r „ Dr. Ralph. 



380 



March 28th, 1884. — Ordinary Meeting. 

 Dr. M. C. Cooke, M.A., A.L.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the minutes of the preceding meeting, which were 

 confirmed and signed by the President. 



Mr. Arthur Beetham was balloted for and duly elected a member of the 

 Club. 



The following donations were announced ; — 



"Proceedings of the Geologists' Association" From the Association. 



" Science Gossip " „ „ Publisher. 



Cole's " Studies in Microscopical Science" ... Purchased. 

 Dr. Cooke's " Fresh Water Alga?," part 7 ... „ „ 

 " Annals of Natural History " ... ... ... „ „ 



"Proceedings of the Belgian Microscopical) 



Society" / From the Society. 



" The Microscope " ... ... ... ... ,, „ Editor. 



" American Monthly Microscopical Journal "... In Exchange. 



"The Analyst" From the Editor. 



Reprint of a Paper " On the occurrence of 



Bacteria? and Bacilli in living plants 



The thanks of the meeting were voted to the donors. 



Mr. Ingpen said that Dr. Ralph's paper had particular reference to what he 



had found upon the Australian Vallimeria, a specimen of which it would be 



remembered was presented to the Club by Dr. Ralph some time ago. This 



was still living, and he had examined the leaves to see if he could find any 



Bacilli upon them. On the healthy leaves he was only able to discover a 



few, but on those which were dying they were tolerably numerous. This 



Yallisneria, it would be remembered, grew under favourable circumstances 



to a length of five or six feet. The power he used in order to see the 



Bacilli was a ^in. They were not so large as Bacillus Tuberculosis. 



Mr. Hardy suggested that some off-shoots from this Yallisneria should be 

 placed in the tank of the Botanic Society at Regent's Park, where the con- 

 ditions would no doubt favour its development. 



Mr E. M. Nelson said he had received on the previous Saturday a 

 beautiful packet of diatoms from Professor Hamilton Smith, mounted in his 

 new medium, having a refractive index of 2*4. Some of them had gone 

 bad, but he was able to find some specimens fit for examination, and had 

 resolved them perfectly with a T \ £, and £ object glass, also with an old 

 -jLin. made many years ago, and having an angle equal to 141° in the air. 

 He also wished to mention that he had found that the Tubercle Bacillus 

 was to be very well seen by dark ground illumination — it took the light very 

 strongly, and gave the appearance of grains of gold on black velvet. This 

 mode of illumination saved the eyes from the woful glare of the direct 

 light, and also enabled the objects to be much more easily detected. 

 Mr. Ingpen enquired in what way these objects could be stained ? 

 Mr. Nelson said that the ordinary staining by Dr. Gibbe's method answered 

 very well. Those specimens which he had exhibited were stained in that way. 



