September 12, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



369 



are to all appearances vegetatively alike. They 

 differ apparently only in size. Zygotes were 

 never found in both filaments, but only in 

 the one containing the larger amount of food. 



The difference in the number and size of the 

 pyrenoids and the amount of starch present 

 in the chloroplasts and in the staining reac- 

 tion of the cytoplasm of the gametes, clearly 

 indicate at least that in certain species of 

 Spirogyra the male and female gametes are 

 distinctly morphologically as well as physiolog- 

 ically different. Since starch is formed more 

 abundantly in the female gametes than in the 

 male, the female plants evidently possess a 

 greater vegetative activity than the male 

 plants. Blakeslee^ in his recent studies of 

 Mucors concludes that the female plants 

 (-|- strains) in dioecious forms are more vege- 

 tatively luxuriant than the male plants ( — 

 strains). 



A more detailed account than is presented 

 here will appear later. 



Harlan H. York 



Department op Botany, 

 Bkown Univeesitt 



THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN 



BACTEBIOLOGISTS 



systematic and physiologic bacteriology 



The annual meeting of the society was held in 

 New York City, December 31, 1912, and January 

 1 and 2, 1913, under the presidency of Dr. William 

 H. Park. The sessions were held at the American 

 Museum of Natural History, the University and 

 Bellevue Hospital Medical College and the Rocke- 

 feller Institute. The society expressed its indebt- 

 edness to these institutions for their courtesy. 

 The annual dinner was held on Wednesday eve- 

 ning, January 1, 1913, at which the president's 

 address was delivered. Dr. Park spoke upon ' ' The 

 Applications of Bacteriology in the Activities of a 

 City." 



With this as his text Dr. Park traced the history 

 of the Research Laboratories of the Board of 

 Health of New York City, an institution which 

 easily takes rank with the Pasteur Institute of 

 Paris and other institutions of the kind in Europe. 



^Blakeslee, A. P., "A Possible Means of Iden- 

 tifying the Sex of (-}-) and ( — ) Races in the 

 Mucors," Science, N. S., 37: 880-881, 1913. 



In the original work which has been done under 

 Dr. Park's direction no other American laboratory 

 engaged in public health work can point to so 

 many achievements which have resulted in ad- 

 vancing our knowledge of infectious diseases and 

 methods for controlling them. 



The following officers were elected for a term 

 of one year: 



President — C.-E. A. Winslow. 



Vice-president — Charles E. Marshall. 



Secretary-treasurer — A. Parker Hitchens. 



Council — W. J. MacNeal, L. P. Rettger, D. H. 

 Bergey, H. A. Harding. 



Delegate to Council of A. A. A. S. — S. E. Pres- 

 cott. 



The following papers were read: 



The Value of Glycerinated Potato as a Culture 

 Medium: M. E. Smirnow, M.D., New Haven, 

 Conn., instructor in bacteriology and pathology, 

 Yale Medical School. 



The glycerinated potato culture medium belongs 

 to the class of the so-called media, which as the 

 term implies, are media of various compositions 

 and are used only for special purposes. They may 

 be employed as follows: (1) for the purpose of 

 isolating, microorganisms; (2) to furnish a suffi- 

 ciently favorable medium for the growth of cer- 

 tain organisms; (3) for specific or differentiating 

 tests; (4) to bring out special features of growth. 

 Aside from blood media, the most frequently used 

 of the special media are the glycerinated potato 

 and agar, but even these are practically limited 

 to the cultivation and the study of acid fasts. 

 It has long been the opinion of the writer that if 

 some of OUT so-called special media were put to a 

 more general use, hitherto unknown biological 

 features in the study of microorganisms would 

 come to light. This was emphasized by the finding 

 of a marked contrastirtg^culture on glycerinated 

 potato of a glanders bacillus, which was being 

 isolated at our laboratories during the last year. 

 This organism was isolated from a human case of 

 glanders. When first obtained it gave but a faint 

 yellow growth on plain potato, by no means the 

 so-called honey-like growth. It was then planted 

 on glycerine potato with more success. On this 

 medium it gave a luxuriant growth of a bright 

 yellow color and typically honey-like in character. 

 It was this peculiar and striking difference in the 

 growth of the glanders bacillus that led up to the 

 work here outlined. The cultural characters of 

 twenty-five microorganisms were studied on gly- 

 cerine potato, plain potato and broth potato, the 



