FEBRt'ARY 9, 190G.] 



SCIENCE. 



221 



books as to the properties exerted by the 

 ingredients employed in the Gram method. 



Investigation shows that the Gram reac- 

 tion follows the employment of the para- 

 rosanilin dyes, especially the violet dyes of 

 this group, such as crystal violet, methyl 

 violet, or mixtures of these known as gen- 

 tian violet. The influence of the iodin is 

 to form a new compound with the stained 

 protoplasm of certain bacteria, which com- 

 pound is insoluble or feebly soluble in alco- 

 hol. The alcohol serves as the decolorizing 

 agent. 



The exact difference in the chemical con- 

 stitution between species of bacteria that 

 stain positively and those that stain nega- 

 tively by the Gram method is not definitely 

 known, but the chemical constitution of 

 the bacterial cell influences the behavior 

 of the organism toward the Gram method. 



Experiments along these lines are still in 

 progress. 



The following new members were elected: 



Professor Erastiis G. Smith, Beloit College, 

 Beloit, Wds'. 



Doctor Hide3'0 Noguchi, assistant. Rockefeller 

 Institute, New York City. 



Doctor Francis H. Slack, first assistant bac- 

 teriologist, Boston Board of Health Laboratory. 



Doctor Eduardo Andrade, bacteriologist. State 

 Board' of Health, Jacksonville, Fla. 



Doctor Howard T. Ricketts, instructor in pa- 

 thology. University of Chicago.' 



Doctor Gustav F. Ruediger, assistant, Memorial 

 Institute for Infectious Diseases, Chicago, 111. 



Professor Wilfred H. Manwaring, Indiana Uni- 

 versity. 



Professor Edwin G. Hastings, University of 

 Wisconsin. 



The officera for the ensuing year are : 



President — E. F. Smith, Washington, D. C. 



Vice-President — F. P. Gorhani, Brown Univer- 

 sity. 



Secretary-Treasurer — S. C. Prescott, Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology. 



Council— Ji. 0. Jordan, V. C. Vaughan, Simon 

 Flexner, Joseph McFarland. ^ 'j 



Delegate to. American Association jf on the', 'Ad- 



vancement of Science — -W. T. Sedgwick, Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology. 



F. P. GORHAM, 



Secretary. 

 Bbown University. 



THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. 



The twelfth annual meeting of the- 

 Botanical Society of America was held at 

 New Orleans, in affiliation with the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, from the first to the fourth of 

 January, 1906. While the attendance, as 

 in the ease of the association, was not large, 

 the meeting was a good one, and the pro- 

 gi*am which follows contained papers of 

 unusual interest. 



As officers for the year 1906 were elected. 

 President, Professor F. S. Earle, Santiago 

 de las Vegas, Cuba; Vice-president, Pro- 

 fessor P. E.' Clements, Lincoln, Nebr. ; Sec- 

 retary, Professor William Trelease, St. 

 Louis, Mo. ; Treasurer, Dr. Arthur HoUick, 

 Bronx Park, New York City. In addition 

 to these officers and Past-president Hai-per, 

 of Madison, Wisconsin, the council was com- 

 pleted by the election of Professor B. L. 

 Robinson, of Cambridge, Mass., and of 

 Professor N. L. Britton, of Bronx Park, 

 New York City. Professor E. A. Burt and 

 Dr. D. T. MacDougal were appointed to 

 represent the society on the council of the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science. Drs. A. F. Blakeslee and G. H. 

 Shull were elected to associate membership. 



A vote of thanks was passed for the effi- 

 cient service of the retiring secretary. Dr. 

 MacDougal. 



The treasurer's report showed a balance 

 in the treasury of $3,201.43, of which a 

 grant of $150.00 was made to Dr. C. J. 

 Chamberlain, of the University of Chicago, 

 as an aid in a further field study of Dioon 

 and in a morphological study of Ceratoza- 

 mia, and a^ grant of $100.00 to Professor J. 



