306 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



(6) Miscellaneous. 



Output from Optical and Mechanical Workshops.* — Under the 

 above title (Aus Optischen und Mechanischen Werkstatfcen) E. Wychgram 

 contributes his sixth notice of the annual progress in optical work. In 

 this case he deals with 1913, and the chief improvements in that year in 

 German optical instruments will be found duly recorded. 



Quekett Microscopical Club. — The 497th Ordinary Meeting was 

 held on March 24, 1914, the President, Prof. A. Dendy, F.R.S., in the 

 Chair. N. E. Brown, A.L.S. " Some notes on the Structure of Dia- 

 toms." This principally dealt with the observation of very minute 

 pores having a diameter of the order of 1 li, through which it was 

 considered protoplasmic filaments were protruded to about 7 fx. The 

 pores had been observed in Nitzschia scalaris, Amphipleura lindheimeri, 

 Stauroneis phmnicenteron, and in a small unknown species of Pinnularia. 

 The new -^-inch oil-immersion objective, issued by Messrs. Zeiss, was 

 described by E. M. Nelson, F.R.M.S. 



The 498th Ordinary Meeting was held on April 28. E. M. Nelson, 

 F.R.M.S., had calculated "a new low-power condenser." This, with the 

 top on, has a focus of one inch, and with top off, two inches. A speci- 

 men was exhibited, arranged to give dark-ground illumination with a 

 new device for centring the patch top, also designed by E. M. Nelson. 

 N. E. Brown, A.L.S., described the structure of the flower of Vinca 

 minor, with especial reference to the fertilizing devices, and metioned 

 the extreme scarcity of the fruit of this plant both in this country and 

 on the Continent. The Hon. Sec. (J. Burton) exhibited and described 

 an abnormal form of Arachnoidiscus ornatus, from Mauritius, which had 

 the appearance of a cylinder rather than the usual disk-like form of but 

 slight depth. The depth of the abnormal form was from three to four 

 times that of the normal, the diameter in both forms remaining constant. 



B. Technique. t 

 (1) Collecting: Objects, including- Culture Processes. 



Cultivation of Gonococcus.J — A. Lumiere and J. Chevrotier make 

 a further communication about this method of cultivating gonococcus.§ 

 They point out that the medium should consist of barley-malt, with or 

 without hops, and should not contain a trace of any starchy or sugary 

 substances. Beerwort should not contain more than from 22 "5 to 

 55 grm. of reducing sugar per litre. The reaction of the medium 

 should be distinctly alkaline. The addition of ■fo ass-serum is a distinct 



* Zoitschr. wiss. Mikrosk., xxx. (1914) pp. 319-48 (30 figs.). 



f This subdivision contains (1) Collecting Objects, including Culture Pro- 

 cesses ; (2) Preparing Objects ; (3) Cutting, including Embedding and Microtomes ; 

 (4) Staining and Injecting ; (5) Mounting, including slides, preservation fluids, etc. ; 

 (6) Miscellaneous. 



X Comptes Rendus, clviii. (1914) pp. 1287-8. 



§ See this Journal, ante, p. 83. 



