150 Proceedings, <&c, for 1885. 



ORDINARY MEETING. 



Held April 16th, 1885. 



Present, the President (in the chair) and 22 members and 

 associates. 



The President desired that members who had objects of scientific 

 interest should make an effort to assist in rendering the Victorian 

 Court of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, to be held in London 

 in 1886, as complete as possible from a scientific point of view. 



Dr. Neild read a short obituary notice of Dr. Wilkie, who had 

 been an active member of the society in its early days. On his 

 motion it was resolved that a letter of condolence be forwarded to 

 the widow of Dr. "Wilkie. 



The President then reported the progress that had been made in 

 securing contributions to the Davy fund. He stated that the sum 

 of £157 4s. had been collected by the society, and that the 

 Government had granted £100 in addition. 



Mr. Cosmo Newbery then read his paper on the " Examination 

 of Water." In the discussion which followed 



Mr. Ellery said that the only way to thoroughly protect our 

 water supply was to exclude human habitations from the catch- 

 ment area. He described the efforts that had been made to keep 

 the basin of the Yan Yean free from dwellings. There was 

 nothing, so far as was yet known, that could be added to dele- 

 terious water, so . as to destroy disease germs. Perhaps lime 

 might have that result to a small extent. He remembered that 

 on one occasion when Dr. Gillbee was examining a hydatid sac it 

 was noticed that the micrococci were at once killed by the addition 

 of a drop of brandy. Perhaps there might after all be some force 

 in the popular notion that the addition of a little spirit to water 

 made the latter less likely to communicate disease. 



Mr. E. L. Marks said that he had long taken peculiar interest 

 in this examination of water used for drinking purposes. In the 

 destruction of germs he noticed that benzine had a remarkably 

 quick, while carbolic acid had a very slow, effect. 



Dr. Jamieson said that he had been much struck by hearing 

 Mr. Newbery confess how inadequate were the merely chemical 

 tests of water. The presence of disease germs was scarcely a 

 matter to be determined by the ordinary qualitative tests of a 

 chemist. Doubtless the presence of albuminoid nitrogenous 

 matter was a warning, but that might be abundantly present 

 without the appearance of germs, and on the other hand deadly 

 germs might be found where it was comparatively absent. He 

 considered that the gelatine method of determining the bacterial 

 energy present was a much more satisfactory test than any other ; 

 for in this way it is possible to cultivate each species free from the 



