13e; THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Apr 



filament, and filament to coccus, rendering- its identity still 

 open to research. 



DRUG AND FOOD ADULTERATION. 



Microscope in Study of Drugs.— All of our colleges and 

 schools of pharmacy are utilizing- the simple and compound 

 microscope and g-iving- a more or less thouroug-h training- 

 in the study of botany (particularly), preparatory to the 

 study of crude and powdered drug-s, foods, etc. The mi- 

 croscope is not only sufficient, but absolutely necessary in 

 some cases in determining the purity of a drug-, food or 

 spice. This instrument is safe only in the hands of him 

 who is thoroug-hly trained in the sciences, the subjects of 

 which are involved. The products of the animal king-dom 

 can only be examined authoritatively by the zoolog-ist ; 

 those of the plant king-dom by the botanist, etc. Recently 

 a sample of black pepper was submitted which was sup- 

 posed to have been adulterated with cayenne pepper, A 

 chemical examination g-ave no clue to the problem. But by 

 means of the microscope the adulterant was detected with 

 certainty. Some years ag-o a fruit jelly was upon the mar- 

 ket, which was sold at an unusually low price. In was na- 

 turally supposed to be adulterated ; but what with was not 

 known until by means of the microscope the presence of 

 a diatom (Arachnoidiscus ehrenberg-ii) was revealed. The 

 next question was where and upon what does this diatom 

 g-row? It was found that it g-rew upon certain seaweeds 

 in the waters near Japan, and not upon fruit tree in France, 

 and this led to the conclusion that the jelly was made from 

 this seaweed. 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



Royal Microscopical Society. — At the annual meeting- 

 on Jan. 18, after the report of the council for the past year 

 and the treasurer's statement of accounts had been read 

 and adopted, the following- were elected for the ensuing- 

 year : — President, E. M. Nelson; Vice Presidents, A. W. 



