January 31, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



189 



test of actual use witli classes before being 

 crystallized into their present form. The par- 

 ticular merit of tbe book lies in the fact that 

 the author has carefully described small points 

 of technique which too many others writers 

 have left for the student to learn for himself 

 through experience more or less bitter. 



The contents of the book are as follows : 

 Chapter I., Microscopical Examination of Bac- 

 teria, with a description of the ordinary pro- 

 cesses of staining; II. and III., Morphology 

 and Eeproduction, with methods of straining 

 flagella and capsules; IV., Classification of 

 Bacteria — a synopsis of Migula's genera; V. 

 and VI., Sterilization, and Preparation of Cul- 

 ture media ; VII., Cultures of Bacteria — a de- 

 scription of the ordinary culture methods, with 

 full tables of descriptive terms; VIH., Deter- 

 mination of Species, contains a list of diagnos- 

 tic characters, a standard chart for full de- 

 scription of a species, a key for tracing the 

 more common forms, and a synopsis of Ches- 

 ter's scheme of classification by groups; IX., 

 Bacterial Analysis of Water, Milk, Air and 

 Soil; X., Pathogenic Bacteria — directions for 

 the study of eleven typical pathogenic organ- 

 isms. The appendix contains an account of 

 Wilson and Randolph's method of measure- 

 ment by photography, a description of the com- 

 mon contaminating moulds and yeasts, and a 

 very useful list of synonyms. 



Not a few points and methods are described 

 which have hitherto appeared only in mono- 

 graphs; some are here published for the first 

 time. The text is fully illustrated, and many 

 of the cuts are new. 



On account of its thoroughly modern and in 

 many respects original treatment of the ordi- 

 nary technique of bacteriology this book will 

 prove useful not only to the bacteriologist, but 

 to the botanist who employs bacteriological 

 methods in pathological or systematic work. 

 Haven Metcalf. 



The Univebsitt of Nebraska. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 THE geological SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 122d meeting of the Society was held 

 on Jan. 8. The first paper was by Mr. Charles 

 D. Waleott on 'The Outlook of the Geologist 



in America.' This was the substance of the 

 presidential address, before the Geological So- 

 ciety of America, at Rochester. 



Mr. M. E. Campbell then presented a paper 

 on 'Recent Geological Work in Pennsylvania.' 

 The author summarized briefly the character 

 and scope of the mapping of the Pennsylva- 

 nia coal fields which is now being carried on 

 by the United States Geological Survey in co- 

 operation with the State. TJp to the present 

 time seven quadrangles, embracing an area 

 of 1,600 square miles in the bituminous coal 

 fields, have been geologically surveyed. 



It is generally admitted that the weakest 

 point of the Second Geological Survey of 

 Pennsylvania was its lack of adequate base 

 maps on which to portray the geological data 

 gathered in the field. It was impossible to lo- 

 cate geological boundaries correctly upon the 

 crude county maps, which were the only ones 

 available. With the aid of the recent detailed 

 topographic maps, it is believed that the geo- 

 logical boundaries have been determined with- 

 in an error of a few feet. The importance of 

 such close mapping is self-evident from the 

 fact that land underlain by the Pittsburg coal 

 is valued at from $300 to $1,100 per acre. 

 The investigations have also brought out many 

 details of structure not previously known, 

 which are of the utmost importance to mine 

 and oil and gas well operators. In closing 

 Mr. Campbell expressed a high appreciation of 

 the labors of the geologists who had preceded 

 him in this field, and stated that their results 

 can only be superseded by the most careful 

 detailed work and by the use of a topographic 

 base map producing a high degree of ac- 

 curacy. 



Alfred H. Brooks, 



Secretary. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 347th meeting was held on Saturday 

 evening, January 11. 



F. A. Lucas exhibited a malformed tooth of 

 Mastodon, of an irregular shape, and with 

 about twice the normal number of cusps, the 

 extra cusps having been mostly added on one 

 side of the tooth. 



M. B. Waite presented 'A Problem in Plant 



