria of Lyngbye
he described as Nematoplata ; the genus Diatoma was enriched by
a new species, and a fourth genus constituted under the name ^'/y//^^-
ria, which contained chiefly Gomphonema forms. In the article
^^ Bacillariees^'' by the same author the genus Navicula was consti-
tuted, and in the article '' Confervees,'" which appeared in 1823, he
described the genus Gallionella.

But while Bory de St. Vincent founded his genera chiefly on the
researches of other students ; and the few investigations of his own,
conveyed mainly the impression of superficial work ] the labours of
C. A. Agardh in the same group appear to much better advantage.
He in his Systema Algarum, 1824, mentions the Bacillaria3 as a special
order of the Algtie under the name ^' Diatomece,'''' and better and
in a more thorough manner than his predecessors, he arranged them
in the genera : i, Achnanthes; 2, Frustulia ; 3, Meridion ; 4, Dia-
to77ia; 5, JFragilaria ; 6, Melosira (= Gallionella, Bory); 7, Des-
midium (which we however exclude) ; 8, Schizonema ; and 9, Gom-
phoneina.

In the year 1827, C. A. Agardh described in the Regensburg Bot-
anical Journal, Nos. 40 and 41, several diatoms newly discovered by
him in the Adriatic sea, and at Carlsbad, on which occasion, he
mentions for the first time, the genera Micromega, Licmophora and
Homoeocladia. The same Algologist wrote most particularly on
this family in four condensed theses which appeared with a common
title, " Conspectus CriticiLS Diatomacearum.'''' In the first and
second (1830) he described a great number of forms, partly already
known, partly new, under the genera: i. Cymbella; 2,'' Schizonema;
3, Micromega J 4, Berkeley a (which was first brought forward by
Greville in 1827); 5, Homoeocladia; 6, Gloeodictyon ; 7, Hydru-
rus (which genus is excluded by us here) ; and 8, Gloeonema (under
which the author united very different organisms). In the follow-

1 8 7 3 • ] Siliceous Shelled Bacillai'-ece or DiatomacecB. 133

ing, third part, (1831) he gave the genera: 9, Gomphone7?ia ; 10,
Sty liar ia (= Podosphenia, Ehr.); 11, Meridion ; 12, Lichmophora ;
and 13, Fi'ustulia ; in the last part^ {1832). the genera: 14, /iV/^-
;;zM/ 15, Odontella; 16, Desmidiiimj 17, Achnanthes j 18, Stria-
lella; 19, Fragilaria ; 20, Grammonema (belonging to the Desmi-
diea?) ; and 21, Melosira. In the whole, the author described
(excluding the forms without siliceous shells, and not belonging here)
about 116 species. It should be remarked however here, that before
the appearance of this last work by Agardh, some very good investi-
gations were published by Leiblein in the Regensburg Botanical
Journal, concerning several diatoms, which Agardh incorporated
into his conspectus. While Greville had already described (1827)
in the 5 th Vol. of his ^^ Scottish Oyptogamic Flora'" the genera
Exilaria, Mone??ia, and Bei'-keleya. Turpin founded the genus Sur-
irella in 1828, and Gray in 1830 the genus Biddulphia, from Con-
ferva Biddulphiana, and C. Obliquata of the English Botany.
Thus till the year 1832, stood the systematic labours on these micro-
scopic organisms ; most of the writers mentioned, considered them
partly as animals (the moving forms,) and partly as plants (the
fixed forms). Only Agardh, Lyngbye and Leiblein declared more
decidedly for their vegetable character ; but besides Schrank, there
was not one who decidedly advocated their animal nature ; of their
inner constitution, and of their life-relations, nothing w^as known,
beyond the thorough communications by Nitzsch, already men-
tioned, and some superficial observations by Gaillon, that might
have brought the question, as to their nature, nearer its solu-
tion. In the same year (1832)^ appeared the second " Contri-
btction to the Knowledge of the Minutest Organisms,,'''' by C.
G. Ehrenberg. In this the Diatomacese were considered as
decided as animal forms; the 43 species observed by the author
himself, were distributed among the genera : i, Navicula (= Frus-
tulia, Ag.); 2, Bacillaria (=Diatoma, Ag. ); 3, Fragilaria; 4, Fxilaria
(= Meridion, Ag.) ; 5, Synedra (= Exilaria, Grev. = Diatoma
and Frustulia, Ag.) ; 6, Gomphonema ; 7, Cocconema ; '^, E chine lla
(= Licmophora, Ag.) ; they were all incorporated with the infusori^e
under the family of ^' stafi" animals," '' (Stdbthierchen) " (including
\\\^ DesmidiecE^'x'i^ the class of " stomach animals" {Magenthiere^ .
But at that time, stomachs were as little recognized by the author,
as mouth, entrails or rectum ; but a bivalve shell, {pajtzer) and a

134 Siliceous Shelled BacillarecB or Diatomacece. [Aug.

changeable foot (as in the Gastropods) was mentioned, and said to
stretch out of the longitudinal cleft of both valves. Another com-
munication from the same author, followed in 1834, being his third
*' Contribution," in which were described 16 newly observed forms.
The descriptions communicated in these observations are of the
greatest importance and are given with a care hitherto unknown in
this field. The author had this advantage over most of his prede-
cessors, that in his investigations he could make use of the best mi-
croscopes. Within Navicula ,Ai7iphisb(Bna, he considered the colored
substance as an ovary, and took the lighter cysts appearing therein
as polygastric stomach sacs ; at the same time he pointed out that a
bivalved, grooved shell, as Turpin has shown it in Surirella Stria-
tula, ''was in plants, something without analogy, but allying itself
easily to animal forms," and yet, just this circumstance had decided
Turpin, who knew right well that there were also striped and mani-
fold marked plant cells, to consider the form mentioned among the
' ' vegetabilia. ' ' Lastly, he called attention to an essential characteristic
of the Bacillariae which had already been correctly understood by
Nitzsch, but falsely represented by Agardh and other Algologists,
namely : Agardh supposed that in a diatom the little staves (Stdb-
chen) united therpselves lengthwise by twos in the beginning, then
separated, and cohered only at the ends, but Nitzsch had already
shown that the forms united at the edges were produced by imper-
fect self-division, an opinion which was pronounced also by me in
1833, and which Ehrenberg confirms.

In the year 1838, appeared the great work by Ehrenberg, ^^ Die
Infusionsthierchen als Vollkomniene Organismen.''^ — ''The Infuso-
ria as perfect organisms." The author had, already, previously
published several observations on the diatoms, which we here con-
sider with the others. He was the first who showed openings in
the hard valve, [Schale) (the central one was interpreted in many
frustules as mouth openings.) Under JVavicula, the snail foot-like
organ of motion was again mentioned, and which in most cases, is
said to protrude from the valve. The larger, brighter cysts in the
colored ovarian mass, were decided to be "stomach cells" because
the author, after many years of experimenting^ succeeded at last in
observing the reception of colour in them. Lastly, he mentioned
also, egg-like colourless granules, which he thinks are to be taken
for sexual organs. The ribbon-formed and other combinations of

^^^73-] Siliceous Shelled BacillarecE or Diatomacece. 135

individuals into a whole, he compared with monads, or Polypi
stems.*

Farther on we shall notice the merits which the author has gained
by his diligent investigations of the fossil forms, and the influence
which these minute organisms still exercise upon our earth ; here,
only a few words must be added on the systematic arrangement of
the group as contained in the great work on the Infusorise. Since
the first attempts to bring the diatoms into several genera, the
outward form of the shell-covered body, the manner in which the
single individuals united, and the presence or absence of a stipes
whereby they are attached, have been principally taken as the founda-
tion in the classification, and Ehrenberg introduced also, the pres-
ence or absence of the shell-openings, for the distinction of genera,
but the main groups were arranged according to the presence or
absence of a stipes ; a mistake which caused the author to mention
Lyngbye's £)iatoina arciLatiun, not only as two different species,
but also under two different genera, viz. : as Tessella catena, and
St7'iatella arcuata. His 154 species, contained in the work already
mentioned, and mostly accompanied with very carefully drawn
figures, form, with him, the group '^JVaviculacea,^^ and are distrib-
uted among the following genera: i, Pyxidicula, (= Cyclotella,
Kg.); 2, Gallionella ; 3, Actinocyclus, new; 4, Navicula ; 5, Eu-
notia,\\ew ', 6, Cocconeis, new; 7, Bacillaria ; 8, Tessella, nQ\Y ; 9,
Fragilaria J 10, Meridion ; 11, Isthmia ; 12, Synedra j 13, Podos-
phenia {= Stylaria, Ag.) ; 14, Gomphone7naj 15, Echinella, {j=
Licmophora, Ag.) ; i6,Cocco7tejnaj 17, Achnanthes ; 18, Striatella j
19, Frustulia; 20, Syncyclia, new; 21, JVaunejna (= Schizonema) ;
22, Gloeonema, (= Encyonema, Kg.) ; 23, Schizonema ; 24, Mi-
cr omega.

Of Ehrenberg's works, published subsequently, giving an account
of his continued investigations of the siliceous shelled diatoms, the
following are particularly of importance : ist, ^' The formation of the
European, Libyan and Arabic Chalk Rocks, and the Chalk Marl fo'oijt
Microscopic Organisms,"" (contained in the ^' Proceedings of the
Berlin Academy of Scie7zces ," 1839). In this communication the
new genera Co scino discus, and Dictyocha, with several species, and
some new fossil species of the genera, Acti7iocyclus, Coccone7na,
Denticella, Fragilaria and Navicula, were described. 2d, "(9/?

*One need scarcely to remark that all these observations of Ehrenberg are wholly fanciful.
— Translator.

136 Siliceous Shelled Bacillarece or Diatomacece. [Aug.

Numeroits, still living Species of Animals of the Chalk Formation, "
(also in the Proceedings of the Berlin Academy, 1840). In this
pamphlet, Ehrenberg showed that many diatoms hitherto found by him
only in the fossil condition, were living in sea water, especially in the
slime of the coast. Most of them he had gathered near Cuxhaven.
Of great importance, however, was the observations of the organs
of motion in the Navicttla gem?na, which shall be mentioned pres-
ently. At the same time the genera Amphitetras, Ceratoneis,
Grammatophora, Lithodesmittm, Podosira, Triceratium, Tripodiscus
and Zygoceros, were newly established, and a considerable nmnber
of new species described, which are partly represented in the appen-
ded copper plates. 3d, '^ Brief account ^274 neioly observed
Species of Infusofia, since the completion, of the plates of the larger
work on the Infttsoria,'''' in the reports of the Berlin Academy of
Science, 1840, in which about 100 new species of diatoms were des-
cribed, and the genera Amphipentas, Campy lo discus, Discoplea and
IIimantidiu7n were established. 4th, '■^ Extent and influence of Mi-
croscopic life in North and South America,^' 1840; without doubt,
the richest of the last named works, and at the same time furnished
with many figures, on four copper plates.

Prof. Bailey o(West Point, had already, in 1838, given the out-
lines of American Bacillaria? in Silliman s Journal of Science and
Arts, Vol. 41, No. 2, and Vol. 42, No. i, and had also, especially
reported on the fossil forms of North America, x'lbundant material
was sent to Ehrenberg from this continent, from thirteen different ■
localities, and at the same time, he received contributions from
South America, through his brother, Carl Ehrenberg, and besides
this, he knew how to obtain samples of earth from different other
points of that continent, which were brought to Europe in the trans-
portation of lumber, so that he obtained a view of the forms from
44 different localities in America, from the Falkland Islands to the
Kotzebue Sound. Lastly, some forms from Spitzbergen and Iceland
are given. The number of species described as new, is pretty large,
several American species however, mentioned as new ones, could
have been reduced to European species, 'and also from these com-
munications it is proved that in the remotest places, the same forms
of Bacillarige are usually repeated, and the remarkable differences
appear only singly, and seldom.

The genera Actinoptychits, Amphiporora, Climacosphenia, Gonio-
thecium, Mesocenia, Rhizosolenia, Sphe7iosira, and Tespsinoe^ are

1 8 73-] Siliceous SJielled Bacillarece or Diatomacece. 137

mentioned as new, also the separation (not happily) of Pinnularia
from Navicula, and besides, 227 new species are described, most
of them figured ; and also incorporated into my own plates. I
shall, however, have frequent opportunity to refer to these, and all
other labours of Ehrenberg, wherefore for the present I finish my
notice of the great industry of this man, who has at command in
his lucky position, all possible means for the prosecution of his sci-
entific investigations.

The same year in which Ehrenberg' s large work on Infusorise
appeared, A. de Brebisson published his ^'Considerations Sur les
Diatoniees.''^ Brebisson had diligently studied the Alga' of his
neighborhood, [I^alaise,) and had spent much time in hunting up the
little diatoms. Of many of the new species whose names only he
mentions in that brochure, he has given specimens to his friends in
Germany ; by the use of the sjjecimens I was enabled to get the
necessary information regarding them. Upon the whole, his classi-
fication is very near that I had made in my Synopsis Diatomearinn^
1833, only some subdivisions of my genera he made into indepen-
dent genera, as for instance, Cyniboplwra, (= Coccenema, Ehr.)
Cyclotella, (== Pyxidicula, Ehr.) and besides that, Epitlieniia (which
corresponds with the genus Eunotia, Ehr.) and Surirella.

Besides these, also Greville (in Hooker's British Flora, II) and
Harvey in the ^^ Manual of British Algce,'' have lately become
co-workers among the Diatomacese, but in a manner which still
reminds of the times of Lyngbye and Agardh, so that their labours
are almost entirely useless for our purpose, because they lack the
necessary strictness. The latest discoveries remained quite unknown
to these men, at least they had no influence on their labours.

Ralfs has furnished the most recent work on British diatoms, in
single monograph, which is printed, and accompanied with
figures, in the 12th Vol. of '^ Annals and Magazine of Natural
History. ' '

Ralfs excels his predecessors in his knowledge, and better repre-
sentations of separate forms ; he has also used the publications of
others better than his countrymen just named, but the figures on
most of his plates, (only with the exception of PL 8,. which contains
beautiful and successful representations of the genera Aviphitetras,
Biddulphia, and Isthinia) are pretty crude; it seems, however, as
if this was more the fault of the engraver than of the author.

Prof. H. L. Smith.

Geneva, N. Y.

Vol. II.— No. 3. 8

138 Thk Cell. [Aug.

THE CELL.

IV. THE PROTOPLASM OR FORMED MATERIAL.

In passing from the consideration of the nucleus or germinal
matter to the formed material, we cross an abrupt and sharply drawn
boundary ; it is that boundary which separates matter capable of
growth and development merely, from matter which is capable of
functional activity merely. In other words, we pass from the study
of matter which can only increase and multiply itself, to the study
of matter which can only exhaust itself, or wear itself out, for the
benefit of the body as a whole. Since, therefore, the formed
material must be fitted for the performance of various functions, we
can readily understand that it will be likely to present a more varied
structure than we encountered in germinal matter.

In fact it is the structural variations in the formed material which
gives us the different types of cell growth. If cells were never
developed beyond the nucleus or germinal stage, we should have no
variety at all ; every cell would be precisely like every other cell in
structure, and, for aught we know, in potentiality.

Somehow, we know not how, cells or living masses, which look
precisely alike in their infancy, acquire, during the progress of their
development, certain distinctive structural differences, and at the
same time they assume certain specific duties. Hence we encounter
various types of cell growth ; but these types depend upon variations
in the form and consistency of the formed material — -not upon
variations in the germinal matter.

The term '^ formed material " was first brought into use by Beale,
and was by him made to comprehend all that portion of the cell
lying outside the nucleus. It has also been called ''cell contents"
by various authors, "periplast" by Huxley, '' sarcode" by Dujardin,
and '*^ protoplasm " by Max Schultze, Rindfleisch and others. Of
late years writers are much in the habit of calling it ''protoplasm,"
not because this term presents any special advantages over several
others, but rather because, since Huxley's famous lecture on "pro-
toplasm," this term has come to be greatly "in fashion," so to
speak. If to-morrow, Huxley or some other " star " of the first mag-
nitude should flash a new term upon us, we should immediately drop
the old plaything and rush unthinkingly for the new.^^^

(i) The term protoplasm has also occasionally been madeto include the nucleus ; infact it has
been and still is used very loosely. In the majority oi instances, however, it is used in connection
with formed material only.

1873.] The Cell 139

The study of the formed material involves the attempt to answer
these three questions : Firsts What is its structure ? Secondly, What
are its functions ? Thirdly, Is it living or dead ? The first two queries
present themselves as a matter of course ; the third is rendered to a
certain extent inevitable, by Beale's broad and somewhat dogmatic
assertion that the formed material is always non-living matter. I
shall consider these questions in their order :

First. What is the structure of the ' formed material ' ' ?

In the first place we encounter the fact that it is not, like the
germinal matter, constructed after any rigid or inflexible rule. Its
structure is as variable as are the duties it is required to perform.
Some of these duties are essentially active or vital ; others are merely
passive or mechanical ; some require a solid or semi-solid formed
material ; others require a fluid formed material ; hence the neces-
sities of the case demand that the formed material shall exist under
a multiplicity of types, instead of one general and unchangeable
type.

We. find fluid protoplasm in all secretions ; notably in saliva, mucus,
bile and pancreatic juice. ^^^ It is the direct and completed product of
the gland-cells, and is by them formed for a specific purpose. It has
passed through the period of germinal matter — ( the era of its
childhood), and has now reached its perfect period of development,
or its adult period. The change, therefore, from semi-solid germinal
matter, to fluid formed material, is not necessarily, or indeed gen-
erally, a retrograde step, but rather a step in the opposite direction.
It is the completion of the work of development. Another variety
of "formed material' ' is the horny substance which forms the greater
part of the cells composing the epidermis and the various epithelia;
this substance gives no evidence whatever of "structure," in the
ordinary acceptation of that term ; it seems to be the result of the
simple solidification or dessication of the germinal matter, a minute
portion of which can still be seen in the centre of the cell.

Advancing another step, we come to the formed material of
cartilage, hyaline or faintly granular, presenting no evidences of
structure, fitted for duties which are merely mechanical or menial,
and evidently the product of a sort of physical mutation of the
germinal matter from which it was derived.

(2) The jfcr^/'z'^^zj must not here be confounded with the excretions; they are totally dis-
similar, both as regards origin and destination.

i4^ The Celt. [Aug.

A necessity arises for a solid material, which shall act as a frame-
work for the body ; hence in the bones we meet with peculiarly
formed cells, their formed material being composed mainly of
calcareous salts in fine particles, combined with, or associated with
a small proportion of animal matter. It is not essential for us to
know whether these calcareous particles are the result of the conver-
sion of the original germinal matter, or whether they are the product
of simple infiltration or precipitation ; in either case the effect is the
same ; the germinal matter undergoes gradual diminution, while the
formed material is gradually increased ; — and as a consequence of
this, that which was cartilage is replaced by that which is bone.

Another modification of the formed material we find in that which,
in its perfect form, becomes simple fibre — as in white and yellow
fibrous tissue; fibres being constructed by the welding together of
individual cells which have first elongated, then become spindle-
shaped, and lastly drawn out into exceedingly minute fibrils, which
by their aggregation form fibres. It is noticeable that in the process
of development, these two kinds of formed material acquire physical
properties which are totally unlike ; the yellow fibre being very- elastic
while the white fibre is invariably rigidly inelastic. Up to this
point we have only encountered formed material capable of mani-
festing physical characteristics ; that is we have met with no form of
tissue which needs to be endowed with vitality to enable it to perform
its duties in the economy. None of the tissues which we have
glanced at, require anything of vital force, except in the interest of
their own nutrition and repair, and this is invariably attended to by
the small proportion of germinal matter which they each still contain,
and which remains germinal matter for the special purpose of
maintaining nutrition and repairing waste.

In passing to the higher forms of protoplasm, we first meet with
a tissue possessed of the power of voluntary contraction — namely
the muscular tissue. Its proper formed material consists of the
so-called "musculine " ; in this substance, therefore, we are to look
for the power of contractility. The formed material of muscles
is thrown into minute fibres ; these are divisible into yet smaller
fibres, which are called fibrils ; these again are separable into
exceedingly minute disks or segments, the so-called '•'• ultimate
sarcous particles" or '^sarcous elements" of Bowman. To the
microscopist then, these minute particles are ultimate \ they are the

1873-] The Cell. ±4±

elementary structural form of the contractile material of voluntary
muscle. In the involuntary or unstriped muscle, we find that the
spindle-shaped cell is the ultimate structural element, and that the
muscular tubes and planes are produced by the weaving together of
these elongated contractile cells.

The highest development of formed material is that which is
encountered in the nervous system. Essentially, it consists of the
cellular portion, which is the active and potential part of the nervous
centres ; and the fibrous or tubular portion, which pervades the entire
body, and conveys impressions both to and from the nerve centres.
In the cells, we find formed material of a grayish or ash color, in
large quantity, presenting an indistinctly granular appearance under
high powers, surrounding a minute island of germinal matter, from
which it was developed and by which it is maintained. In the fibres,
the " axis cylinder " is the peculiar formed material, and it is merely
drawn out into long, minute cords, instead of being massed around
the nucleus.

Under these diversified types do we find the products of cell
growth, when they arrive at their last period of development. It
must be borne in mind that these various forms of protoplasm are all
the product of the growth of the germinal matter, and developmental
power resident in it. But the power of growth alone is not sufficient ;
for, if the germinal matter of any two or of any six tissues be com-
pared, with the utmost care, and with the highest magnifying powers,
no essential difi'erence can be perceived ; hence there must be a
peculiar power of difi'erential development, in addition to the mere
power of assimilation and growth.

Secondly. What is the function of the formed material ?

This question has been partly answered already. Certainly the
formed material has nothing to do with growth, development,
assimilation, nutrition or repair; else it would not be ''' formed"
but rather ''forming" material. Two necessities are constantly
present; two demands constantly before us; the one for a something
which shall develop, nourish and repair — or in other words, replace
materials which are worn out and wasted ; and this demand is fully
and adequately met in the germinal matter ; the other for a some-
thing which shall carry out the designs of development, or carry on
the various functions, and execute the various duties necessary for
the good of the economy ; and this demand is fully and adequately

142 The Cell [AuG.

met in the formed material. The formed material, then, is never
concerned in growth and development, but always in function ; it
never possesses the power of increasing itself, or even of maintaining
its integrity ; but it is always engaged in wearing itself out by active
labor or passive service for the general good. Hence we find it
under a multiplicity of forms, each individual form being adapted
to a special end.

Of course a large proportion of every full-grown living being is
made up of formed material, and the comparatively small proportion
which is composed of germinal matter, is utterly useless for any
purpose except that of assimilating pabulum for the replacing of
worn out formed material j it is powerless for any other purpose.

So long as the body of any animal is composed exclusively of
germinal matter, (as in the earliest period of embryonic life) it
possesses no power beyond that of assimilation and growth, and,
possibly, that of amoeboid movement ; it has not yet acquired any
faculty which may properly be classed as '' functional," nor will it,
until a specifically endowed formed material shall have been created.

The formed material, then, must be regarded as the true repository
of functional power when the exercise of function demands the
exercise of power, as in contraction, innervation and intellection :
and it must also be looked upon as the passive servant, when its
functional duties require it to passively occupy the place of a menial
merely, as is indeed the case with the formed material of epidermis,
the epithelia, and of cartilage and bone.

Thirdly. — Is the Formed Maie?'ial living or dead ?

According to Prof. Lionel S. Beale, it is always dead, it has passed the
boundary which separates dead from living matter. I quote his own
words in proof of this : "To avoid entering into a long and tedious dis-
cussion as to the meaning which should be assigned to the words in
general use, I have been led to use new terms when speaking of the
essentially different parts of the cell or tissue. I apply the term
germinal matter only to that which lives, changes, converts, genriinates ,
etc. Formed Material, on the other hand, never possesses any of
these properties. // has lived, but is now lifeless ; it may be changed,
but it cannot change itself. "^^^ Again he says : '^ The terms living
and dead have for me a meaning somewhat different from that com-
monly accepted. If my arguments are sound, the greater part of the

(3) How to work with the Microscope, 4th Ed., page 318.

i873-] ^^^' ^^^^- ^43

body of an adult man or animal, at any moment, consists of matter

to all intents and purposes as dead as it would be if the individual

itself were deprived of life. The formed material of the living cell

is dead. The only part of the living cell and the living organism

which is alive, is the germinal matter. Nothing can be regarded as

alive or living but germinal matter in which vital changes alone take
place. "t4]

These are strong statements, and if they are accepted as true, we
must regard ourselves as constantly more dead than alive. For my
own part I neither wholly accept or wholly reject them. Germinal
matter is, without doubt, always living m.atter. Formed material,
on the other hand, is sometimes living, sometimes dead; this is a
question which is determined not by the mere presence or absence of
the power to "change, convert, germinate, etc.," (as Dr. Beale
believes), but rather by the quality of the duties which it is created
to execute. If it is intended for merely passive or mechanical func-
tions, as in the case of the formed material of epidermis, cartilage,
and white and yellow fibrous tissue, it is not living but dead. It has
no necessity whatever for life ; indeed the formed material of all the
lower tissues is far more servicable, if it be deprived of vitality and
therefore of sensibility, than it would be if living and therefore
acutely sensitive. Think of the exquisite torture of a vital and sen-
sitive epidermis, or cartilage, or ligament, or bone. Dead, and non-
sensitive, these tissues (or these varieties of formed material) are of
the highest utility in the economy ; living and sensitive, they would
simply make existence unendurable. These lower and passive forms
of formed material simply need that amount and that kind of vital
force which enables them to superintend their own nutrition, and
this is supplied to them, as I have already pointed out, by the minute
masses of germinal matter which always remains unchanged or un-
converted, without doubt, for this single and very important purpose.
But if we glance at the ''higher animal tissues" ^^^ (particularly
muscular and nervous tissues) w^e shall find conditions essentially
different, demands vastly higher, and functional requirements which
non-living tissues cannot fulfill. The formed material of muscular
tissues must and does possess the inherent power of contractility ;
out of this we get the power of locomotion and other faculties,

(4) Op. Cit. p. 329. The italics are Dr. Beale's.

(5) Virchow : Cellular Pathology, Chance's translation, page 77.

144 Tlie Cell. [Aug.

without which we should be worse than useless. Two things seem to
me absolutely certain : first that I do not walk, or do any other act
involving muscular contraction by means of dead muscles ; secondly
that my power of locomotion (muscular contraction) does not de-
pend upon the germinal matter which I find in muscular tissue, since
its quantity is too minute to admit of its exercising any contractile
power. I am therefore forced to the conclusion, in spite of Dr.
Beale, that muscular tissue is living tissue ; that while it no longer
possesses, and no longer needs, a developmental power or life, it does
possess, and does need, a functional power or life ; that when it
passed the boundary which separates germinal matter, (matter en-
dowed solelywithdevelopmental or germinating power), from formed
material (matter endowed solely with functional — in this case con-
tractile— power), it carried over with it just so much of vital force
as should last it through the period of its functional life ; and that,
just so long as it is capable of executing its allotted duties as a
constituent element of the body, it is and must be undeniably living.

If the formed material of muscular tissue is dead — or if Prof.
Beale chooses, " non living," while it is yet capable of contraction,
what change comes over it when it passes into that truly lifeless and
helpless condition which we have been accustomed to call death?
Again, how are we to tell when and where life ends and death
begins? Indeed, for aught we know, half the people we meet
walking about the streets, are dead already, and ought to have been
buried long ago, if Dr. Beale's views are correct. Prof. Beale
attributes contractility to a ''disturbance (electrical or otherwise) in
the neighborhood- of a contractile tissue." The answer to this is,
that no ''disturbance," whether "electrical or otherwise," can
induce contraction in a muscle which is truly dead.

The same ideas hold good as regards the nervous system. Nervous
influence is generated in and by the formed material of the cells of
nervous tissue. This is a truly vital act ; we know that death has
occurred because the nervous system fails to respond to the usual vital
stimuli. Intellection is the highest attribute of vitality ; but the
power of intellection has its seat in the formed material of the cells
of the gray matter of the cerebrum ; can we make ourselves believe
that we do our thinking with dead brains? Manifestly not. But
the adoption of Prof. Beale's sweeping dogma concerning the status
of the formed material, leads us to precisely this conclusion, in spite
of ourselves.

1 8 73-] On the Aperture of Object- Glasses. 145

While growth and the power of development is undoubted evidence
of life, the absence of the power of growth and developement is not
absolute proof of death ; indeed it may be simply the proof of a more
mature life. The attempt therefore to make the presence or absence
of developmental power the test of the presence or absence of life,
cannot be admitted as valid or reliable. If growth were the only
outcome of the highest operations of vital force, it would present
but a feeble argument for the wisdom of its All-wise Creator.

/ N. Danforth, M. D.,

Lecturer on Pathology , Rush Medical College,
Chicago.

ON THE APERTURE OF OBJECT-GLASSES.

I received a note from Mr. R. B. Tolles of Boston, February 17,
asking me if I would measure the balsam angle of a y^o-th objective
for him. Having agreed to do so, the objective came to hand before
the close of the month. My intention was to measure the angle
by the modification of Lister's method proposed by Mr. Wenham,*
and afterwards used before a committee of scientific gentlemen in
measuring the yV^ rashly sent by Mr. Tolles to London for that
purpose. f Mr. Tolles, therefore, at my request, supplied a sector
and tanks.

Having had some previous experience with the ordinary method
of measuring angles of aperture with the sector, I was well aware
of the erroneous result likely to be obtained by its use in the case
of high angles, but supposed that for the reduced angles to be
measured, when the nose of the objective was immersed in water or
balsam, it would prove at least as nearly accurate as for similar
angles measured in air. I soon found, however, that this was not
the case, if the screw collar was fully closed.

I first measured the ^L-th sent by Mr. Tolles with the screw collar
adjusted to the open point, that is, for uncovered objects. The
sector, used precisely as described by Mr. Wenham, gave the angle

*' Monthly Microscopical Journal,' August, 1872, p. 84.
flbid, January, 1873, p. 29.

Vol. IL — No. 3. 9

146 On the Aperture of Object- Glasses. [Aug.

in air at 160°. When the nose of the objective was immersed in a
tank of water, the angle. was reduced to 93°, and in fluid balsam to
76°, as nearly as could be read by the sector. When, however, the
screw collar was adjusted for the thickest cover through which it
could work, that is, when the combination was closed as far as pos-
sible, I failed to get definite results either in air, water, or balsam.
At no angle was the field of view bisected fairly, bright on one
side and dark on the other ; but the light gradually faded away in
such a manner that no sharp limit could be fixed.

I did not feel at liberty to escape this difficulty as Mr. Wenham
did, in measuring the Tolles's yV^h sent to London, by setting the
screw collar at some more open point ("the best adjustment of a
Podura scale," for instance), for I had found by trial that when the
lens sent to me was closed as far as its screw collar would 1^0, it
would still define very well, provided it was used on an object
covered by a correspondingly thick covering glass. Worked at this
adjustment the lens, in fact, would show the beads of Pleurosigma
angulatum or the striae of Grammatophoro subtilissima beneath a
covering glass one seventy-fifth of an inch thick (by actual measure-
ment). It is fair to say too that this power of working through a
thick covering glass with good definition is possessed in a high
degree by both th^ tV^ ^^^ i^^ immersion objectives of Mr. ToUes,
Wiiich have been described by me in former papers. I note, for
instance, that both these glasses will work with good definition
through covers of the thickness just mentioned, which none of the
jL-ths, Y^o'^hs, or Jths, and no other high-angled -J-th in the Museum
collection will do.*

Having determined, then, that I ought to measure the angle
when the combination was closed, and having satisfied myself that
the sector was not to be trusted under the circumstances, I devised
the following plan, which may be commended for its simplicity and
for the definite character of the results.

I had long used an easy mode of measuring the angles of object-
ives in air, which is, in fact, a modification of the plan of Dr.
Robinson, so justly commended by Mr. Wenham.f I screw the

* I may remark here that the thickness of cover through which an objective will work is not
limited by its aperture, though this limits the working distance on uncovered objects, but by the
extent to which the motion of its posterior combinations neutralize the increasing aberration pro-
duced by increasing thickness of cover. The character given to the posterior combinations by
the maker determines the available limit in each case.

f Monthly Microscopical Journal,' November, 1872, p. 233. See also 'Proceedings of the
Royal Irish Academy,' vol. vi, p. 38, 1854.

1 8 73-] On the Aperture of Object- Glasses. 147

objective into a tube which pierces the shutter of my dark room,
the back of the objective being towards the hght, and I throw
through it, by means of a solar mirror, a parallel pencil of sunlight,
which, of course, is brought to a focus in front of the lens and
crosses, forming a cone of light. By adjusting a white cardboard
protractor horizontally in the middle of the cone with its centre at
the visible focus, I measure at once, and without the necessity of
any calculation, such as was proposed by Dr. Robinson, the angle
of the pencil which crosses at the principal focus ; and this angle,
as Dr. Robinson has correctly shown, is not materially greater than
the angle which would be formed if the light radiated from the con-
jugate focus used to obtain distinct vision with the eye-piece at the
extremity of the microscope body.

To measure the angle in balsam on the same principle, I simply
made a thin tank rather more than three inches square, by filling
with hot balsam the space between two sheets of plate-glass held
about the sixth of an inch apart by narrow strips of glass on three
slides. When the balsam had cooled I had, of course, a layer of
solid balsam of the size of the tank, with one side open. The tank
was carefully levelled horizontally in the cone of light, as the card-
board protractor had been, and a drop of fluid balsam on the side
where the solid balsam was exposed served to make contact with the
face of the lens. When now the solar light was thrown through the
lens as before, a superb amber-colored triangle of light started into
view, the sharp, well-defined edges of which permitted the angle at
the focus to be measured with ease by a card-board protractor held
beneath the flat tank, or by any similar device, taking care, of course,
that the eye should be perpendicular to the edge of the light-triangles
at each reading, to avoid displacement by the refraction of the
upper glass of the tank, which would have made a small error. The
plan has the advantage that no part of the objective is exposed to
the balsam except its face (which is easily cleaned by a little coal
oil), besides which the measurements are much more quickly affected
than with the sector, and are not liable to the errors which effect its
use when the lenses are -closed.

By this method, then, I measured the balsam angle of the yV^
Mr. Tolles had sent me, with the following results : Uncovered
75°, or nearly what the sector gave ; completely closed nearly 80°.
I subsequently extended the measurements to the immersion y^g-th

148 On the Aperture of Object- Glasses. [Aug.

and ylg-th by Mr. Tolles, belonging to the Museum, and found that
the maximum balsam angle of each was less than 80°. These results,
it will be seen, fell within the limits laid down as possible by
Mr. Wenham.

