March 14, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



425 



interesting communication from the Barnard Skin 

 and Cancer Hospital in which Dr. Leo Loeb de- 

 scribes experiments with colloidal copper, derived 

 by the Bredig method, upon neoplasmic growths; 

 he finds that intravenous injections cause cessation 

 and absorption of the cancerous tissue. 



Max Morse 

 Trinity College, 

 October 25, 1912 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



At a meeting of the society on February 7 

 Dr. Paul Heyl presented a paper on ' ' Platinum 

 in North Carolina." A belt of platinum-bearing 

 rock runs from Danville, Va., to Cedar Falls, N. C, 

 a distance of some seventy miles. Assays of as 

 much as 4 or even 8 ounces per ton are occasionally 

 found, but the average content is too small to be 

 commercially important. The platinum in the rock 

 is very rich in iridium. The deposit has been 

 known for about seventeen years. An examina- 

 tion of the watershed of the region for 200 miles 

 from the center for placers yielded negative re- 

 sults. 



On March 7 the following paper was presented: 

 ' ' A Historical Account of the Early Microscop- 

 ical Studies in the Structure of Animals and Plants 

 with Eeferenee to the Development of the Cell 

 Theory," illustrated by lantern slides, by E. M. 

 Pearce, professor of research medicine. University 

 of Pennsylvania. 



A sketch of the work of Hooke, Malpighi, 

 Grew, Swammerdam and Leeuwenhoek in the 

 last third of the seventeenth century, with 

 remarks on the early microscopes, followed by 

 the story of the development of our knowledge 

 of plant and animal structure, as Lieberkuhn 's 

 (1739-48) studies of the finer structure of 

 animal tissue. Trembly 's (1744-47) observations 

 on the division of protozoa. Brown's (1833) 

 description of the nucleus and Treviranus's 

 (1806) and Mohl's (1828) studies of the vege- 

 table oell. A discussion of the improvements in 

 the microscope up to 1830 and of the fundamental 

 observations of Schleiden (1838) and Schwann 

 (1839) which, followed by those of Virchow 

 (1858), definitely established the cell theory. A 

 short discussion of later work on the nature of 

 cell protoplasm (Dujardin, Sehultze) and the 

 study of the nucleus and the process of division 

 of cells, concluding with Plemming's observations 

 in 1882. Illustrated by lantern slides showing 



many of the original drawings which accompanied 

 the reports of the various fundamental observa- 

 tions. 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON 



The 33d annual meeting was held in the hall 

 of the Cosmos Club, December 14, 1912, with 

 Vice-president W. P. Hay in the chair. Beports 

 of officers for the year 1912 were received and 

 the annual election of officers took place. The 

 election resulted as follows: 



President — E. W. Nelson. 



Vice-presidents — J. N. Rose, Paul Bartsch, W. 

 P. Hay, A. D. Hopkins. 



Mecording Secretary — D. E. Lantz. 



Corresponding Secretary — N. HoUister. 



Members of Council — Hugh M. Smith, Vernon 

 Bailey, Wm. Palmer, A. B. Baker and A. K. 

 Fisher. 



The 505th regular meeting was held January 11, 

 1913, with President E. W. Nelson in the chair 

 and 54 persons present. The chairman appointed 

 standing committees on publications and communi- 

 cations for the year. 



C. V. Piper exhibited a vase made of wood and 

 covered with a thin veneer of ' ' silk-wood. ' ' This 

 veneer is cut from one of the large Polyporus 

 fungi and takes a beautiful polish. 



A. S. Hitchcock and E. W. Nelson each reported 

 his recent return from a successful collecting trip, 

 the former having collected grasses in Jamaica, 

 Trinidad and Tobago, while the latter had secured 

 birds and mammals in Arizona. 



The regular program consisted of three com- 

 munications : 



The Eediscovery of CEnothera grandiflora: S. M. 



Tracy. 



The speaker gave an account of two trips made 

 by him to the locality of Bartram 's original dis- 

 covery of this species (1776). The locality is 

 near Dixie Landing, Alabama, and the flower de- 

 scribed by Bartram was found abundant over a 

 limited area. A second visit was made last year 

 in company with Dr. Hugo de Vries. 



The Problem of the Identity of CEnothera La- 



maroMana: H. H. Bartlett. 



The speaker gave a history of various cultivated 

 strains of plants of this species and its hybrids. 

 He predicted that its original habitat and identity 

 — as yet unknown — would eventually be discov- 

 ered, probably in America south of the United 

 States and on the Pacific Slope. 



