GENERAL NOTES. 81 
BICENTENARY OF BACTERIA.—It is just two hundred years 
since Leeuwenhock announced to the Royal Society his discovery 
of Bacteria, and the proposal has been made that steps should 
be taken by English scientific men to commemorate the event. 
Prof. Cohn, of Breslau, in a communication to “ Nature” on the 
subject says of Leeuwenhock’s second set of drawings, communi- 
cated to the Royal Society in 1692 :—“ They have not been 
surpassed till within the last ten years It deserves our highest 
admiration that the first discoverer of the invisible world could 
already reach a limit which has never been outstepped, though 
the members of the Royal Society, when considering two hun- 
dred years ago the curious communication of the philosopher of 
Delft, may have scarcely foreseen that his astonishing discovery 
had opened to science a new path, which only in our own days 
has led to the most important revelations about fermentation 
and disease.” We shall probably hear shortly what form the 
proposed celebration will take. One suggestion advanced, and 
a very good one too, is that the Royal Society should take steps 
“to urge on the English Government the expenditure of ample 
funds upon a new and vigorous prosecution of the study of the 
relations of Bacteria to disease, in fact upon the foundation of a 
national laboratory of hygiene.” 
INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY EXHIBITION.—It was a matter 
of very general regret that this Colony was not represented at 
the Great Fisheries Exhibition lately held in London, for though 
the fisheries of New Zealand are most imperfectly developed at 
the present time, there can be no question as to their future im- 
portance. Now we hear that a great exhibition of Forestry is to 
be held in Edinburgh in 1885, and a glance at a sketch of the 
arrangements (see “Nature” of November 1, 1883) shows that 
every branch of this interesting subject will be illustrated. The 
forests of this Colony constitute one of its special and valuable 
features, and apart from the direct gain which will accrue from 
exhibiting their wealth on such an occasion, a great indirect gain 
will be secured in keeping the natural resources of the Colony 
before the eyes of would-be European emigrants. In both 
islands there is an immense amount of valuable timber, and our 
Government would be doing both a politic and a sensible act in 
using every endeavour to have this fact made known as widely 
as possible. The value of the scientific and practical results of 
the Fisheries Exhibitionhas exceededall expectation, and asimilar 
result, though probably not to such an extent, may be anticipated 
from the forthcoming one. Advertising is considered to be one 
of the most valuable aids to the furtherance of business, and—to 
take a low estimate of the matter—here is an opportunity for 
our Colony of parading its ligneous wealth, which should not be 
overlooked.—ED. | 
