1882.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



177 



eminently deservingof the President's 

 position, and whose personal efforts 

 and influence for the Society made 

 it peculiarly proper that he should 

 have been placed in that position, 

 was regarded as ineligible because 

 a few of his colleagues considered 

 that he had disregarded, in a certain 

 way, the medical code of ethics ! It 

 is a fair (luestion to ask whether the 

 American Society of Microscopists is 

 a society of microscopists, or a society 

 bound to uphold the medical code of 

 ethics. 



Probably the Society as a whole is 

 in no wise responsible for the facts as 

 we have learned them, indeed, we are 

 sure that very few of the members were 

 aware of them. Nevertheless, we 

 have no reason to doubt the truth of 

 the rumor which has reached us, and 

 we publish it for what it is worth, 

 trusting that no outside influences 

 will be permitted to interfere with 

 the business of the Society. We 

 merely wish to point out some possi- 

 ble rocks ahead, upon which other 

 societies have already stranded. Prof. 

 McCalla, who was elected President, 

 is certainly an excellent man for the 

 position, and one who will do honor 

 to the Society. 



A rather amusing incident of the 

 Elmira meeting is told by an " eye- 

 witness." It seems that a certain gen- 

 tleman, going out for a walk in com- 

 pany, had for a companion a lady 

 whose interest in the microscope 

 proved to be greater than her escort 

 had supposed. In fact, the lady was 

 a very near relative of a well-known 

 dealer in microscopes. The gentle- 

 man remarked that lie thought he had 

 one of the best microscopes made. 

 The lady inquired whose make it was. 



He answered, " A & ." 



" A & ," exclaimed the 



young lady, " O, they are no good ! 

 The only really good stands are made 



by ! " Now, it so happened 



that the representative of the manu- 

 facturers whose meritorious labors 

 were thus conspicuously undervalued, 

 overheard this conversation, and 



caused some consternation by turning 

 around and asking, " What is that 

 you say Miss ? " 



The Montreal meeting was a most 

 profitable one in every way. The pa- 

 pers presented were, with very few 

 exceptions, of high quality and value, 

 the attendance was large and 314 

 new members were elected, making 

 the entire membership about 2,100, 

 — which ensures a publication-fund 

 large enough to make the Procceditigs 

 a valuable and creditable publication. 

 Our space does not admit of the pub- 

 lication this month of all the matter 

 we have in hand pertaining to the 

 Montreal meeting, so a portion will 

 be held over for the next issue. 



We take pleasure in calling atten- 

 tion to some preparations of the Rev. 

 Mr. Hervey, of Taunton, Mass., show- 

 ing the methods of fructification of 

 the marine algae. He had with him 

 at Montreal, a second series of slides 

 illustrative of the subject, which we 

 found to be very instructive. They 

 must prove of great practical value to 

 beginners in the study of marine algse, 

 and doubtless also to others who are 

 more advanced, for it requires skill in 

 preparing the sections, and a careful 

 selection of the plants in the proper 

 stage of growth, to obtain satisfactory 

 slides of this kind. 



Investigations of the Lower 

 Fungi. — Prof. C. V. Nageli has pub- 

 lished a valuable book on this sub- 

 ject (" Untersuchungen iiber Niedere 

 Pilze "), embracing the results of his 

 own researches and those of Dr. Hans 

 Buchner. We do not propose to no- 

 tice the work at length, but so many 

 persons are now interested in the 

 study of fungi in relation to disease 

 that an announcement of the con- 

 tents of this late publication may be 

 desirable. There are three articles 

 by Nageli, treating of the nutrition, 

 the movement, and the changes of 

 different minute fungi ; and five by 

 Ruchner, embracing experimental 

 studies on the relations of various 



