468 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 170. 



ists, who refer to the study of chemistry in Ger- 

 mauy as the model to be copied. 



It would be an interesting occupation for a 

 retired chemist, of statistical mind, to make a 

 collection of government chemical examination 

 papers in all countries, and of the compends 

 used in cramming for the examinations ; then 

 to see whether the dryness of the systems is 

 local or general. E. Renouf. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON — 289TH 

 MEETING, MAECH 12. 



De. C. W. Stiles presented some ' Practical 

 Suggestions in Regard to Trichinosis,' briefly 

 reviewing the methods of pork inspection in 

 vogue in Germany. 



Dr. Brwin F. Smith spoke on ' Migula's Sys- 

 tem der Bakterien,' stating that Migula was 

 the first to classify bacteria on morphological 

 instead of physiological characters. He briefly 

 outlined the groups and genera adopted, giving 

 the characters on which they were based. 



Dr. F. C. Kenyon, under the title ' Some Re- 

 cent Advances in our Knowledge of the Ner- 

 vous System,' briefly reviewed the general 

 structure of the nervous system of arthropods. 

 The fact was brought out that the so-called 

 nerve cell is situated on the outside of the 

 system, thus resulting in the formation of a 

 nerve element comparable with the spinal 

 ganglia of mammals. This so-called nerve cell 

 was given the name of cytosomite, and the pro- 

 cess leading from it into the nervous system 

 was denominated the caulite, the remaining 

 portions of the element being considered as 

 neurite and dendrite. The distinctions be- 

 tween these was based upon function and the 

 nerve element compared to a Leyden jar, of 

 which the neurite was held to be the recipient 

 part, and the dendrite the discharging part, for 

 all neural impulses. In the case of the den. 

 drite, however, this distinction may be faulty, 

 since dendrites occur whose relations seem to 

 indicate that they must function both as recipi- 

 ent and discharging parts. It was thought 

 that the arthropod cytosomite and caulite do 

 not function in the transfer of neural impulses, 

 since they lie to one side of what seems to be 

 the most direct route. The neurocyte, or nerve 



element, was briefly defined and the different 

 types of neurocytes to be found in the nervous 

 system of arthropods briefly described and com- 

 mented on. The paper will be published in 

 full later on. F. A. Lucas, 



Secretary. 



AMEEICAN chemical SOCIETY, JANUAEY 13. 



The fourth annual meeting of the Washing- 

 ton Section of the American Chemical Society 

 was held on January 13th. The following oflS.- 

 cers were elected for the ensuing year : H. N. 

 Stokes, President ; Peter Fireman and H. Car- 

 rington Bolton, Vice-Presidents ; "William H. 

 Krug, Secretary ; W. P. Cutter, Treasurer, and 

 C. E. Munroe, E. A. de Schweinitz, Wirt Tas- 

 sin and W. F. Hillebrand, additional members 

 of the Executive Committee. 



The regular February meeting was held on 

 Thursday evening, February 10th. Mr. Tassin 

 presented a paper on ' The Origin of Crystals 

 and Crystalline Growth,' which contained a re- 

 sumS of theories concerning the origin of crys- 

 tals and the processes of crystal-growth, and 

 consisted of a discussion of the results of the re- 

 searches of Vogelsang, Behrens, Knop, Sade- 

 beck and Lehmann. 



Dr. H. Carrington Bolton read a paper en- 

 titled ' latro-Chemistry in 1897,' which was pub- 

 lished in full in last week's issue of Science. 



Dr. H. W. Wiley addressed the Society on 

 the subject of pure food legislation, and discussed 

 the benefits which would undoubtedly result 

 from the deliberations of the Pure Food Con- 

 gress, which will assemble in Washington on 

 March 2d. William H. Krug, 



Secretary. 



NEW BOOKS. 



Quantitative Chemical Analysis by Electrolysis. 

 Alexandbe Classen, in cooperation with De. 

 Walter Lob ; authorized translation by W. 

 H. Hereick and B. B. Boltwood. New 

 York, John Wiley & Sons ; London, Chap- 

 man & Hall. 1898. Pp; 301. $3.00. 



Reform of Chemical and Physical Calculations. 

 C. J. T. Hanssen. London and New York, 

 Spon & Chamberlain. 1897. Pp. 72. 



Einfiihlung und Association in der neueren Aes- 

 thetik. Paul Steen. Hamburg und Leip- 

 zig, Leopold Voss. 1898. Pp. viii+81. M. 2. 



