PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. Vil 
into suitable compounds for plant food, and in their relation to such 
diseases as anthrax in the lower animals, and diphtheria and cholera in 
the human race. The author described the general methods of bacterio- 
logical work, the modifying modes of culture by which vaccines are pro- 
duced, and showed the several forms of apparatus and appliances used. 
The whole subject was admirably illustrated by preparations and live 
cultures shown under excellent microscopes. The water supplied to the 
City of Halifax had been examined, and was found to be remarkably 
free from deleterious bacteria ; the author, however, offered suggestions 
as to keeping the lakes clear of decaying vegetable matter that might at 
any time menace the health of the city. The animated discussion that 
followed was a feature of the meeting. Dr. A. H. Mackay, who had also 
studied the subject, showed by calculation the prodigious rate at which 
bacteria multiply, and enforced upon the audience the object lesson of 
necessity for scrupulous cleanliness in the kitchen which the fleeting 
life-histories of the bacteria taught us. Dr. Somers expressed his belief 
that the investigation of bacterial phenomena was of scientific interest, 
but he could not admit that the germ theory of disease had been estab- 
lished. Dr. A. P. Reid, on the other hand, regarded bacteriology as of 
vital importance to the medical profession, and to the people, and con 
gratulated the Institute on being the means of presenting to the com- 
munity an exposition and illustration of this subject that every one could 
appreciate ; to-night, he said, for the first time in the history of medical 
science in Halifax, the living and moving bacillus of cholera had been 
shown. 
The May meeting, being the last of the session, was overcrowded 
with papers ; eight were brought forward, several having lain over from 
previous meetings. Some had to be read by title only. The first was 
a notice of a new test for Antipyrine, by the President. Antipyrine is 
the therapeutical name and that commonly used, for the chemical com- 
pound properly called oxy-phenyl-dimethyl-pyrazole, or phenyl-dimethyl- 
pyrazolon ; it belongs to the great class of aromatic compounds, of which 
Benzene CH, is the type ; but it differs from the benzene derivatives in 
containing a pentagonal in place of a hexagonal nucleus, The chemical 
constitution of the compound was explained by means of diagrams of the 
graphic formule of related compounds, and the several known tests were 
shown. The special test referred to for detecting, or confirming the 
detection, of this compound, is the re-action obtained by prolonged boil- 
