SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 485 
Using special technique it has been possible to show that in the normal vegetative 
cell of B. malvacearum and some other types there is a single, central, deeply-staining, 
spherical body. This body reacts to all nuclear stains, including the elective Feulgen 
stain. Immediately prior to, or coincidently with, the division of the cell-body, this 
central structure also divides in a characteristic way, and the two halves pass one 
into each daughter-cell. From this and other evidence it is concluded that this 
body represents either the nucleus of the bacterial cell or some part of it. 
At least three different types of secondary bodies have been found to be produced 
in cultures of B. malvacearum and their method of formation followed, mainly in 
stained slides. The first is a minute spherical body, formed in the wall of the cell 
and liberated either by simple extrusion or by growth on a stalk. This body is 
comparable with the ‘ gonidia’ of other workers. It has not been proved to be 
capable of further development. The second type is a spherical coccoid form, much 
larger than the first, formed by a process of budding from the parent cell. The 
formation of this body is associated with a division of the nucleus-like structure, and 
half of the parent ‘ nucleus’ passes into the new body. The coccus becomes abstricted 
off and subsequently germinates to form a normal rod. 
The third form appears to be produced from two cells attached at oneend. From 
the point of junction arises a body similar in appearance to the coccoid body, but often 
more deeply-staining. After liberation this body is apparently indistinguishable 
from the latter. 
Extending the same technique to other plant bacteria it has been found that, 
while certain species appear to conform closely in their structure to the type of 
B. malvacearum, others show decided divergences. Attempts are being made to 
group the forms into classes characterised on a morphological and structural basis. 
Monday, September 28. 
PRESIDENTIAL ApprEss by Prof. T. G. Hitz, on The Advancement of 
Botany (see page 196). 
Discussion on The Training of Botanists for Economic and Industrial 
Positions. (Sir JoHn BretTtanpd Farmer, F.R.S.; Prof. V. H. 
Briackman, F.R.S.; Dr. W. B. Brrertey ; Mr. J. Ramsportom ; Sir 
Artuur W. Hitz, K.C.M.G., F.R.S.) 
Sir J. B. Farmer, F.R.S. 
In view of the increasing number of research posts at home and still more in the 
Empire overseas, which are open to botanists, it becomes a pressing matter to reach 
some understanding as to the best ways of training the candidates for such positions. 
The ideal would be that it should be based on the right sort of biology which ought 
to form part of the curriculum of the schools. Biology is taught in a growing number 
of schools, and in some it is very well done. In the majority, however, there is still 
much room for improvement. Of course the school training alone will not fit a boy 
to be a candidate for these appointments, which are mainly open only to those who 
have had a suitable university training in which botany has occupied an important 
place. But a good introduction to the subject at school will have laid an excellent 
foundation for the later university work, and though the lack of it may, it is true, 
be partly or even largely made good by subsequent effort, the boy who has had such 
a grounding will possess an incontestable advantage over those who are without it. 
But unfortunately by no means all the schools give a real scientific grounding, and 
the university might well utilise the pressure which the scholarships and exhibitions 
they provide enable them to exert, to see to it that breadth rather than height is 
aimed at during the earlier years at school. Such a course would assuredly lead to 
a better final product. And this is true not only of biology. 
But as things are, it must for some time be the case that some—probably many— 
of the potential candidates for these appointments will continue to enter the university 
with little or no preliminary knowledge of botany, and only decide to ‘ change over ’ 
when they learn of its possibilities at this stage of their careers. Nevertheless, they 
need not be discouraged, provided they are prepared to face up to the work in spite, 
it may be, of some initial handicap. 
