Miscellaneous InhJliqence. 481 



'(lore the latent period of any of the germs has been 

 completed (say a f< \. the infusion), 



I subject mr a briel interval to a toiii] »erat uro u 1 1 1* li m.iv be under 

 that of boiling water. Such softened and vi\ iried germs as are on 

 the point of passing into active life are thereby killed ; others not 

 yet softened remain intact. I repeat this process well within the 

 interval necessary for the most advanced of those others to finish 

 their period of latency. The number of undestroyed germs is 

 further diinini-du'd by" this second heating. Alter a number of 

 repetitn ns, which \ iries uitli lla character of the germs, the infu- 

 sion, however obstinate, is completely sterilized. 



The periods of heating need not exceed a fraction of a minute 

 in duration. Sum them up in the case of an infusion which they 

 have perfectly sterilized; they amount altogether to, say, five 



Boil another sample of the same infusion rontnmoiKiy 



for fifteen or even sixty min I hize it, althougj 



the 



tenfold 



• temp, rature is higher ami its" time n( a: plication more tt 

 ifold that which, discontinuously applied, infallibly produ 



In a few weeks 1 hope to bring this entire subject under the 

 notice of the Royal Society.— Proc. Boy. Soc, Feb. 1, 1877, vol. 

 xxv, No. 178, p. 569. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 

 1. National Academy of Sciences.— At the session of the Na- 

 tional Academy, held • •--"• '<"■ <■ t,ie to! - 

 lowing new members were elected: Elliott Ones, I. S. A., 

 Washington, D. C. ; John W. Draper, New York; Henry I taper, 

 New York; S. H. Scudder, Cambridge, Mass. ; C. S. Peirce, Cam- 



On the determine expansion of solids; 



magnets; by A. M. Mayer. ^ declinationa . by B . C . PicK e 



Micrometer-level and topographical camera; by E C. Pickeki 

 On the young stag B i "/ ALEX - AGAS s 



The results of deep-sea dredgings ; by Alex. Agassiz. 

 On critical periods in the history of the earth, and their relal 

 and on the Quaternary as such 



On the structure of the crystalline lens, and its relation to 



;allic spectra ; by ( 

 l^the effect produced by mixing white with colored 

 l Newton's use of the term indigo with reference tt 

 tern'al structure of the earth as affecting the phe 



published in vol xiii, Smithsonian 



by J. G. Babjtaed. 



