94 MICROSCOPICAL MEMORANDA. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



December 2, 1841. Mr. Bergin in the Chair. 



The Secretary having read the minutes of the former meeting, various 

 matters of private business were brought before the Society. 



Mr. Allman presented specimens of Trichina spiralis, a rare and re- 

 markable Entozoon found in human muscle : the muscle was a portion 

 of the Pectoralis major of a man who had died of fever. Mr. Bergin 

 mentioned a statement made by Mr. J. Quekett, that Porpoises taken in 

 estuaries and rivers abound in parasites, and supposed that they might 

 have been driven to the shallows in order to get rid of them ; a few 

 days since, however, he had procured a porpoise, captured in the open 

 bay of Dublin, and found its bronchial tubes filled with specimens of 

 Strongylus.* 



January 6, 1842. T. F. Bergin, Esq., in the Chair. 



After the transaction of private business, Mr. Mackay laid before the 

 Society a specimen of Equisetum elongatum new to the British Flora : 

 discovered in Colin- Glen, near Belfast, by Mr. Whitlaw, and figured by 

 Schlechtendahl from the Cape of Good Hope. 



Mr. Yeates presented to the Society a Microscope Case, containing 

 several instruments necessary in microscopic investigations. 



Mr. Bergin read some notes on Ehrenberg's late interesting commu- 

 nication to the Berlin Academy, on the important part which microscopic 

 organization plays in the choking up of certain harbours. f (Seep. 68.) 



Mr. Callwell presented specimens, prepared in balsam, of Trichina 

 spiralis separated from the muscle that had contained them. 



Mr. Andrews exhibited specimens of Plumularia cristata from Kerry 

 County in the west of Ireland. 



On the occurrence of Tricocephalus Ajfinis in the Tonsil of a Man. 

 At a post-mortem examination of James Flack, of the 75th Regiment, 

 at the Army General Hospital. Fort Pitt, Chatham, one specimen of 

 this Entozoon was found imbedded on cutting into the left tonsil, which 

 was considerably enlarged and in a gangrenous sloughy condition. This 

 species, first described bjrRudolphi, has not, according to this observer, 

 been hitherto discovered in the human subject. On submitting the 

 specimen to examination under the Microscope, it was found to be a 

 female. It is preserved in the Museum of Fort Pitt. Editor. 



Distinguishing character of Alga and Animalcules. The active motions 

 and contractions in plants and their parts, especially in Alga, ought not 



* See Mr. Quekett's remarks, Vol. I, p. 125 of this Journal. 



t Ehrenberg's communication will be found in the Microscopic Journal, Vol. I, p. 162. 



