58 THE WEST AMEKICAtf SCIENTIST. 



I Written for the Scientist.] 



As the lion creeps in ambush, 



To spring Upon his prey, 

 As Aurora's morning blushes 



Foretell the <coming day; 



As the spread Sails of tihe good ship 

 Assure the wind is right, 



And the calm wave brightly mirrors* 

 Every star of night; 



Thus gross darkness from the nations, 

 In haste, now glides away, 



Before the searching gaze of Truths 

 Lit up with Heaven's own l&y. 



ON THE SPELLING OF CERTAIN NAMES. 



A note in one of our exchanges takes the ground that the name 

 "Tia Juana" should not be sp&lt as one word, "Tiajuana;" how- 

 ever> as it is spelt Tijuana by the people in Lower California, and 

 pronounced Te-wha'-na, we should not consider the objections 

 made as valid. 



The cause of the spelling reform would gain greatly if the Span- 

 ish names of places should be spelt more as they are pronounced, 

 rather than by following the old Spanish spelling. That this can 

 be done is shown by the fact that Mohave is now rarely spelt with 

 a j: canon can be spelt canyon, as it should be; while La Hoy a is 

 found to be the correct Spanish way of spelling "La JolW 



SAN FRANCISCO MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 



June 10, 1885. The report of the Committee in charge of the 

 late Annual Beception was read and adopted. A living bookworm 

 from an old Hebrew Bible was shown mnder the microscope. Mr. 

 Banks gave a demonstration of the relation of the electric light to 

 microscopy, etc. 



June 24 Several valuable donations were made to the library 

 and museum: among them the first installment of a series of Cali- 

 fornia diatoms, that compared favorably with the best work of 

 professional workers, prepared and presented by Wm. Norris. 

 Dr. J. H. Stallard read a paper on the "Pathogenic Bacilli," fol- 

 lowed by animated discussion. 



[We have received the proceedings of another of these interest- 

 ing meetings, but no date given. At this meeting Dr. J. M. Self- 

 ridge read a paper entitled, "Bacteria and their relation to health 

 and disease." He held that bacteria are the result but not the 

 cause of the decomposition of organic substances.] 