To measure the water angle of Mr. Tolles' s y^-Q-th, I now con-
structed a thin water tank by cementing strips of glass between the
edges of two sheets of plate glass about three inches square, so that
they should be held about the sixth of an inch apart. All four sides were
closed, but one side had in the centre an opening half an inch long,
and the edges of the strips adjoining this were beveled.

When this tank was filled with water, I had of course a thin
sheet of water, which would not run out when the tank was held
horizontally, and by levelling this, as had been done with the
balsam tank, in front of the objective, the angle was measured in
the same way. The luminous pencil was by no means so brilliant
as in the case of balsam, but its limits were sharp and clear, and it
could readily be measured. With the y^th the results were about
90° at the uncovered point, nearly 100° when the objective was
corrected for the thickest cover through which it would work.
Neither the Jth nor the y-g-th exceeded 96° when closed as far as
possible.

I promptly communicated tliese results to Mr. Tolles, and was
immediately requested by him to examine yet another objective, a
\\\\, which reached me March 22nd.

On measuring this objective in balsam, precisely as I had done
the others, I got somewhat over 90° at the uncovered point, some-
what over 100° when the combination was fully closed. Measured
with the water tank, the angle at the uncovered point was about
130°. Now, in the first place, I must remark that the objective was
certainly an exceptional one, and apparently put together with a
view to this controversy. Instead of three combinations, I found
it to be constructed with four ; the posterior two resembled those of
other fifths of Mr. Tolles, and were together moved by the screw
collar, the anterior two remaining stationary ; of the anterior com-
binations the front was very small, and about a ninth of an inch in
solar focus. (It magnified 108 diameters at twelve inches' distance
from micrometer to screen.) Immediately back of this was a very
much larger combination^ concave anteriorly and convex posteriorly.
I inferred from the manner in which the brasswork was put together,

1873-] On the Aperture of Object- Glasses. 149

(having no information from the maker on the subject) that these
two combinations had been substituted for the front of a previously
constructed objective.

In the next place I must remark that, notwithstanding its ex-
ceptional construction, this objective, when used as an immersion
glass, had certainly very considerable defining power for a -|-th. It
worked, it is true, even when fully closed, only through the thinnest
covers, but it resolved the Amphipleura pellucida and Frustulia
Saxonica, both mounted in balsam (Holler's type-plate), and on my
Nobert's nineteen-band plate clearly separated the lines of the
fifteenth band. Used dry it would not work through any cover, but
when fully open it resolved the twelfth band of a Nobert's nineteen-
band plate, remounted with the lines uppermost and not covered.
In this performance the front of the objective appeared to be in
actual contact with the object. I may add that the combination
when in use magnified at twelve inches' distance sixty diameters at
the uncovered point, and seventy-five diameters when fully corrected
for cover.

As the results of the measurements of the angle of the objective
last described are quite in disaccord with the sweeping opinion ex-
pressed by my esteemed friend Mr. Wenham, in his recent controversy
with Mr. Tolles, I have thought it right to imitate his prudent
example,* and secure the testimony of competent witnesses as to
the accuracy of my results. I therefore repeated the measurement
of the balsam angle of this objective before Professor Simon New-
comb, of the United States Naval Observatory, and Mr. Renel
Keith, of Georgetown, formerly also a professor in the same
institution. Both these gentlemen are professional mathematicians,
and both are well acquainted with optics as a science. They have
not only verified my measurement of the balsam angle of this
particular objective, but they agree with me that in the heat of the
discussion Mr. Wenham has gone rather too far in concluding that
it is theoretically impossible to construct an objective which shall
transmit from balsam a pencil greater than 80°.

The position taken by Mr. Wenham is certainly true for objectives
as ordinarily constructed ; that it is not necessarily true for all pos-
sible constructions will be seen by a moment's reference to his
figure. f The deductions drawn from that figure are in strict accord-

* ' Monthly Microscopical Journal,' January, 1873, p. 29.
f Ibid, November, 1872, p, 232.

156 ' On the ApMure of Object- Glasses. [Aug.

ance with optical theory only so long as we suppose the lines d, a,
and b, e^ which represent the course of the extreme rays in the
crown-glass front of the supposed objective to remain constant.
It is not possible for the extreme rays to have greater obliquity
if the light passes from air into the glass ; but if the radiant is in
water and nearer than the point f or in balsam and nearer than the
point g, it does not follow that the rays cannot enter the glass front,
but simply that they will take a course more oblique than the lines
d, a, and b, e. In the case of balsam of the same index as the glass
front there will of course be no refraction at the line of junction
between the balsam and the glass, and rays of any degree of obliquity
can enter. To what degree of obliquity it will still remain possible
for such rays to emerge into air from the posterior hemispherical
surface of the front lens, will depend upon the precise form given
to it, and how it is possible to collect these rays so as to form an
image at the eye-piece will depend upon the construction of the
posterior combinations.

In the same way in the excellent paper of the Rev. S. Leslie
Brakey, in the March number of the Monthly Microscopical Journal,
the conclusions drawn by the author are only true so long as we sup-
pose the direction of the ray O, X, (which precisely corresponds to
the line b, e, in Mr. Wenham's figure) to remain unaltered; the
same reasoning applies in both cases. Mr. Brakey remarks that it
follows from his demonstration, ''that the results are entirely inde-
pendent of the kind of glass used for the objective front," which is
quite true as far as " the results" go, but both he and Mr. Wenham
seemed to have overlooked the fact that their demonstrations do not
touch the question of the angle possible to be transmitted through
an objective from a radiant in water or balsam, but only, to use Mr.
Brakey' s own accurate expression, the '■'' reduced angle '^ in water or
balsam corresponding to a fixed air-angle. Suppose, however, an
objective to have such a construction that, when a parallel pencil of
solar light is transmitted from behind, the extreme rays shall finally
reach the flat surface "of the front lens at an angle greater than that
formed by the line O, X, in Mr. Brakey' s figure, of course if there
is air in front of the lens every such ray will suffer total reflexion,
while if water or balsam be substituted it will be transmitted.

I am in hopes that the foregoing brief expiation will be sufficiently
explicit, and that Mr. Wenham himself will frankly admit that he

1^73-]

On the Aperture of Object- Glasses.

151

has overlooked the possible case of an objective made to perform
only in water or balsam, without reference to its performance in air.
Whether the increased angle which theory demonstrates can be
gained at this price, will have any practical value, or be any addition
to our optical resources, is another question altogether, and one
into which I do not propose to enter at the present time.

Washington. J. J. Woodward, M. D.

Note:-^ .

I assisted in the measures above described by Dr. Woodward.

The angle in balsam, when the lenses were fully closed, measured inore
than 100°.

The reason why the angle exceeded the limit laid down by Mr. Wenham was
quite obvious to me during the experiments. Whether the objective was open or
closed, the light was dispersed in air at all angles up to 180°, showing that the
light which struck near the circumference of the anterior surface of the objective
must have suffered total reflexion, and so made an angle with the normal to the
surface exceeding the limit assumed by Mr. Wenham.

Simon Neivcomb, U. S. JV.
Washington.

100° when they were
sistent with theory.

Note :—

I witnessed the measurement, by Dr. Woodward, of the balsam angle of the
I -5th of Mr, Tolles, the method used being that described in the foregoing com-
munication. The angle was over 90° when the lenses were fully open, over
fully closed. This result does not seem to me incon-
Mr, Wenham's experiments, alluded to in his article in
the ' Monthly ' for January, indicate an explanation, and
it seems singular that they did not suggest to him long
ago a method of obtaining what Mr. Tolles has obtained
— an objective with large angle for objects covered in
balsam. Let O be the lenses of an ordinary objective in
adjustment for an object uncovered. Let R be the
radiant at such a distance that a cone of large angle is
brought to a focus at the eye-piece. In order that this
state of things shall not be disturbed, when the object at
R is covered in balsam, mount in front of O the lens B,
so that when in water-contact with the cover it shall be
part of a sphere with its centre at R, It will exactly neutralize the neg-
ative surface of the cover, and the light will radiate from R without refraction
until it meets the objective at O,

It follows that when a lens of ordinary glass makes balsam-contact with the
cover of a balsam-mounted object, the exposed surface of the lens is to be regarded
as ihejirst refracting surface, and the angle with which a pencil of light may
emerge depends upon the curvature of that surface, and has nothing to do with
the plane surface of the submerged, cover. How much of the pencil may be
brought to a focus depends upon the succeeding lenses in the combination. This
is strictly true for glass and balsam, having the same refractive index, and is
nearly true in all practical cases, even if water be substituted for balsam between
the lens and the cover.

Renel Keith.
Georgetown, D. C.

152 Potato JB light and Rot. [Aug*

POTATO BLIGHT AND ROT

Some eminent chemists, such as Dr. Lyon Playfair, believe that
the potato-plant, when healthy, is not subject to attacks from fungi.
In a lecture delivered by him before the Royal Agricultural Society
of England, December 9, 1845, ^^ remarked that ^'much had been
said and written with regard to the source of the disease, and since
minute fungi had been assigned as its cause, potatoes, apples and
other fruits had been inoculated with fungus spores, and had become
diseased ; but if there were not some previous disease in the potato
itself, how was it that some varieties of potatoes escaped while grow-
ing in the immediate vicinity, while others were attacked ? ' ' The
disease, he believed, arose from structural or chemical causes.

When a decayed potato was examined it was found that the diseased
spots were always in the region of the spiral vessels, whose function
it was to carry air into the tissue of the plants. He believed the
disease originated in the oxidation of the tissue. The Rev. M. J.
Berkley, the leading mycologist of England, on the other hand con-
tends that the fungus Botrytis infestans^ or, as now classed under the
new genus, Peronospora infestans, will attack the healthy tubers \
but the question arises just at this point, what means have we of
ascertaining the perfectly healthy structure and chemical state of
tubers? Every farmer plants what he deems sound tubers, yet, in
the majority of cases, since 1845, the crop during very moist seasons
has been more generally affected than it was prior to that date.

The severity of attacks of fungi on plants will depend in some
cases on the density of their organic structure and the solubility of
their nitrogenous matter. The nitrogenous principle of potatoes,
for example, is soluble in water, that of turnips nearly insoluble.
The former, therefore, ferments more readily than the latter. The
leaves of a healthy peach-tree, when placed in a moist atmosphere
at about 75° F., resist fungoid fermentation for months, while those
of a peach-tree affected with the "yellows," placed under the same
general conditions, will quickly ferment and become covered with
the fruit of the fungus mucor. The first possess an antiseptic prop-
erty, the second are deficient in it. If two blocks of wood, one of
box-wood, the other of pine, are placed in a fungoid solution, the
first will resist the action of the mycelium because of its density,
while the second will quickly decay. The second absorbs a great deal

J 873-3 Potato Blight and Rot. 153

of water, the first very little. A certain amount of Moisture, and
sometimes of water, is necessary to the growth of fungi.

In years previous to the noted potato-rot of 1845, ^^^ average
amount of water found in healthy potatoes, according to Dr. Play-
fair, was 72 per cent. That of unhealthy tubers since that date, 80
per cent. The tendency to ferment is therefore increased. It was
observed by Dr. Playfair, in his lecture alluded to, that a peculiar
state of the weather had been observed all over the north of Europe
where the disease had been seen^ as well as in America. The wide-
spread use of the potato as an article of diet, especially among the
laboring classes throughout Europe, must have led to the extensive
planting of diseased potatoes in 1846, because healthy seed could
not be found. Indeed, in his second lecture of the loth of Decem-
ber, 1845, ^^ recommends ''the planting of diseased potatoes as
seed rather than none." He further states that there was no
prospect of obtaining healthy seed from abroad, and that he had
permission of the late government authorities for stating that this
was the result of their consular returns. The unavoidable adoption
of this advice increased the disease in after years, whether it arose
from chemical, structural, or fungoid conditions.

If a healthy potato is so dug out on its opposite ends that it will
resemble a double egg-cup, and placed erect on one end for about
six days in an atmosphere at the temperature of 70° F., its under
cavity will become covered with mildew and its fruit will appear in
the form of blue mold, Fenicillium glaucum. In this case the inverted
cavity will retain the moisture, and as a consequence slight ferment-
ation will ensue, the fungus deriving its nutriment from the potato ;
but the upper surface, although fully exposed to the floating germs
in the atmosphere, will not sustain a fungus growth, in consequence
of the free evaporation of the moisture from it. This form of fer-
mentation should not be confounded with that produced by the
fungus of potato-rot, Peronospora infestans. The chemical action
of the blue-mold fungus is slow, and its odor is simply that of sour
paste, while the destructive action of the potato-rot is very rapid,
producing a higher state of decomposition and very offensive odors.
The mycelium and fruit of each fungus also differ essentially from
each other. Both forms of fungus produce oxidation, but with very
different results- Consequently potato-rot consists of more than the
mere "decay of the tissue by its absorption of oxygen." The

154 Potato Blight and ^ot. [Aug.

purely fungoid theory, on the other hand, will not account for the
many exceptions pointed out by those who favor the chemical
theory ; since it may be shown that as the chemical constitution and
density of any vegetable vary, so will the genus and species of fungi
be found to vary with the proximate principles of plants.

The following case of rust on the Kittatinny blackberry illustrates
forcibly the fact that the structural and chemical condition of a living
plant should always be considered in relation to fungus growth on it.

Chalkley Gillingham, of Accotink, Fairfax County, Virginia,
under date of second moni^h 28, 1873, describing the condition of
his blackberry canes during the spring of 1872, says that six years
ago he planted ten rows of Kittatinny and ten of Wilson in the
following manner : First, four rows of Kittatinny, then following,
alternately, Wilson and Kittatinny, six rows of each, ending with
four rows of Wilson. All had been treated alike from the time they
had been received by him, and all appeared healthy until last spring,
when the Kittatinny became covered with ''rust." At a short dis-
tance the rows of Kittatinny appeared as if. painted with yellow
ochre. Some were destroyed from its effects. None of the Kitta-
tinny canes bore fruit. The Wilson were uninjured, although
surrounded by ai^i atmosphere laden with fungus spores. Every leaf
of the Kittatinny was covered with hundreds of millions of spores, yet
not a leaf of the Wilson was affected. The Wilson canes bore the
usual complement of fruit. Mr. Gillingham states that the canes
have not been manured for several years.

The glossy covering of fruits and leaves consists of wax, that of
the grasses of siliceous matter. The wax may be removed by sul-
phuric ether, the siliceous matter by caustic alkalies or hydrofluoric
acid. Should plants fail to eliminate and cover their surfaces with
wax or silica for their protection, their albuminous substances will
then afford food for the growth of fungi. Future investigations may
prove that in the case of the Kittatiany blackberry alluded to, the
absence of this outer protection was the cause of their destruction.
I have heretofore noted that two varieties of potatoes (Jackson
Whites and Early Rose,) growing in the same field, and treated
alike in all respects, were affected differently. The Early Rose
potatoes were wholly destroyed by fungi, while the Jackson White,
although surrounded by the spores of the potato-rot fungus, were
not affected.

.1873*] Potato Blight and Rot. 1 5 5

Having received a supply of seemingly healthy potatoes from
New Mexico, Ohio, and other places, and a few diseased tubors
from Boston and Swampscott, Massachusetts, I commenced a series
of preliminary experiments to test the chemical and structural
theories of Dr. Lyon Playfair, and the fungoid theories of M. J.
Berkeley and other leading mycologists.

In four glass jars I placed a pint of water. In No. i were placed
a portion of fungus Feronospora infestans, and the half of an Ohio
potato remarkable for its healthy appearance. In No. 2 were placed
a diseased potato containing Peronospora infestans, and the half of
a potato received from Sante Fe, New Mexico. In No. 3 was placed
the second half of the Ohio potato alluded to, and in No. 4 the
second half of the Santa Fe specimen. In Nos. 3 and 4 was also
put half an ounce of pure sugar, to assist fermentation. These
specimens were subject, during the experiments, to a temperature of
about 75° F. The respective jars were examined from day to day.
On the sixth day the Ohio specimen in No. i was found to be rot-
ting rapidly, while the Santa Fe specimen in No. 2 was apparently
uninjured. Specimens Nos. 3 and 4 were undergoing slow ferment-
ation. At first the water containing the New Mexican specimen
became more milky in color than did that of the Ohio specimen,
but the deterioration on the third day was greater in No. 3 than it
was in No. 4.

On the twentieth day the Ohio specimen was perfectly dissolved,
forming a pulp, while the Santa Fe specimen retained its perfect
consistency throughout. On examining the pulp of No. 4 under the
microscope, I found that the starch granules were arranged in
cellulose cells, no liberated granules appearing on the field of view.
Bundles of mycelium and budding spores appeared in profu-
sion between the cells. Few infusorials appeared in view.
The odor was slightly sour. The appearance of No. 4, as seen under
the microscope, of about 80 diameters, was remarkable as contrasted
with No. 3. The latter specimens presented a mass of infusorial
life, mxycelium, and budding spores. I made many examinations of
the pulp to detect starch-cells if present, but found none. The
fermentation had completely destroyed them. The odor was
very bad.

The Ohio specimen in No. i rotted much quicker under the
influence of Peronospora infestans than it did under the Torula fun-
gus favored by the action of sugar in No. 4 solution.

t$6 Potato Blight and Rot. [Aug.

The Santa Fe specimen in No. 2 resisted the Peronospora infestans
fungus better than it did the Torula fungus in No. 4 \ but, by the
use of either fungus, the tendency of any variety of the potato to
resist fungus action may, by this mode, be easily decided. Since
the preceding experiments were made, othern northern and eastern
varieties have been tested by fungoid solutions in contrast with some
of the New Mexican varieties, giving like results, clearly demonstrat-
ing the superiority of the Santa Fe potatoes over all others thus far
examined in respect to their powers of resisting fungoid and
infusorial action.

It is not unusual to find a decayed spot in the centre of potatoes
otherwise apparently in good condition. A microscopic examina-
tion of a portion of the diseased part will show that the decay
commenced where the vascular bundles concentrate. At that point
the air is in greater volume than elsewhere. When such spots are
exposed to the atmosphere the fungus, blue mold, forms on the sur-
face. This disease, therefore, has no relation to potato-rot as
ordinarily understood.

The vascular bundles are much smaller in some varieties of potatoes
than in others, and the texture of the cellular matter varies also. I
think it probable that those varieties having the smallest air-passages,
all other considerations being equal, will be the least affected by the
fungus Peronospora infestans.

The air passages of the vascular bundles may be easily seen by the
naked eye. Cut a potato in two through its root stem ; trim the
surface so that some of its eyes will be in section ; coat the surface
with a solution of bichromate of potash ; dry the surface with
filtering paper, then coat it all over several times with a strong
alcoholic solution of iodine ; the starch will become stained of a
dark blue, while the vascular bundles will remain yellow. An ex-
amination will show that the air-ducts extend in every case to
the eyes.

The stalks being simply an extension of the spiral and dotted
ducts, it will be seen that any germinal disease entering through the
root-stem will necessarily communicate through all the connecting
links to the new tuber.

The following mode of separating the vascular bundles from the
potatoes, so that they may be viewed separately, will prove of interest
to the vegetable physiologist :

1 8 7 3 • ] Potato Blight and Rot. 157

Take a potato of medium size, remove the skin carefully without
cutting the eyes ; place it in a solution of sugar and water, (in the
proportion of about two ounces of sugar to a pint of water,) and
subject it to 75° F. for about twelve days. The fungus of
fermentation will reduce the potato to a pulp, but the vascular bun-
dles will be found apart and may be removed with a glass rod, and
mounted in the usual way with gum or balsam. Under a power of
about 100 diameters, they present a most singular, yet beautiful
appearance. The pointed forms which extend to the eyes may be
distinctly seen. This experiment is most successfully performed with
the eastern and western potatoes. The starch-cells of the Santa Fe
potatoes, for example, remain in a compact form, even when the
nitrogenous matter has been destroyed by fungus or infusorials. The
^^air bundles," therefore, cannot be removed from them easily,
which I consider another proof of their matured condition.

The following chemical direct mode of making observations of
the position and structure of the air passages I sometimes employ :
First, remove from a healthy potato a thin slice or disk. Pour over
it concentrated nitric, muriatic, or dilute sulphuric acid, (caustic
potash or soda will have the same effect,) when the starch will
become transparent. All of these alkalies and acids have the effect
of dissolving the starch, but they have no effect on the air -passages,
or vascular bundles ; they are, therefore, rendered visible, when
mounted in the usual manner and viewed by a sufficiently high power.

The Department has procured samples of every variety of potatoes
from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to test practically, in the open field,
their anti-fungoid qualities, in contrast with the usual varieties grown
in that country. In a letter addressed to the Department by Gov-
ernor Arny, Santa Fe, New Mexico, February 17, 1873, ^^ says:
''We have not had any 'rot' in the potatoes of New Mexico.

* * * I send two packages of alkali soil ; this is a soil on
which potatoes will not grow — abundance of tops but no 'tubers.' "
An excessively alkaline soil seems to have the same effect as very
high manuring, viz. : to produce stalks but no tubers.

Thomas Taylor.
Washington.

158 Agency of Insects in Obstructing Evolution. [Aug.

ON THE AGENCY OF INSECTS IN OBSTRUCTING

EVOLUTION

Since so much has been learned in regard to the agency of
insects in the cross fertilization of flowers, I understand the drift
of scientific thought to be in the direction of the general principle,
that in the hypothesis of evolution, insects play an important part.
It does not seem to have occurred to any observer that they may act
as an obstruction to any great departure from what we may take as
the normal form — that but for them variations would probably often
be much greater than they are.

It has fallen to my lot to observe and to place on record in the
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,
the American Naturalist, and elsewhere, that art has not so much
to do with garden variations as generally supposed ; that variations
in nature are as great as in horticulture ; and that the florist's credit
is chiefly due to preserving the form which unassisted nature provided
for him. It was at one time part of the essential idea of a species
that it would reproduce itself. If any variation occurred in nature,
it was taken for granted that seedlings from this variation would
revert to the parent form. But it is now known that the most
marked peculiarity in variation can be reproduced in the progeny,
if care be taken to provi<''e against fertilization by another form.
Thus, the blood-leaved variety of the English beech will produce
blood-leaved beeches ; and, as I have myself found by experiment,
the very pendulous weeping peach produces from seed plants aa fully
characteristic as its parent ; and when the double blossomed peaches
bear fruit, as they sometimes do, I have it on theauthorttv of a care-
ful friend that the progeny is doubled as its parent was. But I need
not refer particularly to this. Any intelligent florist of the present
age can testify to the fact, that varieties will reproduce themselves
as fully as the original forms from whence they sprung.

I do not think that botanists, as such, are so fully aware of these
facts as the florists are. They scarcely admit of much inherent
variation in form in nature ; but look rather to hybridization, and
insect agency in connection therewith, to account for the changes
when they occur. In order to avoid the possibility of these agencies
acting as the sole factors in evolution, I have generally taken a
genus consisting of only one species in a given locality, to show how

1 8 7 3 J ] Agency of Insects in Obstructing Evolution. 159

great is the variations in form, where no' congenital species could
mix with it. 1 have, for this, chosen Epigcea repens, Chrysanthe-
mum leucanthemum, and the Quercus neo-mexicana (^Q. Gunnis-
sonii .?) of the Rocky Mountains. Another familiar plant to illustrate
this is the common yellow toad flax, Linaria vulgaris. In a handful
of specimens gathered in an afternoon's walk, I find the following
variations : —

In regard to the spur, which is generally as long as the main
portion of the corolla, some have them only one-third or one-fourth
as long ; and in one instance the plant bears flowers entirely spur less.
Dr. James Darrach, a member of the Academy, informs me that he
believes he has, in years past, gathered a spurless form, but has
neglected to place it on record. Then some plants bear flowers
with spurs thick, and others with narrow ones ; and while some
have spurs quite straight, others curve so as to describe nearly the
half of a circle. The lobing of the lowxr lip is various. In some
cases the two lateral ones spread away from the small central one,
leaving a free space all around it ; at other times they overlap the
central one so that it is scarcely seen. Sometimes the small central
lobe is nearly wanting — often not more than half the depth of the
two large lobes, and at times quite as full, when it may be linear,
ovate, or nearly orbicular. T\\t palate, as the deep colored process
attached to the lower lip may be called, also varies. In color it is
pale lemon, but often a brilliant orange. Sometimes it is but about
the eighth of an inch in thickness ; at others one-fourth, in flowers
of the same size. In the case of the shallow flat palate, the attached
lobes are patent, or even incurved ; while in the thick ones they are
very much reflexed. These two forms, when the extremes are
selected, are as strikingly distinct as two species often are. Again,
the palate is rounded and blunt at the apex ; at other times almost
wedge-shaped, or at least narrowing to a blunt point. The upper
lip varies in proportionate length, sometimes not extending much
beyond the palate, sometimes half an inch more ; then the margins
are sometimes bent down like the wings of a swooping bird ; or
upwards as in those of a rapidly descending one. Sometimes they
are united and turned abruptly up at the apex, like the keel of the
garden pea.

And now in regard to the bearing of all these facts on the great
scientific questions of the day, we have to note first, that the plant

i6o Agency of Insects in Obstructing Evolution. [Aug.

is an introduced weed, with nothing allied to it anywhere, in the
localities where we usually find it, with which it can possibly hybrid-
ize. The variations must be from some natural law of evolution
inherent in the plant itself. Varieties of course may cross-fertilize as
well as species ; and some of these variations may be owing to one
form fertilizing another form ; but there can be no avoiding the fact,
that at least the first pair of varying forms must have originated by
simple evolution.

Now going back to our florists' experience the question occurs,
that as varieties once evolved will reproduce themselves from seed,
why does not some one of these Linarias, which has been struck off
into some distinct mould, reproduce itself from seed, and establish,
in a state of nature, a new race, as it would do under the florist's
care? Why, for instance, is there not a spurless race? It is scarcely
probable that the solitary plant, found on this afternoon's walk, is
the only one ever produced. Dr. Darrach's recollection shows it is
not a solitary case. The bumblebee furnishes the answer. They,
so far as I have been able to see, are the only insects which visit
these flowers. They seem very fond of them, and enter regularly
at the mouth, and stretch down deep into the spur for the sweets
gathered there. The pollen is collected on the thorax, and of course
is carried to the next flower. The florist, to "fix" the form, care-
fully isolates the plant ; but in the wild state a spurless form has no
chance. The bee from the neighboring flower of course fertilizing
it with the pollen from any of the other forms.

If there were no bees, no agency whatever for cross fertilization,
nothing but the plant's own pollen to depend on, there would un-
doubtedly be races of this linaria, which, again, by natural evolution
at times changing, would produce other races ; and in time the
difference might be as great as to be even thought generic. But we
see that by the agency of the bumblebee the progress of the newly
evolved form is checked. The pollen of the original form is again
introduced to the offspring, ahd it is brought back at least half a
degree to its starting point.

The conclusion seems to me inevitable, that insects in their
fertilizing agencies, are not always abettors, but rather at times
conservators of advancing evolution.

Thomas Meehan.

Philadelphia.

1873.] A List of Rhode Island DiatomacecE. 161

A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS A LIST OF
RHODE ISLAND DIATOMACE^.

In the valuable paper on the Algae of Rhode Island^ by Col.
Stephen T. Olney, of Providence, published in the 1>ens for July,
1872, the references to the Diatomacese were chiefly incidental, con-
sisting of a brief list of forms identified by Mr. Thwaites some
years since, in the contents of a few bottles gathered in the vicinity
of Providence, and sent him by the author of that paper.

The writer having had the opportunity of making gatherings in
other parts of the State, in the month of August last, offers the
following as a slight contribution towards a complete list of the
Diatomacese of the State. The sixth column contains Mr. Olney's
forms brought opposite my own for convenience. My gatherings
contain some forms which I have not yet identified with certainty,
and some which I am certain are new, which I propose to describe
and illustrate hereafter.

123456

Achnanthes brevipes, Ag. * * *

^' longipes, Ag. *

^* subsessilis, Kutz .......... *

Actinoptychus undulatus, Ehr '^ *

Amphora affinis, Ki'itz * *

" Isevissima, Greg. *

'* robusta, Greg *

Bacillaria cursoria, Donkin . *

^' paradoxa, Gmelin. : * * *

Biddulphia pulchella. Gray *

Campylodiscus simulans, Greg *

Ceratoneis longissima, Brei^ *

" lunaris, E/ir *

Chsetoceros, n. sp. , {description hereafter,^ *

Cocconeis dirupta, Greg *

" scutellum, Ehr * * * *

1. Newport Harbor, near Long Wharf. (128.)

2. Rocky Point, North of Bathing Houses, (no.)

3. Rocky Point, Aquatic Swamp near Forest Circle. (127.)

4. Mark Rock. (129.)

5. Rocky Point, Beach, (131.)

6. Providence, (5. T. O.)

Vol. II. — No. 3. 10

162 A List of Rhode Island Diatomacece. [Aug.

123456
Cocconema cymbiforme, Ehr. ........ *

" lanceolatum, Ehr * *

Coscinodiscus lineatus, Ehr. *

" radiatus, Ehr * *

Cymbella Ehrenbergii, Kutz *

Dictyocha aculeata, Ehr *

Discoplea sinensis, Ehr. *

Doryphora amphiceros, Kiltz. *

Epithemia constricta, W, S. *

" sorex, Kiltz. . *

^' Westermannii, Kiltz * *

Eunotia diadema, Ehr. *

'' tetraodon, Ehr. * *

Fragilaria capucina, Kiltz *

" pectinalis, Ehr *

*' virescens, Ralfs *

Grammatophora islandica, Gr *

'■'■ marina, Kiltz * t *

Gomphonemaconstrictum, Ehr *

" marinum, W. S * *

*' mdnutum, Ag. *

" truncatum, Ehr , *

Himantidium arcus, Ehr *

'^ pectinale, Kiltz * *

Licmophora pappeana, Gr *

Mastogloia Smithii, Thw *

Melosira granulata, Pritch *

*' moniliformis, Milll. * *

" nummuloides, Dillw * * *

" sulcata, Ehr *

Meridion circulare, Ag *

*' constrictum, Ralfs * *

Navicula Americana, Ehr *

didyma, Ehr *

elliptica, Kiltz *

" gracilis, Ehr *

*' lyra, Ehr *

Odontidium hiemale, Kutz *

1873-]

A List of Rhode Island Diatomacece.

163

Orthosira marina, W. S.

Pinnularia gibba, Ehr

*' " forma gracilis, Kiitz,

'* major, Rab ,

'* mesolepta, Ehr

" peregrina, Ehr, ,

** radiosa, Kiitz

" stauroneiformis, W. S

'* tabellaria, Ehr.

*' viridis, Rab ,

Pleurosigma Balticum, W. S .

'•'■ elongatmn, W. S.

f' nubecula, W. S.

^' strigosum, W. S. ,

Podosira hormoides, Kutz

Rhabdonema adriaticum, Kiitz ,

*' arcuatum, Kiitz ,

Sphenella rostellata, Kiitz

Stauroneis aspera Ehr ,

'' gracilis, Ehr

" Phoenicenteron, Ehr ,

Stephanopyxis ferax Grev

Striatella unipunctata, Ag. ,

Syndendrium diadema, Ehr

Synedra crystallina, Kiitz

" fulgens, W. S. ,

'' Gallioni, Ehr ,

'' gracilis, Kiitz

'' tabulata, Kiitz

^' ulna, Ehr

'' undulata, Bailey ,

Surirella biseriata, Breb

Tabellaria flocculosa, Kiitz

'' Thwaitesii, Olney

•¥

* *

Chicago, yune i^th, i8yj.

S. A. Briggs.

164 The New Theory of Fermentation. [Aug.

THE NEW THEORY OF FERMENTATION

The indefatigable Pasteur again comes upon the stage with a series
of experiments to prove the accuracy of his theory of fermentation.
He claims that grape juice, when exposed to the action of the air,
or of oxygen, never of itself alone undergoes alcoholic fermentation,
but that this only happe;ns when those particles of dust, or germs of
ferment, which are present both in the grape and the woody stem
are introduced into the must.

The method of experimenting is very simple in theory and perfectly
convincing. It is as follows :

Forty glass bulbs were taken, with tubes bent downward to prevent
dust falling into them. On the side was a neck fitted with rubber
tubing and glass stopper, through which at a given moment the
material could be introduced.

These 40 bulbs were filled with an easily fermentescible substance
which had been previously boiled, and were divided into four series,
of 10 flasks each. Those of the first series contained nothing but
the above-mentioned easily fermentescible liquid ; the bulbs in the
second series had added to this fermentescible liquid a few drops of
must or grape ji^ice, taken from the interior of the grape in such a
manner as not to come into contact with the dust on the outside of
the grape. To the fermentescible liquid in the bulbs of the third
series was added a small quantity of the water in which the grapes
and stems had been washed and afterwards boiled. To the liquid
in three of the fourth series was added some of the water used to
wash the grape, and which contained the dust and germs, but had
not been boiled. When these preparations were completed, the
bulbs were left to themselves and to the action of the surrounding
air, in a room of a suitable temperature, or in a bath artificially
heated to the temperature most favorable to fermentation.

The result is very surprising, for it was found that the liquid in
the first three series, with rare exceptions, had not undergone fer-
mentation ; but in the 10 bulbs of the fourth series a very violent
fermentation had taken place.

To Pasteur belongs the uncontested honor of being the first to
discover that the organisms, in nature, are divided into two classes :

The first class consists of germs visible to the naked eye, and in
order to live they require . oxygen either free or combined.

iS73-] ^^^ New Theory of Fermentation. 165

The second class embraces microscopic organisms, such as germs
of ferment ; oxygen acts as a poison on these, but becomes a source
of life if derived from a compound like carbonic acid.

It has long been a well-known fact that in fruits taken from the
tree and exposed to the air, the vital process goes on in the ordinary
manner ; they absorb oxygen from the surrounding air and give off
carbonic acid. They ripen because the saccharine matter is produced
in them without undergoing fermentation.

This premise being established, Pasteur took some fruit, namely,
a peach and a plum, and placed them under a bell jar containing
carbonic acid ; the fruit lost its vitality — its whole life, outer and
inner, ceased, because it could not take up and assimilate oxygen
from atmosphere surrounding it. The fruit began, another and a
new life, which developed itself outward from the interior, and is,
so to speak, similiar to the life of the atoms, in the sense that the
cellular tissue takes away the necessary oxygen from the saccharine
matter and other substances present, in the manner of a perfect
alcoholic fermentation. The fruit gets soft, it becomes wet through
continually, and, if distilled, pure alcohol is obtained and carbonic
acid becomes free.

Pasteur repeatedly recurs to these facts, for they are the basis of
a discovery of endless importance, and are of greater weight because
they will form the connecting link between theories at present
opposed to each other.

At the first glance we might suppose that this second discovery
was a contradiction of the first, and that the views of Liebig and
Fremy — that ferment germs and fermentation itself develop spon-
taneously in organisms of themselves, without any action from
without — were correct ; but Pasteur insists that he will soon com-
plete his observations and make all oX'^dx.— Journal Applied Chemistry.

