466 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 35. 



and social sciences; and an entbusiasm created in it 

 will lielp many of the departments of college-work. 

 The society welcomes the incoming classes, and 

 affords an opportunity for a change to those accus- 

 tomed to years of dry drill in the mathematics and 

 languages of the preparatory schools. It opens their 

 eyes to the perfections of nature, awakens in them a 

 curiosity, and stimulates interest in all the scientific 

 studies of the college course. There are interesting 

 subjects of microscopical investigation, carried on 

 in society, which do not come under any department 

 of college instruction. The live college microscopi- 

 cal society will not only awaken interest in students 

 and teachers, but will attract the attention of the 

 authorities who control the funds, and the commu- 

 nity generally. The conditions of success in such a 

 society are just what they are in every other scientific 

 society the object of which is not alone investigation, 

 but Instruction of its members and others. There 

 must be desirable members, those who are willing to 

 work: all must have something to do. " The fresh- 

 men, by their exclaiming, fan the flame of enthusiasm, 

 and, before they can do any thing alone with the 

 microscope, can serve the society on the lamp com- 

 mittee." There should be a class in microscopical 

 technology, apparatus, a library, and especially the 

 current scientific journals. 



Cataloguing, labelling, and storing microscopical 

 preparations, by Simon H. Gage. This paper pointed 

 out the advantages of properly cataloguing, etc., one's 

 microscopical preparations, and then gave in detail 

 the course found to be successful by the author. " The 

 catalogue should indicate all that is known of a speci- 

 men at the time of its preparation, and all the process- 

 es by which it is treated. It is only by the possession 

 of such a complete knowledge of the entire history 

 of a preparation that one is able to judge with cer- 

 tainty of the comparative excellence of methods." 

 The card method is advocated. "The cards are 

 postal-card size, and- each preparation has its own 

 card. . . . These may be arranged alphabetically; 

 and, as new preparations are made, new cards may 

 , be added in their proper order, while those of 

 destroyed or discarded preparations may be removed 

 without in any way marring the catalogue. Finally, 

 the cards may be kept in a neat box which occupies 

 but little more space than a manuscript book." The 

 cabinet should allow the slides to be flat, exclude 

 dust and light. Each slide should have a separate 

 compartment, numbered 1,0 agree with the slide. 

 The floor of the compartment should be beveled at 

 the end, so as to facilitate removal; and the drawers 

 of the cabinet should be independent, but so close 

 together that slides will not fall out when tipped; 

 and each should be numbered with Roman letters. 



The president, Albert McCalla, delivered his an- 

 nual address, Tuesday evening, in Weber music- 

 hall. His theme was ' Verification of microscopical 

 observation.' Referring to the scientific spirit and a 

 common bond of the society's organization, he said, 

 " In this intensely practical age of ours, we are in 

 danger of forgetting that the true aim of science is 

 siuiply the pursuit of truth, and that the mighty 



benefits, the invaluable and almost countless gifts, of 

 wealth and ease and safety, which result from scien- 

 tific discovery, and which so greatly bless the world 

 to-day, will result most surely when science has an 

 eye single to the search for simple truth, — truth that 

 to the practical world seems often abstract and un- 

 important. . . . We are not all botanists, not all 

 zoologists, nor all students of lithology; yet we have 

 a well-defined common ground. We are all deeply 

 interested in the physics of the microscope and in the 

 methods of its use; and, in order to be skilled in 

 that department of investigation we have severally 

 chosen, we must be more or less fully pr.actical in 

 microscopical work in many fields." To prove that 

 "only as theories are submitted to repeated and 

 varied forms of verification is error eliminated and 

 final truth obtained," numerous facts were cited from 

 the history of scientific progress; after which, the 

 means of verification of microscopical observation 

 were discussed. These are repetition of observation, 

 use of the camera lucida, photomicrography, media 

 and reagents, improved lenses and apparatus, and a 

 better knowledge of optics. 



Wednesday forenoon was devoted to papers on 

 bacteria. T. J. Burrill read a paper on preparing 

 and mounting bacteria. He stated that the elements 

 of successful staining are as follows: " 1. The organ- 

 isms should be decidedly and conspicuously stained; 

 2. The general mass of embedding-material should 

 be left unstained, or so different in color that the 

 organism can be distinctly seen; 3. There should 

 be no granular or other precipitations from the 

 staining-material; 4. The color should be suitable 

 for the purposes required, and permanent if the 

 object is to be mounted; 5. The process should be 

 as simple as possible, and free from manipulative 

 difliculties. . . . Except for a few special results, 

 aniline dyes are by far the most serviceable in stain- 

 ing bacteria. However, no one staining-material, 

 nor any single method of procedure, can be made 

 to answer well the requirements for all kinds of 

 bacteria." 



Dr. H. J. Detmors presented some conclusions 

 reached by himself while studying the diseases of cat- 

 tle in Texas. Bacteria he regarded as unquestionably 

 the cause of certain fevers. Under certain conditions, 

 all bacteria become pathogenetic; but these condi- 

 tions are not yet fully understood. 



Dr. George E. Fell read a paper on the clinical ad- 

 vantages of ozone, and its effects on the micro-organ- 

 isms of infusions. After giving the favorable results 

 of the use of ozone by Dr. F. W. Bartlett in scat- 

 let-fever, diphtheria, whooping-cough, typhoid-fever, 

 etc., he gave in tabular form the results of a series of 

 experiments by himself, — experiments in which 

 bacteria, and other forms indigenous in infusions, 

 were subjected to the influence of air charged with 

 ozone. 



Following the discussion on the three preceding 

 papers. Dr. G. E. Blackham presented the report of 

 committee on oculai'S. The report recommends nam- 

 ing oculars, like objectives, by their equivalent focal 

 lengths in English inches. For the tubes of oculars 



