185 



Mr. Mackenzie said thei-e was no special arrangement for centering. 



Mr. W. H. Gilburt gave a resumS of his paper " On the Histology of 

 Pitcher Plants," the subject being fully illustrated by diagrams. 



The President said they must all feel very much obliged to Mr. Gilburt 

 for having brought this subject forward. It was evident that Dr. Lawson 

 Tate had fallen into some errors, but they were no doubt eiTors of inter- 

 pretation rather than of observation. 



Dr. Matthews said that this plant was interesting as having been at one 

 time proposed as a remedy for small-pox. Was there any acid principle 

 found in it ? 



Mr. Gilburt said it was altogether neutral, giving no acid reaction what- 

 ever. 



Mr. J. W. Eeed asked Mr. Gilburt if he had any theory as to the thicken- 

 ing of vegetable cells ? 



Mr. Gilburt thought the thickening of ligneous cells was for the purpose 

 of strengthening them, and he could only suppose that this was the case in 

 Pitcher Plants. 



The President said if he understood Mr. Gilburt inghtly, the so-called 

 intercellular canals described by Dr. Lawson Tait were merely the effect 

 produced by the thickening of the cells ? 



Mr. Gilburt said that Dr. Tait had not recognised the fact that the cells 

 were thickened, but regarded all that was between them as protoplasm. 

 But it was quite clear that the sui:face cells of all the Pitcher Plants were 

 so thickened, and there was nothing else that could be taken for a canal. 

 It was, however, quite certain that these were not canals. The thickening 

 of the cell wall he evidently regarded as the boundary of the cell itself, 

 and all else between he took for a channel ; it was undoubtedly a case of 

 misinterpretation. 



The I'resident read " Some Further Observations on Human FilaricB,'" by 

 Dr. Manson, in which he not only confirmed his previous observations, but 

 indicated the lymphatic tissues as the locality in which these worms were 

 to be found. The presence of Filarice in the brains and hearts of birds was 

 also mentioned, and a bottle was exhibited, containing a number of hearts 

 of Chinese magpies, each of which swarmed with these parasites. 



The President also communicated translations of some recent papers 

 by foreign helminthologists on the so-called Tunnel Trichinosis and 

 other subjects, which he thought the Club would do well to publish. 

 There was really no such thing as Tunnel Trichinosis ; the disease to which 

 the name had been applied bore no resemblance whatever to Trichinosis 

 proper, and though this had been explained again and again by himself 

 and others, the error was being constantly repeated in the newspapers and 

 elsewhere. 



Dr. M. C. Cooke said he could quite confii-m the last remarks of the 

 President from what he often met with in his own branch of science. He 

 had come to the conclusion that it was a waste of time to combat such 

 errors, and he believed that they would die much sooner if they were let 

 alone. 