1 66 Cultivating Wild- Flowers. [Aug.

CULTIVATING WILD-FLOWERS.

But few are aware of the many American wild-flowers which
merit and would repay cultivation. The showy scarlet sage {Salvia
coccinea^ is a common sea-coast weed in some of the extreme
Southern States. In the North it has deservedly become a favorite ;
and culture has placed it within the reach of every one, even the
poorest. The brilliant, deep-red cardinal flower {^Lobelia cardinalis)
is highly esteemed abroad as a garden-plant ; and yet, to dwellers
in our cities, this plant is almost unknown, although it is one of our
common wild-flowers, lavishing its bewitching beauty in numberless
places, both North and South. Nor is the above word a mere
figure of speech. An English scientific gardener lately visited
Long Branch. He took a ride among the surroundings of that
watering-place. When between Eatontown and Red Bank, he sud-
denly requested the driver to stop, at the same time uttering an
exclamation which caused Jehu to doubt the gentleman's soundness
of mind. The carriage was stopped, and away went the well-
dressed Englishman over the field-fence, as lithe and agile as a youth.
He actually plunged into the half-swampy ground, and made, as
nearly as possible, a straight line towards a scarlet speck in the ver-
nal distance. No high-mettled bull in a Spanish arena ever went
more intently at the little red banner of the picador than went our
friend John B., Esq., through that wet New Jersey meadow for that
scarlet flower, which drew him like a fascination. It was a pitiable
plight that he presented on his return to the carriage, exultant with
his prize. To the astonished driver he off'ered these apologetic
words: "This is the splendid Lobelia cardinalis, which I have
cultivated with so much care at home, and behold ! here it grows
wild!" To which Jehu, whose astonishment had now become
modified by a shade of contempt, returned an ingenuous equivoca-
tion : '* That is worth a gentleman spoiling his clothes for ! "

We know of more than one little cottage flower-patch, whose
owner has planted in it the cardinal-flower, where it has grown in
such decided prominence of beauty as to maintain a sort of pontifical
preeminence among the floral dignities of the parterre. This splen-
did flower, with its racemes like scarlet rods, and the habit of the
plant, so upright and graceful, with a sort of queenly bearing, and

1 873-] Cultivating Wild- Flowers, 167

gorgeous magnificence, very much outshone its gayer but straggling
companion, the gaudy scarlet salvia. We know a village black-
smith who thus made this plant the spectacle in his flower-pot ; and
it was amusing to see persons, in their admiration, seeking to pur-
chase plants from this little garden, utterly ignorant of the fact that
they cpuld be had simply for the going after in the contiguous
meadows. As a wild-flower, they had often seen it, but had never
observed it. Forsooth, how few obey the aesthetic command :
*' Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ! "

And there is the common spreading dogbane, to which science has
given one of its terrible sesquipedalian names, to wit : Apocynum an-
droscemifolium. It is an engaging plant, for all that, with its open, bell-
shaped flowers. Its first cousin, the Indian hemp, though very
unpretentious as to its flowers, has an upright habit, much more
queenly than the loose abandon of its beautiful flowered relation.
Alas ! for its reputation, this plant has fallen into bad hands, and
became notorious among the empirics of medicine. Speaking of the
spreading dogbane, a correspondent of the Torrey Botanical Club,
quoting authorities, describes it as '' one of the most charming of
our native plants. The beautiful clusters of rosy bells, with their
pink bars, and delicate fragrance, claim for it a place in the garden,
where, however, we do not meet with it, but on open banks and by
the side of roads or cultivated fields. It is well approved, too, by
the insect tribe, who are, in general, much more appreciative judges
of color and odor than we are. In Europe, where it is not native,
it is cultivated in gardens, and, according to Lamarck, is called
gobe-mouche — fly-trap. If flies alight on this plant, they are fre-
quently entangled by the glutinous matter, and destroyed. Hence,
the plant has been called Herbe a la puce. ' '

It has surprised me that so little has been done with our star- worts,
or native astors — plants so prodigal of bloom during the late sum-
mer, and almost the entire autumnal months. The number of
species is very great, and some are of exquisite beauty. Our favor-
ite is the Aster concolor. It abounds South, and comes as far North
as the Pines of New Jersey, where it attains perfection in delicacy
of structure and prodigality and compactness of bloom. Indeed,
this part of New Jersey, has seemed to us as the prodigal border-
land, where the Southern and the Northern floras terminate and
commingle, or overlap each other. Here Michaux and other great

i6S Cultivating Wild- Flowers. [Aug.

men have labored, and carried away many novelties. In these
regions, the Aster concolor grows up like a simple wand, with its
small leaves closely hugging the remarkably small stem, much as if
a wire had been dressed with leaves for festal uses. The upper part
of the stem is so closely surrounded with the compact flowers, that
it is literally a purple raceme or wand. Cultivated in mass, in a
dry soil, this aster would glow like a sheet of purple flame.

And why is the very common, yet very stately, gentian over-
looked? This plant is positively unique in character. A single
stem set amid green leaves, with cerulean gems, is a thyrsus worthy
of a god. But there is a quaint, coyish modesty about it — its
singular flowers seem to be always in bud, as if too coy to blossom
outright.

And what charming terrestrial orchids are found native — but,
concerning this, there is but space for a word. These singular
indigenous flowers — so lovely, and yet so eccentric — are represented
by a large number of species. They may be called pretty, winning
little oddities. They would need some .skill, perhaps, in their cul-
tivation ; and some might come to be regarded as the coquettes of
the floral community, jilting the gardener with futile promises.
Last summer, we took up with our fingers a pretty specimen of the
Calopogon pulchellus, which means the Beautiful Little Beard. It
had but one tiny scape, growing from a green bulb which lay in the
moss, much like a solitary ^-gg in a bird's-nest. The entire plant,
with its marvellous flower, was not more than six inches high. Our
heart failed us in an attempt to put it in the press as a specimen ; so
we planted it in a little pot, attached to it a label bearing its
scientific name, for popular name it had not, and then put it on the
glass case on the counter of the apothecary. It was a pleasant sur-
prise to everybody who saw it. Many were the ejaculatory com-
mendations received by the little stranger with the purple hood, and
the quaint little beard of so grotesque dyes of pink, and yellow, and
white. The pretty stranger was unanimously voted ''charming;"
and was by some taken to be a rare exotic, that had grown up under
the professor's care. Besides this, we have among our native orchids
the equally pretty Pogonia and Arethusa ; while, worthy of any
conservatory, are the white fringed and the yellow fringed Rein-
orchis, both of the genus Habenaria. Mention might be made of
the Lady's Slipper, the showy and rather ostentatious Cyprepedium ;

iS73-] Cultivating Wild- Plow ers, 169

but the list is a long one. These native orchids are all eccentricities,
and we have selected the most lovable, and the most easy attainable
— in fact, those the nearest to our hands.

Just as the above was written, the usual monthly report of the
Department of Agriculture came to hand. The following paragraphs
are so much to the purpose, that it would be nothing less than
blame-worthy not to quote them. Speaking of American plants in
Great Britain, it cites an English journal as saying: ''The beau-
tiful Asclepias tuberosa is, this season, producing freely its showy,
bright orange-colored flowers in several collections round London.
This fine perennial thrives perfectly well almost anywhere, if planted
in sandy peat." In the same journal we find the following : ''One
of the best hardy aquatic plants, in flower at the present time, is the
North American Pickerel-weed {Pontederia cor data), a plant by no
means so often met with as it deserves to be. It produces a stout
spike of handsome sky-blue flowers from i^ to 2 feet high. No
ornamental water should be without this charming aquatic ; which
should, however, have a place near its margin." '^The American
Pitcher-plant (Sarracenia purpurea) is thriving as well as any native
plant in the bog-garden in Messrs. Backhouses' nurseries at York,
and by its side a healthy little specimen of the still more curious
Darlingtonia Calif ornica is beginning to grow freely. ' '

The Asclepias family in America is very rich in species, but the
above-mentioned one is by far the noblest of them all. From the
fact that it attracts around it large numbers of these beautiful crea-
tures, it is often called the Butterfly-weed. The plant was formerly
held in high repute as a medicine, under the name of Pleurisy-root.
But its gorgeously-colored flowers, so intensely orange, and so
densely massed in heavy umbels, present a gorgeous richness which
is incomparable. There is an African species, with flowers of a
similar color, which is carefully cultivated in conservatories ; but,
when contrasted with our native plant, on every count, the foreigner
becomes tame, and mean, if not insignificant, in the comparison.
As to the Pickerel-weed, it is of easy culture ; and in the margin of
garden-ponds, or fountain-basins, it might be pronounced as grace-
fully genteel. The Pitcher-plant, if set higher up on the banks in
a bed of sphagnum, or bog-moss, would be so uniquely elegant as
to deserve the epithet recherche. This same plant can be grown in
a pot, simply by keeping the saucer well supplied with water, while

lyo Cultivating Wild-Flowers. [Aug.

its quaint flowers, and the curious structure of the leaves, would
make it the favorite bit of bijoutry in the floral jewels of the window.
This culture of wild-flowers, to some extent, can be indulged in
by almost all. Its effect upon a mind of average intelligence is
surprising. We have, in our acquaintance, a village bricklayer, a
man whose means are of the most slender kind. He has a love for
flowers, and shows considerable tact in producing effect by massing
the different popular sorts. The imported asters, the improved
petunias, and pansies, are severally made to effect a blaze of color.
But his chief affection centres in a little spot where he keeps his
wild-flowers, among which he pointed out to us, with an amiable
pride, his pet pogonias, obtained from the swamp over the way.
This man has become quite a systematist in botany, and is deservedly
looked upon as the botanical light in his community. And who
could possibly indulge in this pleasure of wild- flower culture long
without wanting to know the names of his plants ? But, as few of
them have popular names, he must turn to botany for information.
Thus this innocent and elevating pursuit may become a key to the
acquisition of scientific knowledge, and the application of scientific
methods. Here we stop, with the sense of a child who has picked
up a few spangles, which have dropped from Flora's rich attire.

Prof. Samuel Lockwood.
Popular Science Monthly.

l873-] Editor's Table. 171

EDITOR'S TABLE.

William S. Sullivant, LL. D.,the distinguished Microscopist, and the leading
Bryologist of America, died at his home at Columbus, O., after a tedious illness,
on the 30th of April last.

He was born January 15, 1803, in Franklinton, a little village literally
in the midst of a wilderness, when the present site of Columbus was covered
with the primitive forest, and the possibility of such a town not even dreamed of.
The early privations inseparable from frontier life strengthened his self-reliance,
and developed that muscular strength and activity, united to fine personal appear-
ance and graceful carriage for which he was remarkable, and no doubt laid the
foundation of that health and vigor, which seemed but little impaired up to the
time of his last and fatal sickness. He accompanied his father on some of his
shorter surveying expeditions, where the boy took his first lessons in wood craft,
which tended to make him an expert, rapid and accurate surveyor, when, after he
had returned from college, he had occasion to exercise his skill in attending to
the large landed estate of the family.

He received his early education in Kentucky, fitted for college at the Ohio
University, and graduated at Yale college in 1823. Called home by the death
of his father in that year, he was more or less occupied with the business of the
family estate, instead of studying a profession, as was originally desired by his
father. Desiring active employment, he took a position on the surveys of the
Ohio canal, and manifested such aptitude and capacity as would have secured him
a high position as a civil engineer, had he chosen to adopt that profession.
Returning to the old homestead, he took charge of mills belonging to the estate,
and having studied and mastered the principles involved in water wheels, mill
gearing, &c., he remodeled the mills after plans of his own, and so far as the
theory and principles of hydraulics and hydrostatics were concerned, might have
found employment, had he so desired, as a master millwright. Henceforward
for several years he was actively engaged in business affairs, and became a mem-
ber of the Ohio Stage Company, whose operations covered a wide field, and
before the introduction of railroads, afforded the best accommodations and facili-
ties to the traveling public. Having removed to the country, he improved and
adorned that beautiful place now occupied by the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum.
This spot affording unusual facilities for the study of natural history, his attention
was turned in this direction, and after devoting some time to ornithology, he finally
settled upon botany, influenced in part by his brother, Joseph Sullivant, who was
already well skilled in the science, and who found his richest fields in the immediate
vicinity of the mansion house, on Sulli vant's hill. Suffice it to say, that henceforth for

17^ Editor's Table . [AuG.

several years, his leisure was fully absorbed in this attractive field, the first result
of which was a well elaborated catalogue of the plants of Franklin county, in-
volving much time and labor. Having thoroughly examined the phenoganmous
flora of Central Ohio he longed for "fields and pastures new." Mr. S., fortu-
nately for science, now turned to the study of cryptogamic botany, or rather to the
muscological part, wherein he found all he desired for his- active and discriminating
mind, making many new discoveries and establishing a world-wide reputation in
this department; a distinction well deserved and honestly earned by years of quiet
but earnest labor. Among his published works are some which are an honor to
American science, and a monument of his erudition. To show the extent of his
industry and contributions to the science of botany, the following incomplete list
is here given :

Catalogue of the plants of Franklin county, Ohio.

Musci Alleghanienses, or specimens of Mosses and Hepaticse, collected on the
Alleghany mountains, 55 sets, each set consisting of two volumes, large quarto, 1845.

Contributions to the Bryology and Hepaticology of North America, with ten
plates, quarto.

Mosses and Hepaticse of the United States East of the Mississippi river, with
8 plates, royal 8vo, 1856.

Mosses and Hepaticae collected during Whipple's U. S. Government survey for
railroad on thirty-fifth parallel to the Pacific, with 10 plates, 4to, 1856.

Mosses brought home by Wilkes's United States Exploring Expedition,
1838-42, with 26 fol. plates, 1859.

Mosses and Hepaticse collected, mostly in Japan, by Charles Wright, Botanist
to Rogers's Northern Pacific Exploring Expedition, with 184 plates, i860.

Icones Muscorum; or Figures and Descriptions of most of those Mosses
peculiar to Eastern J^I'orth America, which have not been heretofore figured, with
129 copperplates; Cambridge and London, 1864; imp. 8vo.

Papers, chiefly botanical, in the American Journal of Science and Arts, Pro-
ceedings American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and London Journal of Botany.

Just before his death he received the proofs of the elaborate engravings illus-
trating a supplement to the Icones Muscorum he was preparing to publish — and
he leaves another work unfinished. A skillful manipulator and expert with the
microscope, he had recently prepared a beautiful set of several hundred micro-
scopical slides, containing the dissections of Mosses, and intended as a reference
suite.

A member of the American National Academy of Science, and also of some
of the oldest and most learned scientific societies of Europe, his labors are better
known and appreciated abroad than at home — for his life has been quiet and
unostentatious. A ripe classical scholar, he received various titles and degrees,
and his works are of standard authority and the highest reputation in Europe and
the United States.

In accordance with his wishes his bryological books, and his exceedingly rich
and important collections and preparation of Mosses are to be consigned to Har-
vard University, while the remainder of his botanical library, his choice micro-
scopes and microscopic slides are bequeathed to the State Agricultural College
and the Starling Medical College.

1 8 73-] Editor's Table. 173

John W. Foster, LL. D,, one of the most eminent citizens of Chicago, died
June 29, leaving a blank in the social and scientific world which will not soon be
filled. Col. Foster was born in the village of Brimfield, Mass., in 1815, being 58
years of age at the time of his death. Having completed his studies at schools
in the vicinity of his home, he entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown,
Conn., in 1831, and in due course graduated with high honors. After leaving
college, he read law for a year in New England, when he removed to Zanesville,
Ohio, and was admitted to the Bar. His education, which was broad and liberal,
was the foundation on which he afterwards built an enduring fame. He chose
civil engineering as his profession, and began at an early period in his career to
follow the natural bent of his genius, and examine cognate sciences, such as
geology and metallurgy. On these latter subjects he soon became a recognized
authority, in whose judgment Eastern capitalists intending to invest in the mineral
lands of the West placed the utmost confidence, sending him to inspect the lands
and report upon their resources. In this way he explored a large area of the
West, and discovered the archaeological remains which opened to him the field of
research which he afterwards cultivated with such brilliant success.

The geological survey of the State of Ohio was instituted in 1837, under the
direction of Prof. Mathea. He selected Col. Foster, who had been his pupil in
former days, as one of his assistants, and the next year he was assigned to an in-
dependent district embracing the central portion of the State, and his report em-
braces a detailed section of the carboniferous limestone near Columbus, to the
uppermost bed of coal near Wheeling. This was the first section ever made
through the Ohio coal-field.

In 1845, when the copper excitement first broke out in the Lake Superior
country, he visited that country in the interest of several mining companies, re-
peating his visit the succeeding year. The Government instituted a geological
survey of the same territory in 1847, under the direction of Dr. Jackson. He
was appointed one of the assistants, the labor giving him wide scope for the exer-
cise of his mind in the department of science in which he subsequently became
famous. Prof. J. D. Whitney, the noted geologist and metallurgist, of California,
was another assistant, and his associate. Two years subsequently the completion
of the work was confided to them. The result of their labors was a volume
entitled " Foster and Whitney's Report on the Lake Superior Region," which
was published by direction of Congress. The report was thorough, and threw
much light on the hidden treasures of that territory, which was then a mystery.
The work remains the authority on the subject of which it treats, and was one of
the most valuable reports ever made to Congress. Messrs. Foster and Whitney
made a concurrent report to the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, which met at Cincinnati in 1851, and Prof. Agassiz rose at the close of
the communication and declared it as among the grandest generalizations ever
made in American geology.

While on his various expeditions. Col. Foster collected a vast quantity of ma-
terial not pertinent to the official report. Explorations in other directions,
extending from the lakes to the Pacific, supplemented the fund of information

174 Editor's Table. [Aug.

already in his possession, and enabled him to issue his first important work, "The
Mississippi Valley ; its Physical Geography, including sketches of the topography,
botany, climate, geology, and mineral resources ; and of the progress of devel-
opment in population and material wealth." This comprehensive and interesting
work was published in 1869 by S. C. Griggs & Co., of this city, and at the same
time was honored with the imprimatur of Triibner & Co., London. It immedi-
ately took high rank, both in this country and in Europe, but especially in Europe,
where it evoked encomiums from the highest scientific authorities. We have before
us one of the volumes, the plates of which were unfortunately consumed in the
great fire. It is written in an easy, perspicuous style, and bears evidence of indom-
itable industry and profound research.

On this work he might have safely rested his reputation, but it was not the
crowning work of his life. His specialty was Archaeology. In his many wan-
derings he studied that subject with the devotion of a true scientist, and with a
success that few scientists achieve. For twenty years he investigated the strange
mounds that are found here and there in the American continent, giving indica-
tions of a race of beings anterior to and different from that to which we belong.
The significance of these mounds he learned to know, and as scientists in the old
world devoted themselves to deciphering the hieroglyphics of the Orient, so he
devoted himself to translating the no less hieroglyphical language of these Occi-
dental mounds. His impressions, when first he gazed on these strange symbols of
a by-gone age, are beautifully expressed in the introduction to his " Pre-Historic
Man." He says :

" In early manhood, when for the first time I gazed upon the works of that
mysterious people known as the Mound Builders, my mind received a class of
impressions which subsequent years have failed to efface. These works are in
the vicinity of Newark, Ohio ; and although not the most stupendous, are the
most elaborate in the whole series. It was a bright summer's morning, and the
sunlight, streaming through the openings of the dense canopy of foliage above,
fell upon the ground in flickering patches. A slumbrous silence filled the air, and
I confess that, as I traced out the labyrinthine system of earthworks here displayed,
with its great circles and squares, its octogons, gateways, parellel roads, and
tumuli, the whole spread over an area of several square miles ; and as I speculated
upon the purposes of their construction, and on the origin and extinction of the
people by whom they were used, I was profoundly impressed."

The volume was born as its author died, — it having been issued a few weeks
ago. Already it has received merited praise froni the American and English
press. It is expected to occupy a high place in the library of science. Perhaps
it is not inappropriate to note that this work will tend to end the controversy on
the Neanderthal skull, about which European scientists have long disputed.
Many of them contended that the skull proved nothing regarding a former race
of beings inferior to the present, but Dr. Foster had in his possession a skull
somewhat similar, but smaller, which is fully described in his last volume. He
intended prosecuting his investigations in this interesting domain, the intention
being embodied in the conclusion of his preface, in which he wrote :

1 8 73-] Editor's Table. 175

" If the public manifest sufficient interest in questions relating to our pre-historic
archaeology to justify the expense, I may hereafter, if life and health are spared,
draw more liberally from the materials at my command."

Death came, — to finite minds it would seem too soon, — and his ambition was
unfulfilled.

Between the publication of these masterpieces to which we have referred, he
was a constant contributor to scientific knowledge in other forms. Among the
most notable of his pamphlets were the following :

Description of Samples of Cloth from the Mounds of Ohio. (Transactions of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1852,)

On the Antiquity of Man in North America, and Description of Certain Stone
and Copper Implements Used by the Mound-Builders. (Transactions of the
Chicago Academy of Sciences, 1859.)

On Recent Discoveries in Ethnology as Connected with Geology. An address
delivered at Troy, N. Y., as the retiring President of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science.

On Certain Peculiarities in the Crania of the Mound-Builders. (Transactions
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1872.)

On the Pottery of the Mound-Builders. [American Naturalist, February, 1873.)

Dr. Foster also contributed generously to the current literature of the day, and
was a regular contributor for many years to Sillinian's yournal, the American
Naturalist , the Lakeside Monthly and other periodicals.

Dr. Foster was President of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, and has been for three years President of the Chicago Academy of
Sciences. He served as Professor of Natural History in the University of Chicago,
which honored itself by honoring him with the degree of Doctor of Laws. He
made the pursuit of science the object of his life, reaping a large reward of fame.
Occasionally he was engaged in service where his wonderful knowledge was in-
valuable. He was in the Land Department of the Illinois Central Railroad at
one time, and reported on the geological formation of the country along the line.
He held a like position on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad.

Perhaps it was in Europe that the scientific labors of Dr. Foster were most
highly prized. His fame had crossed the ocean, and the scientific men of Europe,
such as Tyndall, Huxley, Lisle, and Lubbock, were his intimate friends and cor-
respondents. To many a heart in the learned circles of European capitals the
news of Dr. Foster's death will bring a pang of grief. His place among the
scientific men of this continent, if not of this age, is in the front rank, and his
name will stand in history side by side with Agassiz and Maury.

Personally, Dr. Foster was a fine specimen of manhood, strong, finely-built,
portly, and handsome-featured. His head bore the stamp of intellect. In man-
ner he was courtly and courteous, genial and kind to all, and it has been said by
one who knew him well that he had not an enemy on earth.

Photographic Reproduction of Diffraction Gratings. — Experiments
made by Hon. J. W. Strutt, some months since, with a view to the production of
photographic copies of diffraction gratings ruled upon glass, have given interesting

176 Editor's Table. [Aug.

and valuable results, of which he gave an account in a communication read before
the Royal Society, June 20, 1872. The account is republished in the Philosoph-
ical Magazine. The ruled plates were laid upon glass plates sensitized in the
usual manner, and the prints were made in the same manner as from ordinary
negatives. Both wet and dry sensitive plates were used, with but little difference
in the results. The photographic gratings have brilliant spectra, and were but
little inferior to those ruled upon glass. In the course of the experiments, trial
was made of plates covered with a film of bichromatized gelatine. The gratings
thus made possessed a high degree of transparency, and were found to . be better
than the ordinary photographs ; and although there was some uncertainty attend-
ing their production, the best obtained appeared to be even superior to the
originals on glass. They give very brilliant spectra, and the definition of the
lines is surprisingly good. They can be used very conviently in an ordinary
spectroscope, by putting them in the place of the prism. Gratings having 6,000
lines to the inch are now successfully made ; and as their cost is trifling compared
with that of the ruled ones, they will be much more accessible to experimenters.
As the thickness of the glass upon which they are mounted is small, the absorption
of the rays is very slight, and they offer considerable advantages in researches
upon radiant heat, as they may replace to a large extent the costly and inconvenient
prism of rocksalt.

A New Method of Viewing the Chromosphere. — A paper on this subject
was recently read before the Royal Society by J. N. Lockyer and G. M. Seabroke.
An artificial eclipse is produced by covering the sun's disk by a disk of brass. It
is, in fact, the replacement of the moon by another sphere or semisphere (or rather
a disk, in this method). The idea occurred to both authors at different times.
The image of the sun is formed on a diaphragm, having a circular disk of brass
(in the center) of the same size as the sun's image, so that the sun's light is
allowed to pass. The chromosphere is afterwards brought to a focus again at the
position usually occupied by the slit of the spectroscope, and in the eyepiece is
seen the chromosphere in circles corresponding to the C and other lines. A
certain lens is used to reduce the size of the sun's image and keep it of the same
size as the diaphragm at different times of the year; and other lenses are used to
reduce the size of the annulus of light to about y% inch, so that the pencils of
light from either side of the annulus may not be too divergent to pass through the
prisms at the same time, and that the whole annulus may be seen at the same
time. There are mechanical difficulties in producing a perfect annulus of the
required size, so one ^ inch diameter is used, which can be reduced virtually to
any size at pleasure. The proposed photographic arrangements are as follows :
A large Steinheil spectroscope is used, its usual slit being replaced by the ring one.
A solar beam is thrown along the axis of the collimator by a heliostat, and the
sun's image is focussed on the ring slit by a 3^ inch object glass, the solar image
being made to fit the slit by a suitable lens. By this method the image of the
chromosphere received on the photographic plate can be obtained of a convenient
size, as a telescope of any dimensions may be used for focussing the parallel
beam which passes through the prisms on to the plate.

1 8 73-] Editor's Table. 177

Nobert's New Twenty Band Test-Plate. — A recent number of the Scien-
tific A77terican contains a description of a new twenty band plate, the property of
Dr. F. A. P. Barnard, of Columbia College, New York, which surpasses in fineness
any of M. Nobert's previous productions, the bands ranging from three thousand
to two hundred and forty thousand lines per Paris inch. The description of the
Plate having been copied in Cap and Gown, and containing some inaccuracies,
Dr. Barnard has sent the latter journal a communication correcting the same,
.which we have thought might be of interest to our readers. Dr. Barnard's Test-
Plate, however, is no longer unique. Dr. J. J. Woodward, of Washington, .being
the lucky possessor of a Plate, which, though covering the same range, has the
advantage of perfection in the higher bands, which when Dr. Barnard wrote his
communication he supposed to be an impossibility.

The following is the letter of Dr. Barnard :

I perceive that you have transferred to your columns the brief notice which
recently appeared in the Scientific American, of the Nobert Test-Plate received
by me a few months since, which, for the extreme fineness of its divisions, is, I
believe, unique, at least for the present, in this country. The description is sub-
stantially correct, though embracing one or two unimportant inaccuracies to be
mentioneil below ; but it represents Mr. Nobert as having said something which
he did not say, and which he is not likely to say, viz. : that he would undertake
to rule finer lines in case these should be resolved. In 1868, in sending out to
me one of his nineteen band plates, of which there are now so many in the country,
and when the divisions of those plates had not yet been optically made out, he
did say that if the microscopists should make out those lines, he would rule finer
ones. The nineteen band plate has been perfectly resolved; and the proof is not
only optical but photographic, Col. Dr. J. J. Woodward, of the Army Medical
Museum at Washington, having made prints of even the nineteenth band, in which
the divisions number one hundred and twenty thousand to the Paris inch (say one
hundred and thirteen thousand to the British,) which present the separate lines
distinctly to the eye, Mr. Nobert has, therefore, been as good as his word in ruling
finer lines ; but he has only obtained the great success of doubling the largest
number previously ruled in a given space, after many trials which resulted in
failure. My opinion is that he has reached the limit of human skill in this direc-
tion, and that he will not attempt to surpass his present achievement. He says
indeed that he is so overburthened with orders of various kinds at this time, that
he would not undertake to rule another plate similar to this one lor some months.
By experience I know that his months are long ones. Of course he cannot, if he
would, soon attempt to do more.

This plate has not yet been fully resolved, either optically or photographically.
I question whether it ever will be so, throughout its whole extent.

The points in which the description copied by you from the Scientific American
are not quite exact are the following : It is stated that the plate is of glass, three
and a half inches long. The glass, on which the ruling is done, is a circle, about
half an inch in diameter, and not more than one two-hundredth or one three-
hundredth of an inch in thickness. This is cemented by means of Canada balsam,
applied near the circumference, the ruled side being downward, to a similar disk
about one one-hundredth of an inch in thickness. The extreme thinness of these
plates is designed to admit of the use of the highest magnifying powers of the
microscope, in which the front of the object-glass is brought almost into contact
with the object viewed ; and also to allow the illuminating condenser, by means
of which light is concentrated on the object, to be brought almost equally near on
the other side.

The compound disk above described is mounted in a brass plate, which has
about the dimensions stated in the article quoted by you, viz. : three and a half

178 Editor's Table. [Aug.

inches by one inch. But, in point of fact, the brass plate contains not one but
two such compound disks. In ruling the higher bands, Mr. Nobert finds that it
is impossible to make every band in every plate quite perfect. Here and there a
fault will occur from the lines running together, or rather from the splintering of
the glass between the lines. He accordingly mounts two plates in the same set-
ting, so selected that the same bands shall not be faulty in both. The faults are
not many in the plates in my possession ; and none of the faulty bands appear to
be faulty, except in small portions of their length.

As yet, since receiving this plate, the pressure of my occupations has not per-
mitted me to test upon it, to my satisfaction, the highest microscopic powers at my
command ; and I cannot tell how far it is optically resolvable. I should very
much like to have it examined by the photographic method, by an expert so able
as Col. Dr. Woodward.

F. A. P. B.

Physiology of a Sponge. — Rev. Samuel Lockwood publishes in the last
number of the Popular Science Monthly, a most interesting and highly instructive
paper on the Glass Sponges. Of the physiology of a sponge, he says :

" If we take a morsel of a toilet-sponge, and put it under a microscope of
moderate power, we find that it is made up of a mass of complicated net-work.
There is more or less regularity in the meshes ; and these are found of various
patterns in the different species. This heap or mass of net-work, commonly
called a sponge, is really the skeleton of the sponge. When living it is covered
with, or literally embedded in, a glairy, gelatinous, or albuminous substance. But
this is so unlike ordinary animal tissue — for it seems, really, tissueless — -that it has
received the technical name sarcode. This sarcode fills the meshes above men-
tioned, and is held in place by innumerable tiny spicules, mixed in, so to speak,
like the hair in the ihortar of the plasterer. So little consistency has this sarcode,
or sponge-flesh, that but for this natural felting it would dissolve and flow away.
Now, take an ordinary sponge into the hand. We observe several large aper-
tures, at or toward the top. These are called the oscida. They are the exhalent
vents of the entire system. At these openings is expelled, with some force, the
water that has been taken into the living mass, and deprived of its nourishment.
But how is the water brought in through that glairy sarcode ? Besides the
oscula, which are few, and readily seen, even in the skeleton, there are innumera-
ble tiny inlets known as pores. These are not visible in the skeleton, as they
really belong to the sponge-flesh. These pores open into the meshes, and enter
certam little cavities, or chambers, that stand connected with circuitous passages,
which finally lead to the large outlets, or oscula. The pores are very small, and
yet, compared with the cells, are very large. The little chamber into which the
pore opens has its walls built up with these uniciliated cells. Now, if we could
peep into the privacy of that chamber, with its walls of living stones, without
making any disturbance, we should find every cell lashing its cilium with great
vigor, and all in such harmony of accord, that it would seem like

" Beating time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme."

" The beating of each lash is doubtless downward, that is, inward ; the effect of

which is, a vacuum above, into which the water presses through the external

pore. A second result of this downward beating of the cilia from a myriad of

1 8 73-] Editor's Table. 179

cells is, the impulsion of the passing water through the ramifications leading to
the oscula. Thus the running of the waters is the sponge's ancient ' Runic
rhyme.' Every sponge, then, has a very complete aquiferous system : its con-
duits at the entrance of and along which the busy one-lashed cells occupy
themselves forcing the water along ; and the oscula, which may be likened to
the outlets of sewers. During this circulation of the fluid through the living
mass, the sarcode obtains its nourishment, and the skeleton its growth by a sort
of absorption, or what is known to the physiologist as endosmotic action of the
cells. We have then mentioned above three clearly specialized functions, as
represented respectively by the inhalent pores, the exhalent oscula, and the
uniciliated cells. And it is certainly a matter of prime importance that each
cell should have this single lash. In fact, it raises it to the rank of a pacha with
one tail, in a community where all are pachas of this dignity, and each one a
commissioner of the water department, and a commissary of subsistance. ' Both
the oscula and pores can be closed at the will of the animal ; but the oscula are
permanent apertures; whereas the pores are not constant, but can be formed
afresh whenever and wherever required.' "

The Euplectella Speciosa. — From the same paper we extract this graphic
description of this wonderful anchoring sponge :

"It is almost hopeless to attempt a description of Euplectella in words. Nor has
any artist yet done justice with his pencil to the delicate fabric. The first speci-
men that reached England, and which for a long time was the only one known,
was purchased by William J. Broderip, for the sum of ^150 in gold. Says Prof.
Owen : ' Mr. Cuming has intrusted to me for description, one of the most singu-
lar and beautiful, as well as the rarest of the marine productions.' Euplectella
is in form a cornucopia, at the lower end about an inch in diameter, and in good
specimens, after making a gr^tceful curve, terminating at top in a width of nearly
two inches. This part has a cover with a frilled edge, which, in a complete
specimen, projects about a fourth of an inch over the sides. The bottom, or
smaller end, is encompassed with a dense ruff of glass threads, so delicately white,
flexible, and fine, that they look like a tuft of floss-silk. This muff-like surround-
ing is sunk into the deep-sea ooze, the fibres pointing up, which, though effectual,
is certainly an odd way of mooring itself. In this manner this sponge is, when
living, in a perpetual bath of mud. Like Hyalonema, our Euplectella is an
anchoring sponge. Venus' s Flower-Basket looks like a structure made of spun-
glass ; and so fragile that one hesitates to take it into the hands. It is wonderfully
light — reminding, in this respect, of the skeleton or phantom flowers sometimes
seen under glass. But Euplectella, although really so delicate, is quite strong.
The threads which make up this fabric of woven glass are so flexible that a body
is led to wonder if this is like the product of that lost art. To us it seems doubt-
ful whether any woven glass, the product of art, can quite affect the singular
lustre that belongs to these silicious threads spun from Nature's distaff. Each
thread, although of pure silica, and solid, is really composed of series of concen-
tric tubes or cylinders, as if spun on a central thread or core. The effect, as

i8o Editor's Table. [Aug.

respects the light, is not easily described. As the threads are composed of pure
silica, one might suppose that they would be transparent, as a film of pure white
glass of equal thickness. Such is not the fact. They are translucent, and have
just an appreciable tint of the opal. It is this that imparts to Euplectella that
softness of aspect which has been called ' a delicate satiny lustre.' To us the
term opalescent seems better. We have a specimen which, in a good light,
shows the play of colors that frozen crispy snow does in the moonlight.

