590 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



Mr. Hartog said that he used to find the nuclei in the large 

 Amoebae with a very distinct network, although one which he found 

 had a hollow nucleus. 



The President inquired if Mr. Hartog had ever been able to iodize 

 Amoebae ? 



Mr. Hartog said he had stained them with picro-carmine, but had 

 not done so with iodine. 



Dr. Ralph, the President of the Victoria (Australia) Microscopical 

 Society, responding to a welcome from the President and the Meeting, 

 said he should like to take the opportunity of bringing before the 

 Fellows of the Society the examination of the leaves of various kinds 

 of plants by means of the action of prussic acid and ammonia. The 

 process was a very simple one, it being only necessary to place the 

 section under the Microscope, and then introduce the compound. 

 He had only had time as yet to examine a few kinds of leaves in this 

 way, but the vine had hitherto given the most marked instances of 

 the chemical action to which he referred. A longitudinal section as 

 thin as possible being made of the leaf and placed under the Microscope, 

 the fluid, should be added, and would be found to penetrate the struc- 

 ture, chiefly acting on the ducts, which were within reach of the 

 bark. In a few moments the most extraordinary colours made their 

 appearance, such as claret, amber, port-wine colour, and others having 

 all the appearance of a coloured injection of the tissue, only that in 

 about a quarter of an hour it all disappeared. Other leaves which he 

 had tried behaved much in the same way, though they did not all 

 respond to the reagent in an equal degree. It was only in the brittle 

 sappy stems that it was possible to get the best results. In conse- 

 quence of these observations, he had been able to treat sections of the 

 human subject with prussic acid with marked effects. Whenever he 

 got in the plasma amorphous particles distinctly blue in colour, he 

 also found the formation of amyloid bodies in the blood. These 

 bodies were very well defined, and under favourable circumstances, in 

 polarized light, the black cross could be seen. The production of 

 amyloid forms by chemical means, not only under the action of hydro- 

 cyanic acid, but by chloral, formic acid, or solution of copper in 

 ammonia, was a point of considerable interest. If a portion of either 

 of these reagents were added to fresh blood, and examined carefully 

 under the Microscope, they would, in all probability, find these 

 starch-like bodies developed in the field. It was not easy to show 

 the process in a room to a number of persons ; but if any one present 

 was interested in these subjects, he should be very glad to demon- 

 strate what he had been describing. 



Mr. Stewart inquired whether these bodies were supposed to be 

 formed by the reagent, or were they supposed to be really present 

 before, but only to be made visible by the reaction ? 



Dr. Ealph said that under favourable circumstances they might 

 see a globule which they would be disposed to say was oil ; when 

 the reagent was added it would increase in size from about the 

 •s^Vci inch to about the x^Vtr ^ ncn > l a * er i* would suddenly become 



