July 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



113 



it readily from T. hrucei, the cause of the 

 South African tsetse-fly disease. This con- 

 firms the work of Laveran and Mesnil on the 

 non-identity of these two diseases and effectu- 

 ally disproves the view held by some that the 

 various trypanosomatic diseases are due to 

 one and the same organism. 



The culture of T. hrucei is nearly but not 

 quite as virulent as the material from an af- 

 fected animal. Such virulent cultures, devel- 

 oped at room temperature or at 25° C, when 

 placed at 34° C. for two days lose their patho- 

 genic properties ; and by means of such attenu- 

 ated cultures it is possible to immunize a 

 guinea-pig. This fact is of importance, since 

 it may have a bearing upon the prevention of 

 these diseases. 



It was further shown that cultures of T. 

 lewisi at times contain very minute forms of 

 the organism and that when such material is 

 passed through a Berkefeld filter the resultant 

 filtrate on inoculation into rats produces a 

 typical infection. This goes to show that even 

 a large protozoon may have a sufficiently small 

 form, even if it is not ultra-microscopic, which 

 can traverse the pores of a filter. 



Dr. ~NoYy was followed by Professor Lloyd, 

 who read a paper on ' The History of Ethics.' 



The last meeting of the year was addressed 

 by Dr. J. E. Duerden, who gave an account 

 of his researches on the morphology and de- 

 velopment of recent and fossil corals, and by 

 Dr. Geo. A. Hulett, who read a paper detailing 

 the results of his work on standard cells. 



The latter paper showed that the hydrolysis 

 of mercurous sulfate (Hg^SOJ, the depolar- 

 izer, has been worked out, and the effects of 

 the hydrolytic products of the electromotive 

 force of the cadmium cell determined. The 

 author's method of preparing electrolytic mer- 

 curous sulfate was described, as well as meth- 

 ods of preventing hydrolysis in the setting up 

 of the standard cells. The results indicate 

 that the cells are reproducible with a variation 

 of but a few parts in 100,000. The details 

 will soon be published in an article on ' Mer- 

 curous Sulfate in its Relation to the Standard 

 Cells.' •Frederick 0. Newcombe, 



Secretary. 



THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 



The club met April 27, 1904. 



The first paper of the scientific program was. 

 by Dr. N. L. Britton, on ' Explorations in 

 Florida and the Bahamas.' This was illus- 

 trated by maps and specimens, and described 

 the general features of the flora of the region, 

 of the part of subtropical Florida south of 

 Miami, to which a visit of three weeks' dura- 

 tion was made in March and early April with 

 Mrs. Britton and Dr. M. A. Howe, in coopera- 

 tion with Professor P. H. Rolfs, of the U. S. 

 Subtropical Laboratory. A detailed account 

 of the flora was not taken up, inasmuch as Dr.. 

 John K. Small, who explored the same regiott 

 last autumn, and who will again visit it in 

 May, proposes to publish a complete account 

 of the material secured. Two genera, new to 

 the continent, both represented in Florida by 

 a single species, were discovered, Alvaradoa in 

 hammock lands and Sachsia in pine lands^ 

 both of these genera existing also in Cuba and 

 in the Bahamas. 



Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, of the Field Colum- 

 bian Museum, joined the party early in April, 

 and the Island of New Providence in the 

 Bahamas was partially explored. The distri- 

 bution of plants of this island was described, 

 the littoral zone containing many common 

 West Indian and Floridan species, of which 

 the most characteristic are, perhaps, the shrubs 

 Jacquinia Keyensis and Salmea, petrohioides 

 the latter endemic in the Bahamas. 



Between the littoral zone and the interior 

 regions of the island there is in places a plant 

 society, which may be termed an intermediate 

 one, characterized by such shrubs as Buxus. 

 Baliamensis, Banara reticulata, Calliandra. 

 formosa. 



The pine lands {Pinus Bahamensis) contain 

 among other species, Pteridium caudaturriy 

 Vernonia Bahamensis and Byrsonima lucida,. 

 as characteristic species. The palmetto lands 

 (apparently Inodes Palmetto) contain more 

 herbaceous vegetation than the other regions 

 including Lin,um Bahamensis, Sachsia Baha- 

 mensis and Saiiatia campanulaia, though also 

 having a considerable number of shrubs. The 

 ' eoppets ' or ' hammocks,' as they are called in 

 Florida, are areas devoid of either pines or 