" As to the idea ' well woven,' which the name contains, the fabric really seems
to have its web and its woof. There are long threads that traverse the whole
length ; and there are others that cross and interlace, or, more correctly, inter-
weave. And, what no loom of human invention has ever done, this lowly weaver
makes the fabric as it progresses, take on the most quaintly little flounces with
the most delicate frilled edges imaginable ; and all arranged in such charming
grace and ease — not in parallel circles, like hoops on a barrel, but in tasteful,
easy-flowing curves. In the configuration of the innumerable forms of structure,
Nature, as she ascends in the grade of her work, almost abandons her parallels in
in the outlining and ornamentation of her constituted things. In the mineral
province the structure of crystals shows her delight in parallel, straight lines.
The curve is a rarity there. But in organic forms the curve is the rule, and the
straight line is the exception. The lace-like structure of the Etipledella is so
aerial a fabric, and so quaintly graceful, and, as one might say, so deftly done in
the putting together, that any embroidery would seem in the comparison bungling.
Enflounced in its own tiny, crispy frills, there is an air of improvised beauty. And
there is a flavor of rank in the almost grotesque hint thrown out by the sometimes
queer sort of relief afforded in this excess of elegance by a dash of chevron-work.

The Limits of Multiplication. — In Herbert Spencer's paper on the study
of Sociology, in the current issue of the Popular Science Monthly, he thus defines
the limits of multiplication :

" Every species of creature goes on multiplying till it reaches the limit at which
its mortality from all causes balances its fertility. Diminish its mortality, by
removing or mitigating any one of these causes, and inevitably its numbers
increase until mortality and fertility are again in equilibrium. However many
injurious influences are taken away, the same thing holds, for the reason that the
remaining injurious influences grow more intense. Either the pressure on the
means of subsistence becomes greater; or some enemy of the species, multiplying
in proportion to the abundance of its prey, becomes more destructive; or some
disease, encouraged by greater proximity, becomes more prevalent. This general
truth, everywhere exemplified among inferior races of beings, holds of the human
race. True, it is in this case variously traversed and obscured. By emigration,
the limits against which population continually presses are partially evaded : by
improvements in production, they are continually removed further away; and
along with increase of knowledge, there comes an avoidance of detrimental
agencies. Still, these are but qualifications of an inevitable action and reaction."

1 8 73-] Editor' s Table. i8i

The Divisibility of Matter. — The same Journal publishes a translation
from the Revue des Dezix Mondes, of an essay by Fernand Papillon on the consti-
tution of matter, in which occurs the following illustration of divisibility :

" Let us dissolve a gramme of resin in a hundred times its weight of alcohol,
then pour the clear solution into a large flask full of pure water, and shake it
briskly. The resin is precipitated in the form of an impalpable and invisible
powder, which does not perceptibly cloud the fluid. If, now, we place a black
surface behind the flask, and let the light strike it either from above or in front,
the liquid appears sky-blue. Yet, if this mixture of water and alcohol filled with
resinous dust is examined with the strongest microscope, nothing is seen. The
size of the grains of this dust is much less than the ten-thousandth part of 1-25
of an inch. Moren makes another experiment, proving in a still more surprising
way the extreme divisibility of matter: Sulphur and oxygen form a close com-
bination, called by chemists sulphuric-acid gas. It is that colorless and suffo-
cating vapor thrown off when a sulphur match is burned. Moren confines a
certain quantity of this gas in a receiver, places the whole in a dark medium, and
sends a bright ray of light through it. At first nothing is visible. But very soon
in the path of the luminous ray we perceive a delicate blue color. It is because
the gas is decomposed by the luminous waves, and the invisible particles of sulphur
set free decompose the light in turn. The blue of the vapor deepens, then it
turns whitish, and at last a white cloud is produced. The particles composing
this cloud are still each by itself invisible, even under strong microscopes, and
yet they are infinitely more coarse than the primitive atoms that occasioned the
sky-blue tint at first seen in the receiver. In this experiment we pass in steady
progress from the free atom of sulphur parted from the oxygen-atom by the ether-
waves to a mass apparent to the senses; but if this mass is made up of free
molecules which defy the strongest magnifiers, what must be the particles which
have produced those very molecules !"

The Fovilla of Pollen. — Signor Saccardo states in the Nuovo Giornale
Botan. Ital., that botanists are agreed that the minute grains in the contents of
pollen consist of starch-granules, oil-globules, sugar and nitrogenized compounds,
but, so far as he is aware, no observer has yet noticed among them certain minute
bodies of well-marked and constant shapes. He detected, in June last, very
small oscillating bodies which make up the bulk of the fovilla, and to these he
gives the name Somatia. The form of the somatia is invariable in the same spe-
cies of plants, and in plants of the same genus the forms appear to be nearly
identical. The plants most carefully studied were Cucurbita Pepo, Eschscholtzia
crocata, Onagraceoe, Portulaca grandifllora, Althcea rosea, whose somatia are
figured as fusiform, discoid, etc. To observe these small bodies to the best
advantage the author advises that a drop of distilled water should be placed on
a few grains of the pollen on a slide, and then the cover should be pressed down
so as to crush them. The somatia are seen under a magnifying power of 800 to
1,000 diameters to have an oscillating motion which may be referred to the
" Brownian movement." Treated with a solution of iodine, the color of these
somatia becomes blue ; buc this tint is marked only in the central portion, while
the outer part remains clear.

t82 Editor' s Table. [Aug.

The Eyes in Deep-Sea Creaturp:s. — In his Notes from the Challenger,
Wyville Thomson says : The absence of eyes in many deep-sea anima,ls and their
full development in others is veiy remarkable. I have mentioned the case of
one of the stalk-eyed crustaceans, Ethtisa granulata, in Avhich well-developed
eyes are present in examples from shallow water. In deeper water, from no to
370 fathoms, eye-stalks are present, but the animal is apparently blind, the eyes
being replaced by rounded, calcareous terminations to the stalks. In examples
from 500 to 700 fathoms, in another locality, the eye-stalks have lost their special
character, have become fixed, and their terminations combine into a strong, point-
ed rostrum. In this case we have a gradual modification, depending apparently
upon the gradual diminution and final disappearance of solar light. On the other
hand Miinida, from equal ilepths, has its eyes unusually developed, and apparently
of great delicacy. Is it possible that in certain cases, as the sun's light diminishes,
the power of vision becomes more acute, while at length the eye becomes sus-
ceptible of the stimulus of the fainter light of phosphorescence ?

Double Fertilization of Female Flowers — Mr. Arnold, of Paris, Canada,
has shown that if the female flowers of an Indian-corn plant are submitted to the
action of pollen from male flowers of different kinds of corn-plants, each grain of
the ear produced shows the effect of both kinds of pollen. In an experiment
related, a given female flower was subjected first to the action of pollen from a
yellow variety of corn, and then to that taken from a white variety ; the result
was an ear of corn each grain of which was yellow below and white above. The
conclusion presented is, not only that there is an immediate influence on the seed
and the whole fruit-srructure, by the application of strange pollen, but the more
important fact that one ovule can be effected by the pollen of two distinct parents,
and this too, after some time had elapsed between the first and the second
impregnation.

Fern Pressing. — Under the caption Home and Society, in the last number of
Scribner s Monthly, we find the following :

" The girls should not forget that this is the time to gather and press ferns.
They are so pretty and refreshing to have in the house in cold weather, so easily
obtained, and so little trouble to prepare, that it is a pity any one should be with-
out a few bunches when the flower-season has passed. There are many modes
of preserving them ; but the one that seems most successful is to pick the ferns
when they are young and tender ; lay them between newspapers, or in large, flat
books, and place them under very heavy weights, until the sap has entirely dried.
Persons who gather them in August, often leave them in press till Thanksgiving
or Christmas ; asserting that this long subjection to the weights keeps the color
better than any other method. The safest way to secure perfect ferns is to take
a book to the woods, and lay each one between the leaves as soon as broken
from the stem. Even in a few minutes, ferns will curl at their tips, and after an
hour or two, it is almost impossible to lay them flat. This process is very good
for bright leaves, and makes them look less artificial than when they are varnished.

tS8s-] Editor's Table. 183

Bunches of Autumn leaves are very beautiful evening decorations, if a lighted
candle be set behind them. This brings out their brilliant tints, and gives them
the appearance of having been freshly gathered."

Nervation of the Coats of Ovules and Seeds.— A brief article by Van
Tieghem in Coinptes Rendus, and Ann. Set. Nat., and a long one in the latter
journal by LeMonnier (apparently Van Tieghem's pupil), develop clearly the
former's view respecting the morphological nature of the ovule. He deduces
the foliar nature of its envelope from its " libero-vascular system," which is that
of the leaf. It answers, as has been before explained, to a marginal lobe of a
carpellary leaf transformed and convolute around the nucleus, which, being desti-
tute of vascular tissue, is a "parenchymatous excrescence," a trichome, to use
the recent term of the Germans. LeMonnier sums up the conclusions thus : i .
The ovule always consists of a lobe of a carpellary leaf, folded around a cellular
niamelon inserted upon the medial line of the lobe ; 2. In Angiosperms upon the
upper or trachean face of the leaf; in Gymnosperms upon the lower or liberian
face. 3. The embryo, although discontinuous from the tissues of the mother-
plant, has determinate relations of position ; not only is the radicular extremity
always directed to the micropyle, but its principal plane is generally perpendicu-
lar to or parallel with that of the seminal lobe. 4. The primine, characterized
by the presence of vascular bundles, is commonly the only membrane which
persists in the mature seed; the secundine, except in rare cases {Euphorbiacece),
is only a deduplication of the primine, and is mostly transitory.

The Structure of the Cystidia. — This is discussed very fully in Mr.
Cooke's Grevillea, in a translated paper by M. A. de Bary. The structure of the
cystidia, he says, offers a few peculiarities ; in the greater part a delicate and
colorless membrane surrounds sometimes a similarly colorless plasma, full of vac-
uoles, and sometimes a perfectly transparent liquid. He has observed in the
hymenium of Coprinus micaceus which had not yet attained its maturity, that the
cystidia enclosed a central plastic body, irregularly elongated, which sent in all
directions towards the sides of the cell a multitude of filiform processes, branch-
ing and anastomosing amongst themselves. These processes changed their form
with astonishing rapidity, after the manner of the Amoebce. The older cystidia
were entirely transparent. The contents of the cystidia of Lactarius deliciostis,
and allied species, are granular and opaque. In this respect the cystidia resemble
the lactiferous tubes or filaments, and often when a thick slice of the substance of
the fungus is observed, it seems that they are branches from these filaments, the
more so since they bury themselves deeply in the weft of the lamellge, underneath
the subhymeneal tissue. Still he has never seen them spring except from filaments
of the weft deprived of latex, of which they seemed to be branches. The cystidia
of Agaricus balaninus. Berk., are of a dark purple color. According to Corda
and the uncertain opinioiis of anterior authors, the cystidia eject their contents
under the form of a liquid drop, and that by their summit, which is represented
as open. He has not, any more than M. Hoffman, been able to convince myself
that this phenomena is produced spontaneously. He has, indeed, only very rarely

1^4 Editor's Table. [Aug.

seen the cystidia burst in the water, which the same author says takes place very
irregularly. If their surface is damp, and often bears liquid drops, this is a cir-
cumstance which is common to them with all fungoid cells that are full of juice.

What are Instinctive Actions? — This is really, to the thoughtful man,
who is learned on the subject, the most intensely difficult question. A paper on
this question appears from the pen of Mr. George Henry Lewis, in Nature, and
is well worthy of perusal. The author states, among other things, that the fact
that we require some character to distinguish the instinctive from the impulsive
actions, may be readily shown. No one calls breathing, secretion, excretion, &c.,
instincts. Yet these are the actions of congenital tendencies in the organism.
"A hungry chick," says Mr. Spalding, " that never tasted food, is able, on seeing
a fly or spicier for the first time, to bring into action muscles that never were so
exercised before, and to perform a series of delicately adjusted movements that
end in the capture of the insect." Every one would pronounce this a typical
case of instinct. Now compare with it the following, which no one would class
among the instincts : A new-born animal that has never breathed before is able,
on first feeling the stimulus of the atmosphere, to bring into action a very com-
plicated group of muscles which were never so exercised before, and to perform
a series of delicately adjusted movements which end in the aeration and circula-
tion of the blood. This contrast may lead us to the character sought. Understand-
ing that every line of demarcation in psychical phenomena must be more or less
arbitrary, and only justified by its convenience, we may draw such a line between
impulse and instinct. Impulses are the actions which from the first were fatal,
inevitable, being sipply the direct reflex of the stimulated organs. Given the
respiratory organs and the atmosphere, respiration is the inevitable result. Given
the secretory organ and the psalma, secretion is the inevitable result. There
is no choice, the action either takes place or it does not.

Analysis of the Air of Public Schools. — The Sanitarian says that from
the public schools of New York, Dr. Endemann obtained seventeen samples of
air, the examination of which determined' the presence of carbonic acid, varying
in amounts from 9.7 to 35.7 parts in 10,000; or in other words, from more than
twice to nearly nine times the normal quantity. The ventilation in these build-
ings is generally faulty, and can be obtained only by opening the windows — a
practice detrimental to the health of the children who sit near or directly
under them. The following experiment, made in the Roosevelt Street School,
shows the inefficiency of ventilating flues in the wall unprovided with means for
creating an upward current. An examination of the air in one of the class-rooms
provided with a ventilating flue was made while one of the windows was o]3ened,
and yielded 17.2 parts of carbonic acid in 10,000. The window was then closed,
and after the lapse of ten minutes another examination gave 32,2 parts of carbonic
acid, or an increase of 15.6 parts. The experiment now became to the teacher
and children so oppressive that it was not continued. Dr. Endemann says : "If
the accumulation of carbonic acid had been allowed to continue, we might have
reached within one hour the abominable figure of no."

tJV^W^^^

Woodburytype.

A. P. B. P. Co., Phila.

FIRST SIX BANDS OF NOBERT'S PLATE.

WEBB'S TEST, "The Lord's Prayer."

Each Magnified 640 Diameters.

From Photo-Micrographs by Dr. J. J. Woodward, U. S. A.

THE LENS;

WITH THE

Transactions of the State Microscopical Society of Illinois.

Vol. II.— CHICAGO, DECEMBER, 1873.— No. 4-

rZT^ GERM THEORY AND ITS RELATIONS TO

HYGIENE.

The germ theory of disease is not, as is commonly supposed, a
theory which has^ originated in very recent years. More than two
hundred years ago it was brought forward, at least as a hypothesis,
by the celebrated Father Kircher, in his Scrutinium physico-medicum
contagiosce litis quce pestis dicititr, to account for the infectious prop-
agation of the plague. However plausible this theory might at the
time have seemed, it could then, nevertheless, claim no higher rank
than that of a bare hypothesis ; and it has only been in times com-
paratively recent that observation has brought to light a sufficient
number of facts apparently favoring it to justify our advancing it in
the arena of scientific discussion to the higher dignity of a theory.

Before proceeding to consider the evidence bearing on the truth
of this theory, for or against, a few observations of a general nature
may properly here find place. No living organism enjoys an exist-
ence of unlimited duration. Every such organism, under favorable
circumstances, passes through three distinct stages, which are those
of growth, vigorous maturity, and decline. The organism com-
mences as a germ, and ends in dissolution and disintegration.
Since the laws of life, as well as those of physics, are fixed and defi-
nite, there is reason to believe that all organisms of the same species,

Vol. II.— No. 4.

1 86 The Germ Theory and its Relations to Hygiene. [Dec,

if placed in conditions equally favorable to their development,
would be equally long-lived ; yet, in point of fact, those which pass
through the regular stages constituting their normal life are com-
paratively few. In the large majority, the vital functions are,
earlier or later, more or less disturbed, if not arrested, by an endless
variety of causes tending to produce disease and premature death.
In the human race, life is often shortened by ignorant or wilful dis-
regard of the conditions necessary to the preservation of health.
Accident, also, often exposes individuals to deleterious influences.
Thus, in many cases, diseases arise from exposure to extremes of
temperature, or from excesses in eating and drinking, persisted in
until the organs of digestion become debilitated and fail to fulfil
their proper functions. But beside these causes of disease, which
may be classed under the head of " injurious conditions," there are
other influences directly morbific, wl\ich, whenever they come into
play, cut short the duration of life. Poisons belong to this class,
but the efl'ects of these are felt only in occasional and accidental
instances. Other noxious influences, of which the pernicious conse-
quences are more widely spread, are those which produce the dis-
eases called zymotic. Such are malaria, contagion and infection,
instrumentalities to which are owing the widespread ravages of
epidemic.

It may be remarked that there are many cases of disease in which
the cause is not traceable directly to any of the sources above men-
tioned, but in which the disease has been transmitted by inheritance
from a parent similarly aff"ected. In such cases there is nevertheless
every reason to believe that the disease in its first appearance was
produced in a healthy organism by causes belonging to one or the
other of the classes above named.

The diseases which it is the object of the present paper to con-
sider are only those which belong to the epidemic or contagious
class.

No subject has occupied more the careful attention of physicians,
or has been a subject of more elaborate observation and experi-
ment, or has led to more marked diff"erence of opinion or more
animated controversy, than that of the nature of the influences by
which these diseases are transmitted from individual to individual.
That many epidemics arise from peculiar conditions of the atmos-
phere, not in the least as yet understood, can hardly be doubted ;

1 8 73-] The Germ Theory and its Relations to Hygiene. 187

and in this case the influence which excites disease simultaneously
in many is not dissimilar to that by which contagious diseases are
transmitted from individual to individuals. Two theories, distinctly
opposed to each other, have long been held on the subject. These
may be distinguished as the chemical theory of infection and the
germ theory. The chemical theory is founded on a presumed
analogy between the propagation of disease in living organisms and
the process of fermentation in certain forms of organic matter
without life. This theory assumes a ferment to be an organized
substance in a certain state of decay, which possesses the property
of exciting the same decay in other organic substance with which it
is in contact. Applying this theory to disease, it supposes that
infection is communicated by the instrumentality of particles
thrown from the person, or from substances proceeding from the
person diseased, and borne by the air to other persons in full
health, in whom they excite, probably by contact with the mem-
branous linings of the lungs, the same diseased condition which
exists in the patient. The opposing theory presumes that the dis-
eased person is suffering from an invasion of his system by micro-
scopic algoid or fungoid vegetative forms having the property of
rapid self-multiplication, and that the spores which proceed from
these fungi or the cells of the algge. are wafted in like manner by
the air from person to person, penetrating the systems of the
healthy, and establishing new colonies to generate disease in them.
A prima facie evidence, which so far as it goes is favorable to
the germ theory is found in the well known fact that all the forms
of cryptogamic vegetation are propagated by spores, which they
shed freely abroad in all directions, and that these are borne in
infinite numbers through the atmosphere, which they pervade near
the surface of the earth in all places. The fact of their universal
presence is made manifest by the promptitude with which fungoid
growths spring up in all circumstances in which the conditions favor
their development. We know that the numbers of spores which all
fungi produce are incalculable. The larger fungi give us evidence
of this. The spores of a single puff-ball have been estimated to be
more numerous than the entire human population of the globe. It
is true that to ordinary observation the presence of foreign matters
in the atmosphere is not perceptible, except when such foreign mat-
ters take the gross form of clouds of smoke or dust ; but particles of

t88 The Germ Theory and its Relations to Hygiene. [Dec,

smoke or dust, and in general of all inorganic substances, are so
heavy that they soon subside ; yet when the air is thus left appar-
ently free from all foreign admixture, it is demonstrably full of
organic particles so extremely light as not to subside for many hours
or even days of perfect rest. The chemist, it is true, is unable to
detect them by his tests, delicate as they are ; for being organic,
and composed in general of biit two or three elements — which
elements are in great part those of the atmosphere itself — they pro-
duce no distinctive reactions under the ordinary processes of analy-
sis. But there is a mode of analysis much more delicate than even
that of the chemist. It is that which has been applied incidentally
to this question by Professor Tyndall, in his interesting investiga-
tion into the chemical effects of light upon vapors. Professor Tyn-
dall discovered that there are many substances of great volatility
which, when in the state of vapor, are easily decomposed by light.
He found that a perfectly transparent vapor-like steam, when
traversed by a luminous beam, is absolutely invisible ; while we all
know that if we admit a beam of sunlight into a darkened room,
through an aperture in the shutter, the path of the beam through
the apartment is as distinctly marked as if it were a solid bar. That
this visibility of a beam of light in the air is not owing to the power
of the aerial particles themselves to reflect light, is demonstrated by
him by proofs entirely conclusive. A beam of light from an elec-
tric lamp was made in his experiments to pass through a large glass
tube closed at both ends by plates of glass, ground on. No light
was permitted to escape into the room ; and, accordingly, when the
tube was exhausted of air altogether, and no light from its interior
was reflected to the eye, it was perfectly invisible. But if the air of
the room were allowed to re-enter it, it immediately became bril-
liantly luminous, as in the case of a sunbeam admitted through a
window shutter. He showed, however, that a filter of rather closely
compacted cotton will shut off entirely, or almost entirely, the
organic matters which the air contains ; and he showed, finally,
that absolute rest for a long period of time will cause these particles
completely to subside. He constructed a closed space, cubical in
form and several feet in linear dimensions, glazed so as to permit
him to pass through it a beam of light, and to observe the path of
the beam. This small . apartment was made absolutely air-tight and
left to itself. On each succeeding day the brilliancy of the trans-

1 873-] "^^^ Germ Theory and its Relations to Hygiene, 189

mitted beam grew less and less ; and at length, at the end of a
week, it could no longer be perceived at all. The apartment was
optically empty.

It is not necessary to suppose that all particles of organic matter
are living germs of vegetable or animal organisms ; but when we see
how constantly such organisms spring up wherever the conditions
favor germination, it is impossible to doubt that avast many of them
have this character ; and that these are the source of those growths
of minute cryptogams which thus seem to spring up spontaneously.
There is no mode of accounting for such growths, except to suppose
that they are actually spontaneous ; and accordingly the view has
been taken by some physiologists, perhaps I should say many, that
the true mode of accounting for the appearance of microscopic forms
of life is to suppose that they originate without organic antecedents,
or as they expressed it, de novo. No question at the present day is
more sharply debated than that which relates to the origin of life.
There is no subject which has been pursued experimentally with
more zeal, more earnest solicitude to reach the truth, and with more
singularly discordant results than this. The notion of spontaneous
generation, is not, by any means, of modern origin. It has been
entertained by naturalists in every age since the dawn of scientific
history. But the earlier naturalists, Aristotle and Lucretius, for
instance, conceived that organisms of a high order of complexity,
such as insects, or fishes, or reptiles, might be directly produced out
of the moist earth softened by showers, or out of the slime and mud
of rivers ; whereas those of our time have long since abandoned any
such extravagant notions, and confine themselves to the assertion
that life in its spontaneous origin is manifested only under the sim-
plest forms.

Less than three centuries ago the belief that living things may
originate without eggs, or germs, or living parents from which to
proceed, may be said to have been universal in Europe. Of the
truth of this belief there was supposed to be visible evidence in the
invariable occurrence of maggots in putrefying flesh. The doctrine
was held as matter of faith, and those who first assailed it were
naturally accused of impiety and irreverence. Prominent and per-
haps first among these was Francis Redi, an Italian philosopher,
scholar and poet, born in 1626. He presented a conclusive disproof
of the spontaneous generation of maggots in putrefying flesh, by

190 The Germ Theory and its Relations to Hygiene. [Dec,

simply inclosing, in an open mouthed jar covered with gauze, pieces
of flesh still sound, and leaving them in the sun to putrefy. Putre-
faction occurred as before, but no maggots made their appearance.
The maggots, nevertheless, did appear on the gauze, and a little
observation made their origin manifest. The flies, of which they
are the progeny in the larval state, being attracted by the odor of
the flesh, but unable to reach it, laid their eggs upon the covering of
the jar, and out of these the larvae were presently developed. Hav-
ing demonstrated the falsity of the popular belief on this subject in
a case so conspicuous, Redi naturally generalized his conclusion,
and took the ground that no living thing comes into existence with-
out deriving its life from something previously living. He did not
say, as it has been said later, ^'■omnevivumex ovo,'^ but '■^omne vivum
ex vivo.'' He still believed that out of a living plant may arise a
living animal, as the insect within the gall of the oak, or the worm
within the fruit which presents no external puncture. His doctrine
was, therefore, that which Huxley has named biogenesis, in contra-
diction to spontaneous generation, called by him abiogenesis, and by
Bastian archegenesis. But archegenesis had been put aside only to
return again under a new form. Among the earliest revelations of
the microscope was the remarkable fact that, whenever a dead
organic substance is infused in water, myriads of minute creatures
presently make their appearance in the infusion, all possessing most
extraordinary and many of them very varied powers of reproduc-
tion. They multiply by means of ova, by means of buds, or gem-
mation, and by means of self-division, or fissuration. All this was
strongly favorable to the doctrine of biogenesis. Where so many
means of reproduction existed, every one of them so effectual and
sufficient, to provide that the same forms of life should be produced
without any organic antecedents, seemed ''wasteful and ridiculous
excess." This view, however, met here and there with a dissentient.
About a century and a quarter ago, John Thurberville Needham, an
English naturalist, resorted to an experiment which, with various
modifications, has been since repeated many hundreds, possibly
many thousands, of times, with the view thoroughly to test the
question whether, in its application to infusorial life, the doctrine
of biogenesis is universally true. He prepared an infusion, thor-
oughly boiled it in a flask, corked it tight, sealed the cork with
mastic, and covered the whole with hot ashes, designing to destroy

1 873-] Hair in its Microscopical and Medico-Legal Aspects. 191

by heat any germs which might be in the infusion, in the substance
infused, or in the air above the liquid in the flask. After some days
or weeks, he found that, notwithstanding all these precautions,
living organisms did make their appearance in the flask, precisely
such as, in freely exposed infusions, habitually appeared earlier.
This experiment was immediately repeated by Spallanzani, an
Italian ecclesiastic and naturalist ; but Spallanzani, instead of cork-
ing his flask and cementing his corks, sealed the vessels by fusing the
glass ; and having thus completely cut ofl" communication with the
outward air, kept them at the boiling temperature for three quarters
of an hour. No life appeared in the infusions of Spallanzani, and
the doctrine of biogenesis was again apparently triumphant.

F. A. P. Barnard, LL.D.,

President Columbia College.
New York.

HAIR IN ITS MICROSCOPICAL AND MEDICO-LEGAL

ASPECTS.

The examination of the hair in its medico-legal relations is a
subject hitherto but little noticed, except superficially. Yet many
cases might be mentioned in which the microscopic examination of
the hair was of great importance. In the medico-legal examination
of hair, two questions are met : Are the hairs from animals or
from men ? and in the latter case from whom do they co?ne ? From
what portion of the body ? Of course, if the hairs belong to a beast,
that may be sufficient to settle the question at issue ; but the differ-
ence between such and human hair has been too little noticed. A
human hair under the microscope shows three distinct layers : the
outer, cuticula, or the superficial covering, formed of epithelial
cells, with rounded contour, lying over each other like tiles, which
clothes the surface of the hair from its exit from the skin to its end.
The ends of the scale stand out somewhat from the shaft, and give
the outer circumference of the hair a more or less jagged appearance.
Seen sideways, the cuticula appears as an undulatory design, more

192 Hair in its Microscopical and Medico-Legal Aspects. [Dec. ,

prominent if the hair is treated for a short time with concentrated
acid. The scales have their points directed towards the free end of
the hair ; hence the latter can be easily distinguished from the other
broken end.

The cortical substance forms the principal part, and often the
whole of the shaft. It consists of a system of closely-packed cells
in rows lying nearly parallel to the long axis of the hair, giving the
cortical substance an appearance as if striped lengthwise. These
cells are so intimately united that without reagents this striped
appearance alone shows the cellular structure. Concentrated sulphuric
acid breaks up this union, and reveals the spindle-shaped cells, with
occasionally a nucleus. The cortical substance has different colour,
according to the colour of the hair ; generally the colour is diffused
through its whole mass ; less frequently the colour depends on gran-
ular pigment scattered through its substance in small masses. Finally
the cortical substance contains a number of cavities filled with air,
most evident in the hair from aged persons or in dry hair. These
are secondary results of drying, as they are not found in young hair.

The central portion, the medullary substance, forms, when well
developed, an axis-cylinder, one-fifth or one-fourth the diameter of
the hair, with sharp outlines, generally central, but many times a
little eccentric in ^position. The medullary substance is not con-
stant ; it is often wanting in human hair, especially in blond hair. It
is wanting less frequently from hair obtained from other parts of the
body than in that from the head. In woolly hair it is always want-
ing ; also in the hair of the new-born child. The medullary sub-
stance is often interrupted, and sometimes consists only of a few
dark points lying in the axis of the hair. The nature of the medul-
lary substance is still a matter of dispute, some considering it cellu-
lar, others denying this. The first is certainly the correct view, as
may be seen by following the development of the medullary substance
from the papilla, where round and imperfectly polygonal cells can
be seen gradually merging into the medullary substance. The medul-
lary substance has been thought to contain the pigment ; this is not
so, the supposed pigment-granules being very minute air-bubbles.
The cause of the colour of the hair is found in the diffused pigmen-
tation of the cortical substance. The cause of the hair becoming
grey or white, is to be found in the disappearance of the diffuse pig-
mentation of the cortical substance, the cause of which is not yet

1 8 7 3 • ] Hair in its Microscopical and Medico-Legal Aspects. 193

known. The medullary substance can be more easily seen in white
hair than in coloured.

Turning now to che hair of animals, we find generally the same
three layers as in human hair, but differing to such a degree that, as
a rule, a hair can be easily recognized as belonging to an animal.
The cuticula in most animals has absolutely and relatively larger
cells, which give the hair a characteristic appearance, as is seen
especially well in the wool from sheep. A toothed or saw-like
appearance of the contour of certain animal hairs depends upon the
larger development and peculiar relations of the cuticular cells,
whose points stand out so far from the hair that the latter has a
feathered appearance, as in a field-mouse. Among animals the greater
bulk of the hair is formed by the medullary substance, the cortical
substance being only a thin layer ; often, indeed, is reduced to a
hem-like streak. This predominance of the medullary substance is
seen best in the shaft of the hair ; towards the end the cortical sub-
stance predominates, the medullary becoming thinner. Generally,
the cortical substance has the same structure as in human hair, and
the same variety of pigmentation ; in some animals, as the cat, rat,
and mouse, the cortical substance is more translucent and of finer
structure, resembling, under the microscope, a hyaline envelop of
the medullary substance. The medullary substance in animals is an
interesting study, differing greatly from the same layer in human
hair. The cellular structure is generally very evident^ without the
employment of any reagent. The cells vary greatly in size and
form.

Though the hair of animals usually is so different from human
hair that it can be easily recognised, yet the difference is sometimes
less marked ; especially may this be the case with single hairs, and
at times only a single hair can be had for examination. This resem-
blance is caused by the absence of the medullary substance. Dogs'
hair, especially when brown, is often very similar to human hair, or
may be almost exactly the same ; fortunately, only separate hairs
are thus similar, while generally the remaining hairs which are given
for examination have clearly the animal type. Reagents will often
help to decide the question.

In medico-legal cases, when it has been decided that the hair ex-
amined is human hair, the question arises, from whom it comes,
and from what portion of the body. In regard to the first question

194 Hair in its Microscopical and Medico-Legal Aspects. [Dec. ,

it may be merely said here that the hair examined must be com-
pared with that of the person concerned, both in regard to its gross
appearances and microscopically. In deciding to what part of the
body the hairs belong, the length, the size, the form, and the
root of the hair, must be noticed. The hair from the head and
beard is less limited in its length than the hair on other portions of
the body ; though individual and other circumstances may modify
the length of the hair from the head and the beard. The size of
the hair differs in different parts of the body, and so may form a
diagnostic mark. The beard is the thickest generally, measuring
0-I4 to 0-15 mm.; next comes the hair about the female genitals,
0-15 mm.; then the eyebrows, o'i2 mm.; the hair about the male
genitals, 0*11 mm.; finally, the hair from the head in either sex,
o'o6 to o'o8 mm. The other individual differences which are found
may render the value of the size for diagnosis less reliable. More-
over, it must not be forgotten that the same hair may vary in diam-
eter. The shape of the hair modifies its diameter ; thus cylindrical
hair especially is found only on the head ; but when this is curly it
is flattened, and the transverse section is then oval instead of round.
The beard is generally triangular on transverse section, with one
convex side; the^hair from the genitals is generally oval, sometimes
triangular. Hair which has been exposed to the action of the sweat
is sometimes swollen in one part, and so changed in form.

When the hair grows undisturbed it ends always in a fine point.
All the hair of a new-born child, hair which grows at the age of
puberty, and such as has grown naturally without interference,
always has a pointed end, which may be of use in deciding in
regard to the age of a person. Later this normal ending is not
found. Hair which has been cut has at first a sharply-defined trans-
verse section ; later the edges are rounded off, and the end becomes
round and diminished in size, or is frayed out. This may lead to
an approximate calculation of the time which has elapsed since the
hair was last cut. The beard, being less frequently cut, is more
often split and frayed out. The hair from the female head, gener-
ally not cut, ends regularly in two to three points, often in more,
each having the end frayed out.

The shape taken by the ends of the hair depends upon the action
of friction and sweat, the former splitting and rubbing off the ends,
the latter macerating and acting chemically by dissolving or soften-

1 873-] '^^'^^ Collection of Lepidoptera. 195

ing the connective substance. The shaft of the hair is acted upon
by the same agents and changed ; especially active is the sweat,
changing the colour, as is seen in the axilla, on the scrotum, and
the labia. From the form of the hair, especially of its end, we can
draw conclusions as to the nature of the influence to which it has
been exposed, and by means of this and its other peculiarities we
may be able in medico-legal cases, with more or less certainty, to
decide from what part of the body it came. But no form of hair
is absolutely characteristic of any portion of the body.

E. Hofman, M. D.

THE COLLECTION OE LEPIDOPTERA.

