8 JOURNAL OF THE [January, 



and Prior's liquefies the gelatin very quickly; Deneke's and the 

 Vibrio Meischnikoff not quite as fast as Finkler and Prior's, but 

 faster than Koch's; and Miller's not growing at all. Koch's 

 spirillum also grows on agar-agar, milk, serum, potatoes, and, in 

 fact, on almost any cultivating medium, if not too greatly diluted. 

 It needs oxygen, grows best at a temperature between 60° and 

 105° F., is completely destroyed at a temperature of 140° F. in 

 ten minutes, only grows on neutral or slightly alkaline media, 

 and is soon destroyed by drying. 



The last feature shows that it cannot spread through air. It 

 can only act when introduced through the mouth into the stomach. 

 It can be destroyed by sublimate (i: 2,000), carbolic acid (half of 

 one per cent), chloride of lime, sulphuric acid, etc. The disease 

 can be prevented with comparative ease. All contact with infected 

 material must be absolutely avoided, and such material thor- 

 oughly disinfected. The hands must be kept scrupulously clean, 

 and all water must be boiled before use. The stomach should 

 be kept in good condition, as the comma bacillus will be de- 

 stroyed in the stomach if the latter performs its functions nor- 

 mally. 



PROCEEDINGS. 



Meeting of October 7th, 1892. 



The President, Mr. J. D. Hyatt, in the chair. 



Twenty-eight persons present. 



The Corresponding Secretary read a communication from Mr. 

 K. M. Cunningham, dated Houston, Texas, September 29th, 1892, 

 accompanying a donation to the Cabinet of the Society of a slide 

 of pyritized diatoms and foraminifera, as follows : 



'* I forward a slide of marine diatoms and foraminifera, pyrit- 

 ized, or metamorphosed. They are derived from a stratified 

 clay, at a depth of about thirty feet, in the deepening of the slip 

 in front of the new grain elevator at Galveston, Texas. The natu- 

 ral submarine strata were removed by powerful suction dredges, 

 and discharged in a continuous flow into the adjacent lowlands, 

 with the object of securing deeper water and at the same time of 

 reclaiming a littoral marsh for railroad purposes. In the expul- 



