162 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[September. 



erally, and we hope will continue to 

 do so. The usual number of the 

 older members arrived on Monday, 

 and on Tuesday forenoon, so that the 

 opening of the first session of the 

 meeting at 3 o'clock P. M. on Tues- 

 day found about sixty members and a 

 considerable number of their friends 

 present. Members continued to ar- 

 rive by every boat, and on Thursday 

 about two hundred persons wearing 

 the badge of the Society could be 

 counted, about two-thirds of whom 

 were members. About sixty new 

 members were elected at this meet- 

 ing. 



The first session, after the transac- 

 tion of ordinary i^outine business, was 

 devoted wholly to the subject of but- 

 ter and fats, and their detection and 

 discrimination, etc. It was fully un- 

 derstood that Dr. Thomas Taylor, 

 of the Department of Agriculture, 

 and Prof. H. A. Weber, of the Ohio 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 would be pitted against each other as 

 the chief contestants, as it is well 

 known to microscopists and chemists 

 that these two gentlemen entertain 

 exactly opposite views on the subject, 

 and especially as to the reliability of 

 Dr. Taylor's published tests for the 

 detection of oleomargarine and for- 

 eign fots in butter. Prof. Weber first 

 took the floor, and read a well-pre- 

 piired paper, reiterating substantially 

 the position taken in the bulletins is- 

 sued over his name by the Ohio Ex- 

 periment Station, and known as bul- 

 letins No. 13 and 15, with which most 

 of our readers are familiar. Dr. 

 Taylor followed in support of his 

 well-known position, maintaining in 

 substance the same views set forth in 

 his published papers in the Reports 

 of the Department of Agriculture and 

 the proceedings of the American 

 Society of Microscopists for 1885. 

 President Burrill, Mr. Vorce, and 

 Dr. Detmers also spoke on the sub- 

 ject, and the latter gentleman exhib- 

 ited photographic prints made by him 

 from preparations by Prof. Weber ; but 

 the chief burden of the debate was 



borne by Prof. Weber and Dr. Tay- 

 lor, each of whom maintained his 

 position with ability, and at the same 

 time with perfect courtesy and good 

 feeling, the discussion, although con- 

 suming the entire afternoon , at no time 

 becoming in the least degree acrimo- 

 nious. Later on the committee ap- 

 pointed at Cleveland to examine and 

 report upon Dr. Taylor's claims, of 

 which Dr. Detmers was chairman, 

 rendered a very brief non-committal 

 report, which was, however, in effect 

 favorable to Dr. Taylor's claims for 

 the value of his processes. 



The address of President Burrill 

 was delivered on Tuesday evening to 

 a lai^ge and apparently appreciative 

 audience, to whom he was introduced 

 in an eloquent address of welcome to 

 the Society by Chancellor Rev. J. H. 

 Vincent, in behalf of the Chautauqua 

 Association. President Burrill's sub- 

 ject was ' Bacteria and Disease,' 

 which he treated at length and in ac- 

 cord with the most advanced ideas. 

 Papers were read on Wednesday 

 by Dr. G. W. Lewis, Jr., of Buftalo, 

 on the Comma Bacillus ; by Dr. Geo. 

 E. Fell, on Dcnwdex fofUctilorHin ; 

 by Dr. R. H. Ward, of Troy, on 

 Micrometer wires, and on Microscop- 

 ical Societies; by Dr. F. S. New- 

 comer, of Lidianapolis. on Prepara- 

 tion and Selection of Diatoms. On 

 Thursday, papers by Dr. M. D.Ewell, 

 of Chicago, on A Study of Centi- 

 meter bar A, and by Prof. W. A. 

 Rogers, of Cambridge, on the Effect 

 of Temperature in Comparing Stan- 

 dards of Length, were read by the 

 latter. On Friday, papers by E. 

 Gundlach, on Optical Errors and 

 Human Mistakes ; by Edward 

 Bausch, on the Inverted Microscope ; 

 by D. W. P. Manton, on Microscop- 

 ical Anatomy of the Ovary, and by 

 Prof. H. L. Smith, on Further Ex- 

 periments on Media of High Refrac- 

 tive Index, were read. Several other 

 papers were read during the meeting, 

 and much interesting discusssion on 

 the papers read took place. We 

 shall endeavor to lay before our read- 