Interesting as is the study of butterflies and moths in the larval
and pupal states, it cannot in any way compete with the interest
excited in the entomologist's mind by the imagines of the '^ mealy
winged" tribe of insects. The beauty and grace of the '^ full
fledged " butterfly would alone be sufficient to account for this; but
when we take into consideration the variety existing in the methods
of capture and preservation, it is not difficult to understand how a
pursuit which brings into play every bodily and mental faculty should
exercise such a fascination over its devotees. In entering upon a
description of the different methods of collecting the perfect insect,
it seems advisable to take first the butterflies, which form a group
very distinct from the moths, whether diurnal or nocturnal. The
apparatus required is neither costly nor complicated. The most
important item is a net, of which article there are three notable
kindS; besides many hybrids. In the first place there is the clap-
net, a form which is not much in vogue at the present time, but which
neverthelesss has many advantages. It is especially useful in a
'''stern chase" with a strong-pinioned insect. It is made of two
sticks of from four to five feet in length, usually constructed in two
or three pieces joined by ferrules. The top joint of each stick is
bent, and the two are hinged together. A piece of green gauze or

196 The Collection of Lepidoptera. [Dec,

leno is fitted on and stretched between the two sticks, and the net is
complete. It is a very cumbrous piece of machinery, and this is, in
fact, the great objection to it. The next description of net is the
ring net, the most inexpensive and commonest of all. The best
way of making it is to get a three-branched Y-shaped socket, which
may be had at any dealer's for sixpence. Into the lower socket of
the Y a walking-stick is fitted, while the two smaller tubes hold the
extremities of a cane ring, on which the net is hung by means of a
loose hem. When not in actual use the cane ends can be removed
from their sockets and the ring twisted up and carried in the pocket.
Another form of this net is constructed of a single piece of thick wire
or metal which is jointed in three or more places, so as to fold up
easily, and made to screw into a brass tube, the other end of which
receives the handle. This species of net is small and rather heavy,
but it has the advantage of great strength and is very portable. I
have procured a fair-sized one for 4s. 6d. The handle of this net is
sometimes constructed on the telescopic principle, with three, four,
or six joints, any number of which may be used, as occasion requires,
and the whole goes into the pocket. The utility of this ingenious
contrivance is doubtful ; a walking stick is such a useful article to
the entomologist that in most cases he would rather be with it than
without it, whether he had a net in his pocket or not, and an
umbrella forms no bad substitute for a stick as a net-handle in
showery weather. The third and last description of net which I
shall attempt to describe is that which goes by the name of the
umbrella-net. It is formed of two pieces of jackspring, hinged on to
two pieces of brass, the top one fixed and the bottom one movable^
as in an ordinary umbrella. When up, it forms a large ring-net ;
when down, and covered with an ordinary black glazed sheath, it
passes very well for an umbrella. The only objection to it is the
curious spectacle presented to passers-by during a shower of rain, of
an infatuated mortal with a good umbrella which he does not put
up. A net of this description may be purchased at prices ranging
from five shillings to half a guinea, but it is the truest economy to
get a thoroughly good one, cost what it may.

Next in order to nets in a list of necessaries come pocket-boxes.
They are made of wood, tin, and zinc. The wooden ones have the
neatest appearance, and are cheapest, costing sixpence and upwards ;
but the zinc have the great advantage of retaining moisture, and thus

1 8 73-] The Collection of Lepidoptera. 197

preventing the dead captures from getting dry for a long period.
The tin boxes have the same good points as those made of zinc, but
are liable to rust. A few pill-boxes should also be kept in the pocket
continually; as the collector never knows when he may come upon a
desirable specimen. Nested willow-chip pill-boxes may be had at
3d. per dozen. I will now say a few words about the different kinds
of killing apparatus in use, which, as well as the boxes and nets
mentioned above, are of course equally adapted to the exigencies of
night work among the moths.

The cyanide bottle is constructed as follows : Take a wide-
mouthed glass bottle, such as may be procured at any chemists for a
few pence, and place at the bottom a layer of cyanide of potassium ;
then mix plaster of Paris with water till a thick cream-like mixture is
produced, and lay this over the cyanide ; when the compound is
set, a few thicknesses of blotting paper may be spread over it, and
the bottle corked with an air tight bung or wooden stopper. It
ought to be mentioned that the cyanide of potassium is a virulent
poison. This killing bottle may be had with a metal band round
the body, to which is fastened a ferrule for the reception of a stick.
The rim of the mouth is cased in gutta percha, to soften the effects
of any collision, and the whole contrivance is designed to facilitate
the capture of insects on high walls, lamps, and other situations
inaccessible by ordinary means. The modus operandi is very simple ;
the bottle is hoisted on the stick, the mouth being slipped over
the desired insect, which is quickly stupefied and slain in statu quo.
A chloroform bottle is often useful. It is constructed of brass,
the liquid flowing through a minute perforation at the top, over
which screws a metal cap. Only a drop runs out at a time, but in a
closed box this is quite enough to kill all lepidoptera contained.
An oval tin box with a lid at each end and a perforated division in
the middle makes a good killing implement, but scarcely strong
enough for any work requiring rapidity of execution. It is charged
by placing well-bruised laurel leaves in one division, the fumes
of which ascend through the perforated division, and after a
short interval prove fatal to any moths placed in the other com-
partment. A few dozen entomological pins must be carried into
the' field, either stuck in the cork of the pocket-box or in a pin-
cushion suspended inside the coat. These pins are made in all
sizes, and may be procured, either gilt or plain, from any dealer.

tgS The Collection of Lepidoptera. [Dec,

The above-mentioned articles constitute the whole paraphernalia
necessary to the butterfly hunter. It only remains to make a few
observations on the haunts of butterflies, and the manipulation of
the net. Many species are very local in their distribution, being
confined to one or two fields, or, it may be, a small copse. It
therefore behooves the collector to leave no portion of a district
unexplored ; and for the same reason he ought to catch every insect
on the wing whose species he cannot certainly declare. In this way
many rare Fritillaries and Blues have been captured, which would cer-
tainly otherwise have gone free. Some butterflies have favorite flowers
on which they especially love to sit. The Red Admiral and Peacock
have a predilection for the thistle, the Silver-washed Fritillary for
the bramble, and the glorious Purple Emperor for the loftiest
branches of the oak. To catch this last insect a net mounted on a
pole 30 feet high is necessary, unless his Majesty can be induced to
descend from his lofty position. As he is very fond of dead animals,
tainted meat, and other substances of the same nature, the collector
should keep his eyes open when near any of these in a wood haunted
by Emperors. In using the net it is often better in the case of the
swifter butterflies, to pop it over them suddenly, taking them by sur-
prise. If by any chance they become alarmed, and take them-
selves off, it is a race between human legs and lepidopterous wings.
If there are no hedges or other obstructions in the way, the former
have usually the best of it, and the butterfly finds itself in the net,
which should be constructed of white or green leno. This material
costs fivepence or sixpence a yard, and is consequently much cheaper
than grenadine, a silk fabric which is said by some to be very
superior. Green dyes are apt to rot textures which are dipped in
them, and for this reason a white net is preferable ; but on the other
hand it has the demerit of being very conspicuous. Instead of
placing them in a killing-bottle, butterflies may be slain by punctur-
ing them with the first finger and thumb, just beneath the thorax.
Personally, I prefer the cyanide bottle, as the pinching is apt to spoil
the specimens. The methods of setting and preserving butterflies
are the same as those applied to moths, and I shall therefore reserve
all hints on these heads for a future letter. In my next I hope to
describe that artificial mode of attracting nocturnal moths known as
'^ sugaring." M. £. S.

^^73-] Siliceous Shelled Bacillare(E or Diatomace(2. 199

THE SILICEOUS SHELLED BACILLAREyE OR
niATOMACEyE.

( Continued from page 137.)

Now, at the conclusion of these short historical outlines, I will
pass on to my own labours. The already mentioned treatise of
Leiblein in the Regensburg Flora, for the year 1830, gave me the
first impulse for the investigation of these little organisms. I exam-
ined the diatoms of the neighborhood of Schlensingen, and found,
not only most of the forms described by Leiblein, but also others,
not yet described. On this occasion I must thankfully acknowledge
how kindly Prof. Leiblein answered my first questions for instruction,
and how very much I was aided in my earlier studies, by the use of
his collection of algas, gathered near Wurzburg, among which were
also diatoms. But I am also not less obliged to the Herr Pastor
Frolech in Boren, near Schleswig, and Von Martens in Stuttgart,
who furnished me, most kindly, plentifully with material from their
collections. In the following years I continued my investigations of
these microscopic forms, just as diligently as I had begun them, and
in the year 1833, while I lived at the University of Halle, I was
enabled to publish, that year, seven decades of my ^^ Algce aquce
dulcis germanicce,'''' with dried specimens, among which several dia-
toms were also given. In the same year I published in the Linnc^a
the Synopsis Diatomearum, of which I had special impressions struck
off, that I gave in commission to Schwetschke in Halle. These bear
erroneously the date 1834. In this pamphlet I, for the first time, sepa-
rated the true Diatomacese, with shell (schale) already designated
as hard and glassy, (p. 3) from the .softer shelled forms, which I
called Desmidiece. This work has been estimated very differently.
Meyen (Weigm. Archiv., 1835, § 210) complains that everywhere
a too great desire for new species was manifested, and yet, it after-
wards appeared, that not only all the species established by myself
stood proofj but even many a form, mentioned by me as a variety,
was established by others as distinct species. Ehrenberg took the
trouble in his third ^^ Aid to the knowledge of laiger organisms, in the
direction of the smallest space, ' ' to reduce most of the forms established
by me in the Synopsis, to such forms as were known to him ; but

2oo Siliceous Shelled Bacillarece. or Diatomace(B. [Dec,

later, he has established the same forms as distinct species in the
larger Infusoria-work, although often with suppression of the names
given by me, designating these as synonyms of forms known before,
and where they did not belong.* The proof of this will be given
at the respective places. I had however without knowing of Ehren-
berg's labors, already in the first pages of my Synopsis correctly
represented the structure of the frustules (Panzers) as two plates, and
had also mentioned the frequent striae in many forms. The openings
of the FrustuliecE, (Naviculeae) were then indeed as unknown to me
as to Ehrenberg, who mentions them later. The want of a good
microscope at that time, prevented me from carrying out my inves-
tigations with the necessary promptness. Only a short time before
the printing of my Synopsis, I had the opportunity, through Herr
Von Schlechtendal, to use a Schick's instrument, and by its help to
make some improvements in my drawings. These are figures 12, 31,
21, 22, 23, 32, 2>?>^ 35' 41, 43' 45' 53' 54, 55' 57' 60, 61, 62, 6t„ 64,
65, 66, which, however much they have been censured, still give a
faithful representation of the objects, and are better than the then
existing representations of Bory St. Vincent, Turpin, Lyngbye, and
even of Nitzsch ; nor do Ehrenberg' s figures, made at the same time,
in his large Infusoria work, surpass them. That the remaining
figures are, in fact, very insufficient, I myself confess, but I content
myself the more easily, since I can correct that mistake here, and as
I know tliat Ehrenberg did not fare better than myself with his first
representations. If one looks, for instance, at Ehrenberg' s figures
of the Echinella Splendida, (Taf. 19, II,) of the Gomphonema dis-
color, and rotundmn, (Taf. XVIII, VII, VIII,) of the Bacillaria
CleopatrcE, Seriata flocculosa, and Ptole7?ice.i, (Taf. XV, III, VIII,
IX, X,) in the large Infusoria work of 1838, it will be confessed
that it is quite as difficult to decipher these forms, as those mentioned
in my Synopsis. It is also true, that Ehrenberg has mentioned one
and the same object several times, and under different names \ this
is certainly the case with Fragilaria rhabdosoma micltipunctata,
bipunctata, angusta, scalaris, and diophthalma j if the drawings
are correct, all belong to one and the same species.

*This conduct of Ehrenberg has already been censured by others. Thus speaks Ralfs (" On the
British Species of Gomphonema," in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Vol. XII,
Dec, 1843, p. 462.): " It is greatly to be regretted that Ehrenberg has in so many instances dis-
regarded the names previously affixed by Agardh and Kiitzing. 'I'o alter a name once bestowed
is not only discourteous to tht first describer, but creates confusion and tends to encumber the
science with synonyms ; for if it be allowable for one writer to alter a name because he fancies that
a new one is more appropriate, succeeding writers have an equal right to alter his names, and in
the absence of a recognized rule, some naturalists may prefei one name, and some another."

^^73-] Siliceous Shelled BacillarecR or DiatomacecE. 201

However insufficient the microscope was with which 1 at that
time undertook my investigation, still I have, by it, made my most
excellent discovery, viz., the siliceous valves of the diatoms, which
soon led, through my friend, Henri Fischer, in Pirkenhammer,
near Carlsbad, to the other important discovery of the fossil deposits
of these organisms. I had already, in my ''^Synopsis Piatomearum,^^
called the substance of which the forms of the diatorns are made
^'glassy," because I had, indeed, even then, suspected siliceous
earth in these frustules (^panzers'). I communicated this supposition
to my friend, the apothecary, Bilz, an expert, equally renowned as
botanist and chemist, at the same time asking him whether he
would investigate, chemically, specimens which I would send to
him. Bilz answered that my supposition might be correct, but
declined the commission, stating that he had no practice in the
chemical investigation of microscopic objects. For a short time,
I let the matter rest, until again I was reminded of the probable
siliceous frustules of the diatoms, on the occasion of investigation
of some Characece ; this was the day before Ascension Day, May
17, 1834. I had placed some Chara in very dilute muriatic acid, in
order to remove the lime-crust, that was in the way of microscopic
investigation. In the course of the examination I found that the
soft Chara stems were on the outside garnished all over with dia-
toms, which were not at all affected by the acids. Notwithstanding
the twilight, that had already commenced, I treated these diatoms,
in separate watch-glasses, with concentrated acids, applying muri-
atic, nitric, phosphoric, and fuming sulphuric acids. The color of
the internal parts became, under the first influence of the acids,
beautifully green ^ but the further investigations with the microscope
had to be postponed to the following day. After a sleepless night,
the examinations were continued, at the break of day on the 8th of
May, and at 8 o'clock A. M. of the same day I had not only the
full certainty of the siliceous character, but also of the iron contents
of the diatoms. The results of the investigation I give here in
the words written at the time, because they have not been hith-
erto printed :

'' The diatoms which had been brought into contact with the con-
centrated acid ( they consisted of Synedra splendens, Cymbella
gasfroides and maculatd) had not changed, otherwise than that
their internal matter had disappeared. Now, as I had preserved

Vol. II. — No. 4. 13

202 Siliceous Shelled Bacillarecs. or Dialomaeece. [Dec,

dried supplies of other species^, too, the investigations were further
continued with these.

''i. Experiment with Melosira varians. lo grains of material,
dried in the air, were heated in a platinum crucible, over a spirit
flame. The gray green color of the Melosira, browned, and became
black, as the mass smoked, and emitted an animal smell similar to
burnt hair, cartilage, etc. Continuing the glowing heat, the organic
remains were totally removed, and there remained a residuum, in
which could still be recognized, quite as distinctly as before, the
whole portion of the Melosira threads, only they were more dis-
colored, and had assumed a grayish white appearance ; but the
burning of the organic parts was over very quickly ; the rest
weighed still 9^4 grains, the weight of the organic parts that had
disappeared in the burning was therefore, proportionally, very
insignificant. Under the microscope, the Melosira members which
had been left appeared unchanged, save only that their internal
contents had disappeared. They quite resembled those which had
been treated with strong acids, only the coherence of the threads
which are formed by the multitudes of individuals put together
side by side, had become weakened ; for whereas, the unheated
threads could be boiled in water without losing their coherence,
the heated threads were separated into mere single members by
the boiling with water. The same happened also to the unheated
threads when boiled in water to which had been added considerable
muriatic or sulphuric acid.

" A small portion of the heated individuals was next poured into
soda in a small platinum spoon before the blow-mpe, but held in
such position that neither the reduction or oxidization flame of the
blow-pipe came into contact with the fusing mass. The solution of
the mass in the soda followed completely, and with effervescence,
and I obtained a perfectly transparent glass, in which, however,
after cooling, a vitriol green color indicated the presence of oxide
of iron. Hereby the siliceous earth was unmistakably proved to be
the main part of the diatom frustules. In order to separate it in a
pure state, a quantity was poured into a large proportion of soda,
dissolving this mass in water, I obtained a siliceous solution, from
which I separated the silex, transparent, and in a jelly-like hydrate
state, by means of sulphuric acid.

" 2. Experiment with Achnanthes salina, Synedra ulna, Synedra
subtilis, and Navicula thuringica. I had collected these diatoms in

^^73-] Siliceous Shelled BacillarecR or DiatoMace(Z. 203

1833, in the salines at Artem in Thuringen, and dried them in pretty
large quantities. These forms, under influence of the acids, behaved
quite like the Melosira in the preceding experiment. Treating
them with soda, in the platinum spoon, before the blowpipe, with
the same care as mentioned above, under No. i, I obtained a glass,
which while hot was colored brown, and after cooling, intensely
yellow. The same was the case when borax was used instead of
soda, the latter, in the reducing flame, was dark brown during the
heating, but after cooling, bottle green. The reaction of iron
showed itself here^ upon the whole, stronger than with Melosira
varians, the experiments moreover prove that the iron existed here
as a sub-oxyd, and there as an oxyd.

" In order to find out whether the iron was to be looked for in the
frustule itself, or in the internal matter of the individual, I repeat-
edly boiled a quantity with muriatic acid, and then diluted the acid
with fresh water. The first boiling indicated a very strong iron
reaction, when heated with ferro-cyanide of potassium, for a consid-
erable quantity of prussian blue was obtained. It is, in general,
very easy to convince one's self of the presence of iron in the diato-
macese in the following manner: Some distilled water having been
acidified by hydrochloric acid, a few drops of a solution of yellow
prussiate of potash is to be added, now, if only a minimum of a
diatom is put into this fluid, a girdle of prussian blue will instantly
be formed round about it, especially if the iron, as in the latter
case, is present as an oxyd.

^' The residue of the siliceous frustules, left after treatment with
acid, and which before that treatment had a brownish red appear-
ance, had changed color to a gray green, which became a little
lighter when dried. During the heating in the platinum spoon,
whereby the same smell of burning animal matter was produced, I
also remarked, that a cork wetted with hydrochloric acid, caused
over the fuming mass, stronger and thicker fumes, which no doubt
came from the formation of sal ammoniac* The ignited residue,
was, after the total burning of the organic matter, punky white, and
gave also with soda, before the blow-pipe, a tolerably white glass."

* Of the formation of ammoniacal gas during the heating of these bodies, one can be easily-
convinced when the operation is conducted in a test tube, and a wetted curcuma paper is held at
the opening, it will become brown by the escaping ammoniacal gas.

204 Siliceous Shelled BacillarecE or DiatomacecR. [Dec,

From these experiments, it follows:

1. '* That the soft internal substance of the diatoms contains
nitrogen (from which I at first drew conclusions that they were more
of an animal than a vegetable nature).

2. ''That the frustule [panzer) consists of pure silica.

3. " That the internal part, besides the soft organic constituents,
also contains iron in considerable quantity.

4. "That the color belongs only to the internal parts, and is
partly dependent upon the amount of iron present, but that the
frustule itself is colorless."

These investigations were sent by me to Herr Alex, von Hum-
boldt, for communication to the Royal Academy of Science at
Berlin, which commissioned Messrs. Rose and Ehrenberg to examine
my statements. It is known that both these scholars confirmed them,
but it is perhaps not known, that I expressed in vain the wish to
have the results of my investigations printed in Poggendorf 's Annals
of Physics and Chemistry ; all I obtained was, Ehrenberg furnished
a poor and short report of my researches, in which only the siliceous
frustules were mentioned, but nothing was said anywhere of the
simultaneous discovery of iron in the internal parts; therefore, I
was somewhat astqnished to see in Ehrenberg's large work on Infu-
sorise, p. 244, the iron of the 6^<a;///^/2<?//^ mentioned as his discovery,
while he does not even allude to the fact that I, in my essay sent to
the Berlin Academy, mentioned iron as a general constituent of the
diatoms. It is easy to believe here in a ^'■Turpinatey I myself,
however, am morally convinced that in reading my paper at that time,
Ehrenberg was much too busy with the siliceous frustules to pay
attention to the other theory mentioned in my communication, and
therefore, that when, several years later, he found the iron himself,
whereto he was led through his so-called Gallionella feruginnea, he
did not remember that I had proved the same in 1834. This
collision would at any rate have been avoided, if Poggendorf had
published my short article in the Annals of Physics and Chemistry,
for which it was quite adapted.

In the following year I began my journey to Delmatia, Italy, and
to Switzerland, on which occasion I became familiar with the diatoms
of the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas. The collections made on
this occasion were large ; but more important than their forms was
the observations of the organs of fructification in the Schizonematic
forms, which are quite analogous to those of the algae, and find no
analogue among animals. An excellent microscope by Schieck, of

iS73'] Siliceous Shelled BacillarecE or Diatomacece. 205

Berlin, enabled me to make accurate observations.* At the same
time I visited Carlsbad on my return, where already, in 1827, C.
Agardh had made a rich collection of diatomaceaB. This locality
was of the greatest importance for my researches, since, only a few
months before, I had examined the diatoms of the hot baths in
Abano, and Battaglia, in upper Italy, as well as those of Tenk, in
upper Wallis, as to the lower organisms. At the same time, I have
thankfully to acknowledge that during my presence at the above
mentioned baths in upper Italy, I was most liberally aided by my
friend. Dr. Biasoletto, in Trieste, who accompanied me there, and
Herr Professor Meneghini, at Padua, who received both of us in a
very friendly manner, and gave to me several algae from the Euga-
nean baths. I cannot less praise the friendly reception and assistance
I received from Herr Fischer, in Carlsbad, the same who after-
wards discovered the existence of diatomaceae as fossil at Franzens-
bad. In the year 1839, -^ niade a second journey to the sea-coast,
and remained a few weeks on the Oldenburg coast, and the islands
Wangerorge, Helgoland, and near Cuxhaven. This journey too was
very favorable to my studies, because it procured for me, in addition
to the treasures of the sea, the acquaintance of a man, who from
his excellent collection of algae, which, from its fullness, may be
called one of the first in Germany, with extreme kindness not only
gave to me many rare algae, of which mention has already been
made in my Phycologia Generalis, but left to me also for this work,
the use of his whole rich collection of diatomaceae ; I speak of
Herr Senator Dr. Binder, of Hamburg. With not less thankful
feeling I acknowledge the kindness of Herr Apotheker vSouder, in
Hamburg, whereby he, in sending to me the sediment of the sea
from the mouth of the Elbe, near Cuxhaven, gave me the opportu-
nity to become acquainted with the interesting diatoms of the chalk
described by Ehrenberg, which was the more agreeable to me inas-
much as a request I had made to Herr Ehrenberg (to whom I had
formerly imparted dried specimens of the forms described in my
Synopsis Diatomearum, and had also offered the diatoms collected
from the Adriatic and Mediterranean,) had not been noticed. In my
present undertaking I have also been aided by Herr Fischer, of
Pirkenhammer ; Dr. Philippi, of Cassel ; Prof. Phobus and Dr.
Gumprecht, by communication of fossil forms; also, from Dr.
Montague, of Paris, I have received several rare forms described by

* These observations were wrongly interpreted by KUtzing.

2o6 Siliceous Shelled Bacillarece or Diatomacece. [Dec,

him, from the open sea and the Antilles sea; also, Herr Berkeley,
of Kings Cliff, England, sent me many rare forms described by
Ralfs. Some New Holland forms were found in an earth lump
mixed with algae, which Herr Dr. Preiss, of Herzberg, had brought
with him attached to a Nautilus shell ; other forms I found on algae
in my collection, from the Indian Ocean, from the Cape of Good
Hope, from Corea, Japan, Kamtschatka, Peru, Chili, Jamaica, and
the Canary Islands. The beautiful Terpsinoe Musica, was, with
several other forms, found in the rude hairs of a Marchantia from
tropical America, in the collection of Herr Senator Binder ; it had
been discovered several years previously by Herr Lindenberg, and
by him given to Herr Binder, who had referred it to the diatoms.
At the same time I also found different, and in part, peculiar forms,
in the various collections of algae sent to me for naming by Burgo-
master Jiirgens, and Dr. Roch, in Jener, Chief Assessor Romer, in
Clausthal, Dr. Rabenhorst, in Dresden, and Major M. Flotow, of
Hirschberg. Now, when already, at the end of March, 1844,
twenty-nine plates were printed of this work, wherewith I had ex-
pected to close it, and also the greater part of the manuscript already
finished, I received, through Herr Apotheker Souder, of Hamburg,
a collection of diatoms which Herr Apotheker Kruger had collected
in the fresh waters of Trinidad, and at the same time the Herring's
collection of diatoms, which Herr Senator Binder had purchased,
were sent to me by this gentleman. Such unsolicited, rare kindness
rejoiced me the more when I found that the latter collection was
rich in those forms which Herr de Brebisson had described." All the
species were collected by Herr Lenormand, and prepared for the
collection with a neatness peculiar to him. The multitude of new
and authentic specimens which came before me by these communi-
cations induced me to engrave the plate xxx, in addition, and when
I had already finished a great part of the admitted figures, a con-
siderable package of dried diatomacese came from Herr Meneghini,
of Padua, which also furnished some new additional forms, part of
which could yet be embodied in the plate xxx. Lastly, I received,
during the printing of the manuscript, from Dr. Dickie, of Aber-
deen, a very peculiar sea form, from the coast of Scotland, of the
Navicula group ; it is described as Dickiea ulvacea.

( To be continued.^

Prof. H. L. Smith.

I873-]

On the Utility\of -^-^ Objectives.

207

ON THE UTILITY

OFi^TH

OBJECTIVES.

I BELIEVE that microscopists have quite generally doubted the useful-
ness of extremely high powers. In fact, a few months ago the published
work of the best -gJ-Q-th objectives then made was decidedly inferior to
that of yig-ths to yV^^^^ ^y ^^^ ^^^^ makers. Dr. Carpenter, in speaking
of high powers,, obtained either by the use of deep eye-pieces, or a
^^Q-th inch objective, says: "It is questionable whether anything
is really gained thereby." Dr. Beale, however, speaks favorably of
his -g^^th made in 1864. Dr. Woodward ''regards immersion iths
and tV^^^ °^ Powell and Lealand as superior in defining power to
the dry -^-^th.?, and -^ths of the same makers. ' ' Latterly, Powell and
Lealand have constructed at least one -^th on the immersion princi-
ple, but neither their -g^o-th nor their new -g^Q-th, as far as is known to
the public, has shown any decided advance. No work by them
superior, or perhaps equal, to the performance of a good jV^h to -^-^th
of any of the leading makers has been thus far reported.

On the 1 2th of March, 1873, Mr. R. B. ToUes filled my order
for a -gV^h immersion, of 150° angle of aperture or upward. As
invoiced by Stodder the angle is 155°, although Tolles got more.
Of the construction of this exquisite glass I know nothing, but of its
performance I can now speak with confidence. It is believed that
the success of this lens has demonstrated the utility, if not superi-
ority, of very high powers on the classes of work to which only they
are adapted.

In determining the resolving and defining power of the objective,
the ordinary test diatoms were used. The results, both by mono-
chromatic sunlight, (with ammon. cup. sulph. cell,) and the light
of a small lamp, are given in the following table :

TEST.

LAMP. MONOCHROMATIC SUNLIGHT.

Transverse
Lines.

Longitudinal
Lines.

Dots.

Amphipleura pellucida

Distinct.

Easy.

Not tried.

Easy.
Not tried.

Easy.

Distinct.

Easy.

((

Satisfactory.

Distinct.

Distinct

Frustulia Saxonica

Surirella ffcmma

Easy.

Pleurosigma fasciola

Navicula crassinervis

Distinct.

Grammatophora subtilissima..
Striatella unipunctata

With lamp it was easy to show the longitudinal lines and the dots
on Surirella gemma and Pleurosigma fasciola. The above tests

2o8 On the Utility of -^ Objectives. [Dec,

were mounted dry, with the exception of Grammatophora subtilissima,
which was in balsam. By lamp light the work is, of course, not as
good as with the blue light, but I do not notice any greater difference
than is made by other objectives.

I possess a good yV^ immersion, (really about yV^^') ^7 ^^^^ ^^
the most distinguished makers. This lens has kept fully up to the
latest published work of the '^ highest authorities." The superiority
of the -^th is at once manifest with any illumination, and on any
difficult test. I instituted a direct comparison on Fteurosigma fas-
ciola with lamp, simply changing the objectives and not altering the
illumination. Both were used under the same power, viz: 2500
times. With the ^th the object, both sets of lines, and the beads
were clearly and splendidly displayed, with plenty of light and to
spare ; making the strongest contrast with the want of light, general
obscurity and comparative poverty of performance of the y^-th.
There is no danger of making the contrast too strong in this report ;
no room for exaggeration.

The -^th has also been tested on the Podura and Lepisma scales
with pronounced excellence of definition. Many butterfly scales
have been tried, and readily and clearly resolved into the so-called
''beading."

I have entered somewhat into detail in describing these results, so
that others may be better able to compare the work of this lens with
their own. A glass of such high power must necessarily be unsuita-
ble for a delineation of the larger objects, and only well adapted to
a study of the smaller living organisms, and the minute details of
structure of larger objects generally. In this almost unexplored
field of research, very high amplification, combined with the very
highest order of defining power is required. In its definition of the
edges of Monads, Bacteria, the smallest vegetal germs, their
hyaline envelopes, and in tracing their internal changes, the ^^g-th
surpasses my expectations. When extraordinary care is used in
manipulation, its superiority is as unmistakable in this kind of work;
with ordinary daylight illumination, as it is with blue light, in the
resolution of difficult diatoms.

G. W. Morehouse.

Wayland, N. Y.

1 8 73-] O^ ^^^ Preparation of DiatomacecB, 209

ON THE PREPARATION OF DIATOMACE^.

The following paper is intended as a supplement to the very ex-
cellent article by Christopher Johnston, M. D., in a former num-
ber of this journal; under the above heading, and I know of no
better guide for the student. What I have to say relates to the rapid
preparation, from crude material, where this has been at all carefully
gathered, and to a mode of mounting, invariably on the cover of the
slide, not mentioned by Dr. Johnston, but which has some great ad-
vantages. The gatherings should not be dried, but kept moist, in
phials with a little creosote to prevent mould. I very much prefer
to examine whole frustules, with both valves adherent, or if filamen-
tous, still cohering. And I have many bottles of preparations for
mounting which are nearly as clean as though they had been treated
with acids. And many of the most interesting preparations which I
have were never boiled in acids. Of course, very much depends
upon the skill and carefulness of the gatherer, and a little patience
and judgment will enable any one to obtain the crude material tol-
erably pure. Only a few days ago I made a gathering of Nitzschice,
in which I have the frustules almost as free from foreign matter as
though they had passed through the most elaborate acid and chlorate
of potassa treatment.

Supposing, then, that one has before him a phial which will hold
a considerable quantity of water compared with the sediment in it,
the latter composed more or less of diatoms. We proceed thus, and
if it has stood for some days perfectly undisturbed so much the bet-
ter. The bottle is twirled rapidly, and the lighter material rising
up in the axis will soon diffuse itself throughout the water. Allow-
ing it to settle for two or three seconds, until to the eye the grosser
portions have just been deposited, all that remains floating is now
poured off into another phial, and it is from this stock that we are
to separate the diatoms and sand from the clay and organic matter.
The material poured into this second bottle is allowed to settle until
the water simply appears milky or cloudy; the time will vary accord-
ing to the minuteness of the diatoms, and can only be judged of from
experience, say one minute, when all that remains floating must be
poured off, and thrown away, unless there are very minute forms
which it may be desirable to separate. The phial is again to be

2 1 o On the Preparation of Diatomacece. [Dec . ,

filled with rain, or distilled, water, (hard or lime water should be
strictly eschewed,) and again shaken up. As soon as the heaviest
deposit touches bottom, the rest should be poured off into a third
phial, leaving say about one-fourth the amount behind in the second
phial. This third phial will now consist mainly of sand and dia-
toms, with lighter organic matter and pure clay; the last two can
be removed by elutriation ; for this purpose, fill the phial No. 3 with
water, and after well shaking allow it to settle two to five minutes,
pour off and throw away the slightly milky water, and repeat the
operation, allowing it to settle a somewhat longer time ; the opera-
tion may be repeated a third time, when particles, suspended after
an interval of eight or ten minutes, may be poured of. Often, after
the first settling of bottle No. 2, the diatoms will rise more pure in
the mass by twirling the bottle than by shaking it up. A little
practice and care will enable any one to separate certain diatoms,
according to size. I had a gathering of Pleusosigina Spencerii from
Scioto river, O., sent to me, but although it had been chlorated,
still when a mounting was made, not more than one or two frustules
would be in the field of view, the great mass being either smaller
forms, or fine fragments of silex ; by careful watching and testing
the time when the different sizes would remain suspended, I have
made from this k preparation, which will show hundreds where
before were scarcely any, and which would never be recognized as
the same gathering. Supposing now a trial shows us the diatoms
tolerably abundant, the trial being made by heating in the manner
presently to be described ; the phial is filled with alcohol and water,
half and half. Some samples of alcohol leave behind a scum after
evaporation, especially noticeable after burning in the mode pres-
ently to be described, and water which will leave crystals, or any
scum, must be avoided ; the beauty of the preparation will largely
depend upon being particular in this matter.

For mounting diatoms I invariably place a drop of the fluid con-
taining them upon the cover, never on the slide. The alcohol and
water will spread out on the slide, but will remain heaped up on the
round cover, like a plane convex lens. I prepare a little stand, rep-
resented in the accompanying wood cut, of quite fine wire (so as
not to conduct off too much heat) bent at right angles and in-
serted into a base ; the free end is bent into a ring, and upon this
ring is placed a square plate of very thin iron, (such as is used

1 8 73-] On the Preparation of DiatomacecE. 211

for the so-called ''tintypes" in photography, with
the Japan burned off/) held in place by bending the
corners of the square over the ring, loosely, to allow.
expansion, without bending when heated ; upon this ,
plate the cleaned cover is placed, and then by means
of a pipette, a drop of the alcoholic liquid with the
diatoms is placed upon it, and the spirit lamp applied
below. The alcohol takes fire and is allowed to burn out ; the flame
of the lamp is then placed beneath, and the rest gently boiled, the
remaining alcohol escaping during this ebullition causes the diatoms,
by this very act, to distribute themselves very evenly over the
cover, and, all matting is effectually prevented. It is better after one
perceives that this even distribution has taken place, not to push the
heat so as to make large bubbles again, but to slowly evavorate
until dry, after which the full power of the flame must be applied
until the iron plate and the glass cover is red hot ; at first the mass
of diatoms, &c., will become black, but as the organic contents and
debris burn away there will finally remain only the silex nearly white.
I invariably burn in this manner on the cover ; even the specimens
which have been prepared with acids, for the diatoms thus treated
when mounted appear much sharper and cleaner. The amount of
heat, if the diatoms are rigidly siliceous, as most of them are, may
be the full power of an ordinary alcohol flame continued for some
time, but if they are imperfectly siliceous, care must be exercised in
the burning.

