'?o"u™al,^ayTlH7o!'J PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 269 



Literary and Philosophical Society op Manchester. 



Ordinary meeting, February 22nd, 1870. J. P. Joule, D.C.L., 

 LL.D., F.E.S., &c., President, in tlie chair. — The only paper of micro- 

 scopical interest was the following : " On the Organic Matter of 

 Human Breath in Health and Disease," by Dr. Arthur Eansome, M.A. 

 The author having given an account of the chemical constitution, then 

 considered the question of the presence of spores. 



Mr. Dancer's calculation of the number of spores contained in the 

 air was noticed, but a source of error was pointed out in the readiness 

 with which organisms are develoj)ed in suitable fluids, even in the 

 course of a few hours. Observations upon the organic particles of 

 respired air had at different times been made by the author. 



1. In 1857 glass plates covered with glycerine had been exposed in 

 different places and examined microscoj^ically. Amongst others, in the 

 dome of the Borough Gaol, to which all the respired air in the build- 

 ing is conducted : organized particles from the lungs and various fibres 

 were foimd in this air. 



2. Diu'ing a crowded meeting at the Free Trade Hall, air from one 

 of the boxes was drawn for two hours through distilled water, and the 

 sediment examined after thirty-six hoiu's. The following objects were 

 noted : — fibres, separate cellules, nucleated cells, surrounded by gra- 

 nular matter, numerous epithelial scales from the lungs and skia. 



3. The dust from the top of one of the pillars was also examined, 

 and in addition to other objects, the same epithelial scales were de- 

 tected. 



4. Several of the specimens of fluid from the lungs were also searched 

 with the microscope. In all of them epithelium in different stages of 

 deterioration was abundantly present, but very few sj)ores were found 

 in any fresh specimen. On the other hand, after the fluid had been kept 

 for a few hours, myriads of vibriones and many spores were found. 



In a case of diphtheria, confervoid filaments were noticed ; and in 

 two other cases, one of measles and one of whooping cough, abundant 

 specimens of a small-celled torula were found, and these were seen to 

 increase in numbers for two days, after which they ceased to develop. 



These differences in the nature of the bodies met with probably 

 show some difference in the natiu-e of the fluid given off ; but it was 

 pointed out that they afford no proof as yet of the germ theory of dis- 

 ease. They simply show the readiness with which the aqxieous vapour 

 of the breath supports fermentation, and the dangers of bad ventila- 

 tion, especially in hospitals. 



Dr. E. Lund and Dr. H. Browne stated that they had also made 

 experiments, the results of which were, in general, confirmatory of 

 those obtained by Dr. Eansome. 



Ordinary meeting, March 8th, 1870. J. P. Joule, D.C.L., LL.D., 

 F.E.S., &c.. President, in the Chair. — The following letter from Mr. 

 Dancer, F.E.A.S., dated March 5, 1870, was read : — 



I was not present at the last ordinary meeting on Feb. 22nd, but 

 seeing my name mentioned in the printed report of Dr. A Eansome's 

 paper "On the Organic Matter of Human Breath," in which it is 



