442 General Notes. [April, 
crystal was often further diluted from ten to twenty volumes and 
from these new mixtures fresh quantities of water in watch crys- 
tals were impregnated by the transference of a film of fluid cling- 
ing to the scissors’ tips. Into these watch crystals filled with the 
fluid of a single male in different states of concentration, there 
were allowed to glide some of the eggs of the female taken from 
the right uterus. The outcome of the experiments established 
two facts: First, the fertilizing power of the spermatic fluid was 
not diminished by dilution, all the ova were fertilized in each obser- 
vation; second, dilution of the male fluid had no effect on the 
sex of the frogs which came to maturity after the artificial fertili- 
zation. ti 
In young frogs there are three varieties of sexual character, 
male, female and hermaphrodite. The hermaphrodites become 
finally either male or female, but in their earlier stages they have 
the sexual organs of the female only; in those which are finally 
to become males, the testicles gradually develop round the ove 
ries and the latter are resorbed. This apparent numerical pre- 
dominance of the female in early stages of the fuller formed frog 
has led some investigators astray. i l 
The author finds that no batrachian egg segments without pre- 
vious fertilization. 
The fertilizing power of the male fluid diminishes greatly 
progressively after the season for sexual union. 
It is impossible to produce offspring by the union of t 
and female products of two different batrachian species, tho 
segmentation of the egg, frequently of abnormal type, may 
started by this artificial union. 
and 
he male 
ugh 
bė 
_-One 
THE PRODUCTION OF DISEASE BY BACTERIAL Oreanisas “0% 
; : iolog! 
of the most remarkable chapters in the history of ne Re devel- 
etween the 
the nature 
very which 
ts of bacter'@ 
life, and the apparent ease with which d-finite results es ae 
haps, little qualified for the task undertaken, to enter upa gen 
vestigation of a subject which has proved itself one of tae find 
bio jai 
consequently, even in a single aspect of bacteria } 
to infectious diseases, the most contradictory opinions. rning 
- Ever and anon is announced a brilliant discovery pege 
the causal relation of bacteria to some malignant aus sination 
rently opening a way to the rational treatment or exterm 
of the distemper; but after a time counter experiments p? conclu- 
after other methods throw doubt upon or disprove me 
ogy. $ 
he its relatioa 