I invariably use old balsam for mounting, just as bought from the
shops, especially if I wish to have a specimen which will bear imme-
diate handling, or be ready to be sent off soon as mounted. Allow-
ing then the cover to cool, while the slide is being cleaned to receive
it, I place a drop of the balsam, which must not be fluid, only vis-
cous, on the middle of the slide, and now with this pick up the cover
from the little stand where it has been heated. The diatoms will be
so fastened by the heating, that but few will flow out from under the
cover, if any, in the subsequent treatment. I now hold the slide
over the flame of the lamp (which should be much smaller than when
used for the burning.) until not only all under the cover is a mass of
small bubbles, but until very large bubbles, balsam steam, appear ;
the flame is removed soon as the bubbles are observed all running to
one edge. I press down the cover at this place by a mounted pin,

212 On the Preparation of Diatomacece. [Dec,

and start them in the opposite direction. This may seem unneces-
sary, but long experience shows that this is the better way to get rid
of them ; during this the slide is held somewhat obliquely, the cover
is kept from slipping by the pin, and if all the bubbles do not disap-
pear, then with a very small flame heat is applied just beneath the
obstinate ones, the slide being held slanting, f and that part
upwards where the bubbles are nearest the edge of the cover. The
description is longer than the actual process, and the slide when
cool is ready for immediate use. Perhaps I am wedded to old ways,
but after trial of fluid balsams, without heat, I have always come
back to the old way ; still, for selected diatoms, some of these prepa-
rations of balsam are good. If the diatoms are to be mounted dry,
always the best way, if for real study, I make a ring of the zinc
white in balsam, (sold by the opticians,) and which in a moment or
two is sufficiently hard to receive the coy tr , and never runs in ;
after standing an hour or two I give a finishing ring of same, or the
usual black varnish on the outside.

I think any one who will adopt the mode of mounting on the cover,
and subsequent heating, as above described, whatever may be the
rest of the procedure, will never consent to give up this part, since
it effects so even a distribution, and such destruction of residual
organic matter, and gives such increased brilliancy to the prepara-
tions ; sometimes, if the acid has not been thoroughly washed out
of acid treated specimens, snappy explosions will occur when the
alcoholic mixture is heated ; of course, the remedy is to pour off",
and replace with pure water and alcohol.

Prof. H. L. Smith.

Hobari College, Geneva, N. V.

1873-1 ^^^^ ^^^^ test for Objectives. 2t J

THE BEST TESTS EOR OBJECTIVES.

In submitting this paper for your consideration, I pray that so
much of the verbiage as prima facie may appear to be egotistical or
presumptive, may be treated with kindness, and not allowed to pre-
judice your minds until the whole paper has been read, discussed,
and calmly considered. A double apprenticeship to the study and
practice of the subject enables me to speak in terms so confident and
positive that I fear to give offense, even in the initiatory title, viz. :
— "The best, the most simple, and unerring tests for objectives."
In speaking of definition, in most instances I have adopted square
measure, but where practicable I have expressed my words in lineal
measure. To view distinctly the five-thousand millionth of an inch
is good definition. To view the same space with equal distinctness
all over the field is flatness of field. To view an object, and to find
it presenting an abnormal state, is distortion. I now propose to
treat the Definition and Flatness of Field together, and to submit
that there is no test so certain as a series of engravings on glass.
For my purpose I engrave a series of plates with letters measuring
from one two-hundred-thousandth of an inch to one two-hundred-
millionth of an inch. Each engraving is of the Lord's Prayer,
varying only in size, commencing about the thousandth of an inch,
which is at the rate of over a quarter of a million letters to the
inch, and progressively decreasing the size, the next of the series
being at the rate of a million letters to the inch, the next two mil-
lions, the next three, and the next four million letters to the inch.
Having reached this point, and finding the Old and New Testament
together consist of three million five hundred and sixty-six thousand
four hundred and eighty letters (for the convenience of a stand-
point), I say the lastly enumerated test is at the rate of one Bible to
the inch, and then engrave the next at the rate of another Bible to
the inch, and go on decreasing at the rate of a Bible to the inch,
down to fifteen Bibles, or, at the rate of fifty-three million four
hundred and ninety-seven thousand two hundred letters to the inch ;
but when it is remembered that the letters are written within two
parallel lines, with spaces above and below for long letters, and to
enable one line to be distinguishable from another, I most respect-
fully submit that, such letters as -^a," "e," "o," and "u,"
although averaged with all other letters, with the capitals, and

ii4 The Best Test for Objectives. [Dec,

including spaces, at the fifty-three milHon four hundred and nine-
ty-seven thousand two-hundredth of an inch, being actually written
within the lines, after allowing for the extra space occupied by capi-
tals, the spaces between words, and the space between one line of
writing and the next line, it may be taken that the "e" actually
occupies only one-fourth of the average, or, the two hundred and
thirteen million nine hundred and eighty-eight thousand eight
hundredth of an inch.

The measurement does not stop at this point, as there are other
steps to be traversed — one, as to the dot to an " i," I say nothing
now. As to the " e," it is self-evident that it is not a spot of black
of the previously estimated less than two hundred millionth of an
inch, but composed of a bent and twisted line across, and about
the two-hundred-millionth of an inch ; therefore, the thickness of
the line has to be considered, and, taking that at a lineal fifth of
the space, the two hundred and odd millionth would have to be
multiplied by twenty-five as the square of five, which would bring
the square of the line down to the five thousand three hundred and
forty-nine million seven hundred and twenty thousandth of an inch
— and do not stop there, for that five thousand millionth is itself
loaded in, and consists of abraded black atoms, grated in by the
cutting edge of the glass letter, which atoms can be seen in differ-
ent aggregations where the line has not been perfectly filled in, and
if at the rate of two atoms of black in the square of the line, the
five thousand millionth becomes the ten thousand millionth ; if at
the rate of twenty atoms of black, the size of the atom is the one
hundred thousand millionth of an inch.

I now come to the most important and, to my mind, the most
interesting part of the subject, which deals with the tests unblackened.
For this purpose I must go back to the square of the line forming
the letter, as the five thousand three hundred and forty-nine million
seven hundred and twenty thousandth of an inch, that reduced to
its square root, gives seventy-three thousand + of, an inch linear as
the breadth of the line. I mount the same series of slides in the
way that M. Nobert ] mounts his justly celebrated tests — without
black — and thus open up a wonderful means of study of the whole
subject, helping to afford the power of determining at what breadth
unblackened lines become invisible, even when aided by the micro-
scopes of the present day. In this instance the seventy-three
thousandth is an absolute line, unbroken by a next line.

1 873-] '^he Best, Test for Objectives. ii^

When viewing the black Hnes, ordinary direct illumination is
sufficient, but when examining the unblackened lines it becomes
necessary to adopt in its turn every available means of illumination,
because the cut, being wedge-shaped, each side of the cut, from
every part to its very apex, both refracts and reflects again and
again the light from the other. Again, the original upper and
lower surfaces of the glass refract and reflect the light backwards
and forwards ; again, the top light flows into the cut, helping to
produce the climax which blazes away the cut, as the light of the
sun overpowers or destroys the light of a candle. By testing by
blackened and by plain unblackened letters, it will be found at what
point the power of certain objectives ceases to be effective with
transparent objects. I can define the smallest Lord's Prayer when
blackened, that is, I can define a line of the seventy-three
thousandth of an inch, but have never been able to define the same
test unblackened. More than that, although I know the exact spot
that it occupies, and mark the spot with an India ink ring before
it leaves the machine in which it is engraved, I have never (perhaps
because of irritable temperament) been able to discover not merely
the line, but the aggregation of lines forming the two hundred and
twenty-seven letters of the very small tests, although they become
perfectly distinct when black.

It is not necessary to possess more than a short selection of my
tests to include general purposes, and in some particular cases a
single test will be sufficient.

I now pass to the remaining part of my subject, viz.. Distortion,
which I believe is not so well understood, simple as it is. For this
test I rule a slip of glass with fine black lines, and place it upon the
stage; I then rule a disc with black lines and drop it upon the dia-
phragm of the eye-piece. If the disc be not in focus I turn back
the screw of the eye-piece glass, or if this be not sufficient I shift
the diaphragm until I get my focus. I then bring the lines on the
stage into focus, and parallel with the eye-piece lines. If the objec-
tive shall be found to have the usual distortion, it will instantly be
seen that although the central stage line is straight and perfectly
parallel with, and covered from the top to the bottom of the field
by the central eye-piece line, yet the other stage lines bend their
ends in a curvilinear direction from the centre of the field. Upon
moving the stage, the line that appeared straight assumes the cir-

ii6 On" J^oberfs Tests:' [Dec,

cular form, and one of the bent lines gets into the centre and assumes
its straight appearance, and so on, at every motion of the stage.
Upon one occasion, working with a fifth, I was puzzled by a distor-
tion of a kind I could not understand, and a distortion I had never
before noticed. Upon resorting to my tests I found the lines bent
not from their centre, but straight and parallel through half the
lower part of the field, and through the upper three-quarters of the
field they spread out like the feathers in the crest of the Prince of
Wales. I then knew that the lens (perhaps by a blow or fall) had
become displaced, so as to destroy its parallelism.

William Webb.

Read be/ore the Quekett Club, Dec. 27, 1872.

ON '' NOBERTS TESTS: '

I MAY be forgiven if I state that astonishment and admiration upon
my first examination, under the guidance of the late Mr. Ross, the
agent of M. Nobert, and the kind assistance of Mr. Hewitt, of M.
Nobert's Tests, betrayed me into an impulsive expression of incred-
ibility and the cry, ** Can such things be? " Perhaps my mind was
as much impressed as that of any one, and, as a consequence, I
worked at the subject with all the ardour of my nature as exhaustively
as I was able. At the International Exhibition, 1862, despite the
vibration of the gallery in which philosophical instruments were
placed, and despite all the surrounding circumstances, I produced
about half a dozen coarse specimens after Mons. Nobert. I have
related the above bit of egotism simply that you may have a just
appreciation of my labour of love. A very short study of the sub-
ject produced opinions totally at variance with those of every gentle-
man who (as far as I know) had expressed himself upon the matter,
and that variation of opinion has never been altered, nor have I
ever since been in accord with any one gentleman upon the subject.
My first proceeding was to ask "What is a line?" My answer was
*'A line has length and breadth." If a white line be drawn upon
a black board [thus] it will be seen that the line is bounded by black
sides. To draw another line, the hand must be moved over or past
an intervening space of black [thus], so that there shall be a black

iS73-] ^^ ''Nobert's Tests''' 217

boundary to each side of the two lines. The moment that inter-
vening black space is annihilated by drawing a third white line, it
becomes self-evident that the three lines have coalesced, and only
present one line to the eye. About that I think there can be no
controversy.

Having arrived at the conclusion that a line must have a space on
each side of it before another line can be drawn, then arose the
question, '^ What is the space between Nobert's lines?" I think it
will not be very strong presumption to assume that every microscopist
present is familiar with Dr. Jackson's Stage Micrometers, having
lines including spaces of the one-thousandth of an inch, or with
foreign stage micrometers with hundredths of millimetres in which
the spaces are greatly in excess of the width of the lines, and the
lines, comparatively coarse, because they are wanted to be used with
low powers, with which, if the lines were very fine, they would be
invisible. Ten of the lines the thousandth of an inch apart would
approximately embrace the field of an eighth of an inch objective
with an a eye-piece, as in my specimen numbered i, to which I shall
have again to refer presently. Divide one of those spaces of the
one-thousandth of an inch by ten and spaces each of one-ten
thousandth of an inch are obtained, as in specimen numbered 2, and
this No. 2 is an analogue of Nobert's first band. To divide one of
the one-thousandths of an inch by twenty would give spaces the one
twenty-thousandth of an inch, as in specimen No. 3. To divide
one of the one twenty-thousandths of an inch by ten would give
lines each of one 200-thousandths of an inch, of which I have no
specimen ; and, at this point of the study, I diverge from the beaten
path and come to the conclusion that if it be possible to rule lines
with clearly defined spaces they can be crossed with similar lines, as
in specimen No. 4, where the one four-thousandths are crossed by
one four-thousandths, producing squares each one sixteen-millionth
of an inch, which would, I believe, enclose the largest human blood
corpuscle. In this way lines with spaces the one 200-thousandth of
an inch crossing each other would produce squares each the one
40,000-millionth of an inch, or, as the newspapers usually misstate,
such a number as the forty-billionth of an inch. I claim to have
some knowledge of large figures, as applied to this subject, but the
last one, as a ruled square, is beyond my credibility. With all due
deference to every gentleman who has studied the subject, I respect-

VoL. II. — No. 4. 14

2l8

On ^^ Nob erf s Tests.

[Dec,

fully suggest that beyond the first few bands of Nobert's Tests there
is not one containing a line properly so called. The difference of
opinion between gentlemen and myself is so great that I am tempted
to state as fully as I am able the reasons of my obstinate tenacity.
If it were possible by fluoric acid, or by other means, to procure
a division from side to side — that is to say, across the middle of the
bands of one of Nobert's Tests, the vertical section of the first band
would present this appearance —

No. 5.

\mmmmmMmmM§MmmmmMmm.

And this is all clear enough — the vertical section would test the
Test. Applying this vertical test to the fine bands, quite another
state of things will be found to exist. In this last specimen No. 5
has the surface untouched, except by each separate incision. I now
advisedly adopt the word incision, for the word line applies no more
to these diamond cuttings than it does to the Suez Canal. If the
incisions were to be filled with black lead or other opaque substance,
the surfaces would become palpable lines.

The first few l;)ands would present the same state of things, main-
taining the same clearly defined incisions, with intervening surface
spaces, the optical efi"ects of which I pass by for the present moment.
Upon proceeding beyond the first few bands, and arriving at the fine
bands, the vertical section would present the appearance of engraving

No. 6.

which is caused by the tool making contact thus, and moving

No. 6.

laterally a less distance than the extreme width of the incision,
almost entirely annihilating the one side of each of the extreme or
end incisions of the bands. Each end incision having unequal sides

1873.] On'' Noberfs Tests:' 219

is most easily proved by focussing for heighth and depth with a
moderately high power ; but, when I come to the intervening incisions,
the matter is complicated by other phenomena. To illustrate this
clearly I have prepared the grossly exaggerated specimen No. 8.
At this point of the investigation I cannot lay too much stress upon,
or too forcibly call attention to, the different appearances of speci-
mens Nos. I and 2, as compared with No. 8, upon shifting the focus.
With high powers the plane of observation does not include the
whole of the depth of the incisions at the same moment — in other
words it does not include at the same moment the surface of the glass
and the lowest part of the incisions at any one stage of the focussing.
The higher the power the less the depth of the plane of observation,
or, as is well understood by the expression, the less the penetration.
This likewise is easily proved by focussing downwards, and finding
the first appearance is that of the upper surface of the glass, with
clearly defined holes, which would seem to be continued through the
substance ; but, upon focussing a little lower, the upper surface is
entirely lost to view, and the apparent holes through the glass
become greyish black lines. Whence come these coloured lines?
The glass is comparatively white ! Why do not all the incisions
present this dark appearance at the same moment?

At some phases of the focussing of the fine bands one incision
will present two black lines. Whence come they? It is necessary to
understand something of this phenomenon before proceeding further
with the subject. Microscopists are well aware of the polariscopic
effects of colour, and of the fact of those colours being produced by
refraction, or the bending of the rays of light at particular angles so
as to produce only a portion of Fraunhofer's lines — the colour
depending upon the particular angle of refraction and the particular
portion of the solar spectrum brought under observation. To this
polarization of the light by the bending of the rays transmitted
through one beveled side of the incision, intersecting, commingling
with, and crossing the opposite rays, bent in an opposite direction
through the other beveled side of the incision is, very clearly, to my
mind, to be attributed these embarrassing black lines. Upon exam-
ining specimen No. 9 with the unaided eye, and by powerfully
reflected light at a particular angle, the whole of the solar spectrum
is brilliantly exhibited, but that is due to the combination of reflec-
tion and refraction, while if it be possible to absolutely cut off the

2 20 On '' Noberfs Tests:' [Dec,

top light, and to absolutely destroy the reflection of the top light
from Nobert's Test, the polarized refraction of the transmitted light
would still be present in the black lines. The phenomena of these
black lines become more involved by the fact of the different lengths
of the sides of the incisions in the fine bands, scarcely any one
incision having its two sides of equal length in a direction from its
lowest part to the apices of the ridge on each side of the incision.
I say apex because there is no other space dividing the incisions.
And these apices are of necessity irregular, because however rigid,
however perfect, however true may be the instrument, however
capable to a dead certainty may be the projection to the one 200-
thousandth of an inch, the very nature of the material worked upon,
with the two facts that the diamond has beveled sides and the incision
has beveled sides also, create a tendency to elasticity in the machin-
ery and materials, and as an inevitable result the inequality of the
ridges, which can only be revealed by this or some analogous test.
A little familiarity with the phenomena of the black lines prepares
one to consider what must be the effect of the refracted ray from
the long unbroken side of the outside cut crossing not only the
refracted ray from the short side of the cut, but over the first apex
and across the two rays from the two sides of the next incision.
This complication of the phenomena has produced such a confusion
of aerial polarised black lines of light as to embarrass the minds of
some gentlemen, and driven them to resort to a declaration of
"spectral lines" without giving the slightest hint of their source,
and, apparently, wholly unconscious of the remarkable fact that the
so-called spectral lines can never interfere with the examination of
the incisions, if they were all equal in depth, inasmuch as the depth
of the equal incisions and the spectral lines can never with high
powers be in focus at the same time as in the equal incisions of the
coarse bands where no one of the separate appearances, whether of
apparent hole through the substance, or of black line, or of depth,
are visible under high powers at the same moment as any one of the
other appearances. I am not aware that the expression "spectral
lines ' ' has ever been applied to the coarser bands, which may
possibly arise from the fact of the operator failing to recognise the
dark beauties when arrayed exactly alike and with naught else than
their own aerial presence visible at the same time. The production
of the irregular polarised black lines I respectfully suggest is an

i873-] On " Noberfs Tests.'' 221

incontrovertible proof that the diagram numbered 6, with its incisions
having unequal sides, and its ridges of unequal heighth, is a correct
representation of a vertical section of the fine bands, and the fact
of Mr. Slack, after patient skilled labour, despairing of being able to
obtain a definition of colloid silica because of this refraction of light,
is strongly confirmatory of the accuracy of my views.

After much thought, I have come to the following conclusions,
which I now submit, not as absolutely correct, but for the purpose
of assisting other students in arriving at their own conclusions. For
what they may be worth, I respectfully submit the following —

That a micrometer with lines the one 200-thousandth of an inch
apart ruled on glass is an absolute impossibility.

That if it be possible to rule lines them.selves of the width of the
one 200-thousandth of an inch, to make them definable, there must
be a clearly defined line between them, and

A clearly defined line in the same plane of observation.

That beyond the first few coarse bands of M. Nobert's Tests,
there is not, properly so called, a single line.

That in the finest bands, except at their extreme sides, there is
not half a line.

That in the finest bands the only thing certain, except the edges,
is the uncertain polarised aerial lines.

That the microscopical world has been pursuing a phantom, and
adopting a fallacy.

That polarisation of light in the examination of these and analo-
gous tests is a deceitful servant of the microscopist.

That oblique illumination is another deceiver.

That if M. Nobert were to attempt to fill his incisions with black,
his finest bands would be merged each into one black line of the
breadth of each particular band.

That a test must be a known thing which some powers will either
disperse or fail to define, as in the case of a spectacle vendor, who
places before an intending purchaser's eyes, words printed in types
of different sorts as a known test of visual powers.

That there are no tests so reliable as plain opaque lines.

That of plain opaque lines, there are none so reliable as a known
measured congeries of contorted lines, as in microscopic writings,
where the transmitted rays are partially shut off by the black, and
in which the rays transmitted being transmitted by direct illumina-

22 2 Nob erf s Tests and Mr. Webb. [Dec,

tion, their definition is not interfered with, such rays becoming
parallel rays, passing out at right angles with the surface of the glass,
the unalterable law of natural optics being that the angle of inci-
dence and the angle of reflection are equal.

William Webb,

Quekett yournal.

NOBERT'S TESTS AND MR. WEBB.

As I always read the Journal of the Quekett Club with interest,
my attention was at once arrested by the communication of Mr.
William Webb "On Nobert's Tests," in the July number, in which
he arrives at the conclusion "That beyond the first few bands of
Nobert's Tests there is not one containing a line properly so called."
The mechanical considerations urged by Mr. Webb I will not discuss
further than to say that he appears to have overlooked completely
one of the most striking facts with regard to Nobert's plates, viz. :
That the lines of* the first band are not only further apart, but are
more deeply ruled than those of the second ; that those of the third
are still shallower, and so on progressively. This circumstance, it
appears to me, destroys his whole argument.

I do not, however, write to discuss Mr. Webb's argument, but to
remind the members of the Club that there is a physical reason which
compels us to believe that the first fifteen bands, at least, of the
nineteen-band plate are composed of real and distinct lines, and that
the distance of these lines apart must approximate very closely to
what was intended by Nobert.

When the bands of the Nobert's plate are illuminated by oblique
light, and are looked at from above with a low power, (too low to
show any of the linesj, each band appears as a smooth coloured
stripe. From the known wave length of the colour seen, and the
angle of the incident pencil, the distance which the lines of any
band must actually be apart can be computed by the well-known
formula for the spectrum of gratings enunciated by Fraunhofer,
and the distance thus obtained agrees with that at which Nobert
ruled the lines. On the other hand the angle of the incident pencil

1 873-] Noberf s Tests and M?-. Webb. 223

being known, [and Nobert's given distance being assumed to be true,
a table of wave lengths for the different colours may be calculated,
and the wave lengths thus deduced agree substantially with those
computed by other means. Nobert has discussed the whole subject
in two elaborate papers in the 58th volume of Poggendorff'' s Annalen
(1852), to which I would refer any who are interested in the mathe-
matical aspects of the question. His discussion leaves, as I think,
no room for the possibility of a doubt of the objective reality of the
lines up to the fifteenth band.

Now I call attention to the fact that this reason is altogether inde-
pendent of our ability to resolve the lines with the microscope. In
fact, it enabled Nobert to know that his plates were correctly ruled
long before the resolution of any but the coarsest bands had been
effected by anyone; so that all that Mr. Webb's paper proves is that
he does not know how Nobert produces the results, and that notwith-
standing his great skill in writing on glass, he cannot do the same
thing himself.

As no spectral colour is obtained in the bands finer than the
fifteenth, the formula of Fraunhofer cannot be applied to them. In
fact, the formula demonstrates that if these bands are actually ruled,
as claimed, they can give no spectral colour. For my own part,
however, I have no hesitation in expressing the opinion that the four
higher bands (i6th, 17th, 18th, and 19th) have also an objective
reality. I base this opinion upon the comparison of their optical
appearances as seen with the best glasses with the appearances of the
lower bands (especially those from the 9th to the 15th). These
appearances are quite the same in both cases, and as similar results
follow similar causes, I infer the existence of real lines in the four
higher bands, since I know beyond the possibility of a doubt that
they exist in the others. I have discussed the appearances referred
to, and the whole matter of the spurious lines which are observed
under certain circumstances in connection with the true lines, or
instead of them, in the Monthly Microscopical Journal for May,
1871.- Mr. Webb imagines the real lines also to be spurious, speaks
of them as ''aerial polarized black lines of light" (whatever that
may mean), and talks generally of the part he supposes polarized
light to play in the production of the phenomena, in a way which
shows his optical notions to be original rather than sound. It is
hardly worth while to discuss this part of his paper.

2 24 The Spectrum of Chlorophyll. [Dec,

I may mention here, as a matter of interest, that I have recently
examined two new Test-plates by Nobert — the first ruled for Professor
Barnard, of Columbia College; the second for the Army Medical
Museum — in which the maker has attempted to rule lines twice as
fine as those of the nineteenth band. These plates have twenty
bands. The first ten correspond respectively to the ist, 3rd, 5th,
7th, 9th, nth, 13th, 17th, and 19th of the old plate. The lines in
the second group of ten bands purport to be ruled at the following
distances apart: — The nth band yy^-q of a Paris line, the 12th
band Y2000? ^'^^ ^° ^^ ^P ^^ ^^^ 2o\\\ band, lines of which are said
to be 20000 o^ ^ Paris line apart. As I have not yet been able to
resolve any of these new bands I will not at present express an opinion
as to whether Nobert has actually succeeded in ruling them as
attempted.

Finally, I would say that my attention having been directed to
the accounts of Mr. Webb's fine writing on glass, which appears to
be almost as marvellous in its way as Nobert' s work in its, I have
written to Mr. Webb requesting him to prepare a specimen for the
Museum. I anticipate both pleasure and instruction from its exami-
nation, and have no doubt that I shall find as much to admire in his
work as I do to condemn in his arguments.

J. J. Woodward,

U. S. Army.
Quekett Journal, October.

Note on the Spectrum of Chlorophyll. — M. Chautard {Comp-
tes Rendiis,) after specifying the changes produced in chlorophyll by
light, makes reference to the persistence of green matter in certain
plants late in the autumn season, which he considers due to the
presence of fatty and resinous matters. He finds that a solution of
chlorophyll in fixed oils (oil of belladonna, e.g.) is not sensibly
altered after several days' exposure in full sunlight. The most
luminous spectral rays are the most active in changing chlorophyll
solution ; and rays which have already traversed a layer of chloro-
phyll have no effect on a second layer, so long as the first is not
discoloured.

1 8 73'] On Webb' s Test, and other Writing on Glass. 225

ON WEBB'S TEST, AND OTHER FINE WRITING

ON GLASS.

The Army Medical Museum has just received from William
Webb, of London, _^two samples of his fine writing on glass, intended
to serve as test-objects for high-power objectives. In each the writ-
ing is on the under surface of a thin glass cover, mounted on an
ordinary glass slide, three inches long by one wide, and the slides
are in every respect duplicates, except that in one the writing has
been blackened, and the cover cemented to the slide by Canada
balsam, while in the other the writing is not blackened, and the
cover is merely secured by a ring of cement, so that a stratum of air
intervenes between the writing and the slide.

The inscription on both covers is identical, and is arranged as
follows :

Written with a Diamond, by Wm. Webb,

London, England.

To the order of Dr. J. y. Woodward.

Our Father which art in
heaven hallowed be Thy
name Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven Give us
this day our daily bread and
forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive them that trespass
against us and lead us not
into temptation but deliver
us from evil Amen.

For the Army Medical Museum,
Washington, D. C.

Both glass slides are labelled with the following words, boldly
written with a diamond, so as to be quite legible to the naked eye :

" Webb's Test — The Lord's Prayer. 227 letters in the -^^ X
4^Y of an inch, or the x-2 g^Jg" sT ^^ ^ square inch, and at the rate of
29,431,458 letters to an inch, which is more than 8 Bibles, the
Bible containing 3,566,480 letters."

These slides were prepared by Mr. Webb in response to a letter
I addressed to him, August 18, 1873, ^^ which I requested him to
^'prepare for the Museum such a specimen of your fine writing as
you may regard best calculated to exhibit your skill in this direc-
tion." The price paid for the two was twenty pounds sterling.

On measuring the writing I find that the whole inscription, on
each cover, occupies a square, with a side of Jg-th of an inch. The

2 26 On Webb's Test, and other Writing on Glass. [Dec,

Prayer, which is in much finer writing than the rest of the inscrip-
tion, occupies a somewhat irregular parallelogram ; not only no
two lines are of the same length, but the commencing letters of the
several lines are not exactly one above the other, so that a line
drawn through them describes a slight, somewhat irregular curve.
In measuring this parallelogram I took the length of the several
lines, and found the mean to be '^zV'^ ten-thousandths of an inch ;
from the top of the capital letters of the first line to the bottom of
the last line, I made 22^ ten-thousandths of an inch. The meas-
urements were made with an eighth, the draw-tube being so adjusted
that each division of a glass eye-piece micrometer, ruled to two
hundred and fiftieths of an inch, represented the twenty-thousandth
part of an inch. The readings were 67 divisions in one direction,
45 in the other. The result corresponds very closely with Mr.
Webb's inscription, but is a trifle smaller in each direction, for
-g-i-^th of an inch = .003402^^-f-, and ^^Y^hof an inch =: .002267^^4- •

Examined with a suitable objective the writing is perfectly legible,
but as might be anticipated has a crowded appearance, the space
between the lines being less than the height of the letters, and not
exactly the same between any two lines, and the distance between
the words being p^roportionally less than is usual in ordinary writing.
It may also be remarked that the t's are of the form which does not
require to be crossed; that the h's, I's, and b's are without loops;
that the i's are not dotted, and that there are no punctuation marks.

I could not avoid being struck with the extreme similarity between
the chirography of the prayer on the blackened balsam-mounted,
and the unblackened dry slide,* not merely in the dimensions of
the writing, the number of words in each line, and the chamcter-
istic peculiarities of form of each letter, but in the relative distances
between corresponding lines and words, and in all the irregularities
of arrangement — the one plate is the fac-simile of the other; and
I cannot even say that I found the one. in which the writing was
blackened easier to read than the one in which it was not. I found,
indeed, no difficulty in reading either with a half-inch objective,
though, of course, higher powers were useful, and indeed were nec-
essary to enable me to form an opinion of the character of the
mark made by the writing diamond.

*This similarity would readily be attainable for an indefinite number of slides, by such
machines as are used for microscopic writing.

1 873-1 ^^ Welyb' s Test, avd other Writing on Glass. 227

The glass covers on which the writing was inscribed were, how-
ever, too thick for the advantageous use of the highest powers. For
example, the immersion y^g^th, of Powell & Lealand, would not
work through either.

I may also mention, as of interest to any one who may feel tempted
to order similar slides, that both those received at the Museum came
to hand broken, in consequence of the imperfect manner in which
they were packed. The fractures, fortunately, however, did not
involve the covers, so that the writing remained uninjured, notwith-
standing the misfortune.

My attention had been particularly directed to Mr. Webb's fine
writing, by a paper of his on "Nobert's Tests,"* published in the
Jour?ial of the Quekett Microscopical Club, for Jiily, 1873, i^
which he undertook to deny that the lines in any but the coarsest
bands of Nobert's plates have any real existence; attempted to show
that it was mechanically impossible, that lines so close as Nobert
affirms the lines in his finer bands to be, could be ruled by a dia-
mond; and accounted for the lines actually seen in these bands with
high powers, by attributing them to the polarization of light ! ! !
The paper concluded by claiming "That there are no tests so
reliable as plain, opaque lines," and ''that of plain, opaque lines,
there are none so reliable as a known measured congeries of con-
torted lihes, as in microscopic writings."

After reading this paper, I felt it my duty to address to the
Quekett Club a communication, f which will be found in the October
Number of their Journal, in which I briefly called attention to the
physical considerations which enable us to know certainly, and even
without examining them with the higher powers of the microscope,
that the bands ruled by Nobert, as far, at least, as the fifteenth band
of the nineteen-band plate are composed of actual lines, at a dis-
tance apart which must approximate very closely to that assigned,
and referred to Nobert's papers, in the 58th volume oi Poggendorff' s
Annalen (1852), in which the mathematical aspects of the question
are satisfactorily discussed. I further stated that although these physi-
cal conditions are not applicable to the highest four bands, (since
they display no color when obliquely illuminated,) yet the optical
appearances of these bands, when studied with objectives of adequate

* Page 216, ante, et seq. f Page 222, ante, et seq.

2 28 On Webb's Test, and other Writing on Glass. [Dec,

power, are so similar to those of the lower ones, that it seems
unreasonable to doubt that they also are ruled as stated by Nobert.

Mr. Webb's paper also induced me to address to him the request
for a sample of his finest writing, in response to which I received
the slides above described. I will institute no comparison between
these slides and the rulings of Nobert, as works of art, the two
being so very different, and each being marvellous in its way. But
I cannot admit that Mr. Webb's writing has any such value as a
test-object, as is possessed by Nobert' s plates. The work of the
diamond in Mr. Webb's writing corresponds in coarseness very
nearly to the rulings in the third band of Nobert' s plate, a conclu-
sion I have arrived at after careful study with the highest powers I
could employ on the writing, and after making photographs of the
writing and of the lower bands of the plate with the same power,
I find that the writing is legible with objectives which will only
imperfectly resolve the ninth band of the plate, and will not show
the lines in any of the finer bands. Of course it can be used as a
test-object for medium powers, but it can be satisfactorily displayed
by objectives which cannot be made to show the striae on Amphi-
pleura pellucida or Frustulia Saxonica, which will not show Pleuro-
sigma angulatmn in beads, or even give a distinctly beaded
appearance in Pleurosigma for?nosum.

Mr. Webb tells us in his paper that he has in vain endeavored to
produce ruling on glass, as fine as even the medium bands of Nobert's
plate. An examination of his writing will, I think, explain the
reason why. The diamond point with which he writes, pressed into
the glass as he uses it, would hardly produce separate lines as fine as
the fifth band of the plate. Nobert must use very different points,
and handle them very differently, indeed.

Mr. Webb has had several distinguished predecessors in the art of
executing microscopic writing on glass. The first of these, so far
as I have been able to ascertain, was Froment of Paris, of whom
Lardner tells us in his little book on the microscope *, that on the
occasion of the Great Exhibition in 185 1, he engraved on glass, in a
circle the ^^o^th of an inch in diameter, the Coat of Arms of Eng-
land— lion, unicorn and crown, — with the following inscription,
partly in Roman letters, partly in script: ^^ Honi soit qui mal y

*The Microscope, by Dionysius Lardner, London, 1856.

1^73-] ^^ Webd^s Test, and other Writing on Glass. 229

pense, Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria, and His Royal
Highness Prince Albert, Dieu et mon droit. Written on occasion
of the Great Exhibition, by Froment, a Paris, 185 1." Lardner
gives a wood cut, representing this piece of engraving as seen with
120 diameters, and also a cut representing a less complicated sub-
ject, engraved by the same artist for himself; but says that he is
not at liberty to explain the details of the method by which the
results were produced.

The microscopic writing and engraving of Froment attracted the
attention of Mr. N. Peters, a banker of London, who thereupon
devised a machine, with which he produced writing still more
minute. Mr. R. J. Farrants read before the Microscopical Society
of London, April 25, 1855, an account of this machine, from which
I quote the following: '^The result is a machine capable of exe-
cuting and recording movements of almost incojiceivable minuteness.
With it, in its present condition, Mr. Peters has written the ' Lord's
Prayer,' (in the ordinary writing character, without abbreviation or
contraction of any kind,) in a space not exceeding the one hundred
and fifty-thousandth of a square inch. There are, in this specimen,
six lines of writing; the length of the sides of a parallelogram, to
include the whole, would be ^io^^^ ^^^^ 6"io"^^ ^^ ^^ inch, linear."

