PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



G99 



Mr. Eve said that though bringing microscopic sections to the Society 

 seemed like " carrying coals to Newcastle," he had ventured to bring some 

 specimens of Actinomyces from the jaw of an ox, with a specimen from the 

 Eoyal College of Surgeons' Museum of the jaw showing what the disease 

 was. The etfect upon the animal was to produce tumours in the jaw, and 

 the disease occasionally spread so as to affect the kidneys, intestines, and 

 other parts of the body. The organism consisted of a number of spheres, 

 each having a structureless centre, round which large numbers of Actino- 

 myces were arranged very much in the same way as pins might be stuck 

 on a round pin-cushion. The inflammatory new formation was very much 

 like what occurred in the growth of tubercle or syphilis. The disease 

 could be communicated by inoculation to other cattle, and also in the same 

 way from man to the rabbit. The sections were prepared by staining first 

 with a magenta solution, which selected the micro-organisms, and afterwards 

 with a watery solution of methyl-blue, which stained the tissues. 



Dr. Crookshank said, with regard to the disease referred to as 

 existing in man, his own view was that there was very little ground for 

 supposing it to be the same as that of the ox. The bovine disease was 

 very clearly marked, and could hardly be mistaken ; but he might say that 

 although clinically the two forms of disease might appear very much the 

 same, the fungus which had been found in man differed very materially in 

 its microscopic features from that obtained from diseased cattle. The new 

 method of staining these objects with magenta picric acid would be found 

 very effective ; he had tried a great number with success by using orcin and 

 then gentian violet. 



Mr. Crisp read a circular which had been sent descriptive of a new 

 glycerin-immersion objective, in which he said were crowded as many 

 optical and other errors as could well be compressed into the space. 

 (Supra, p. 645.) 



Prof. Rupert Jones and Mr. 0. D. Sherborn's paper, "Eemarks on the 

 Foraminifera, with especial reference to their Variability of Form illus- 

 trated by the Cristellarians, Part II.," was read. (Supra, p. 545.) 



Mr. G. Massee gave a resume of his paper " On the Genus Lycoperdon," 

 illustrating the subject by drawings upon the blackboard. (Post.) 



Prof. Bell said that the Fellows of the Society would probably re- 

 member that in the course of last winter he took the opportunity of 

 describing what he had been able to observe in the case of some diseased 

 grouse which had been sent to him for examination. Within the last few 

 weeks the disease, whatever it might be, had been killing grouse in con- 

 siderable numbers on the moors in the south-west of Scotland, though it 

 did not appear to prevail to any great extent elsewhere. In the month of 

 May last he received some of these diseased grouse in fairly good con- 

 dition, and he examined them very carefully to see if he could discover any 

 cause of death, because on the former occasion the tape-worms were all 

 that could be found, and these did not seem sufficient to cause death by 

 themselves. The first grouse which he examined this year were fairly 

 well nourished, and again the tape-worms were found ; he looked carefully, 

 as before, for the small round-worm (Strongylus) mentioned by Dr. Cobbold, 

 and again he found it to be absent. In this case, however, he found the 

 intestines were inflamed and gorged with blood ; not finding anything 

 further, he wrote to say that they should be examined by a pathologist 

 rather than by a helminthologist. More recently he had received from Sir 



