1891.] MICROSCOPICAL JOUENAL. 213 



EDITORIAL. 



Washington as a Scientific Centre. — The fact that Washington 

 is the scientific, as well as the political, centre of America has been 

 made more evident than ever before by the successive gatherings here 

 of scientific men during the present season. 



The American Medical Association met here in May. In August 

 came in quick succession the American Microscopical Society, the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Ameri- 

 can Geological Society. During the present month another series of 

 medical meetings will be held here, viz., the Association of American 

 Phvsicians, the Congress of American Physicians and" Surgeons, and 

 the American Dermatological Association. 



Thus far all of these meetings have been eminently successful as re- 

 gards the numbers in attendance, the character of the papers read, the 

 accession of new members, and the scientific enthusiasm displayed. We 

 have yet to hear of the first complaint that delegates and members in 

 attendance have not received cordial welcome here. 



Now the selection of this place of meeting by so many bodies of 

 learned men is not a matter of coincidence. They came here drawn 

 by the law of gravitation. The medical men found here the largest 

 medical library in the world, and one of the finest medical museums in 

 the world. The microscopists found here scores of men enthusiastic 

 in their specialty. The men of science generally found a wealth of 

 specimens illustrating all departments of human knowledge such as no 

 other city of America can show. We speak in no spirit of selfish 

 boasting. These treasures are the property of the American people — 

 free to be used by the humblest who has use for them. Come, and come 

 again. 



Morbid Histology. — We have received a package of excellent pho- 

 to-micrographs taken by Asst. Surg. W. C. Borden, U.S. Army, sta- 

 tioned at Jackson Barracks, New Orleans, La. The series illustating 

 the different stages of pulmonary tuberculosis are particularly good. 

 The work done in this line at the present day makes the product of 

 former years seem insignificant. 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



San Francisco, Cai,. — Wm. E. Loy, Sedy. 

 July 15 •, i8gi. — President Wickson in the chair and a very good at- 

 tendance. After the completion of the routine business, Ed. M. Ehr- 

 horn gave the society some observations noted by him a few weeks ago 

 concerning the reproduction of the shield-back grasshopper, a species 

 of Thyreonotus (probably T. dorsalis)^ found in immense quantities 

 this year in Siskiyou county. He remarked that a broad fence of a 

 quarter of a mile in length was so completely covered by these insects 

 that in no place could a vacant space the size of one's hand be seen. 

 Every morning these wingless grasslioppers crawl upon the fence to 

 bask in the sun, from which position ihey spring to the ground on the 

 slightest alarm, or when approached within five or six feet by man. 