I refer the curious reader to Mr. Farrants' lucid description of
the Peters' machine, which is illustrated by several wood cuts.* As
first devised it consisted essentially of a single, tolerably heavy,
lever, suspended vertically; the lower or long arm of the lever
being connected by suitable devices with a pen or pencil, while the
upper short arm bore the diamond point, with which the fine writing
was to be executed. Any motion of the lower pencil would be
repeated in the opposite direction by the diamond point, in a scale
diminished as many diameters as the one arm of the lever was
shorter than the other. Mr. Peters subsequently improved his
machine, by substituting for the simple lever a compound one, by
the various adjustments of which, a range of diminutions from no
to 6,250 diameters, could be attained at pleasure.

In February, 1862, Mr. Farrants, as President of the Microscopi-
cal Society,f again alluded in some detail to the Peters' machine,
stating that since he had read his paper in 1855, some further

*Transactions Microscopical Society, London, Vol. Ill, 1855, p. 55. \ Ibid. Vol. X, 1862, p. 69.

230 On Webb'' s Test, and other Writing on Glass. [Dec,

improvements had been made, the chief of which was that the dia-
mond point was now stationary, while the glass to be written on was
moved by the levers. As a result of these improvements still finer
writing had been executed., of which Mr. Farrants gives the follow-
ing account :

"The Lord's Prayer, too, has been written, and may be read in
-g-g^^-g-g-g-th of an English square inch. The measurements of one
of these specimens were verified by Dr. Bowerbank, with a differ-
ence of not more than one five-millionth of an inch, and that
difference, small as it is, arose from his not including the prolonga-
tion of the letter 'f in the sentence ^Deliver us from evil,' so that
he made the area occupied by the writing less than that stated
above. Some idea of the minuteness of the characters in these
specimens may be obtained from the statement that the whole Bible
and Testament, in writing of the same size, might be placed twenty-
two times on the surface of a square inch. The grounds for this
startling assertion are as follows : The Bible and Testament together,
in the English language, are said to contain, 3,566,480 letters. The
number of letters in the Lord's Prayer, as written, ending with the
sentence, 'Deliver us from evil,' is 223,''' whence as ^'^|-|-'^^^ =
15,992, it appears that the Bible and Testament together contain
the same number of letters as the Lord's Prayer written 16,000
times; if, then, the prayer was written in Yg-.^-oo-tb of an inch, the
Bible and Testament, in writing of the. same size, would be con-
tained by one square inch ; but as 35-6 /(7o"o"^^^ °^ ^^ ^^^^ is ^^^^ t\i2in
the "2^^ part of ish^i:^ ^^ ^^ inch, it follows that the Bible and
Testament, in writing of that size, would occupy less space than
-gVd of ^ square inch ; in other words, the writing is so small that
in similar characters, the Bible and Testament together could be
written twenty-two times in the space of one English square inch."

If these statements of Mr. Farrants are accurate, and I know at
present of no reason for thinking the contrary, the writing by Mr.
Peters was several times finer than that of Mr. Webb. I hope at
some future time to be able to see a sample of his work, which I
should examine with much interest, being especially desirous of
observing how it compares with that of Mr. Webb, as to the quali-
ties of neatness and beauty, as well as in minuteness.

*Mr. Webb includes the word "Amen," four letters, hence makes 227 letters in the Prayer.

1^73-] ^^ Webb'' s Test, and other Writing on Glass. 231

I note in Dr. Barnard's report* of the Paris exposition of 1867,
that Mr. E. Hardy, of Paris, exhibited there a machine for execut-
ing fine writing on glass, but exact data as to its performance are
not given in the report. It is spoken of, however, as less perfect
than the Peters' machine, Mr. Farrants' description of the per-
formance of which is quoted.

I ought not to close this paper without referring to the micro-
ruling on glass and steel of Mr. John F. Stanistreet, of Liverpool,
an interesting account of which will be found in a paper by Mr.
Henry J. Slack, in the Monthly Microscopical Journal for
September, 1871. In December, 1871, the same journal published
a drawing and description of the machine, by Mr. Stanistreet, him-
self, who concludes his article as follows: " The machine is con-
structed for ruling lines from x,-^o"o"^^ ^^ ^^ T"o,Vo"o"^^ °f ^^^ vaoh
apart, and I have added to it the means of further subdivision to
the xo'o'^o'To^^ ^f ^^ \Vi.Q\\ ; but I have not yet been able to procure
any diamond fine enough for ruling distinctly more than about
5,000 lines per inch."

It is indeed, in this matter of the point for ruling, that those who

have attempted to imitate the Nobert's plate have broken down.

The Peters' machine, according to Mr. Farrants, could have ruled

lines as fine as those of Nobert, if a suitable diamond point could

have been obtained. How Nobert produces such diamond points as

he must use, if, indeed, his points are diamonds, he has never

told, but still keeps his whole method secret. It is to be hoped

that when his useful career comes to an end, this ingenious mechanic

and optician, will not allow the secret to perish with him, but will

select his own time and method of communicating it to the

scientific world.

J. J. Woodward^

Washington. Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army.

*Paris Universal Exposition, 1867. Reports of the United States Commissioners. Machinery
and Processes of the Industrial Arts, and Apparatus of the Exact Sciences, by F. A. P. Barnard,
LL. D., Washington, Government Printing Otiice, 1869.

232 The Diatomacece. of the Baltic Sea. [Dec,

TUB DIATOMACE^ IN THE SOUNDINGS OF THE

EXPEDITION FOR THE EXPLORATION

OF THE BALTIC.

The various species of Diatomacese noted in this paper were found
in the soundings made by the Expedition for the Exploration of the
Baltic Sea, by His Majesty's Steam Corvette ''Pommerania," in
the Summer of 1871. The soundings were studied by Mr. J. H. L.
Flogel, and the present paper is a translation of a portion of his
notes, which were published at Kiel, the past Summer.

The soundings, shortly after being taken, were placed in alcohol.
In most cases the specimens appear to have been already lifeless
when gathered ; the protoplasm was decomposed ; the frustules were
frequently parted, and the mucous sheaths and pedicles were very
generally unrecognizable. It has, therefore, been impossible to
identify with certainty some of the forms found.

The greater portion of the soundings contained no Diatomaceae.
Only one of the gatherings from the Kattegat was very rich. This was
taken from the east coast of Jutland, near Laesoe island. The
soundings from the harbor of Arendal were also very prolific. In
the others we find only isolated shells, of but few species.

It is worthy of note that some of the commonest species {Ach-
nanthes, Synedra, Melosira, ^c.'), which grow parasitic upon the
larger algse in the Baltic harbors, are either very sparsely repre-
sented in the soundings, or are not found there at all. There must
here exist conditions, yet unexplained, which regulate the depths
reached by these forms. Indeed, as respects animal life, Hackel
(yBiologische Studien, S. 93,) has already called attention to the fact
that animals peculiar to deep water are never found in silt.

On the other hand, it is very remarkable, that numerous rare
forms are found in the Kattegat soundings, which, so far as known,
have hitherto only been noted on the west coast of Scotland. This
is probably due to the arm of the Gulf Stream which, passing
through the Kattegat, transfers these forms to the place where they

Note. — The classification adopted in this paper by the translator, is that of Prof. H. L. Smith.
In the original the classification of Grunow is followed. All the figures on the plate have a magni-
fication of 970 to 1000 linear.

!-■ r

ENS, Dec. 187 3.

Plaie IV

//■■

[hi:

!!»'

// 3

!/■■

111

;ij!

;a 3

i ir

.^'

H ii

■\\

II i!/

"^^^

1 i /

\W^ ii!

■;i; jil

.• f. i f

7/ \\

li ii

// \l

V.'"

From Soup.dinas in file. Baltic Sea.

1873.] 'T^^ Diatomacece of the Baltic Sea. 233

are found. Some of these rare forms {Amphorce,) have been
noted in the waters of Spitzbergen. {Vide Cleve, Diatomaceer fran
Spetsbergen, 1867.)

Examples of each species herein noted have been mounted in
balsam, and properly catalogued, so that if any errors in identifica-
tion have been made they may be corrected hereafter.

Family I. CYMBELLE^. H. L. S.

Gen. I. Amphora. Ehr.

a. Nodulis transverse elongatis, non rotundatis.

1. A. Icevissima. Gregory, Diat. Clyde, f. 72; Rabenhorst, Flora

Algarum, S. 87.
Knarrhoi, (on the coast of Jutland, near Laesoe island.)

2. A. Icevis. Greg. D. C., f. 74.
Knarrhoi.

2. A. acuta. Greg. D. C., f. 93.
Arendal harbor.

4. A. Mans n. sp. {ad interim.)

A. elliptica, apicibus truncata, valvis angustis, utroque polo acu-
minatis et illic hiantibus, medio leviter constrictis, nodulo trans-
verse percurso, striis inconspicuis, latere dorsali laevi (non
logitudinaliter) lineato. Length, 45 }x. Breadth, 15 yw.

Knarrhoi. (PI. iv, f. i, a, venter) b, dorsum.)

5. A. parallela, n. sp. {ad int.)

Mediocris, rectangularis, polls truncatis; valvis subplanis ; nodulis
centralibus transversis longe distantibus, brevissimis; striis in-
distinctis; latere dorsali longitudinaliter lineato. Length, 45 to
53 /i. Breadth, 16 to 22 /<.

Knarrhoi. (PL iv, f. 2, a. b. c.)

6. A. Nobilis {?). Greg. D. C., f. 87.

Resembles this diatom very closely, though varying somewhat from
Gregory's figure here cited. The valves are a little broader in
the middle ; the lines upon the ventral side are somewhat
curved, more resembling indeed A. Arcus. Length 57 yw.
Breadth 28 yu.

Knarrhoi. (PL iv, f. 3.)

Vol. II. — No. 4. 15

234 The DiatomacecB of the Baltic Sea. [Dec,

b. Nodulis rotundis.
a. Apicibus rostratro-porrectis.

7. A. lineata, Greg. D. C, f. 70.
Knarrhoi.

8. A. granulata. Greg. D. C, f. 96.
Knarrhoi.

9. A. ventricosa. Greg. D. C., f. 68.
Knarrhoi.

/?. Apicibus non rostratis.

10. A. oblonga (?). Greg. D. C., f. 68.

A form which might well be referred to A. Proteus, except that I

do not find the characteristic striae of the dorsal side.
Knarrhoi.

11. A. Grevilliana. Greg. D. C, f. 89.
Knarrhoi.

12. A. proteus. Greg. D. C., f. 81.
Arendal harbor, scarce ; Knarrhoi, abundant.

Variety parvula. (PI. iv, f. 4.)

Knarrhoi. ^

13. A. sulcata. Br6b. Greg. D. C, f. 92.
Arendal harbor, 30 fathoms.

14. A. dubia. Greg. D. C., f. 76.
Knarrhoi.

15. A. crassa. Greg. D. C, f. 94.

A beautiful form which is also found at Spitsbergen {vide Cleve).
Distance of the punctse, 1.5 to 1.6 yu. In Gregory's figure these
are not accurately drawn. (PL iv, f. 5.)

Knarrhoi.

16. A. spectabilis. Greg. D. C., f. 80.
Knarrhoi.

17. A. arcus. Greg. D. C., f. ^'^.
Knarrhoi.

18. A. nana. Greg. D. C, f. 64.

Only 25 jji in length, and 10 yuin breadth. Striae, 0.65 yw. Might

easily be confounded with A. proteus, var. parvula, {ante.)
Knarrhoi. (PI. iv, f. 6.)

1 873-] The Diatomacece of the Baltic Sea. 235

19. A. angusta. Greg. D. C, f. 66.
Knarrhoi.

20. A. bacillaris (?). Greg. D. C, f. 100.

This form agrees well with Gregory's figure, but the striation is
much coarser, namely: 0.8 yU. Length, 43 yu; breadth, 13 yw.
Knarrhoi.

21. A. excisa (?). Greg. D. C., f. 86.
Knarrhoi, one specimen only. >

22. A. tenuis., n. sp. {ad int.)

Mediocris, elliptico-oblonga, polls truncatis; valvis convexiS,
ventre striato, nodulo rotundato, linea media parum curvata,
dorso longitudinaliter lineato. Length, 52 yu. Breadth, 16 /i.

Knarrhoi. (PL iv, f. 7.)

Gen. 11. Cymbella. H. L. S.

23. C. {cocconema) Boeckii(J). Ehr. K. B. T. 6, f. 5. S. B. D.
f. 233. ? Rab. F. A. S. ^2>'

The single specimen found seems properly to be referred to this
species. It agrees better with the figure of Kiitzing than that
of Smith. The striae, 1.46 yw (17 in .001" English), run regu-
larly at right angles to the length, leaving a free fine median
line in which there is no appearance of a nodule.

Skagen. no fathoms.

Family II. NAVICULE^. H. L. S.
Gen. I. Stauroneis. Ehr.

1. S. pulchella. W. S. B. D., f. 194.
Arendal, very abundant.

Gen. II. Navicula. Bory.

2. N. subtilis. Greg. D. C., f. 19.

Resembles P. subtilis^ Gregory D. C., loc. cit. I found only

one specimen.
Knarrhoi.

3. N. Lyra. Ehr. Greg. D. C., f. 13 and 14.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, abundant.

236 The Diatomacece of the Baltic Sea. [Dec,

4. N. forcipata. Grev. Rab. F. A. 178.
Arendal, one specimen.

5. N, Hennedyi. W. S. B. D. ji, p. 93.
Arendal, abundant.

6. N. Sandriana. Grun. Hedwigia, 1864, S. iii.
Arendal, one specimen.

7. N. Smithii. Breb. S. B. D., f. 152 a.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, very abundant.

8. ' N. fusca. Pritch.

Resembles N. Smithii y^x, /3. fusca. Greg. D. C, f. 15.
Arendal.

9. iV. sub orbicularis. Greg. D. C., f. 17. N. Smithii, variety sub-

orbicularis.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, abundant.

10. N. Liber. W. S. B. D., f. 133.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, not unfrequent.

n. N. elegans. W. S. B. D., f. 137.
Arendal.

12. N. palpebralis. Breb. S. B. D., f. 273.
Knarrhoi.

13. N. inconspicua. Greg. D. C., f. 3.
Knarrhoi, one specimen only.

14. N. quadrata. Greg. Rab. F. A. S. 201.
Arendal, Knarrhoi.

15. N. didyma. Ehr. Kiitz. Bac, T. 4, f. 7. S. B. D., f. 154a.
Besides the normal form, I noted one remarkably small specimen,

which was only 48 yu in length, and i8 // in width, with a stri-
ation of only 0.83 yw, (31 in .001"). One specimen {^see the
figure^ shows a remarkable malformation. One valve is strictly
normal, but in one half the other the punctse radiate from the
centre in peculiar curves.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, abundant. (PI. iv., f. 8.)

16. N. Bombus. Ehr. G. D. C, f. 12.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, scarce.

17. N. Pandura. Breb. Rab. F. A., S. 205 and 219.
Resembles Finnularia Pandura, Greg. D. C., f. 22.

1 873-] '^^^ Diatomacece of the Baltic Sea. 237

A magnificent form of which I found only one specimen.
Arendal.

18. N. bicuneata. Grun. Rab. F. A., S. 206.
Arendal.

19. N. {Pinmilaria) distans W. S. B. D., f. 169.
Arendal, very abundant.

20. N. (^Pinnularia) stauroptera {J). Grun.

Resembles Stauronis parva. Kiitz. Bac. T. 29, f. 23. I am
more in doubt as to the identity of this form because P. stau-
roptera is a fresh water diatom.

Knarrhoi, one specimen only.

Gen. III. Amphipleura. Kiitz.

21. A. sigmoidea. W. S. B. D., f. 128 b.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, not unfrequent.

Gen. IV. Pleurosigma. W. S.

22. P. fasciola. Ehr. S. B. D., f. 211.
Knarrhoi, abundant.

23. P. prolongatum. W. S. B. D., f. 212.
Knarrhoi, one specimen.

24. P, strigosum. W. S. B. D., f. 203.
Arendal, very abundant; Knarrhoi, not unfrequent.

25. P. naviculaceum (?). Breb. Rab. F. A., S. 233.

The same form which J. D. Moller publishes as P. naviculaceum^

but I am doubtful of its identity.
Arendal, Knarrhoi.

26. P. obscurum. W. S. B. D., f. 206.
Knarrhoi.

27. P. a7tgulatum. Quekett. S. B. D., f. 205.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, Skagen, abundant.

Gen. v. Amphiprora. Ehr.

28. A. vitrea. W. S. B. D., f. 270.
Knarrhoi.

29. A. alata. Ehr. K. B., T. 3. f. lxiii, S. B. D., f. 124.
Knarrhoi, abundant.

238 The Diatomacece of the Baltic Sea. [Dec,

Gen. VI. ScHizoNEMA. Agardh.

30. S. crucigerum. W. S. B. D., f. 354.
Knarrhoi.

Family III. GOMPHONEMEyE. H. L. S.

Gen. I. Rhoicosphenia. Grun.
1. R. curvata.
♦ Resembles Gomphonema curvatum. Kiitz. Bac. T. 8., f. i.
Knarrhoi, scarce.

Family IV. COCCONIDE^. H. L. S.
Gen. I. CoccoNEis. Ehr.

1. C. scutellum. Ehr. Kiitz. Bac, T. 5, f. vi, 3 and 6. S. B. D.,

f- 34.
Knarrhoi, abundant; not unfrequent in other localities.

2. C consociata. Kiitz. K. B., T. 5, f. viii, 6.
Arendal, abundant ; Knarrhoi, Skagen.

3. C. pygmcea. , Kiitz. K. B., T. 5, f. vi, 4.
Knarrhoi.

4. C. (?) danica. n. sp.

Major, elliptico-rhombea, apicibus acutis: Valva superior : — striis
latissimus, rectis, distantibus ; linea media recta lata, nodulo
centrali nuUo. Valva inferior : — striis multo tenuioribus, rec-
tis, circa nodulum vix radiantibus, linea media recta ut in supe-
riori ; nodulo centrali transverse dilatato.

Length 62 yU, breadth 26 yu. Striation of the upper valve, 1.6 yw,
of the lower 0.6 — 0.7 yu.

Knarrhoi. (PI. iv, f. 9.)

Family V. FRAGILARE^. H. L. S.

Gen. I. Epithemia. Breb.

1. E. Hyndmanii. W. S. B. D., f. i.
Knarrhoi, only.

Gen. II. Plagiogramma. Grev.

2. P. Gregorianum. Grev.

Resembles Denticula staurophora. Greg. D. C, f. 37.
Knarrhoi, quite abundant.

iS73-] The Diatomacece of the Baltic Sea. 239

Gen. III. DiMEREGRAMMA. Pritch.

3. £>. nanum. Pritch.

Resembles Denttcula nana. Greg. D. C, f. 34.

Found of all sizes and in numberless quantity, mixed with sand,

at Knarrhoi ; not unfrequent at Arendal.

Gen, IV. Raphoneis. H. L. S.

4. R. {^Doryphord) Amphiceros. Ehr. Kiitz. Bac, T. 5, f. 10 ; T.

21, f. 2 ; S. B. D., f. 224.
Arendal, 30 fathoms, scarce.

Gen. V. Synedra. Ehr.

5. S. parva. Kiitz. Bac. T. 15, f. 9.
Arendal, 30 fathoms.

6. S. crystallina. Kiitz. Bac. T. 16, f. i. S. B. D., f. 201.

Arendal.

7. S.fulgens. W. S. B. D., f. 103.
Licmophora fulgens. K. B., T. 13, f. 5.

Arendal.

8. S. affinis. Kiitz. Bac. T. 15, f. v and xi, and T. 24, f. i, 5.

S. B. D., f. 97.
Knarrhoi.

Family VL TABELLARIE^. H. L. S.

Gen. I. Grammatophora.

1. G. subtillissima. Schact. Rab. F. A., S.304.
Like G. Oceanica. Bailey.

Arendel, Knarrhoi, very abundant.

2. G. angulosa. Ehr. K. B., T. 30, f. 79.
Knarrhoi, unfrequent.

3. G. serpentina. Ralfs. K. B., T. 29, f. 82. S. B. D., f. 315.
Knarrhoi.

Gen. II. Rhabdonema. Kutz.

4. R. arcuatum. Lyng. K. B., T. 18, f. 6. S. B. D., f. 305.
Bornholm, Arendal, unfrequent.

5. R. minutum (?). Kiitz. K. B., T. 21, f. 11, 4. S. B. D., f. 306.

Arendal.

240 The Diatomaceoi of the Baltic Sea. [Dec,

Family VII. SURIRELLE^. H. L. S.

Gen. I. Tryblionella. W. S.

1. T. punctata. W. S. B. D., f. 261 and 76 a.
Knarrhoi.

2. T. constricta. Greg. . S. B. D., 11, p. 89.
Knarrhoi.

Gen. II. SuRiRELLA. H. L. S.

3. S. fastuosa. Ehr. K. B., T. 28, f. 19 a-d. S. B. D., f. dd.
Arendal, unfrequent ; Knarrhoi, abundant.

4. S. {^Campylodiscus parvulus) parvula W. S. B. D., f. 56.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, unfrequent.

Gen. III. NiTzscHiA. H. L. S.

5. N. constricta. (Klitz.) Pritch.

Synedra co?tstricta. Kiitz. Bac. T. 3, f. 70.
Nitzschia dicbia. W. S. B. D., f. 112.
Knarrhoi, scarce.

6. N. hyalina. Greg. D. C., f. 104.
Knarrhoi.

7. N. angularis. W. S. B. D., f. 117.
Knarrhoi.

8. N. scalaris (?). W. S. B. D., f. 115.
Synedra scalaris. Ehr.

Pritchardia scalaris. Rab. F. A., S. 162.
Knarrhoi.

9. N. paradoxa. H. L. S.

Bacillaria paradoxa. Gmel. S. B. D., f. 279.
Knarrhoi.

Family VIII. MELOSIREJE. H. L. S.

Gen. I. Melosira. Agardh.

1. M. numnmloides (?). Ag. Kiitz. B., T. 3, f. 3. S. B. D., f. 329.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, not unfrequent.

2. M. hormoides. H. L. S.

Podosira homoides. Mont. K. B., T. 29, f, 84. S. B. D., f. 327.
Arendal harbor, not unfrequent.

1 8 73-] '^^^^ Diatomacece of the Baltic Sea. 241

3. M. marina. H. L. S.

Paralia marina. Heiberg.

Resembles Orthosira marina. W. S. B. D., f. 338, and
Melosira sulcata. (Ehr.) K. B., T. 2, f. 7.

The most abundant of all the Diatomaceae in nearly all the sound-
ings. It appears to favor the deepest regions of the sea.

Southern Norway, in the channel, 367 fathoms deep, it is almost the
only diatom; Skagen, no fathoms; Ronehamn, 120 fathoms;
Bornholm, &c., &c.

Family IX. BIDDULPHIE^. Kutz.
Gen. I. BiDDULPHiA. H. L. S.

1. B. aurita. Lyngb. S. B. D., f. 319. K. B., T. 29, f. ?)Z.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, very abundant and of all sizes.

2. B. rhombus. Ehr. S. B. D., f. 320.

Zygoceras rhombus. K. B. T. 18, f. ix.
Arendal.

3. B. Baileyi. W. S. B. D., f. 322.
Arendal, Knarrhoi, not unfrequent.

4. B. striolatum. H. L. S.

Triceratium striolatum. Ehr. K. B. T. 18, f. 10.
Arendal.

Family X. EUPODISCEyE. H. L. S.

Gen. I. AuLiscus. Ehr.

1. A. sculptus. W. S. B. D., f. 42.

Arendal mud, not unfrequent; Knarrhoi, more abundant.

Gen. II. EupODiscus. Ehr.

2. E. radiatus (?). Bailey. S. B. D., f. 255,
Arendal, one specimen.

Family XI. HELIOPELTE^. H. L. S.

Gen. I. AcTiNOPTYCHus. Ehr.

I. A. undulatus. Klitz. Bac, T. i, f. 24. S. B. D., f. 43.
Of all sizes, abundant in mud from Arendal, Knarrhoi, and at
Skagen at a depth of no fathoms.

242 The Diatomacece of the Baltic Sea. [Dec,

Family XII. COSCINODISCE^. H. L. S.
Gen. I. Cyclotella. Klitz.

1. C. Kiitzingiana. Thw. S. B. D., f. 47.
Knarrhoi, one specimen.

Gen. II., AcTiNOCYCLUs. Ehr.

2. A. Ehrenbergii. Pritch. Rab. F. A., S. 6, f. 6.
Arendal harbor.

Gen. III. CosciNODiscus. Ehr.

3. C radiatus. Ehr. K. B., T. i, f. 18. S. B. D., f. 37. Rab.
F. A., S. 6.

Numberless in the soundings of Arendal harbor; not unfrequent at
Skagen, no fathoms deep; Knarrhoi; Bornholm.

4. C. O cuius Iridis. Ehr. Microgeol, T. 18, f. 42 ; T. 19, f. 2.
Arendal, adundant ; Knarrhoi, not unfrequent, in fragments.

5. C. excentricus. Ehr. K. B., T. i, f. 9. S. B. D., f. 36.
Arendal harbor; Knarrhoi, abundant.

6. C. lineatus. ^hr. K. B., T. i, f. 10.
Knarrhoi, not unfrequent.

7. C. minor. Ehr. K, B., T. 2, f. 12, 13. S. B. D., f. T^i.
Arendal harbor, 30 fathoms.

8. C. flavicans (?). Ehr. K. B., T. 28, f. 8.
Arendal harbor.

9. C. concinnus. W. S. B. D. 11, S. 85.
Arendal harbor, 30 fathoms.

10. C. centralis. Ehr. Greg. D. C., f. 49.

Arendal harbor.

S. A. Briggs,

Chicago.

1 87 3'] Prices of English and American Objectives. 243

THE RELATIVE PRICES OE ENGLISH AND
AMERICAN OBJECTIVES.

In the August number of the Monthly Microscopical Journal
appeared a paper, by Dr. Pigott, in which is the following passage :
" I have very little doubt, that if any one be willing to offer Messrs.
Powell & Lealand double the price of their y^^th, the same as
charged for Tolles' immersion ^ig-th by Mr. Stodder, ^175, or ;^34
sterling, they would be able to produce a glass proportionately
improved in some of the minor details." Dr. Pigott has, of course,
unintentionally, made a large mistake in the comparative prices of
the two instruments — a mistake that, in my experience, "uncom-
mercial ' ' writers have too often made, from not knowing the con-
dition of United States currency — and he has made a wrong
comparison from not knowing what was sold to Dr. Woodward.

These errors are calculated to do a serious pecuniary injury to
Mr. Tolles. Dr. Pigott (evidently) values the J^ sterling at ^5
U. S. Currency. The actual value to-day is ^5.60. (When Dr.
Pigott was writing it may have been ten to twenty cents more), so
that the price ^175, paid by Dr. W., was not ;^34, but only
;^3i.4 (nearly), a difference of ten per cent. But the excess over
the cost of the P. & L.. J^ was partly caused by the addition to the
immersion objective of a compound front, valued at ^40 ;
deducting this, leaves the cost of the simple immersion objective,
with a front of a new plan, never before used (to Mr. Tolles'
knowledge), $135 = ;^24.o4.o, (nearly,) instead of Dr. P's
figure of ^£34.

But the price that American instruments are sold at in Boston
should not be compared with the price of English instruments in
London, but with their cost here. The price of P. & L's j^^h,
with one front, is 16 guineas — add the duty only, nothing for
freight, insurance, or other charges, and the cost here is ^131.71,
currency — a difference from the price of the y^-g- of ^3.29 only,
which is more than made up by the extra expense of Tolles' mount
over that of P. & L's. In reality, however, the opticians' price of
a P. & L. ^ig- here is ^170, so that the economy is largely
on our side.

244 Beads, or Lines. [Dec,

The excess of cost of American over English instruments may be
fully accounted for by the higher rate of wages of skilled labour
in America. As it has been publicly charged that ToUes' prices are
''enormous," and as Dr. Pigott's statements and estimates appear
to confirm the charge, it is due to Mr. T. that this explanation
should be as widely published.

I do not suppose that Dr. Pigott wrote by authority of Messrs.
Powell & Lealand, in his suggestion that they can do better than
they haye done, if more money was offered them. Undoubtedly,
perfection has not yet been reached, even in London, and that
eminent firm may yet produce instruments better than the ''objec-
tives of 1869," not merely for the extra pay, but for the honor
and reputation.

Charles Stodder.

Boston, Aug. nth, i8yj.

BEADS, OR LINES?

Many microscopists believe and insist that all the markings of
diatoms are spherical beads — some that the whole siliceous
material is made up of spherical deposite. As a contribution towards
the solution of the question I have to report a recent observation.
I was examining a frustule of Navicula cuspidata wath a Tolles'
-jig-th objective and i in. eye-piece = 5,000 diameters. Two sets of
striae were distinctly visible, longitudinal and transverse ; but both
were not and could not be brought into focus together, indicating
that they were not both in the same plane. When one set was dis-
tinct the other was not. There was no appearance of beads, but of
smooth, clear lines.

The grand question of the minute structure of organic forms
must be settled by the use of the highest powers, and best qualities
of lenses, that the optician can produce. Describing organic struc-
ture with ordinary lenses, magnifying only from three to six hundred
diameters, will not answer the requirements of modern research.

Charles Stodder.
Boston.

1 8 7 3 • ] '^^^^ Scales of L epism a Saccharina . 245

THE STRUCTURE OF THE SCALES OF LEPISMA

SACCHARINA.

For many years this test has been subjected to most careful and
critical examination, by the most competent observers, and with
the best microscopes, but, after all, the true character of its mark-
ings still remains a disputed question. These differences of opinion
have evidently arisen partly from the complex nature of the mark-
ings themselves, and partly from the different conditions under
which they have been seen. In this scale we have coarse ribs easily
seen with a very ordinary glass ; and on the other hand, delicate
structures severely taxing the powers of the finest objectives in
existence. This fact alone, is sufficient to account for the want of
agreement, without accusing any person of being biased by a
theory ; while those observers who think their own instruments are
the best, will continue to be satisfied with what they may happen to
see, and shut their eyes to any advance.

As the microscope has been improved, our ideas of the structure
of the Lepisma scale have been gradually modified, and who will
now claim it to be " too easy for a test-object ? "

In the order of difficulty of resolution we have —

1. The heavy, longitudinal ridges, running from end to end of
the scale, and slightly projecting at the point.

2. Distinct ribs generally radiating from the quill, or curved
parallel with the outline of the scale, and becoming faint in the
centre and parts remote from the quill.

3. Transverse corrugations of the membranes.

4. Faint, irregular veins, branching from the diverging ridges
(No. 2), generally taking a transverse direction, and, together with
the corrugation, causing the spurious appearance of fine beading at
their points of intersection with the ridges.

To make sure of my work on this scale, I have studied it under
a number of different conditions. The observations have been con-
ducted with monochromatic sunlight ; with white cloud and lamp ;
with central beam and oblique ; with mirror, prisms, achromatic
condenser, with and without central stops ; and with Wenham's
paraboloid. All these methods point to the same conclusions. Fol-
lowing up the line of observations described by the late Richard
Beck, in his. most valuable contribution to our knowledge of this

246 The Scales of Lepisma Saccharina. [Dec,

subject, the same results were arrived at in regard to the appearance
of coarse beading, etc., viz. : "That the interrupted appearance is
produced by two sets of uninterrupted lines on different surfaces."*
That the longitudinal and oblique lines are on different sides of the
scale, is also plainly seen by their lying in different focal planes,
under a -^ objective. And farther, while examining a scale in fluid
I have repeatedly observed air bubbles on one surface of it, con-
fined by the longitudinal ribs, and on the other side, others bounded
by the oblique ridges ; and on moving the slow adjustment up and
down, with the movement of the bubbles under control, they never
interfere or mix with each other.f Nothing further is required to
prove that these markings are actually ridges, and that they project
from different surfaces of the object. The experiments of Mr. Beck
settle this question.

As microscopical definition advanced, the very feeble radiating
lines were noticed in the spaces between the ribs, formerly thought
to be smooth. In the central portion of the test these lines are
parallel with the main ribbing. They, in their turn, were seen to
be uneven, and pronounced to be "beaded striae." J Must this
fine beading, like its shadowy predecessors, be also extinguished by
intersecting cross lines, and so add one more to the long list of
illusory appearance^? To attempt to throw some light upon this
question is the principal object of the present article.

In the first place, it is far from being a difficult feat to see this
beading. Any first-class lens, from a \ upward, when properly
handled, will display it or something very like it. The writer has
found it an easy task with Wales' y^g- immersion, or even with a
Beck \ and deep eye-piece. With Tolles' -^ immersion the fine
transverse structure indicated above is brought out, and it becomes
at once evident that the small beads are indeed spurious like their
big brothers, and for a similar reason.

The fine transverse marking seems to branch from the faint
radiating ones, and have the appearance of a net- work of minute
capillaries. Besides these there are coarser transverse waves or
corrugations of the membrane. In numerous instances, air-bub-
bles have been observed imprisoned between the heavy ribs on one
or two sides, and by these corrugations on the other sides. There-
fore the corrugations may safely be said to be on the same surface

* Achromatic Microscope,Beck, p. 50. f Micrographic Dictionary, 2d ed., p. 34, Fig. 3, pi. 27.
J See M. M. Journal, March, 1873, pi. xi, Figs. 3 and 4.

1 873-] ^'^^ Scales of Lepisma Saccharina. 247

of the scale with the longitudinal ridges, and the branching vein-
like structure on or near the other surface. Careful focussing is
corroborative of this idea, making it certain that these two details
of structure lie in different planes. With monochromatic light, the
delineation of this structure is eminently satisfactory, and the effect
of the slightest change in focal adjustment is at once felt. When
the object is a little out of focus the light is unequally refracted and
broken up in passing through this complicated net-work of ridges
and corrugations, and produces an appearance of fine molecules
over the whole surface of the scale.

The coarse and the fine beads both vanishing under advancing
definition, together with the behavior of the confined bubbles of
air, seems to my mind fully to demonstrate the reality of the
structure above described. Often, when the corrections are not per-
fect, the semblance of beading can directly be traced to a seeming
enlargement of points of linear intersection and branching. When
the -^ is at it its best work, the finer transverse markings are
usually irregular, both in strength and direction, but always unmis-
takable. They may be plainly seen on some of the smaller scales,
and in the central parts of the larger, and at almost as good advan-
tage as near the edges of the easier scales. Sometimes they are
continuous across several intercostal spaces, and again only extending
across one, or merely budding, as it were, from the ribs.

In conclusion, the remark of Beck on the scales of Lepidocyrtus,
may well be quoted : ''And my own belief is that the markings
upon this and all other varieties of Podura-scales are more or less
elevations or corrugations upon the surface, which answer the simple
purpose of giving strength to very delicate membranes."* If this
idea is true of the Podura, it applies with greater force to the
complicated ridges of Lepisma.

