46 SCIENCE. 
steps of the process of change to the new order of 
things follow in rapid succession. An event may be 
long in preparation, but its consummation takes place 
with a rapidity which must be experienced to be fully 
appreciated. 
Another question of the greatest and at present 
time-absorbing interest is, what can be done to force 
the schools to properly prepare students for the col- 
leges and universities? We use the word ‘force,’ 
rather than ‘induce,’ because all arguments except 
those which can be supported by the pressure of the 
entrance examinations fail to awaken these schools 
to the needs of science-teachers in these higher insti- 
tutions. The following remarks appeared in Science 
of May 18, 1883, and can be used appropriately in this 
connection : — 
‘In the brief, informal discussions [which took place at the 
Springfield meeting], the opinion was very generally expressed, 
that one of the most important questions with which we have to 
deal, and one which needs immediate attention, is the prepara- 
tion necessary for the study of natural science in colleges. The 
great difficulty in making a success of college instruction in the 
sciences lies in the fact that not one young man in twenty knows 
either how to observe, or how to think about facts of observation. 
His education in that line is very deficient, or else entirely want- 
ing; he is utterly helpless without his books, and seems quite 
unable to see or to correlate facts for himself. No other branch 
of the curriculum is so inefficiently treated by the preparatory 
schools and academies. It is the reverse of right that the col- 
lege professor, with a class of from forty to eighty men, should 
have to make the vain attempt to teach the lowest step in the 
observational sciences. Methods which can alone guarantee 
success in imparting to the eye and the mind the rudiments of 
science cannot be employed under such conditions. Moreover, 
it is a matter for the deepest regret, that young men who are 
soon to be in places in the world where they have no books, and 
where the keenest exercise of the powers of observation, and the 
judgment of facts, are demanded, should in so many cases have 
no opportunity, or next to none, either in school or college, for 
the acquisition of a training upon which the success of their life- 
work, in the larger number of professions and occupations, is de- 
pendent. 
‘*It is to be hoped that one needs only to mention such objects 
as these, to bespeak for this new association the sympathy and 
support of all naturalists, and earnest workers in science.” 
In the above remarks expression is given to opinions 
some of which, we know, will meet with general 
approbation, and others will very properly be regarded 
as merely personal views. We shall, however, have 
attained the object for which this address was writ- 
ten, if we have made it evident that this society can, 
if it be so disposed, take up questions of the highest 
importance to the public service of science, and help 
towards their solution by its deliberations. We be- 
lieve it can do this wherever it can unite the majority 
of scientific men in opinion and in effort. The 
power which can be wielded by such an organization 
is in exact proportion, not to its numbers, but to its 
earnestness, determination, and especially its fearless 
support of what is just and right. 
After referring further to the work of the society, 
as outlined in the article already referred to, Pro- 
fessor Hyatt proceeded : — 
Enough papers to occupy nearly the whole time 
which can be devoted to them will be announced by 
the secretary. Though these and kindred subjects - 
will be our most important objects, it was due to the 
society to show that its scope was not necessarily 
wholly confined to such details; and this we have 
endeavored to accomplish in the first part of the pre- 
ceding remarks, 
In conclusion, we beg leave to report that the execu- 
tive committee has had great responsibilities thrust 
upon it since the first meeting. These they have en- 
deavored to meet to the best of their ability; and we 
believe that the present attendance, and the many 
honorable names on our list, will help to extenuate the 
errors inseparable from haste and overwork. . 
In place of Professor Clarke, whose absence in 
Europe we regret, the executive committee appointed 
Dr. C.S. Minot, and he has faithfully and acceptably — 
performed the duty of secretary pro tem. 
THE NEW MORPHOLOGICAL ELEMENT 
OF THE BLOOD. 
WITHIN recent years it has been established beyond 
doubt by the labors of Hayem, Bizzozero, and others, 
that there exists in the blood of mammals, and ap- 
parently of other vertebrates, a third type of corpuscle, 
differing morphologically from both the red and the 
white corpuscle, and possessing certain distinctive 
properties of the greatest importance in coagulation. 
These elements were called hematoblasts by Hayem 
upon the supposition that they are eventually trans- 
formed into red corpuscles. As this view is by no 
means established, it will be better to speak of them 
as blood-plates, the name given to them by Bizzozero. 
These blood-plates must not be confounded with the 
‘invisible corpuscles’ of Norris. The latter, accord- 
ing to the testimony of most observers, are simply. 
ordinary red corpuscles, from which the haemoglobin 
has been removed by the method of preparation. 
As might be supposed, the presence of these bodies 
was more or less clearly noticed by some of the many 
observers who for years past have made the blood 
a subject of investigation. That they escaped detec- 
tion in the great majority of cases, is owing, doubt- 
less, to the very rapid alterations which they undergo 
after the blood is shed, unless especial measures are 
taken to preserve them. 
To Hayem belongs the credit of their real discovery. 
His investigation of their form, and, to a certain ex- 
tent, of their properties, was so thorough, and his 
method of demonstrating their presence so simple, 
that the attention of other observers was forced to — 
the subject; and his results were soon confirmed, with 
the exception of certain details of structure which 
are still open to investigation. On account of the 
quickness with which they are destroyed after the 
blood has escaped from the vessels, it is necessary to 
make use of certain preservative liquids which have 
the power of fixing these corpuscles in their normal 
shape. Thesolution recommended by Hayem is com- 
posed, of water 200 parts, sodium chloride 1 part, so- 
dium sulphate 5 parts, and mercuric chloride .50 — 
parts. Bizzozero recommends a .75% solution of 
sodium chloride, to which some methy] aniline violet 
has been added. Osmic-acid solution, 1%, may also 
be used. To obtain good specimens of the blood- — 
[Vou. ILI., No. 49. 
