JUNE 6, 1884.] 
should be, interested in so vital a question. None 
of us know, fortunately perhaps, how, or at what 
time, the injury may come to us through the igno- 
rance of some of the new-fledged graduates of many 
of our schools. It should be said again and again, 
therefore, that the diploma-giving power of many of 
the medical schools of this country should be in some 
way regulated according to the thoroughness of their 
course for a degree. 
The movement to induce the International medical 
congress to hold its meeting of 1887 in this country 
should meet with the success it deserves. The pos- 
sible benefits to be derived from this are very great 
and far-reaching. The presence of so many of the 
savants of the medical world might be of benefit in 
showing some of us what we do not know. The 
bringing so near home, too, the results of the scien- 
tific labors pursued so much farther abroad than they 
are with us, might serve to open the eyes of more of 
our rich men, and lead to the establishment of the 
scientific laboratories that we need so much. 
A committee was appointed to attempt to induce 
congress to provide for the systematic investigation 
of infectious diseases in this country,—a forlorn 
hope truly, so long as our legislators are as they are; 
but at the same time the slight possibility of success 
should not hinder the attempt from being made. 
Those who are interested in scientific investigation 
of this nature, however, do not look for the estab- 
lishment of any governmental institution until the 
average member of that government has lost his 
desire for a sure return in dollars and cents to an 
investment. 
The lack of scientific work in its purest form was 
well shown in the discussion upon ‘tuberculosis’ 
which took place on the last day of the session. This 
disease is the centre of scientific medical interest just 
now, and has been ever since the announcement by 
Koch of his discovery that its cause could be found 
in amicro-organism. The evidence brought forward 
since that time has been strongly in support of the 
truth of his assertions. The gentleman who opened 
the discussion did not agree with Koch’s conclusions 
on the ground of personal observations; the basis 
of his conclusions being reserved, however, for future 
publication. By far the larger number of those par- 
ticipating in the discussion took sides with Koch; 
and yet, eminent as most of them were, there was 
hardly an observation made that was based upon 
the result of original personal investigation. © For 
this reason the discussion was satisfactory only as 
bringing out personal opinion as based upon literary, 
and not upon laboratory work. What is needed in 
this country, above and beyond any thing else in the 
medical ‘way, is a corps of scientific investigators 
devoted to their work, and thoroughly well equipped 
by temperament and training. Before this comes, 
however, must be the establishment of thoroughly 
endowed and completely independent centres where 
their work can be performed. 
This gathering in Washington should teach the 
impropriety of asking for papers that are not likely to 
be presented to the meeting, the necessity for a little 
SCIENCE. 
685 
more control over the methods of discussion, and the 
need for a better representation of the men especially 
interested in scientific research, if there be any who 
have not yet made their appearance. 
The needs especially emphasized are the want of 
a higher standard of medical education throughout 
the country, and particularly the lack of facilities 
for scientific research in the newer branches of medi- 
cine. 
From a professional point of view, the meeting was 
a successful one in most respects; the papers that 
were presented showed care in preparation, and, as a 
rule, a thorough practical knowledge of the subjects 
treated. As in all such cases, however, the especial 
benefit to be derived was found in the opportunities 
presented for personal contact and conversation be- 
tween men separated by long distances from one 
another. 
HOW EGG-COCOONS ARE MADE BY A 
LYCOSA. 
AT the meeting of the Academy of natural sci- 
ences of Philadelphia, May 18, Rev. Dr. H. C. Mc- 
Cook stated, that, while walking in the suburbs of 
Philadelphia lately, he had found under a stone a 
female Lycosa, probably L. riparia Hentz, which he 
placed in a jar partly filled with dry earth. For two 
days the spider remained on the surface of the soil, 
nearly inactive. The earth was then moistened, 
whereupon she immediately began to dig, continu- 
ing until she had made a cavity about one inch 
in depth. The top was then carefully covered 
over with a tolerably closely woven sheet of white 
spinning-work, so that the spider was entirely shut 
in. This cavity was fortunately made against the 
glass side of the jar, and the movements of the in- 
mate were thus exposed to view. Shortly after the 
cave was covered, the spider was seen working upon 
a circular cushion of beautiful white silk about three- 
fourths of an inch in diameter, which was spun up- 
ward in a nearly perpendicular position against the 
earthen wall of the cave. The cushion looked so 
much like the cocoon of the common tube-weaver, 
Agalena naevia, and the whole operations of the ly- 
cosid were so like those of that species when cocoon- 
ing, that it was momentarily supposed that a mistake 
in determination had been made. After the lapse of 
half an hour, it was found that the spider had ovi- 
posited against the central part of the cushion, and 
was then engaged in enclosing the hemispherical egg- 
mass with a silken envelope. The mode of spinning 
was as follows: the feet clasped the circumference of 
the cushion, and the body of the animal was slowly 
revolved; the abdomen, now greatly reduced in size 
by the extrusion of the eggs, was lifted up, thus 
drawing short loops of silk from the expanded spin- 
nerets, which, when the abdomen was dropped again, 
contracted, and left a flossy curl of silk at the point 
of attachment. The abdomen was also swayed back- 
ward and forward, the filaments from the spinnerets 
following the motion as the spider turned, and thus an 
even thickness of silk was laid upon the eggs. The 