The same original structure is often modified in diverging direc-
tions, so as to subserve totally distinct purposes. And as hairs are
probably modified scales, and a regular graduation may be traced
between them, so the connecting chain is filled between ribs extend-
ing from end to end of a scale, through undulations and shorter
ribs, to those slightly projecting, and so on to the perfect spine
or secondary hair.

G. W. Morehouse,
American Naturalist.

* Transactions, R. M. S., 1862, p. 83.

248 The Flora of Chicago and Vicinity. [Dec,

THE FLORA OF CHICAGO AND VICINITY.

Supplementary.

Anemone cylindrtca, Gray ; lake shore ; common.

Viola canina, L., var. sylvestris, Reg. ; Glencoe ; common.

Eunonymus Americanus, L., var. obovatus, Torr. & Gray; Riv-
erside ; rare.

Acer dasycarpum, Ehrh. ; common.

Dalea alopecuroides, Willd. ; Hinsdale ; a waif.

Amorpha fruticosa, L. ; Hyde Park ; rare.

Potentilla arguta, Pursh ; Hyde Park and Riverside ; common.

RuBUS triflorus, Richardson ; Calumet ; rare.

R. STRiGOSUS, Michx. ; Pine Station ; rare.

R. occiDENTALis, L. ; common.

CiRCiEA ALPiNA, L. ; Michigan City ; rare.

PoLYT^NiA NuTTALLii, DC; Maywood ; rare. (ZT. A. W.)

CoRNUS ciRCiNATA, L'Her. ; Michigan City; rare.

Viburnum pubescens, Pursh ; Glencoe and Riverside ; common.

MiTCHELLA REPENS, L. ; Michigan City ; common.

Aster cordifolius, L. ; Glencoe ; not common.

A. LoNGiFOLiusv Lam. ; Glencoe ; common.

A. macrophyllus, L. ; Glencoe ; common.

SoLiDAGO Muhlenbergii, Torr. & Gray ; Pine Station ; rare.

S. SPECIOSA, Nutt. ; Pine Station ; common.

S. SPECIOSA, Nutt., var. angustata, Gray; Hyde Park ; common.

Helianthus tracheltifolius, Willd. ; Hyde Park ; not com-
mon.

Actinomeris helianthoides, Nutt. ; Hinsdale ; rare.

Plantago lanceolata, L. ; Hinsdale; rare.

P. CORDATA, Lam. ; Glencoe ; common.

Trientalis Americana, Pursh ; Millers' ; rare.

Leonurus Cardiaca, L. ; Riverside ; rare.

Ellisia ambigua, Nutt. ; Riverside and Hinsdale ; common.

Gentiana puberula, Michx. ; Hyde Park : not common.

Cycloloma platyphyllum, Moq. ; L C. R. R. ; rare.

Salix* CANDIDA, Willd. ; S. W. of Hyde Park ; not common.

S. humilis, Marshall. The variety common on western prairies,
with oblong-lanceolate, sage-like leaves ; Hyde Park and S. ; com-

* Determination of species of this genus, and remarks, by M. S. Bebb, Esq., of Fountaindale.

1 873-] ^^^ Flora of Chicago and Vicinity. 249

mon. Also, dwarf forms of the same, closely approximating S. tris-
tis, near Kenwood.

S. DISCOLOR. Muhl. ; Hyde Park, Glencoe and Maywood. (ZT.
A. W.)

S. PETioLARis, Sm. ; Maywood. (H. A. W.)

S. CORDATA, Mahl. ; var. rigida, Carey; lake shore near 35th st.

S. CORDATA, Muhl. ; var. angustata, Gray, Anders, &c. ; with the last.

S. CORDATA, Muhl. ; var. glaucophylla. A beautiful Willow^ com-
mon on the lake shore. {H. H. B). (Wisconsin, T.J. Hale. Foun-
taindale, very rare.) Not known to occur elsewhere. Apparently
distinguishable from cordata-rigida, and were it not for the bad
reputation which Salix has on account of the multiplication of
supposed species we would be tempted to separate it. Resembles
S. discolor in the shape of the leaves and in the size and den-
sity of the thick aments, but the capules are smooth, and turn
brown in drying. Adult leaves coriaceous, shining above, intense-
ly glaucous beneath ; pedicels usually concealed by the copious,
silky hairs of the scales. Flowers a week later (at Fountaindale)
than the preceding forms. Abundant from 33d street to Cornell.

S. ADENOPHYLLA, Hook. Lake shore, (where like the associated
Corispermum, &c., it seems to be a waif from farther north;) near
Lincoln Park ; {Dr. Vasey, H. H. B., H. A. W.) Very abun-
bant on the South Side, from Reform School to Pine Station. {H.
H. B.). Lake Superior, (Z>r. H. J. Beardslee.) "Sand beaches
of Cockburn's Island, Lake Huron," (y. Bell in Herb. A. Gray.)
This very distinct species was first described in the Flora Borealis
Americana., from specimens collected in Labrador by Dr. Morrison,
and the recent descriptions of Anderson are evidently drawn from
the same material without further additions. It appears^ therefore,
to have been known only through some " old " female catkins and
leaves, preserved in the Hookerian Herbarium until re-discovered
near Chicago ; after which the very complete collections made by
Mr. Babcock led to the identification of fragments from other local-
ities. " I know no species like this, well marked as it is by the
copious, long, narrow serratures to the leaves, tipped with glands, so
that the leaf looks as if it were fringed with pedicellate glands.
These leaves are an inch or more long, clothed, even whea fully
grown, with long silky tomentum on both sides, but which is decid-
uous on the oldest leaves." {Hooker^

Vol. IL— No. 4. 16

250 The Flora of Chicago and Vicinity. [Dec,

S. ROSTRATA;, Richardson. To be united, probably, with one of
the European Cinerascentes, in which case the original name should
be preserved for the variety, but so long as we retain lucida as dis-
tinct irom pentandra, we may as well keep rostrata also. Hinsdale,
Downer's Grove and Miller's.

S. LUCIDA, Muhl. ; Hyde Park to Woodlawn and S. Specimens
from Woodlawn have the scales distinctly dentate, as in the Rocky
Mountain S. Fendleriana !■

S. NIGRA, Marsh., Yd^x.falcata, Carey, &c. ; Glencoe.

S. NIGRA, Marsh., var. amygdaloides, Anders. ; S. of Hyde Park.
Ordinarily appears quite distinct from S. nigra ; but intermediate
forms occur.

S. FRAGiLis, L. ; I. C. R. R., South of Woodlawn. Extensively
planted throughout the Northwest for screens or so-called hedges,
under the name of "White Willow."

S. ALBA, L., var. vitellina, Koch. Introduced about dwellings, &c.

S. LONGiFOLiA, Muhl. ; Hyde Park and S. ; common. Here, a's
elsewhere from New York to California, this species produces flowers
and fruit throughout the season — with us from May to September.

AcoRUS Calamus, L. ; Calumet ; common.

PoTAMOGETON GRAMiNEUS, L. ; Pine Station ; common.

Sagittaria VARIABILIS, Eugelm. ; form with double flowers found
at Hinsdale by Mr. C. J. Fellows.

JuNCUs NODOSUS, L., var. megacephalus ', Torr. ; Pine Station.

SciRPUS FLUviATiLis, Gray ; Calumet ; common.

FiMBRiSTYLis LAXA, Vahl. ; Hyde Park ; common.

Carex umbellata, Schk. ; Pine Station ; common.

C. LUPULiFORMis, Sartw. ; Glencoe ; rare. A form intermediate
betwen this and lupuli7ta, Muhl. ; at Riverside ; rare.

Panicum depauperatum, Muhl. ; Hyde Park ; common.

H, H. Babcock.

Chicago.

1 873-] Editor's Table. 251

EDITOR'S TABLE.

New Researches on the Natural History of Bacteria. — Dr. Ferdinand
Cohn, in the second part of his Botanical ContTibuHons , recently published at
Breslavi, gives an account of researches which he has conducted for many years,
on various questions relating to Bacteria. A highly important memoir was pub-
lished twenty years ago by this algologist, in which he established the occurrence
of various phases in the life-history of Bacteria, especially the Bacterium-jelly or
Zoogloeafdrm. In his new work Cohn divides the Bacteria, which he now
regards as colorless algae, allied to the Oscillarice, into four groups, reserving,
however, with regard to these groups and their included genera, the question of
their being phases of one or more real species. These groups are spherical Bac-
teria i^Sphcerobacteria), peg-like Bacteria {Microbacteria), filamentous Bacteria
{DesiJiobacterid), and spiral Bacteria {^Spirobacteria\ The minute spherical
organisms, little more than mere granules, which appear to be connected with
certain diseases (vaccinia, diphtheria, pyaemia, pebrine), and which also cause
colored putrefaction, and the alkaline fermentation of urine, appear in the first
group under the genus Micrococcus The common Bacteriirm terino and the
lai-ger but abundant H. lineola belong to the second group, as well as some
color-producing ferments of which that of blue-green pus is especially interesting.
The butyric ferment [Bacillus subtilis) and the organism connected with the dis-
ease known as ''malignant pustule" and "the blood" [Bacteriditim anthracis)
belong to the third group, which likewise includes the undulate forms com-
prised in the genus Vibrio. The fourth group contains the remarkable forms of
Spirillum and Spirochoete, one of which, Spirilhtvi volutans, is provided at each
end with a protoplasmic flagellum. The typical forms are all clearly figured in a
plate. Cohn considers that the protoplasm of Bacteria is not naked, as some-
times supposed, but that it has a dense cell-wall. Bacteria multiply exclusively
by transverse fission, and never branch ; by arrest of the actual separation of
new-formed cells or cytods (for there is no nucleus) they may, however, form
chains, or grow into long filaments, in which the division into separate elements
cannot be recognized [Leptothrix forms). They exhibit very active movements
in the presence of oxygen, but become quiescent in its absence. After an ex-
haustion of the nutriment or the supply of oxygen accessible to them in an
infusion, they form a fine precipitate, and remain in this state, preserved from
decomposition by their dense cell-walls; this is also the case if they are boiled
or treated with reagents. According to their external effects Bacteria may be
classed as Chromogenous, Pathogenous, and Zymogenous or Saprogenous. The
color-producing Bacteria are of very great interest. Their characters have been

252 Editor's Table. [Dec,

traced out, to some extent, by Schroter, under Cohn's dh-ection. One form
especially, Micrococcus cyaneus, Cohn found could be transferred from the boiled
potato on which it made its appearance, and cultivated in a ox\.& per cent, solution
of tartrate of ammonium, with a proportion of yeast-ash salts. Under these cir-
cumstances the production of intensly blue soluble pigment continued for some
months. Sanderson had already used Pasteur's solution for the cultivation of
Bacteria, but Cohn found it better to omit the sugar from the solution. The
Bacteria, however, absolutely failed to grow if the yeast-ash salts were omitted.
As Bacteria are thus round to be capable of taking up their nitrogen from
ammonia, Cohn considers it probable that they always receive it in this form, or
perhaps sometimes from nitrates, and that the chief work of the putrefactive
Bacteria consists in breaking down complex organic molecules containing nitro-
gen to the condition of ammonia. Their carbon, it appears, must be in a higher
condition of combination than is met with in carbonic acid, and in this respect
only does their nutrition differ from that of green plants. Their vital processes,
like those of all protoplasm, are necessaiuly accompanied by the fixing of oxygen
and the evolution of carbonic acid. The specific prodvicts of their life-activity,
such as pigments, foul gaseous substances, &c., are independent of the chemical
changes in their pabulum and are due to internal chemical work, which goes on
just the same, whether they are nourished by organic infusions or by ammonium
tartrate.

Photography of the Invisible. — We cut from a late issue of our esteemed
co-worker, the Scientify American, the following methods of taking the so-called
" spirit photographs " :

The grand moral idea which science continually seeks to impress upon her
votaries is, humility of mind ; that inestimable virtue whence spring the noblest
pleasures of the soul. But how rare it is to find this beautiful quality, even in
persons of culture and learning! The great doctors looked upon Galileo with
contempt, confined him in prison as a dangerous man, and subjected him to the
most ignominious treatment, simply because he presented, for their acceptance,
the light from a new idea, which their dull perceptions were unable to appreciate.
He affirmed that the sun did not really rise or set ; that it was the rotation of the
earth that brought day and night alternately upon the earth. But the doctors, like
many in our day, proud in their own conceit of knowledge, knew better. " The
scriptures tell us," they said, " of the rising and the setting sun ; therefore it
moves; our own eyes assure us of the fact; the diurnal experience of mankind
confirms the truth. Your doctrine, Galileo, is false and dangerous."

It is in this style that some persons, very knowing in their own esteem, reason
upon certain subjects. Take " spirit photography " for an example. They allege
that spirits are invisible ; that an invisible thing cannot be photographed ; there-
fore the so-called spirit photographs are base impostures.

It is not our purpose to dissent from the conclusion here assumed ; but we take
exception to the premises, which are not in agreement with science. Photographs
of some objects that are invisible to the human eye may undoubtedly be produced.

1 873-] Editor' s Table. 253

The spectrum of solar light is an example, portions of which, totally invisible to
the eye, are brought out upon the photographer's plate ; and their presence is also
demonstrated by other instruments.

The mental effect which we term light is supposed to be produced by the beat-
ing of waves of ether against the retina of the eye. These waves enter the eye
with an average velocity of about 186,000 miles in a second, the length of the
waves being variable, from the one twenty-seven thousandth part of an inch, to
one seventy-five thousandth part of an inch. The retina therefore receives many
billions of impressions in a second, and it is supposed that it is the difference in
the number and velocity of these impressions that produces in the mind the sensa-
tions of the colors. If the waves which enter the eye have a much greater or a
much less velocity than the limits above stated, they do not, it is supposed, pro-
duce the sensation of light; and the objects from which such rays come, although
they may really stand before the eye, are, as we say, invisible. But although they
do not affect the eye, they may impress the photographic plate, which has no such
constitution as the eye.

One of the most successful methods of producing spirit photographs is to
place, in front of the sensitive plate, within the plate shield, a clear sheet of glass
having nothing upon it except a thin positive of the "spirit" that is to be pro-
duced on the negative. The portrait of the sitter is taken in the usual manner.
The light which enters the camera lens prints the sitter and also the " spirit "
which is on the thin positive upon the negative. This is a very convenient method,
as it requires no manipulations likely to be detected; and is, we think, the
favorite plan practiced by the best spirit photographers. Prints made in this
manner pass current among the believers for genuine ghosts of the departed,
directly descended from heaven.

But a more new, interesting, and scientific method of producing spirit pho-
tographs, is as follows : the plain background screen, before which the sitter is
placed in order to have his portrait taken, is to be painted beforehand with the
form of the desired " spirit," the paint being composed of some fluorescent sub-
stance, such as a solution of sulphate of quinine. When this painting dries on
the screen, it is invisible to the eye ; but it sends out rays that have power to im-
press the photo-plate ; and thus the image of the person together with the quinine
ghost are simultaneously developed upon the negative. This is a very beautiful
and remarkable method,

A New Thermometer. — Les Mondes describes a maximum and minimum
thermometer formicd of a compound spiral, consisting of two differently expansible
metals electro-plated. By increase of temperature it tends to unroll, by decrease
to twist up ; in so doing it moves one or the other of a pair of indices over a grad-
uated scale, the one of which registers the highest temperature attained, the other
the lowest. If required, a third needle may be added, by means of which the
actual temperature at any moment may be read off without disturbing either of the
others. The instrument is used at several meteorological stations in Switzerland
and Russia, and gives great satisfaction.

254 Editor" s Table. [Dec,

Is Carbolic Acid a Failure, — Most questions have two sides, and it is
wise to look at both. While we have been disinfecting with carbolic acid, chlo-
rine and coal gas, and fumigating with burned tar and sulphur, Jerome Cochran,
M, D., professor of hygiene and medical jurisprudence, in the medical College
of Alabama, and censor of the State Medical Association, seriously questions if
there be any disinfectant virtue in those crude materials of our sanitai'y regula-
tion. Professor Cochran writes nearly four columns in the Mobile Registej-, of a
late date, on this subject, and fortifies himself behind some stubborn facts. He
is evidently well read in the subject whereof he treats. After reviewing the
action of the Mobile Board of Health, which contended that the comparative
exemption from yellow fever in that city was due to this disinfecting agency of
carbolic acid, Professor Cochran says there is not a particle of reliable evidence
to show that they have derived any benefit at all from all the carbolic acid scat-
tered in their streets and yards. He contends that if carbolic acid has any power
to destroy the infectious germs of yellow fever, it ought to exhibit that power
most clearly where it has been most freely used. He shows that the City Hos-
pital of Mobile has been more thoroughly disinfected than any other part of the
city; that the whole atmosphere in the vicinity has been saturated with it for
weeks, and yet the protective virtues of disinfection have failed to check the
progress of yellow fever in the hospital and vicinity, but have also failed to
modify its type, while at other places in the city where disinfectants were not
used there was no fever. He claims that in the experience of Mobile, time and
money have been thrown away in the use of disinfecting agents.

Not only do the facts »and examples adduced in proof fail to establish the effi-
cacy of carbolic acid as a prophylactic against yellow fever ; but without any
violence and without any sophistical interpretation, they go very far toward the
establishment of the suspicion that its influence has been the very reverse of
prophylactic; that if it has not contributed to increase the extension of the dis-
ease, it has at least added to the malignity and increased the mortality to a
fearful rate.

He goes on to say that it is pertinent to inquire whether any part of the
mortality in New Orleans and Mobile may not be due to carbolic acid. Further,
he says with reference to the use of carbolic acid :

"The experiment has been made and has failed; and it is due to the cause of
truth and sanitary science, that no false and misleading estimate of what it has
accomplished should be allowed to fasten itself on the public mind."

So here we are at sea. And where are we now for safety? Clearly, in our
own acts, in the purity of our houses and premises, for beyond and above the
theories of learned doctors, who never did agree, is that safe guide of conduct,
the experience of mankind, which supplements the Scriptural truth, that cleanli-
ness is next to Godliness, and Godliness is the twin sister of good health.

Special attention is called to Dr. Woodward's exhaustive paper on the Webb
Test, with the Woodburytype plate accompanying it, which with the other papers
herein, brings the subject to its latest phase.

1 873-] Editor^ s Table. 255

The Study of Nature as a Means of Intellectual Development. — We
find in the Rhode Island Schoolmaster the following excellent remarks on this
subject :

Some affirm that the study of natural science is fatal to the development of our
higher emotions, and tends towards gross utilitarianism. But who can study the
harmony existing in the works of Nature, the manifest order and design displayed
in endless changes and variety, and the immutable laws which govern the physical
world, without having his thoughts and aspirations lifted to Him who inhabiteth
eternity, the Alpha and Omega? " The heavens declare the glory of God ! Day
unto day uttereth speech, night unto night showeth knowledge !"

Astronomy writes, in the motions of the stars, poetry more glowing than human
pen ever produced. Botany leads us among the flowers, the most unpretending
of which is arrayed in glory greater than that of Solomon, and teaches Divine
goodness and love to every thoughtful observer. Chemistry, unfolding to us won-
derful and mysterious changes, excites not only emotions of beauty but of sublim-
ity. And what shall we say of that marvellous agent, vital force, which still
eludes the analysis of the latest science ? In autumn it withdraws its power and
all Nature is clad in the habiliments of decay and death. In the spring time,
with magic hand, it robes the earth in living beauty.

Adding, to a thorough knowledge of any one science which might be chosen
as a particular field of research and study, a knowledge of the most important
principles of the others, we have sufficient matter for the development of the most
susceptible and retentive memory.

By constantly observing facts, drawing conclusions from them, and verifying
these conclusions by observation or experiment, we form the habit of correct rea-
soning, and thus gain the same kind of discipline which geometry or any other
abstract science affords. Nor is discipline alone the result of the study of Nature
aS is often the case in absolute sciences. Nature rewards her students not only
with discipline but with knowledge the most practical, pleasurable and profitable.

A Novel and Simple Electric Light. — Dr. Geissler, of Bonn, Germany,
whose name is inseparably associated with some of the most, beautiful experiments
that can be performed by the agency of electricity, makes an electrical vacuum
tube that may be lighted without either induction coil or frictional machine. It
consists of a tube an inch or so in diameter, filled with air as dry as can be
obtained, and hermetically sealed after the introduction of a smaller exhausted
tube. If this outward tube be rubbed with a piece of flannel, or any of the furs
generally used in exciting the electrophorus, the inner tube will be illumined
with flashes of mellow light. The light is faint at first, but gradually becomes
brighter and softer. It is momentary in duration : but if the tube be rapidly fric-
tioned, an optical delusion will render it continuous. If the operator have at his
disposal a piece of vulcanite, previously excited, he may, after educing signs of
electrical excitement within the tube, entirely dispense with the use of his flannel
or fur. This will be found to minister very much to his personal ease and com-
fort. He may continue the experiments, and with enhanced effect, by moving
the sheet of vulcanite rapidly up and down at a slight distance from the tube.
This beautiful phenomenon is an effect of induction.

256 Editor' s Table. [Dec,

Desmids. — A correspondent asks whether Desmids can be mounted for the
microscope. There are several media recommended for the purpose, but none
of them are quite satisfactory. Probably the best medium is distilled water with
a little camphor. Distilled water, 13 parts; gum-arabic, I part; glycerine, I
part, answers well; but the delicate green color of many species fades or changes
to brown sooner or later, and a more serious change still, due to alteration in
endochrome, also occurs, unless the fluid, if other than water, be added very cau-
tiously. Glycerine jelly does not answer well unless very skilfully used.
Farrant's medium I have not used for this purpose without modification. The
original recipe is I fluid oz. of the best gum-arabic in the same quantity of gly-
cerine, with an ounce of distilled water, in which i^ grain of arsenic has been
previously dissolved. The solution must be made without heat, the mixture
being occasionally stirred gently but not shaken, and if necessary, carefully
strained when completed. I have used a very similar preparation in mounting
delicate preparations, with success, and have no doubt our correspondent will
find it answer his requirements. He will, of course, take care to transfer his des-
mids into it by easy stages from the native water. He would better allow them to
remain for some time in distilled water, and add glycerine or pure sugar to it, by
small quantities at a time, until the fluid has assumed the same density as the
medium. I allow the desmids to remain in it at this stage for some time, and
then transfer them to the Farrant, taking care to use it at as low a temperature
as possible.

Disinfection of Air of Sick Room. — The three best agents for accomplish-
ing the disinfection of air after smallpox or other contagious diseases, are sulphu-
rous acid, iodine, and carbolic acid. The best method of employing sulphurous
acid is to scatter a little sulphur upon a heated shovel and carry it about in the
room or rooms which are to be disinfected.

Iodine may be used by simply placing a little in an open glass or earthen vessel,
and it vaporizes readily at the ordinary temperature of a house. Carbolic acid
may be employed by sprinkling a weak solution of it on the floor of the room, or
cloths wetted in such solution may be hung about the rooms. A simple appara-
tus for using this acid is to have a broad band of cotton passing over two wooden
rollers over a dish filled with a solution of the acid. As the upper half of the
band dries, give the rollers a turn, and the lower half of the band, wet with the
solution, takes its place uppermost.

Diamonds in California. — Professor Silliman has recently called attention
to the probable occurrence of small diamonds in the sands left in the sluices of
hydraulic washings in California. A microscopic examination of a sample of
these sands from Cherokee, in the Butte county, revealed the existence of numer-
ous crystals of hyacinth or zircon, associated with crystals of topaz, fragments of
quartz, black grains of chromite and titanic iron ore, and a few small masses of a
highly refracting substance, which, from its physical and chemical characters, is
believed to be true diamond.

1 8 73-] Editor's Table. 257

Origin of the Botanical Name Andromeda. — Botanists, says the Gardenei'''s
Chronicle, are frequently taxed with the want of euphony and of poetry in the
Plant Names which they bestow ; and it must be admitted that many fearful
"jawbreakers" might be sighted in support of the charge. Occasionally, how-
ever, we find names bestowed in a more romantic spirit ; and such is the case
with the Andromeda, a title which Linnaeus first bestowed upon the British exam-
ple of the genus, A. polifolia. In his Tour in Lapland he tells us of the
connection between the flower and the heroine of mythology which led to his
selection of the name :

" As I contemplated it, I could not help thinking of Andromeda, as described
by the poets; and the more I meditated upon their descriptions^ the more appli-
cable they seemed to the little plant before me ; so that had these writers designed
it, they could scarcely have contrived a more apposite fable. Andromeda is repre-
sented by them as a virgin of most exquisite and unrivalled charms ; but these charms
remain only so long as she retains her virginal purity, which is also applicable to
the plant now preparing to celebrate its nuptials. This plant is always fixed on ,
some little turfy hillock in the midst of the swamps, as Andromeda herself was
chained to a rock in the sea, which bathed her feet, as. the fresh water does the
roots of this plant. Dragons and venomous serpents surrounded her, as toads
and other reptiles frequent the abode of her vegetable resembler, and when they
pair in the spring, throw mud and water over its leaves and branches. As the
distressed virgin cast down her blushing face through excessive affliction, so does
this rosy colored flower hang its head, growing paler and paler till it withers
away. ... At length comes Perseus, in the shape of summer, dries up the
surrounding water, and drives away the monsters, rendering the damsel a fruitful
mother, who then carries her head (the capsule) erect."

Camphor a Dangerous Drug. — The Scientific American lectures those
people who make frequent use of camphor as a medicine. It says : The physio-
logical action of camphor is not yet understood; but, judging by the symptoms
that follow the taking of a moderate dose, it may be called a nervous stimulant.
It is somewhat like opium and alcohol, therefore, in its action when given in
small quantities ; but, when taken in large doses, it causes excessive irritation to
the nervous system, producing convulsions and death. Camphor acts to irritate
and congest and finally to inflame the mucous lining of the stomach, causing in
the milder cases a form of dyspepsia, and, in the more aggravated, ulceration of
the stomach. From these two actions, namely, that of the nervous stimulant and
local irritation, come all the good and evil of iis use. We can, therefore, readily
see how unsuited this drug is to be a household remedy.

Cementing Metal to Glass. — Take two parts finely powdered white litharge,
and one part dry while lead, mix intimately, and work up with boiled linseed
oil and lac copal to a stiff dough. One part of copal is taken to three parts
boiled oil, and enough litharge and white lead added to make dough similar to
putty. The underside of the metal is filled with the cement, and then pressed
upon the glass, the excess of cement being scraped off with any sort of instru-
ment. It dries quickly and holds firmly,

16*

258 Editor' s Table. [Dec,

Luminous Fungi. — In Mrs, Somerville's Molecular and Microscopic Science
it is stated that " In the dark coal-mines at Dresden luminous fungi cover the
roof and pillars with the most dazzling phosphorescent light, which increases with
the temperature of the mine."

Now it seems to me that this statement, if not entirely unfounded, at least
requires some qualifications ; and small errors of this kind should, I think, in the
interests of your many readers, not be allowed to pass unnoticed. I myself have,
on several occasions, visited these mines — which, by the way, are not actually in
Dresden, but are situated near Plauen, some five miles distant — and have most
carefully examined these so-called luminous fungi. The result of my observations
was, that under no circumstances was the faintest luminosity, even in complete
darkness, to be detected.

The fungi — locally known as " 5(r///('Z/;/w/z7s " — occur in great abundance in
the deeper workings of the mines ; they are in appearance purely white, and have
an exquisitely delicate structure, but, from all accounts, do great injury to the tim-
bers and supports. In form they are iisually sponge-shaped, and attached to the
substance on which they grow by a single stalk or filament. A damp atmosphere
seems essential to their existence, and where the ventilation was good their
appearance was less frequent.

It is my impression that what has led to the belief in their luminosity is simply
their remarkable, almost absolute, whiteness, which in a faint light makes them
stand out conspicuously from the dark roof and walls of the mines. Extremely
small crystalline spines of saltpetre occasionally cover the face of the rock, and
give a slightly sparkling reflection when passing with a lamp ; this may possibly
have helped to create the illusion. As to applying the term " dazzling" to the
fungi themselves, it is, I should say, extremely misplaced. A. W. R.

Preparing Pathological Specimens for Transmission by Post, &c. — Dr.
J. C. Richardson, microscopist to the Pennsylvania Hospital, publishes a paper in
the Philadelphia Medical Times on a new method of preserving tumours and
certain urinary deposits during transportation ; and as the process is applicable to
other than pathological specimens, we abstract a portion of the article for the
benefit of such of our readers as may be engaged in histological work. The
chemical made use of has been recommended as a preservative medium in these
columns on several occasions. Place a small fragment of any tumour or patho-
logical structure, say ]^ to J^ an inch square and i-ioth of an inch thick, in a
couple of drachms of saturated solution of acetate of potash, and allow it to
fully imbibe the fluid by soaking therein for forty-eight hours. The solution is
best made by simply pouring half an ounce of rain water upon an ounce of dry
granular acetate of potash in a clean bottle. When the tissue is fully saturated
with this saline liquid, remove it Math a pair of forceps without much pressure,
and insert in it a short piece of india rubber tubing, or wrap it up carefully in a
number of sheets of thin sheet rubber or oiled silk, tying the whole firmly at the
ends with stout thread. When thus prepared, specimens can be inclosed with a
letter in an ordinary envelope and sent long distances, doubtless thousands of
miles, by mail, without danger on the one hand, of decomposition, because of the

1 873-] Editor' s Table. 259

preservative nature of the potassium acetate, or, on the other, of desiccation on
account of its exceedingly deliquescent nature. Inorganic urinary deposits can-
not, the author remarks, be preserved by this agent, but fatty and similar prepara-
tions are peculiarly suited for it. It is worth while to recall to our readers' recol-
lection that the potassium acetate is singularly adapted for all objects stained with
osmic acid, and all tissues containing fat cells or oil globules.

Ink in Adulterated Tea. — One often hears of an article, pamphlet, or other
written statement, " carrying its own proof on the face of it," but the expression
generally means no more than that its arguments are strikingly forcible and
unanswerable. The phrase applies, however, in a new and more literal sense to
the article which Dr. Hassall has communicated to a late number of Food,
Water, and Ah", on the adulteration of tea. Dr. Hassall states his belief that iron
filings are adde.d to tea less for the purpose of increasing the weight and bulk
than for giving it a dark complextion ; and he adds that since tea naturally con-
tains a large quantity of tannin, there are thus brought together the two chief
constitutents which enter into the composition of ink. In order to place this
point beyond a doubt, Dr. Hassall has actually, by appropriate treatment, extracted
a bottle of ink from the tea in question, and has written with it a portion of his
article. Under these circumstances, undoubtedly. Dr. Hassall's article becomes
a piece of (in every sense) powerful writing in support of the virtual identity of
ink and tea, and only very determined opponents of his conclusions will venture
beyond a merely superficial examination of his paper. There is, however, an
unpleasant interest attaching to his further surmise that " what has been accom-
plished in the laboratory it is not impossible may arise in the human stomach, into
which largely-adulterated iron-filing tea has been received." Pending the
enaction of an adulteration act, grocers might be kind enough to supply the
antidote with the bane by selling us our tea wrapped up in blotting-paper. .

The Germ Theory. — An article in the Journal of Applied Chemistry zdW-^oXs,
the following curious facts : " Unfortunately, the results as to how organic matter
is rendered harmless by heating are contradictory. It is known that living organ-
isms exist in the hot springs of Iceland, where the temperature is 97.8 degrees C
— 209 degrees F. Cohn says that boiling for a short time, or even heating to 80
degrees C, is sufficient to prevent the generation of bacteria. According to Hoff-
mann, bacteria are destroyed only by boiling a long time in open vessels, or by
heating a short time to the boiling point in sealed glass tubes. Wyman found
that it required five or six hours' boiling to destroy the last germ. Pasteur asserts
that these organisms are not killed below a temperature of no degrees C, and
Lex found that they were still alive after heating for a short time to 127 degrees.
Grace-Calvert obtained still more remarkable results, for he found that they were
not killed below a temperature of 240 degrees Centigrade. Forster commu-
nicates the fact that contagion has been spread through water that has been
boiled. Even if boiling is not a perfect protection, it must be admitted that most
of the germs of putrefaction and fermentation are rendered harmless by the boiling
heat, but it is safer, after boiling, to add permanganate of potash.

26o Editor's Table. [Dec,

The Opeioscope. — This is a new and simple instrument, suggested by Professor
A. E. Dolbear, for the purpose of demonstrating the pulsations of sound. Take
a tube of any material, from one to two inches in diameter, and anywhere from
two inches to a foot or more in length. Over one end paste a piece of tissue
paper, or a thin piece of rubber or goldbeater's skin — either will do. In the
centre of the membrane, with a drop of mucilage, fasten a bit of looking-glass
not more than an eighth of inch square, with the reflecting side outward, of
course. When dry, take it to the sunshine, and, with the open end of the tube
at the mouth, hold the other end so that the beam of reflected light will fall upon
the white wall, or a sheet of paper held in the hand. Now speak, or sing, or
toot in it. The regular movement of the beam of light with the persistence of
vision, presents very beautiful and regular patterns, that difler for each different
pitch and intensity, but are quite uniform for given conditions. If a tune like
" Auld Lang Syne" is tooted slowly in it, care being taken to give the sounds
the same intensity, a series of curves will appear, one for each sound and alike
for a given sound, whether reached by ascension or descension, so that it would
be possible to indicate the tune by the curves; in other words, it is a true
phonautograph.

By trial one can find some tone which causes the membrane to vibrate in a
single plane, and of course a straight line will appear upon the screen. If,
while the sound is continued, the tube be swung back and forth at right angles to
the line, the sinuous line will appear, which may be either simple, representing a
pure and simple sound, or it may be compound-sinuous, showing over-tones,
precisely as in Konig's man9metric flames.

With the lecture-room darkened and using the beam of light from a pori
lumiere or from a lantern, these may be projected of an immense size. There is
no trouble in the world in making them eight or ten feet amplitude or more if
needed. At a distance of but three or four feet, the curves will spread out to
two or three feet in length when a tone is made to which the tube can reasonably
respond.

The Absorption Bands of Chlorophyll have been studied by M. Chau-
tard, who divides the chlorophyll bands into three distinct categories. The first
contains simply the band in the middle of the red ; this he calls the specific band.
In the second he includes all bands which have been observed in chlorophyll solu-
tions, new or old, neutral, acid, or alkaline ; these he calls supernumerary bands.
The most remarkable is that which results from division of the specific band in the
red, under the influence of alkalies. The third category comprises accidental
bands, not having the permanent character of the preceding, and being produced
in special conditions. Of this kind is that from a division of the specific band
through acids. The additional band here seems to arise from the less refrangible
side, while in the alkaline solution it arises from the other. M. Chautard gives
full particulars of the treatment of chlorophyll to obtain various bands.

Our next number will contain the conclusion of Dr. Barnard's paper on the
Germ Theory, and the two papers by M. Nobert from ^ Poggendorff, referred to by
Dr. Woodward, on page 227 of this issue.

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