THE AMERICAN 



' MONTHLY 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL 



YoL. Y. 



Washington, T>. C, September, 1884. 



No. 9. 



American Society of Microscopists. 



This Society held its annual meet- 

 ing, under favorable auspices, at 

 Rochester on the 19th, 20th, and 

 2ist of August. For the following 

 account of the proceedings we are 

 indebted to the very full reports pub- 

 lished in the Rochester Herald^ 

 which, although not official, bear 

 evidence of unusually careful prepa- 

 ration for reports of the kind. 



The address of welcome was de- 

 livered by Mr. H. F. Atwood, who 

 was followed by the Hon. C. R. Par- 

 sons, mayor of the city, who also 

 spoke a fev\^ words of cordial greet- 

 ing. 



The president of the Society, the 

 Hon. J. D. Cox, binefly replied. Dr. 

 Dallinger and Mr. A. W. Bennett, 

 of England, were present. 



Dr. Dallinger made a short ad- 

 dress, in the course of which he said 

 that it was a matter of great interest 

 to him to be present at the meet- 

 ing. As the I'epi-esentative of the 

 Royal Microscopical Society he said 

 he desired to express his appreci- 

 ation of the ^vork being done by 

 the American organization. The 

 speaker referred to the fact that light 

 had been thrown on the causes of 

 disease by the researches of micro- 

 scopists. The microscopists were 

 grappling with the source of diseases, 

 and were endeavoring to rid societ}' 

 of its deadliest evils. In conclusion, 

 the speaker said he presented the 

 most cordial greeting to the Society. 



Mr. Bennett was introduced, and 

 referred to the vast amount of work 

 being done by the American Society. 

 He also emphasized the benefits to 



be derived from a society devoted to 

 practical study and use of the micro- 

 scope. 



Secretary D. S. Kellicott read a 

 letter from Professor Swift, inviting 

 the members to the Warner observa- 

 tory after the evening exercises ; and 

 a letter from Messrs. Bausch & Lomb 

 was read, inviting the members to 

 visit their manufactory at 7.30 Wed- 

 nesday evening, when all the depart- 

 ments would be in working order. 



Dr. George E. Blackham read a 

 paper on the ' Morphology of Rheu- 

 matic Blood,' written by Dr. Ephra- 

 im Cutter, of New York, who was 

 unable to be present. 



A. W. Bennett followed with the 

 following paper on ' Fungi Found in 

 Sewerage Affluents :' — 



' I have recently been engaged in 

 examining the nature of the vegetable 

 organisms found in the effluent water 

 from v^^orks for the purification of 

 sewage, with a view of ascertaining 

 whether they give evidence of the 

 purification having been inefficiently 

 effected. Among the organisms found 

 in these circumstances is a very re- 

 markable one, some account of w^hich 

 I thought might interest the members 

 of the American Association of Mi- 

 croscopists. This organism occurs 

 abundantly in the effluent water from 

 sewage works, and is well known to 

 English sanitary engineers under the 

 name of the "sewage fungus," It 

 forms dense, flocculent, grayish- 

 white masses attached to the bottom 

 and sides of the channel, or to ordi- 

 nary green alg£e. Under the micro- 

 scope it is seen to consist of an im- 

 mense quantity of colorless threads, 

 with but little or no chlorophyll, full 



