TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 125 



tion of an address delivered to the Botanical Society of Edinbuvgli last November, 

 in the course of which he attempted to show what contributions had been made by 

 provincial societies to botanical knowledge and literature. 



lie found that the number of these societies had greatly increased of late years, 

 and that they had done much useful and valuable work. This they publish in 

 their own Proceedings or Transactions, the circulation of which is confined almost 

 exclusively to their own members. The results of their labours are thus, in a 

 great measure, lost both to their neighbours and to naturalists generally. After 

 entering into some details of the subjects, illustrated by the Devonshire and Corn- 

 wall Societies, by the Berwickshire, Tyneside, Cotteswold, Woolhope, and other 

 Field Clubs in their published ' Transactions,' many of the earlier volumes of which 

 are so scarce as to be unprocurable by later members, he proceeded to show that 

 this state of things had attracted the attention of others as well as of himself, and 

 had given rise to a very general desire for greater imity of procedure. He concluded, 

 therefore, that the time had come for taking action in the matter ; and as the pre- 

 sent occasion afforded an opportunity for discussing it with advantage, he invited 

 the Section to take it up, with a view of eliciting practical suggestions (at the same 

 time offering some himself) of such a nature as might be laid before the General 

 Committee of the Association, and so enlisting the patronage of that body in its 

 behalf. 



Tlie Orlr/!n and Distribution of Microzymes (Bacteria) in water, and the cir-' 

 cumstances which determine their Existence in the Tissues and Liquids of the 

 Living Body. By Dr. Buedon Sanderson, F.B.8., and Dr. Febriek. 



The paper read was an abstract of the chief results of an experimental investi- 

 gation into the intimate nature of contagion pviblished in extemo in the ' Thirteenth 

 Report of the Medical Officer of the Privy Coimcil.' It was considered necessai-y 

 to examine the conditions of origin and life of microzymes in special reference to 

 the phyto-pathological doctrines of Professor Hallier. In order to test the presence 

 or absence of microzymes in contagious or healthy liquids and tissues, the method 

 was adopted of cultivatino; these organisms in soils suitable for their growth, and 

 under conditions favourable to their multiplication and development. By the 

 enormous reproductive power of these organisms, and the changes which they 

 induce in the organic liquids in which they are cultivated, the presence of micro- 

 zymes can be most satisfactorily determined. The organic liquids employed as 

 soils were chiefly Pasteur's solution and albuminous liquids, such as serum, kc. 

 Before using these liquids as tests, however, it had first to be sho-^vn that tliey do 

 not, in themselves, contain the conditions of evolution. For this purpose the 

 liquids were introduced into capillary tubes, and investigated under the most varied 

 conditions of exposure, temperature, and pressure. 



The results of numerous experiments, lasting over several months, proved satis- 

 factorily that when these liquids had been raised to a temperature of 150'^-200° C, 

 or even to 100^ C, and carefully preserved from contact from air or surfaces which 

 liad not been superheated, no evolution of organic fonns ever took place ; while in 

 the same liquids which had not been heated, but otherwise kept muler exactly the 

 same couditi ons, organisms were found in large numbers. The results were not 

 modified by any variations in the tension of the air to which the liquids were ex- 

 posed. Other experiments made with boiled and unboiled Pasteur's solution, in- 

 troduced into glasses which had been previously heated, showed that fungi (Torula 

 and Penicinium) appeared in unboiled solutions whether they were exposed or not, 

 but much more abundantly when they were exposed than when they were pro- 

 tected with cotton-wool, and that in boiled solutions the growth of Pemeilliii7nwa.s 

 more luxuriant than in unboiled solutions under similar circumstances. Bacteria 

 did not appear in the boiled liquids under any circumstances. Bacteria and fungi, 

 therefore, seemed to differ in regard to their conditions of origin find growth. The 

 result of numerous experiments demonstrated that the solutions in which micro- 

 zymes appeared were those which had come in contact with sm-faces which had 



