498 



SCIENCE 



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



The academy has a membership of over four 

 hundred, forty-five new members having been 

 elected at the recent meeting. 



Otis W. Caldwell, 



Secretary 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE HELMINTHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The fourteenth regular meeting of the society 

 was held at the residence of Dr. Stiles, February 

 &, 1913, Dr. Stiles acting as host and Dr. Cobb as 

 chairman. 



Dr. Stiles presented a note on "The Value of 

 Protozoa in Determining Fecal Contamination of 

 Foods." Entameba coli, Lamblia diiodenalis and 

 Trichomonas intestinalis are obligate intestinal 

 parasites having an easily recognizable spore 

 stage. Any given case of infection is prima facie 

 evidence of fecal contamination of food, and of 

 insanitary surroundings. The indicator value of 

 these protozoa, a thing which has been overlooked 

 heretofore, is greater than that of Bacillus coli. 

 In some parts of the south, infection with these 

 protozoa will range from 10 to 60 per cent, of 

 the persons examined. 



Dr. Stiles presented a note by Stiles and Boat- 

 wright on ' ' Subjective Symptoms of Thymol. ' ' 

 The paper notes the results of 464 administrations 

 of thymol to 244 patients, each patient receiving 

 1 to 7 treatments. Of the 464 administrations, 

 55.8 per cent, had no untoward effect; 44.2 had 

 effects of some sort; 14 per cent, had nausea due 

 to thymol or to Epsom salts; 13 per cent, had 

 weakness due to thymol, Epsom salts or the lack 

 of breakfast; 9 per cent, had a burning sensation 

 referred to "the stomach," due to thymol; 9 per 

 cent, had dizziness; 3 per cent, had headache; 

 2.8 per cent, had attacks of vomiting; 1.7 per 

 cent, had a burning sensation in the throat; 1 per 

 cent, had pain in the stomach; 1 per cent, com- 

 plained of sleepiness. There was one case of 

 dyspnea due to idiosyncrasy to thymol, and one 

 of fainting due to idiosyncrasy to Epsom salts. 



Mr. Crawley presented the following note on 

 "Initial Stages of Sarcocystis Infection." 



According to Erdman, the spore of Sarcocystis 

 muris germinates in the intestine of the host and 

 liberates a toxin, sarcoeystin, which causes the ad- 

 jacent digestive epithelium to be thrown off. The 

 spore sets free an amebula which penetrates the 

 denuded area and attains the lymph spaces of the 

 submueosa, where it establishes itself and remains 

 for 28 to 30 days. 



My own observations indicate that the above 

 account is far from correct. Feeding experiments 

 carried on during the past few years show that the 

 spore, under the form in which it occurs in the 

 cysts, bores its way into the cylinder cells of the 

 epithelium, occurring in some cells two or three 

 hours after feeding, and there comes to rest. The 

 spore changes in shape, becoming broadly ellipti- 

 cal or round, concomitant internal changes re- 

 sulting in the production at the periphery of a row 

 of masses of chromatin closely resembling stages 

 in the schizogony of a coecidian. This point may 

 be attained twelve hours after feeding. At the 

 end of twenty-four hours the parasites appear to 

 have abandoned the intestine. 



According to my observations, the epithelial de- 

 nudation mentioned by Erdman follows instead of 

 preceding the invasion of the cells, a phenomenon 

 well known as a sequel of heavy infections by other 

 protozoan parasites. 



Dr. Cobb presented some figures and specimens 

 of free-living nematodes. Some marine forms 

 have structures suggesting similar structures in 

 insects and birds. One of them has a proboscis 

 which might function in much the same way as 

 analogous organs which in birds or insects are used 

 for extracting food from flowers. 



Dr. Cobb suggested that the clumsy term 

 lateral organ be dropped as a descriptive term, 

 since there are many other nematode organs which 

 are also lateral. Since we do not know the true 

 nature of this structure, he suggested the substitu- 

 tion of the new term ampliid, which is compact, 

 descriptive and yet non-committal as 'to function. 

 For somewhat similar reasons he suggested that 

 the ventral gland be called the rennette. Nema- 

 todes possess many other ventral glands. He has 

 previously published a note on the urea content 

 of this structure, thus justifying the functional 

 implication carried by the diminutive rennette 

 (ren, kidney). 



The secretary presented a note by Dr. Albert 

 Hassall, on " Nomenclatural Oddities." Certain 

 rules of the code of zoological nomenclature are 

 not observed by some writers, and some practises 

 not contrary to the code are nevertheless undesir- 

 able from many standpoints. Disregard of the 

 code and of good usage makes considerable trouble 

 for the bibliographer, cataloguer and indexer. Com- 

 mon offences are: The casual introduction of un- 

 necessary synonyms or the deliberate substitution 

 of new names for old on grounds that never had 

 recognition in the code; the proposal of new 



