222 
THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN 
GEOGRAPHERS 
THE eighth annual meeting of the association 
was held in Washington, December 28-30, 1911. 
Through the kindness of the National Geographic 
Society, the sessions were held in Hubbard Me- 
morial Hall, and luncheon was provided for those 
in attendance. 
The president, Professor Ralph 8. Tarr, of 
Cornell University, presided, and gave the presi- 
dent’s address. His subject was ‘‘The Glaciers 
and Glaciation of Alaska.’’ Professor Martin 
read a memorial of Professor Christopher Webber 
Hall, who died on May 10, 1911. In addition to 
these addresses, thirty-six papers were read by 
members and by several others on invitation. 
Paper on subjects in meteorology were more 
numerous than at any previous meeting of the 
association. 
On Friday evening the association met with the 
Geological Society of America to hear the address 
of its president, Professor W. M. Davis, upon the 
subject ‘‘The Relations of Geology and Geog- 
raphy.’? This was followed by a smoker given to 
both societies at the Cosmos Club by the Geolog- 
ical Society of Washington. 
The first volume of the Annals of the associa- 
tion is now in press and will appear during the 
winter under the editorship of Professor R. E. 
Dodge. Announcement was made of the election 
of the following officers for the year 1912: 
President, Rollin D. Salisbury; First Vice-presi- 
dent, Marius R. Campbell; Second Vice-president, 
Isaiah Bowman; Secretary, Albert Perry Brigham; 
Treasurer, Nevin M. Fenneman; Cowncillor for 
three years, Lawrence Martin. The next annual 
meeting will be held in New Haven. 
ALBERT PERRY BRIGHAM, 
Secretary 
THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN 
BACTERIOLOGISTS 
Av the Washington meeting of the society from 
December 27-29, the following papers were pre- 
sented: ‘ 
Biochemical Problems in Bacteriology (president’s 
address): F. P. GoRHAM. 
This address will appear in SCIENCE. 
The Classification of the Streptococci by their 
Action upon Carbohydrate Media: C.-E. A. 
WINSLOW. 
When Gordon first suggested the use of carbo- 
hydrate media for differentiating streptococci, it 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 893 
seemed that this long-mooted problem was at last 
likely to be solved. The work of the last five 
years has, however, left matters in almost as con- 
fused a condition as ever, since different observers 
obtain such varied, and in some cases, conflicting 
results. 
The author attempts to review in this paper the 
results of four recent American investigations, 
including 302 fecal streptococci, studied by Wins- 
low and Palmer, 101 milk streptococci studied by 
Broadhurst, 65 throat cultures studied by Hilliard 
and 17 cultures from various sources examined by 
Bellinger, of Meadville College. 
In all these cases the amount of acidity produced 
was determined by titration. The first point 
brought out is that the dividing line between 
fermenting and non-fermenting strains lies at 
about 1.2 per cent. acidity. The English results 
obtained by Gordon and Houston have been ob- 
tained by the use of litmus without titration, and 
if their solutions were not exactly neutral at the 
start, they must have classified as fermenting 
many organisms which really belong to the non- 
fermenting class. A careful comparison of the 
English results for particular groups shows, in- 
deed, that they include a much greater percentage 
of positive records than the American ones. 
Experience seems to indicate that systematic 
studies of the carbohydrate relations of the strep- 
tococei should be carried out by titration with 
phenolphthalein as an indicator. Media may be 
made up from meat extract (each batch checked 
by controls inoculated with B. coli) and adjusted 
to an initial reaction between neutral and .5 per 
cent. acid. Dextrose, lactose, saccharose, salicin, 
inulin, mannite and raffinose should all be used for 
diagnosis for the present at least, and titration 
may be made after cultivation for three days 
at 37° C. 
When studied in this way, cultures producing 
over 1.2 per cent. acidity more than that initially 
recorded being considered positive, the media are 
acted upon (with occasional exception) in accord- 
ance with a definite order of fermentability, which 
is quite different from the order which prevails in 
the colon group. If only one carbohydrate is 
attacked that one is usually dextrose. Lactose and 
saccharose come next and particularly with fecal 
streptococci. Salicin is almost as commonly acted 
upon. Mannite is rarely attacked except by strep- 
tococci from milk and human feces, while raffinose 
is rarely attacked except by organisms from 
bovine feces. Inulin fermenters occur only abun- 
