and Laboratory Methods. 1147 



NEWS AND NOTES. 



Mr. F. B. Kilmer gives the following report of the December meeting of the 

 New Brunswick Society : 



Under the reports of sections, Dr. Henry R. Baldwin announced that experi- 

 ments were being made with luminous bacteria. 



Prof. F. C. Van Dyck explained a new application of the microscope to 

 ascertain the tensile strength of metals. 



The President, F. B. Kilmer, delivered a paper entitled " A Study of Cotton," 

 which was illustrated by lantern slides and by slides under the microscope. He 

 showed that cotton fibre had been in use in some form since very ancient times ; that 

 while the principal use for cotton fibre is the manufacture of thread and cloth, in 

 recent years many new and important uses have been devised. It forms a 

 component part of the high explosives which are known as gun cotton, smokeless 

 powder, tonite, blasting gelatin, etc. In the form of nitrated cotton, which is 

 soluble in certain liquids, varnishes and lacquers for metal, paper, wood and 

 cloth, imitation leather and silk, substitutes for India rubber and gutta percha 

 are manufactured. Materials of this character made of cotton were exhibited by 

 the speaker. A modern application for cotton is its use as a dressing for 

 wounds. 



Cotton for surgical purposes is known as absorbent cotton, which means that 

 the oil, wax and varnish-like coating of the fibre have been removed, and the fibre 

 thereupon absorbs water and other liquids. 



The speaker explained the minute structure of a cotton fibre, and while this 

 appeared to the naked eye as a solid cylindrical hair, under the microscope it 

 was found to be a more or less collapsed tube with an outer sheath and an inner 

 opening to the center of the tube. This sheath was associated with a varnish or 

 oily substance and the whole permeated with wax and coloring matter. He 

 stated that while this was the accepted construction of the fibre, he had reason 

 to believe there was much yet to be learned, and slides were exhibited to show 

 that the structure was very complex. A number of slides showed the cotton 

 plant in the various stages of growth ; its cultivation, picking and preparation for 

 the market and shipping. Among the slides were those which gave the typical 

 cotton staples of the world. 



The second annual meeting of the Society of American Bacteriologists was 

 held in the Pathological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University on December 

 27 and 28. A full programme of papers was presented and four sessions of the 

 society were held. The society elected Prof. W. H. Welch of Johns Hopkins 

 University as its president for the year 1901. Information concerning the 

 society may be obtained by writing the secretary, H. W. Conn, Middletown, Ct. 



Methods in Germination of Spores. — The hanging drop culture is 

 undoubtedly the most convenient method of observing spore germination. It is 

 desirable to employ large rings, which should be cemented to the glass slips by a 



