1885.] 
( 47 
ANALYSES OF BOOKS. 
Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 
Vol. XX. Issued May 30th, 1884. Melbourne : Mason, 
Firth, and M'Cutcheon. London : Williams and Norgate. 
Among the papers here inserted in full we find two on the 
Influence of Light on Bacteria, the one by Dr. A. Downes and 
T. P. Blunt, F.C.S., and the other by Dr. James Jamieson. 
These memoirs form part and parcel of a controversy. The 
two first-named authors communicated to the Royal Society of 
London the results of an investigation from which they inferred 
that light is hostile to the development of badteria, and probably 
to unprotected protoplasm in general. Dr. Jamieson objedts to 
this conclusion, and attributes the effedts observed not to light 
but to heat. Messrs. Downes and Blunt, in the paper here 
inserted, uphold their former inference, whilst Dr. Jamieson 
concludes, from further experiments, that the brightest diffused 
light is not inimical to the development of badteria, and that full 
exposure to the sun’s rays is not destructive to badteria or 
their germs if guarded against exposure to too great heat. He 
admits, however, that development may be retarded. 
Mr. James Stirling, F.L.S., contributes a paper on “ Caves 
Perforating Marble Deposits,” at Limestone Creek. The tem- 
perature of these caves is about 50° F., which is about the mean 
annual temperature of the distridL which lies at 3000 feet above 
the sea level. 
Mr. T. S. Ralph discusses the occurrence of badteria (bacilli) 
in living plants. Such bacilli have been previously noticed in 
the tissues of decaying plants, but the author has recognised 
them in the living cells of an apparently healthy Vallisneria, and 
also of Anacharis alsinastrum. He raises the questions : “ What 
relation do such bacilli bear to the plant in which they are found ? 
Are they vegetals living in commensalism with it ? Are these 
organisms vegetal or animal in their life character? Do they 
await the dissolution of the cell contents in order to complete 
further destrudtive changes ? Do they conduce to the zymotic 
changes of the chlorophyl and starch-grains occupying the cells 
in which they are found ?” 
