6o 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[Man, 1883. 



Nachet spring nose-pieces instead of a 

 screw, for attaching objectives. 



Mr. A. D. Balen showed some fine 

 desmids, C/ostcrimn, Costnarinin and 

 Micrasterias, and also some fine speci- 

 mens of living rhizopods which he named 

 Difflugia. 



Mr. Van Brunt exhibited a very re- 

 markable preparation of the diatom 

 Bacillaria paradoxa, which showed the 

 frustules burnt upon a cover-glass, main- 

 taining their position just as in life. 

 This preparation was made by adding 

 alcohol to the water containing the dia- 

 toms. They were suddenly killed, and 

 did not separate. 



At a meeting of the Microscopical So- 

 ciety of Central Illinois, the following 

 officers were elected for the ensuing year : 

 Rev. J. A. Reed, president; Dr. G. N. 

 Kreider, vice-president; Sergeant T. B. 

 Jennings, U. S. Signal Service, secretary. 

 After the transaction of regular business, 

 Sergeant Jennings began the reading of 

 his paper, entitled " Some Things I Have 

 Seen in the Waters from Reservoir 

 Park." The sergeant has been studying 

 this water for the past two years or more, 

 and this paper is the result. The first 

 section, devoted to Protozoa, was taken 

 up, and a technical description of what 

 constitutes a protozoon read. 



At a meeting of the Illinois State 

 Society, Dr. R. Tilley gave an account of 

 the theory of development and life-his- 

 tory of the blood-corpuscle as advanced 

 by Dr. Richard Norris, of Birmingham, 

 England. The chief points were as fol- 

 lows : There exists in the blood an abso- 

 lutely colorless corpuscle, and others of 

 gradually increased shades until we reach 

 the ordinary red color. The colorless 

 disc is the young corpuscle just thrown 

 into the blood channels from the lymphoid 

 organs. The red corpuscle is the cor- 

 puscle approaching its dissolution. The 

 colorless disc is invisible because it is of 

 the same specific gravity and index of 

 refraction as the plasma. The discs can 

 be rendered visible by various reagents 

 and mechanical devices. The formation 

 of the fibrin of the blood is due to the 

 coalescence of these colorless discs. A 

 discussion followed the reading of the 

 paper, in which Dr. Curtis, Mr. Fellows, 

 and others took part. Dr. Tilley suc- 

 ceeded in giving a fine demonstration of 

 the presence of the colorless corpuscles 

 in the blood. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



The Bacteria : An Account of their 

 Nature and Effects, together with a 

 Systematic Description of the Species. 

 By T. J. Burrill, Ph. D., Professor of 

 Botany and Horticulture, Illinois In- 

 dustrial University; Botanist Illinois 

 State Board of Agriculture. (Pamphlet, 

 pp. 65.) 



This pamphlet is taken from the 

 Eleventh Report of the Illinois Indus- 

 trial University. The classification of the 

 bacteria given in thispamphletis atransla- 

 tion by the author from the latest edition 

 of Rabenhorst's " Kryptogamen- Flora," 

 based upon Cohn's arrangement, with a 

 few additions by the writer. " As the 

 work now stands the systematic descrip- 

 tion of species, herein given, is believed > 

 to be the fullest and most nearly com- | 

 plete of any in existence." 



Annual Report of the Chief Signal Offi- 

 cer to the Secretary of War for the 

 year 1880. Washington: Government 

 Printing Office, 1881. (Pp. ii2d, with 

 numerous maps and illustrations.) 



This valuable report contains a great 

 amount of information which cannot fail 

 to contribute largely to the knowledge of 

 meteorological phenomena. To attempt 

 to afford even a superficial idea of its 

 contents would require more space than 

 is at our disposal here. 



Exchanges. 



Wanted. — I will give a good type slide of diatoms, 

 or a Slide of arranged diatoms, for a gaihering of Fleuro- 

 sigina angit/aiuin. Thos. Christian, 108 Virginia St., 

 Richmond, Va. 



DiATOMACEous MATERIAL and Histological slides 

 for other well-mounted and named slides of Foramini- 

 fera, Animal Parasites, Pathological subjects, etc. R. 

 Cauch, M.D., Carpenteria, Cal. 



Sections : Kitten's Jaw, teeth in situ, in exchange 

 for first-class slides. Jay L. Smith, 86 Beekman St., 

 New York City. 



Fo siL Diatoms from Carson, Nev., and Posa Creek, 

 Cal., slides or material to exchange for good diatoms, 

 mounted or material. Also, many other diatoms; lists 

 exchanged. The above depo lits are rich and newly dis- 

 covered by myself. V. H. Engels, M.D., Virginia, Nev. 



For .Slides of Diatoms from the Wabash & Erie 

 Canal at Ft. Wayne, send any well-mounted slide to 

 H. C. Tresselt, Fort Wayne, Ind. 



