September 3, 1891] 



NATURE 



423 



organism. This criticism also applied to M, Buchner's experi- 

 ments, which he had communicated to this meeting ; he insisted 

 on the fact that, in order to assure one's self thoroughly of the 

 bactericidal property of the serum, it was necessary to fake a 

 small quantity of the culture, and spread it in a tube filled with 

 serum. If, according to Dr. Buchner, one introduced a little of 

 the culture wrapped in cotton-wool, the serum could no longer 

 exercise its bactericidal power, and the microbe developed 

 freely. Now, when one inoculated the bacillus under the skin 

 of an animal, one introduced at the same time a small mass 

 which did not spread freely in the blond or exudation, but re- 

 mained localized at one spot. The experiments of Mr. Buch- 

 ner, instead of furnishing an objection to the phagocyte theory, 

 rather supported it. 



Referring to the curative properties of the serum of white rats 

 against anthrax, he had come to the conclusion that, whereas the 

 living serum of white rats had no bactericidal action on anthrax, 

 thedeadserumof the same animals had marked bactericidal powers 

 on the same micro-organism. When a mouse was inoculated 

 with a mixture of the dead serum of a rat and anthrax bacilli, it 

 nearly always died, although the disease lasted somewhat longer 

 than usual. On examination of the point of inoculation it was 

 found that the bacilli of anthrax did not grow quite so readily, 

 and that an enormous number of leucocytes emigrated to the 

 point of inoculation and took the bacilli into their interior and 

 digested them. In tetanus, again, the leucocytes ate up con- 

 siderable quantities of tetanus-spores and bacilli. Summing up 

 his researches, he stated that whenever an animal recovered 

 from an infectious disease this recovery was accompanied by 

 a process of phagocytosis ; whenever an animal died of an in- 

 fectious disease the process of phagocytosis was absent or insuf- 

 ficient. The theory of phagocytes was strictly based on the 

 principles of evolution as laid down by Darwin and Wallace. 



After some remarks by Dr. Fodor, Dr. Cartwright Wood, 

 Prof. Babes, Dr. Wright, and Dr. Arloing, 



Dr. Roux, answering some remarks made by Prof. Emmerich, 

 stated that, far from the preventive inoculations against anthrax 

 and swine fever having been proved to be unsuccessful, agricul- 

 turists in France and other countries were making use of them 

 daily, and the u e of the various vaccins manufactured at the 

 Institut Pasteur >vas increasing day by day. 



Dr. Buchner congratulated Dr. Metchnikoff on his most 

 important paper. He was of opinion, however, that the time 

 for framing a complete theory of immunity had not come yet. 



Sir Joseph Lister then stated that if anything were required 

 to justify the existence of this Congress it would have been their 

 sitting that day. The immense amount of valuable material 

 which they had had on this most important subject had been such 

 as to make all the members exceedingly grateful to those who 

 had brought these matters before them. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIA TION. 



'X'HE following is a list of the grants of money appro 

 ■■• priated to scientific purposes by the General Com , 

 mittee at the Cardifif meeting, August 1891. The names ' 

 of the members entitled to call on the General Treasurer 

 for the respective grants are prefixed : 



A . -^Mathematics and Physics. 



'Foster, Prof. Carey — Electrical Standards (partly 

 renewed) ... 



'McLaren, Lord— Meteorological Observations on 

 Ben Nevis 



'Symons, Mr. G. J.— Photographs of Meteoro- 

 logical Phenomena 



'Cayley, Prof.— Pellian Equation Tables (partly 

 renewed) 



'Rayleigh, Lord— Tables of Mathematical Func- 

 tions ... .. ... ... 



•Fitzgerald, Prof. G. F.— Electrolysis 



'Lodge, Prof. — Discharge of Electricity from 

 Points 



'Thomson, Sir W. — Seismological Phenomena of 

 Japan 



NO. I 1 40, VOL. 44] 



B. — Chemistry and Mineralogy. 



'Roberts- Austen, Prof.— Analysis of Iron and Steel 

 (renewed) 



•Armstrong, Prof, H. E.— Formation of Haloids 

 from Pure Materials (partly renewed) 



*TiIden, Prof. W. A.— Properties of Solutions ... 



*Thorpe, Prof.— Action of Light upon Dyed 

 Colours (partly renewed) 



C. — Geology. 

 *Prestwich, Prof.— Erratic Blocks (partly renewed) 



* Wiltshire, Rev. T.— Fossil Phyllopoda (renewed) 

 "Geikie, Prof. J.— Photographs of Geological 



Interest 



"Woodward, Dr. H.— Registration of Type Speci- 

 mens of British Fossils (renewed) 



"Hull, Prof. E. — Underground Waters 



*Davis, Mr, J. W.— Investigation of Elbolton Cave 



Jones, Prof. R. — Faunal Contents of Sowerbyi 

 Zone 



* Evans, Dr. J.— Excavations at Oldbury Hill 



* Woodward, Dr. H.— Cretaceous Polyzoa 



D. — Biology. 



"Sclater, Dr. P. L.— Table at the Naples Zoological 

 Station 



"Lankester, Mr. E. R. — Table at Plymouth Bio- 

 logical Laboratory (renewed) 



*Haddon, Prof. A, C— Improving a Deep-sea 

 Tow-net (partly renewed) 



"Newton, Prof.— Fauna of Sandwich Islands (re- 

 newed) 



"Sclater, Dr. P. L.— Zoology and Botany of the 

 West India Islands (renewed) 



E. — Geography. 

 Ravenstein, Mr. E. G.— Climatology and Hydro- 

 graphy of Tropical Africa 



H. — Anthropology. 

 "Flower, Prof. — Anthropometric Laboratory 

 Garson, Dr. J. G. — Prehistoric Remains in 



Mashonaland 



"Tylor, Dr. E. B. —North-western Tribes of 



Canada 



^Turner, Sir W. — Habits, Customs, &c., of Natives 



of India (renewed) 



'Flower, Prof —New Edition of Anthropological 



Notes and Queries 



8 16 o 



25 5 o 

 10 o o 



75 o o 



'Symons, Mr. G. 

 Committee... 



J. — Corresponding Societies' 



Reappointed. 



.>f IOI3 15 6 



SECTION E. 



GEOGRAPHY. 



Opening Address by E. G. Ravenstein, F.R.G.S., F.S.S., 

 President of the Section. 



The Field of Geography.^ 

 \x behoves every man from time to time to survey the field of 

 his labours, and to render an account unto himself of the work 

 he has accomplished, and of the tasks which still await him, in 

 order that he may perceive whether the means employed hitherto 

 are commensurate with the magnitude of his undertaking, and 

 likely to lead up to the desired results. Such a survey of the 

 "Field of Geography" I propose to make the subject of my 

 address to-day. . . , 



Whatever changes may have taken place respecting the 

 aims of the geographer, it is very generally acknowledged that 

 the portraiture of the earth's surface in the shape of a map lies 

 within his proper and immediate domain. And there can be no 

 doubt that a map possesses unique facilities for recording the 

 fundamental facts of geographical knowledge, and that with a 



' Pressure on our space compels us to emit some parts of this address. 



