20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



Bee. 2m, 1869. 



F. W. Lewis, M.D., in the Chair. 



Seventeen membei's present. 



Dr. J. G. Richardson donated two slides of blood of the meno- 

 branchus, mounted dry. 



Dr. H. C. Wood exhibited specimens of Nostoc cristaium, Bailej, from the 

 Alleghany range, and also others from the Rocky Mountains. He stated that 

 he believed this species was identical with N. Aljrmum, of Europe, and 

 remarked upon the three widely separated localities in which it had been 

 found. He thought the key to the mystery was in a little plant described 

 under the name of JV. Dickiaei, from Northern British America, apparently 

 identical with N. cristatum, and which he thought indicated a connection 

 between the mountain localities through the cold northern regions. 



Dr. J. G. Hunt called attention to some previously undescribed 

 glands in the Drosera rotundifoUa, and remarked — 



In addition to the well-known oval glands on the leaves of this interesting 

 plant, I have detected others presenting some features of interest and beauty. 

 These new glands are cylindrical in shape and slightly curved, and are about 

 one quarter of a line iu length. Beautiful spiral cells occupy the central 

 parts of the glands, and on these spirals rest the columnar cells which ex- 

 crete the peculiar liquid of the plant. But these excreting cells occupy only 

 one side, whereas they entirely surround the oval glands. I have found them 

 only on the circumference of the leaves, on long filaments; they unfold, 

 therefore, earlier than those of oval shape, and fade sooner. 



Dr. Hunt also exhibited certain vegetable specimens mounted in carbolic 

 acid solutions, which had kept remarkably well, and expressed his preference 

 for these solutions in preserving vegetable tissues. 



Dr. Tyson stated that in the preservation of animal tissues he had 

 found carbolic acid the most satisfactory medium, usually in the proportion 

 of 1 part to 50, with the addition of glycerin sufiicient to bring up the sp. 

 gr. to 1028, about that of the fluid by which tissues are bathed in health. 

 For tube casts, a proportion of about 1 to 100 was sufficient, and care must 

 be taken not to add too gi-eat a bulk at the beginning, lest the albumen of 

 albuminous urine be thrown down, and the specimen thus ruined. 



Dr. Wood thought that the impression held by some, that creasote pos- 

 sessed preservative properties 6 or 7 times as great as those of carbolic acid, 

 lay in the fact that much of the creasote of the shops is really impure car- 

 bolic acid, containing a certain proportion of cresi/lic acid, which may pos- 

 sess much greater preservative property. 



Dr. Lewis desired to know the experience of members with acetate of 

 alumina. 



Drs. Wood and Hunt both found a precipitation of the salt to take place 

 in the preparations mounted in it. 



Dr. Hunt said that for preserving entomological specimens, solutions of 

 chloride of zinc were better even than carbolic acid, and also said that suc- 

 cessful preservation of delicate specimens, of animal or vegetable nature, 

 was at best relative, and that even the most successfully preserved tissues 

 soon exhibited changes which distinguished them from fresh specimens, 

 though they might little impair their beauty or utility. 



Mr. Walmsly referred to some remarks he had some time ago made, with 

 regard to the preservative properties of glycerin jelly, which he still found 

 useful, but not so generally so as carbolic acid solution, on account of its 

 transparency. 



[Dec. 



