194 THE MICROSCOPE. 



Society 5?voccc(Uncj: 



THK regular meeting of the State Microscopical Society of Illinois 

 was held at the Academy of Science, No. 263 Wabash Ave., 

 on Friday evening Dec. 9th, 1881. President Dr. Lester Curtis 

 in the chair, after the reading of minutes and other routine 

 business the Secretary announced the following dcjnations: 



From Dr. Schmidt, of Xew Orleans, one dozen slides, con- 

 sisting of nerve fibres and other histological preparations. 



"Botanical notes" from Prof. E. J. Hill, of Englewood, 111. 



Bulletin of Microscopical Society of Belgium, and the report of 

 the Microscopical Society of Liverpool. 



Dr. Angier, of Ft. Madison, Iowa, spoke in reference to 

 some acari which he had found under the skin of a chicken. 



Prof. Burrill, of Champaign University was introduced and 

 spoke in reference to the poison of the poison ivy. He took 

 some of the excudation and found it teeming with bacteria and. 

 he questioned whether the poisoning and the bacteria came from 

 the plant or otherwise. The speaker stated that upon examina- 

 tion of the washings of the leaves he found the same forms, the 

 milky fluid which exuded from the stem contained numbers of 

 them and the effect of placing some of this upon his arm had 

 been attended with quite serious results. 



The speaker went on to say that he had found the foregoing 

 facts true with other plants among which he mentioned the 

 chicory, buckwheat and dandelion. 



Dr. Curtis described a new half inch objective made by 

 Gunlack and owned by Dr. J. Hollite. The glass was claimed 

 by the maker to have an angle of 100". Its angle had not been 

 measured since leaving his hands. 



It has the society screw and can be used on any ordinary 

 stand. The back lens of the objective is large and extends be- 

 yond the border of the opening in the screw. This opening there- 

 fore, acts as a diaphragm. In order to secure the benefit of the 

 full aperature the portion of the objective can be removed and 

 an adapter furnished with the Butterfield broad gauge screw can 

 be substituted. It has also another screw of about the same 

 diameter as the Butterfield screw, but provided with a finer 



