58 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[March, 



consider . misleading. Messrs. Queen & 

 Co. desire it to be known that they have 

 been, and are still, the sole American 

 agents for Mr. Crouch since the year 

 1877. 



— There is a prevailing notion among 

 unscientific people, which occasionally 

 shows itself among those who would nat- 

 urally be expected to know better, that 

 the air of sick-rooms carrying the germs 

 of contagious diseases can be purified by 

 contaminating it still more with the odors 

 of carbolic acid, chlorine, and various 

 other disinfectants. No microscopist 

 would fall into such an error, but it has 

 been quite generally assumed by surgeons 

 that the carbolic spray, so frequently em- 

 ployed in operations, was a great, if not 

 an absolute, protection against atmos- 

 pheric germs finding their way to the ex- 

 posed tissues. It appears, however, that 

 the spray has no protective influence 

 whatever, so far as killing the germs is 

 concerned, for vessels of putrescible 

 liquids exposed to the air under the car- 

 bolic spray, soon become putrid from 

 the atmospheric germs. The most rational 

 method of protecting exposed surfaces, 

 therefore, is to allow free access of air 

 through a filter of cotton, which effectually 

 prevents the passage of germs. 



— A microscopical society has recently 

 been formed in Washington, which has 

 held three rneetings. It comprises about 

 fifteen members, but this number will soon 

 be considerably increased. Dr. E. M. 

 Schaeffer is the President and Prof. W. H. 

 Seaman the Secretary. 



— Mr. Rockwood, the celebrated pho- 

 tographer, has made some experiments 

 with a new form of telephone, in which 

 there is a fine pointed wire attached to 

 one side of the vibrating diaphragm or 

 tympanum. As the plate vibrates to the 

 voice the point alternately approaches and 

 recedes from a pointed conducting wire. 

 To record the motion of the point, which 

 is necessarily too rapid and slight to be 

 seen, Mr. Rockwood has photographed it, 

 using the light of the electric spark to get 

 instantaneous exposures. The result, ac- 

 cording to the Photographic Times, was 

 very successful, as a microscopical ex- 

 amination of the negatives showed the 

 vibrations of the point. The duration of 

 the electric spark is so exceedingly short, 

 being stated as tj^to^o of ^ second, that it 

 seems hardly credible that photographic 

 plates could be made sensitive enough to 

 take an impression in that short time. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



American Society of Microscopists. 



To THE Editor: — Will you allow me 

 through your Journal to announce to the 

 American Society of Microscopists that 

 the Executive Committee has appointed 

 the next annual meeting at Rochester, N. 

 Y., commencing Tuesday, August 19th, 

 1884. Circulars giving general informa- 

 tion will be issued in due time, both by 

 the officers of the Society and by the local 

 committee. 



D. S. Kellicott, Secretary. 



Buffalo, N. Y., March 3d, 1884. 



o 



The ' Congress ' Nose-piece. 



To THE Editor: In reply to Prof. Mc- 

 Calla's letter in reference to the "con- 

 gress" nose-piece, I would say I have 

 always given him the credit of suggesting 

 the idea; but it is one thing to suggest an 

 idea and another to put into practical 

 shape. Prof. McCalla claims to have 

 drawings and sketches of a nose-piece in- 

 vented three years ago, and to have ex- 

 hibited them to myself and several others 

 at the Detroit meeting. As I can only 

 answer for myself, he never showed any 

 drawings to me, or in my presence, there, 

 or at any other time. As I did not hear 

 his address in Chicago, having other mat- 

 ters to attend to, I did not know anything 

 about his reference to a nose-piece until 

 one or two days after he read his address. 

 In the Proceedings of the A. S. M., page 

 16, he is reported to have said: "Mr. 

 Bulloch promises to have some specimens 

 of this form ready to show at our next 

 meeting." 



The above remarks should not have 

 been printed in the Proceedings of the 

 Society. They are not in the official re- 

 port of the meeting, as given in the Chi- 

 cago Times, August 8th, and, as I said 

 above, I knew nothing of his idea until 

 one or two days after the address was de- 

 livered. Whether Prof. McCalla asked 

 me to make a nose-piece or not I cannot 

 say ; but when we were in general con- 

 versation around the table, Mr. E. Bausch, 

 Mr. E. Pennock, Dr. N. T. Lewis, and 

 others being present. Prof. McCalla men- 

 tioned his idea about a bayonet-catch 

 nose-piece, and I said: "I understand 

 , what is wanted ; will work it out, and 

 have one that can be shown at the next 

 meeting." There were some sketches 

 made on the table, but any other drawing 

 or sketches I have never seen. If he de- 

 sired me to make a nose-piece according 



