1896.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 403 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES. 



At the Biolog-ical Society of Washington, Dr. Erwin F. 

 Smith exhibited specimens of Leuconostoc mesenteroides 

 from a sug"ar house in Louisiana. These were in the 

 shape of fist large g-elatinous ag'g'reg-ates. If the vats are 

 not sterilized at frequent intervals this org-anism multi- 

 plies very rapidly in the sugar cane juice and causes much 

 inconvenience and loss. 



Dr. Erwin F. Smith also described a bacterial disease of 

 Potatoes, Tomatoes and Eg-g--plant, caused by a new micro- 

 organism, Bacillus solanaceanum, which he believed to be 

 the cause of a large part of the potato rot of the United 

 States. 



At the New York Academy of Science meeting, October 

 12, 1896, Prof. Bristol gave a brief account of the progress 

 at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood's Holl, Mass., 

 during the past summer. 



In the recentlv organized department of biologv in the 

 graduate school of Georgetown University, Mr. M. B. 

 Waite has been appointed professor of botany. 



MEDICAL mCROSCOPY. 



Bacteriology of Strangulated Hernia. — Brentano, in the 



Deidsche Zeitschrlft fnr C/iinn-gie, gives the results of the study 

 of a number of strangulated hernias, with reference to the 

 bacteriological contents of the hernial fluid, in the cases 

 occurring in Koerte's wards in Berlin. He concludes: 



1. That the water of strangulated human hernia contains 

 micro-organisms much more frequently than we have been 

 justified in supposing from previous publieations. 



2. That the bacteria of hernial water are frequently few 

 in number and exist iu a condition of diminished vitality, 

 perhaps as the result of the bactericidal action of the water. 



3. That as a result of this action of hernial water upon 



