The President's Address. Btj Prof. P. Martin Duncan. 181 



was seen here and there on its whitish surface. This consisted 

 of clusters of crescent- shaped spores. They appear to sprout 

 from the extremities of short hyphae. From these crescent-shaped 

 bodies, which are spores, fresh growths of the mould could be 

 obtained by sowing on a suitable surface. The red colour is the 

 matter surrounding the crescent-shaped spores. The mould holds 

 its own against other kinds, and sooner or later swellings occur in 

 the threads of the hyphae and on sporangia. The contents 

 discharge with the application of water, and the spherical spores 

 were sown, and they reproduced the red mould. The author 

 described a similar mould on the melon. 



I speculated in my last address regarding the future of 

 research into the life-history of bacilli, and the results of the 

 work on this subject during the past year have been really most 

 wonderful. Dr. Kansom condensed the breath of phthisical patients 

 and obtained bacilli, rendering them visible by what may be called 

 the Gibbes process. He found that they were indistinguish- 

 able from those found in the sputa and in tubercle. It is not 

 reassuring to know that bacteria exist in vast multitudes in the 

 soil, but M. Miquel has shown that at Montsouris an average of 

 750,000, in the Eue de Kennes 1,800,000, in the Kue Monge 

 2,100,000 germs exist per gramme. Brautlecht mixed baked 

 sand, gritty earth, and tolerably loamy garden mould with liquid 

 containing bacteria, and covered the mixture with a bell-glass. A 

 few hours after, there were a great number of micro-organisms in 

 the vapour condensed under the bell-glass, and of the form of those 

 contained in the liquid. The sprinkling of dry sand over the earth 

 diminished the number of organisms. It is comforting to read 

 that while rain is falling, the number of the bacteria in the air is 

 sensibly diminished ; it increases, however, when the ground dries, 

 and diminishes with ten to fifteen days' drought. Miquel states 

 that at Montsouris, the average number of bacterial germs per 

 cubic metre of air is 142 in autumn, 49 in winter, 85 in sprmg, 

 and 105 in summer. The same author states that the number of 

 germs in hospitals is vast, amounting in the summer months to 

 an average of 5600, and in the autumn to considerably over 

 10,000 per cubic metre of air. 



The sensitiveness to light of Bacterium jphotometricum is 

 accompanied by more remarkable properties, for these organisms 

 accumulate in media in positions where the invisible ultra red rays 

 of the spectrum penetrate. The influence of light on the develop- 

 ment of bacteria has been shown in the instance of Bacterium 

 termo to be remarkable. Direct sunlight kills bacteria, diffused 

 sunlight does not; but this statement has to be qualified, for 

 Jamieson discovered that temperature has to do with the matter, 

 and that at moderate and low temperatures direct sunlight does no 



