Proceedings. 25 



The vigour of the growth of fungi, as of other plants, 

 depends on the seed and on the soil. We know that the 

 growth of some plants exhausts the soil ; other plants grow 

 anywhere and for any length of time. So with disease -germs. 

 Smallpox, for example, grows for a limited time till the 

 nourishment is exhausted, whereas the typhoid germ can 

 always find its needed nourishment ; the consumption microhe 

 finds nourishment in some persons, and not in others. 



In reply to Mr. Gill, Dr. Bossey stated that organisms have 

 been found in cases of hay-fever, but he was not aware that 

 they were known in common catarrh. 



Mr. Newman remarked that scavengers were usually strong, 

 hearty men, and therefore not good soil for typhoid germs. 



Dr. Bossey expressed the opinion that water carries infection 

 far oftener than the air does. 



Mr. James Backhouse, jun., of York, described the 

 " Physical Geography, Flora, and Fauna of Iceland." 



Iceland contains good natural harbours on the north, 

 east, and west coasts. On the eastern coast the mountains 

 rise steeply from the sea to 3000 ft. , and the fiords are narrow 

 and hard to navigate. The rocks and soil are entirely volcanic. 

 The geysers and hot springs are well-known features ; some 

 of the springs are hot enough to boil food in a few minutes ; 

 one lava-bed is forty-five miles in length by thirty miles broad. 

 Towards the east of Iceland is the high glacier-covered table- 

 land, the VatnaJokul, 3000 square miles in area! Wattscrossed 

 it with a guide in 1875, at great risk of his life. The Lagarfljot 

 Lake is forty-five miles in length, reaching to within half a 

 mile of the sea, into which it empties itself by waterfalls. 

 The most recent volcano is Askja, 3000 ft. in height, which 

 was in eruption in 1874 ; volcanic dust consisting of powdered 

 pumice fell to a depth of four inches over the adjacent valleys ; 

 it was then raised by the wind, and gradually subsided into 

 heaps ; Hecla has not been active for many years. The 

 highest mountain in Iceland, Orefa Jokul, is about 6400 ft. 

 Several of the largest rivers rise in the Vatna Jokul, Lagar- 

 fljot being one of the longest. 



There are only two woods ui Iceland, the trees bemg 

 Birches ; in one of these, at Hallormstade, where the trees 



