1897.] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 183 
Cincinnati Society of Natural History.—At the monthly meet- 
ing, January 5, 1897, the following communications were made: “ On 
the Pulsation of the Molluscan Heart,” by Frank C. Baker, of Chicago ; 
“Catalogue of the Odonata of Ohio—Part III,” by D. L. Kellicott, of 
Columbus, O. ; “An Odonate Nymph from a Thermal Spring,” by the 
same author. (All three papers will be published inthe “ Journal” of 
the Society —Josua LINDAHL. 
The Academy of Science of St. Louis.—At the meeting of the 
Academy of Science of St. Louis, on the evening of December 21, 1896, 
Mr. H.von Schrenk made some remarks on the parasitism of lichens, illus- 
trated especially by the long hanging forms of Usnea barbata, common on 
Juniperus, etc., on Long Island, N. Y. It was shown that these lichens 
do not penetrate below the outer periderm of the host, and consequently 
are not to be regarded as true parasites, but that they frequently cause 
the death of the latter by suffocation. As Schimper has noted for the 
long moss of the South, Tillandsia usneoides, the plant is capable of 
_ dissemination by wind and birds, and of growing in new stations with- 
out attachment. Officers for 1897 were nominated. 
January 4, 1897, Dr. Amand Ravold gave a microscopic demonstra- 
tion of Widal’s test for typhoid fever, demonstrating that after the dis- 
ease has existed for four days or more the blood of typhoid patients, 
probably because of some contained antitoxine, possesses the power of 
inhibiting the motion of typhoid bacilli from a pure culture introduced 
into it within a period of one hour or less, whereas in normal blood 
similar bacilli retain their power of locomotion for an indefinite length 
of time. It was stated that typhoid blood possessed this property even 
after having been dried for a period of four weeks or more, so that a 
few drops obtained from a person suspected of having the disease may 
be sent to suitable places for applying the test, thus rendering compara- 
tively easy the early diagnosis of a disease, which, in its early stages, 
presents many clinical difficulties. : 
Professor F. E. Nipher gave preliminary results of partially com- 
pleted experiments, made through the courtesy of the Burlington and 
Illinois Central Railroads, to determine the frictional effect of trains of 
cars on the air near them. His apparatus consists of a cup collector 
supported on a bar capable of sliding in guides on a clamp attached to 
the window-sill of the car. The bar is thrust out to varying distances 
up to 30 inches. The mouth of the collector is turned in the direction 
of motion of the train. The pressure due to the motion is conveyed 
through a rubber tube attached to the rear of the collector, and passing 
