PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 663 



be found that when making drawings by daylight it was a good plan 

 to illuminate the object by the light of a small lamp, and to let the 

 ordinary daylight fall upon the paper. 



Mr. Dowdeswell's paper " On some Appearances in the Blood of 

 Vertebrated Animals with reference to the occurrence of Bacteria 

 therein." was read by him (siip'a, p. 525). 



Prof. Bell said that Dr. Timothy Lewis who had been making 

 some observations in India opened a dog and removed its two kidneys ; 

 one was placed directly into warm paraf&n and left to cool, and the 

 other was examined at once ; the latter was found to contain no 

 bacteria, but the one which had been put into the paraffin was found 

 to be swarming with them. This fact had not been referred to by 

 those who were at present examining into the nature of cholera 

 germs, but he thought it contained a moral which applied to all forms 

 of disease. 



Mr. Beck considered the question to be an extremely interesting 

 one. If what the Secretary had said — that the bacteria were the 

 result and not the cause of the disease — was well founded, the same 

 might apply to other diseases. 



The President thought that it was not Mr. Dowdeswell's intention 

 to say that there were disintegrated corpuscles, but that there were 

 pseudo-bacteria. In the case of splenic fever the specific forms had 

 been seen, and it had been not only proved that when introduced into 

 the system they would give rise to the disease, but that when they 

 had been filtered out the disease could not be so communicated, so 

 that it was clear in this case that the bacteria were the absolute cause 

 and not the result of the disease. 



Dr. Anthony and the President further discussed the paper. 



Mr. Oxley's paper " On Protospongia pedicellata, a New Com- 

 pound Infusorian," was read by Prof. Bell (supra, p. 530). 



Mr. C. D. Ahrens' paper " On a New Form of Polarizing Prism " 

 (supra, p. 533) was, owing to the lateness of the hour, taken as read, 

 Mr. Ahrens explaining briefly the principle of his arrangement by 

 means of a black-board diagram. 



The President said that at the last meeting of the Society it was 

 mentioned that the American Society of Microscopists would hold 

 their meeting at Kochester, N.Y., in August next, and he had been 

 appointed, in connection with Mr. Glaisher and Mr. Bennett, to 

 attend as representatives of the Society. Since then the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science had invited the Society 

 to the meeting to be held at Philadelphia, and it had been proposed 

 that the same gentlemen should attend that meeting also on behalf 

 of the Society. 



This proposal was approved unanimously. 



