March 7, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



387 



1/25, 1/50 and 1/100 JI. Nitrogen compounds 

 were used in concentrations of 1/5, 1/25, 1/125, 

 1/250 and 1/500 M. Preliminary experiments 

 soon showed that this fungus could not obtain 

 carbon from several of the compounds tried and 

 that others had only slight availability. Only 

 maltose, saccharose and dextrose were tried out 

 for final results, in concentrations of 1, 2/5, 1/5, 

 1/10, 1/25, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/625 M. 



Twenty-four sets of cultures were carried 

 through, the number of flasks in a set ranging 

 from six to forty-eight. The test applied for the 

 optimum medium was the amount of vegetative 

 growth, estimated by the eye alone in the early 

 stages of growth for all the cultures, but in cases 

 where the results were doubtful and also for the 

 purpose of getting quantitative results for some 

 of the work, in several sets the growth was deter- 

 mined by weight. 



Conclusions. — Of the nitrogen compounds tried 

 calcium nitrate was the best. Its best concentra- 

 tion was 1/250 M. 1/125 and 1/500 M were 

 nearly as good. Sodium nitrate was next best, 

 ammonium sulphate was very decidedly the poor- 

 est. In the early stages of growth ammonium 

 nitrate was little better than ammonium sulphate, 

 but given a longer time it became equal to potas- 

 sium nitrate, and the latter was only slightly be- 

 low sodium nitrate. 



The different concentrations of the phosphate 

 had little influence on the amount of growth, 1/10, 

 1/50 and 1/100 M being almost equally good, 

 except that with cellulose as the carbon compound 

 little growth was made with the concentration of 

 the phosphate 1/50 or 1/100 M, while there was 

 very good growth in 1/10 M. 



Among the carbon compounds maltose was de- 

 cidedly the best when ammonium nitrate was the 

 source of nitrogen, but with calcium nitrate sac- 

 charose was as good or better. For all the three 

 carbon compounds saccharose, dextrose and mal- 

 tose, the concentration of 1 M was strongly inhibi- 

 tive of growth. In 1/5 M the growth was far 

 better than in any of less concentration. The 

 experiments in which 2/5 M was used gave a 

 slightly greater total than 1/5 M, but the rate of 

 growth in the former was decidedly slower than 

 in the latter. It was true in a good many sets of 

 cultures that the rate of growth was more rapid 

 in the more dilute solutions, though maximum 

 growth occurred in more concentrated solutions. 



Of the substances and concentrations tried the 

 optimum medium for the fungus tested was: 



Saccharose 2/5 M. 



Calcium nitrate 1/250 M. 



Monopotassium phosphate ... 1/10-1/100 M. 



Magnesium sulphate 1/1000 M. 



Saccharose has one very decided advantage over 

 both dextrose and maltose. It may be obtained in 

 a purer form. The ordinary rock candy obtain- 

 able at any candy store is far more nearly chem- 

 ically pure than the grades of maltose and dex- 

 trose obtained from reliable dealers and labeled 

 C.P. This is a very decided advantage in critical 

 culture experiments. 



A Labeling Surface for Laboratory Glassware: 

 A. F. Blakeslee, Carnegie Institution. 

 Diamond ink applied to glassware gives a per- 

 manent ground-glass surface upon which labels 

 can be written with lead pencil. Labels upon this 

 surface are of especial value upon flasks, test 

 tubes, etc., that need to be sterilized in autoelav. 

 George T. Moore, 



Secretary 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY ©F WASHINGTON 



The 465th regular meeting of the Anthropolog- 

 ical Society of Washington, D. C, was held at 

 Boom 43 of the new building of the National 

 Museum at 4:30 P.M., January 21, 1913, Mr. 

 George E. Stetson, the president, in the chair. 



Dr. Tom. A. Williams, M.B., C. H. Edin., M. 

 Corresp. Etrang. Soc. de Neurologic de Paris, Soc. 

 de Psychol, de Paris, etc., charter M. Am. Psycho- 

 path. Assoc, Collaborator Jour. Abnorm. Psychol., 

 read a paper on ' ' The Dream in the Life of the 

 Mind. ' ' 



Trance, vision, ecstasy and disease-delirium are 

 closely allied to the dream state. The psycho- 

 pathology of them all illuminates formerly un- 

 comprehended diseases. In a dream (illustrated 

 by a case) mental perturbation may crystallize, 

 as it were, and lead to rampageous behavior. On 

 the contrary, dreams may be teleologically bene- 

 ficial; as where a vision saved a young woman 

 from suicide, as was the case also with Benvenuto 

 Cellini. 



They are more often a mere reproduction of 

 former experiences, more or less significant and 

 more so in psychopathic individuals, such as in 

 a young hysteric who dreamed of falling down 

 wells, assassinations and deaths, all painful ex- 

 periences of her childhood. 



Their sexual nature, believed inevitable by a 

 certain school, is not so regarded by the author. 



