ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, IMICROSCOPY, I'/fC. 109 



(6) Miscellaneous. 



Quekett Microscopical Club. — The 477th Ordinary Meeting of the 

 Club was held on November '28, 1911, the President, Professor E. A. 

 Minchin, M.A., F.R.S., in the Chair. A lecture on " The Relationship 

 between Insects and Disease" was delivered by Dr. J. J. Simpson. No 

 group in the animal kingdom is more intimately connected with the 

 bionomics of the world at large than that designated by the general 

 term " insects," and no group is so prolific in its effects, both for good 

 and evil. On the one side we have the part played by insects in fertiliza- 

 tion, their utility as scavengers, their natural products (such as honey, 

 wax, silk, and colouring matters), etc. On the other side, the destruc- 

 tion of crops by locusts, the effect of weevils on cotton and grain, the 

 immense harm to vines caused by Phylloxera, and, in addition, the 

 almost infinite amount of suffering caused by insects, directly as being 

 the actual cause of disease, and indirectly by mechanical dissemination 

 of pathogenic bacilli, or by acting as intermediate hosts for other patho- 

 genic organisms. The part played by insects in connexion with disease 

 is threefold : (1) as actual parasites ; (2) as mechanical transmitters ; 

 (?)) as intermediate hosts of pathogenic organisms. These three groups 

 were then dealt with at some length, and specimens of many of the 

 species described were exhibited. In the case of relapsing fever it has 

 been demonstrated that the spirochaste may pass from a pregnant female 

 into the Qg^, thence to the larva and to the adult, so that the progeny 

 of infective ticks may themselves be infective without having previously 

 bitten an infected person. An interesting account of the various 

 prophylactic measures recommended and adopted was given. These 

 diseases can never be eradicated simply by medical treatment, and so 

 long as the carrier exists, so long will the disease work its deadly way. 

 One of the first things to be done in this connexion is to obtain a know- 

 ledge of the distribution of all blood-sucking insects — an enormous task, 

 but one that is being slowly and surely accomplished. 



TuTTON, A. E. H. — Rock Crystal: its Structure and Uses. 



Journ. Boy. Soc. Arts., lix. (1911) pp. 1049-54, 1063-1070, 



1076-85 (36 figs.). 



B. Technique.* 



(1) Cellecting' Objects, including- Culture Processes. 



Cultivation of Influenza Bacillus.f— E. Savini and T. Savini 

 Castani have devised an improved medium for cultivation of organisms 

 of the group represented by the influenza bacillus. In previous work 

 they grew this organism upon hajmatin-agar in symbiosis with S'laphi/lo- 

 coccus aureus. The medium was opaque. By the present method it is 

 possible to grow the organism in pure culture upon a transparent 

 medium. Into an Erlenmeyer flask are poured 5 c.cm. of glycerin. 

 This is then sterilized. "When cool, there are added to this the scrapings 



* 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. 



t Centralbl. Bakt., Ite Abt. Orig., Ix. (1911) pp. 493-7, 



