252 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 164. 



poses. The bacteria thus prepared are mixed 

 with moist soil and, when they have propagated 

 sufficiently, this soil is spread upon the field and 

 thus the proper fertilizing ferments are intro- 

 duced into the soil. 



The second exercise was a paper by General 

 Geo. M. Sternberg on ' Pathogenic Bacteria. ' 

 General Sternberg, in his paper, gave a general 

 account of the modes of action of pathogenic 

 bacteria and of the different channels of infec- 

 tion. He dwelt upon the fact that infection 

 depends upon the degree of virulence of the 

 pathogenic microorganism, upon the number 

 introduced, and upon the susceptibility of the 

 individual exposed to infection. This sus- 

 ceptibility depends upon inherited predisposi- 

 tion, upon reduced vital resisting power due to 

 various depressing agencies, such as malnutri- 

 tion, fatigue, mental depression, etc., and in 

 certain cases upon a direct exciting cause, 

 such as exposure to cold. 



Localized infections were then discussed, in- 

 cluding boils, abscesses, wound infection, 

 erysipelas, pneumonia and diphtheria. Some 

 account was also given of general blood infec- 

 tions (septicaemias), and of the pathogenic ac- 

 tion of bacteria which multiply in the alimen- 

 tary canal, producing toxic substances, which, 

 being absorbed, give rise to more or less fatal 

 forms of diseases, e. g. , cholera infantum, Asi- 

 atic cholera, etc. 



The last paper of the meeting was by Mr. E. 

 A. de Schweinitz, on ' Toxins and Antitoxins.' 

 No abstract of this address has as yet come to 

 hand. 



E. D. Pkeston, 



Secretary. 



TOEEEY BOTANICAL CLUB, DECEMBER 14, 1897. 



The first paper, by Professor Francis E. 

 Lloyd, ' On an Abnormal Cone of Fseudots%iga 

 taxifolia,' discussed the inner scales of a cone 

 recently observed on a leader of the Douglas 

 Spruce. He figured and described certain 

 lateral expansions of the primitive scale, re- 

 marking that, although of a stipular nature, 

 they are exceptional in their absence of vascular 

 tissue. In the abnormal cone the absence of 

 these expansions from all but the inner scales 

 suggested several lines of explanation, which 



were discussed in some detail and with the 

 promise of further elaboration. 



Remarks were made by Judge Brown, Dr. 

 Eusby and Mr. Howe. 



Dr. Underwood commended Mr. Lloyd's at- 

 tempt to secure phylogenetic evidence from the 

 leaves of seedlings, and spoke of the great 

 difficulty of securing such evidence from the 

 external organs of plants, changing so rapidly 

 as they do because exposed to the immediate 

 action of their environment. 



The second paper, by Mr. E. O. "Wooton, 

 ' Botanizing in New Mexico during the Sum- 

 mer of 1897,' gave an entertaining and graphic 

 narrative of this collecting trip made by Mr. 

 and Mrs. E. O. Wooton in Dona Ana and 

 Lincoln counties, N. M., in last June, July and 

 August. The route extended from the Ri» 

 Grande valley, at Mesilla, near the Mexican line, 

 at an elevation of 3,900 feet, to Sierra Blanca 

 Peak, at 11,000 feet. Special interest attached 

 to the collections made from the southern end 

 of the White Sands, a region about 30x6 miles 

 or more in area, not before explored by a 

 botanist, except that a half dozen plants had 

 been gathered on its margin by Professor T. D. 

 A. Cockerell, of Mesilla. This vast expanse of 

 sand, seeming like a sea of white, is moving^ 

 slowly to the east. Even its lizards are white. 

 Several new grasses were obtained here, and 

 other very peculiar species. Very extensive 

 collections were made in this trip, though in th& 

 midst of great^hindrances from the summer rains. 



Discussion brought out the great dissimilarity 

 existing between neighboring floras in New 

 Mexico. Mr. Wooton's collections numbered 

 about 30 sets of as many as 450 species (with 

 perhaps 150 species more in parts). Mr. A. A. 

 Heller, collecting meanwhile about 250 mile& 

 northward, among 300 numbers had but about 

 50 duplicates. Dr. Rusby, collecting sometime 

 ago at a similar distance west, among 450' 

 species had also but about 50 duplicates. 



Further remarks were made by Professor 

 Lloyd regarding his collections in Chihuahua, 

 and by Dr. Rusby in commemoration of re- 

 markable kindness received when destitute in 

 the desert and conferred by Professor E. L^ 

 Greene. Edwaed S. Burgess, 



Secretary. 



