496 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII, No. 952 



the cytoplasm, thus giving rise to large multi- 

 nucleated forms containing as many as thirty 

 or forty nuclei. When these multinucleated 

 forms are placed in contact with an ahundant 

 supply of free oxygen the cytoplasm imme- 

 diately begins to divide. Furthermore, the 

 free oxygen supply starts off many of the 

 multinucleated forms and their nuclei divide 

 simultaneously. 



These findings have raised the question, in 

 my mind, as to the validity of the multi- 

 nucleated genus Pelomyxa and the binucle- 

 ated genus Sappina. 



It may be of interest to describe here a 

 reaction v^hich I believe indicates the pres- 

 ence of peroxides in the living cell. When 

 these amoebae are grovra in ovomucoid con- 

 taining a trace of sodium carbonate and then 

 mounted in an aqueous solution of Griibler's 

 methyl green, the granules within their cyto- 

 plasm exhibit a purple color in a few minutes. 

 The nucleus does not give this reaction. Now 

 methyl green is split by peroxides into a 

 purple compound and this reaction occurs in 

 the test tube only, in my experience, in the 

 presence of traces of sodium carbonate. 



If this reaction really indicates the presence 

 of peroxides, it shows that the so-called " nu- 

 tritional granules," or " plastids " in reality 

 perform an important part in the oxidations 

 of the cell, and would seem to add significance 

 to the observation of Kite and Chambers, who 

 found that the nucleus of the spermatogonia 

 of the squash bug was composed of powerful 

 reducing substances. 



The complete details of this work will be 

 sent to the Archives fur Protistenhunde. 

 Wm. B. Wherry 



Cincinnati, Ohio 



THE ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF 



SCIENCE 

 The fifth annual meeting of the Illinois State 

 Academy of Science was held at Bradley Poly- 

 technic Institute, Peoria, Illinois, on February 21 

 and 22, 1913, under the presidency of Professor 

 Henry Crew, of Northwestern University. After 

 the opening business was transacted, the presi- 

 dent's address was given by Professor Crew upon 



the title, ' ' An Italian Academician. ' ' This ad- 

 dress presented Galileo as an experimenter of the 

 highest type — one who used the method of science 

 in discovering some of the truths of nature at a 

 time when the common practise was to deal with 

 assertions about nature, or if the apparent facts 

 of nature seemed to controvert assertions ' ' to stare 

 nature out of countenance. " It is hoped that this 

 excellent address will receive wide publication, for 

 Professor Crew's special studies of the work of 

 Galileo have resulted in the presentation of Galileo 

 as a man of very much more far-reaching signifi- 

 cance to modern science than most scientists have 

 thought. Another special feature of the program 

 was a symposium upon the ' ' Science of Sanita- 

 tion." The topics and speakers in this sym- 

 posium were: "The Influence of Shallow Wells 

 on Health, ' ' by Edward Bartow, director of the 

 Illinois Water Survey, University of Illinois; "The 

 Control of Stream Pollution," by Paul Hansen, 

 Illinois Water Survey, University of Hlinois; 

 ' ' Sanitary Aspect of Milk Supply, " by P. G. 

 Heinemann, department of bacteriology. Univer- 

 sity of Chicago ; ' ' Housing in Eolation to 

 Health," by Marion Talbot, department of house- 

 hold administration, University of Chicago ; 

 "Birth and Death Eegistration, " by Frederick 

 E. Green, American Medical Association, Chicago. 

 This symposium proved unusually interesting to 

 all the members who were present, and it is hoped 

 by means of the annual volume of the academy's 

 Transactions to give the symposium papers wide 

 distribution throughout the state. 



After an informal reception for members and 

 friends of the academy, an excellent dinner was 

 served by the department of domestic science of 

 Bradley Polytechnic Institute; and in a period 

 when efficiency in education is being demanded 

 everywhere, it is a pleasure for the members of 

 the academy to attest the efficiency of the service 

 given by Bradley's domestic science department. 

 The dinner and the service was entirely by stu- 

 dents in the department, and no better dinner has 

 been served to the academy. The after-dinner 

 program consisted of a series of short addresses 

 outlining the nature and significance of the past 

 year's discoveries in each of several branches of 

 science. This apparently impossible task was per- 

 formed in such a way as to give the members a 

 good perspective regarding the chief occurrences 

 and the dominant points of view prevailing at 

 present. The speakers were John M. Coulter, 

 Henry B. Ward, Stephen A. Forbes, William S. 



