Proceedings of Learned Societies. 397 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.— Nov. 8. 



The Vegetable Parasites oe the Human Skin. — Mr. Jabez 

 Hogg read a valuable paper on this subject, the object of which was 

 to show that vegetable parasites do not produce the different 

 varieties of skin disease ; but that when certain diseases already 

 exist, that the fungi, finding a suitable soil, greatly aggravate and 

 often change the type of disease ; that these diseases are always 

 associated with neglect of person, dirt, bad air, want of light, and 

 deficient nourishment ; that the spores of fungi are always floating 

 about in the atmosphere, and are thus ever ready to be deposited 

 and take root in a favourable soil ; of this Mr. Hogg gave many 

 illustrations, and showed that although yeast, peniciUimn, asper- 

 gittus, and some other well-known fungi, had been separately 

 classed, that nevertheless they could be made to pass through the 

 same changes, and produce ferments that could not be recognised 

 one from the other ; and, therefore, difference of form he believed 

 to be entirely due to the soil or nourishment supplied, and de- 

 pendent on such circumstances as whether the growth of the fungi 

 takes place in a sickly plant, a saccharine solution, or an animal 

 tissue. 



ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY— Nov. 13. 



The Discovery of Lake Albert Nyanza. — Mr. S. W. Baker read 

 a paper descriptive of the discovery of this lake. In December, 1862, 

 he started up the Nile from Khartoum with a powerful force, in- 

 cluding many camels, horses, and asses. Pursuing his course, he 

 entered upon a dreary waste of water, where he soon lost his only 

 European attendant. The remainder of the party safely reached Gon- 

 dokoro, where they awaited a trading company, travelling southwards. 

 Gondokoro itself was a wretched place, being occupied only occasion- 

 ally by traders. After a stay of fifteen days, Captains Speke and Grant 

 arrived, clothed in humble rags, butwith the glory of successupon them. 

 Captain Speke told him that he was assured by the natives that a 

 large lake existed to the westward, which he believed would be 

 found to be a second source of the Nile, and that he himself had 

 traced the river up to 2° 20' N, when it diverged to the west, and 

 he was obliged to leave it. Accordingly he (Mr. Baker) undertook 

 to follow up the stream. The trade along the White Nile really 

 consisted of cattle-stealing, slave- catching, and murder, and the men 

 whom he was obliged to engage at Khartoum were the vilest cha- 

 racters. After Speke and Grant had left him, his men mutinied, 

 threatened to fire upon him, and the Turkish traders whom he in- 

 tended to accompany set off without him. By means of diplomacy 

 he managed to get back the arms from the recalcitrants, and induced 

 seventeen of the men to go with him to the eastward. He afterwards 

 discovered that they intended to desert him and to join the traders. 

 He followed the trading party who had threatened to attack him, 

 and upon the suggestion of Mrs. Baker, the chief was brought over, 

 and on the 17th of March they safely arrived in the Latooka country, 



