26 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 



tation (32° C). Up to tlie present time, no change whatever has 

 taken place in the liquid. 



As a control experiment he opened one of the tubes immediately 

 after boiling, and introduced a drop of distilled water. It became 

 opalescent in twenty-four hours. 



In conclusion, he observes that he still maintains his resolution 

 to take no side whatever in this controversy. He does not hold that 

 spontaneous generation is imj)ossible. He does not regard hetero- 

 genists as scientific heretics. All he says is, that up to the present 

 moment he is not aware of any proof that they are right. 



Structure of Lichens and Algce. — A very capital work has appeared 

 on this subject in Germany, It is a German translation from the 

 Danish of Oersted, and is illustrated by over ninety woodcuts. It is 

 a capital text-book of the Lower Cryptogamia, adapted to the use of 

 ordinary classes or individual students desirous to find their way to a 

 good general knowledge of the structure and classification of Fungi, 

 Lichens, and Algce. The woodcuts are very striking, and tell their 

 story with great clearness. It is much to be wished that we had 

 something of the sort in this country, in which there is an increasing 

 desire to study the Lower Cryptogamia, but hardly any appliances 

 for it, 



A very large Cuttle Fish is hardly a subject for a Microscopical 

 Journal ; but it is such a curious animal of a very large size, that it 

 may not be uninteresting to note the locality where it is described. 

 The description of this huge beast appears in the first volume of pro- 

 ceedings issued by a scientific society (German) founded in Japan. 

 It states that a specimen has recently been captured there of a large 

 cephalopod of the genus Ommastrephes found in the adjacent seas. 

 The length of the Ommastrephes from the point at the hinder extre- 

 mity to the front edge of the mantle was 186 centimetres (6 feet 

 1 inch), and 41 centimetres (1 foot 5 inches) more to the mouth. 

 The longer of the eight arms measured 197 centimetres, or nearly 

 6^ feet. 



Tlie Migrations of White Corpuscles. — At the recent meeting of 

 the German Scientific and Medical Associations at Wiesbaden some 

 valuable papers were read, a few of which we are enabled to supply 

 from the coliunns of our contemporary, the 'Academy.' Of these, 

 the first was on the above subject. Herr Thoma described the migra- 

 tion of white corpuscles into the lymphatics of the tongue of the 

 frog. He injected the lymphatics of the living animal with an ex- 

 tremely dilute solution (o uW^^ ^^' is uVotl^) of silver nitrate, and fcmnd 

 that with certain precautions this did not lead to stasis of the blood in 

 the blood-vessels, but only to a lively exodus of the white corpuscles 

 from their interior. After a time the re-entrance of the corpuscles 

 into the vessels through certain stomata in their walls, marked by a 

 precipitation of the silver, is observed. In a second series of experi- 

 ments the lymphatics were injected with a dilute emulsion of cinnabar 

 in a f per cent, solution of common salt. The cinnabar is in part 

 dci)ositcd in the stomata of the lymphatic vessels, i)artly passes 



