Experiments on Lemna minor growing in Detmer's culture solution show that the purer auximone silver fraction is more effective on growth than the cruder phosphotungstic fraction. Six glass dishes, each containing thirty Lemna plants, were arranged in three series of two dishes each: A. Detmer's culture solution; B. Detmer+phosphotungstic fraction (17 parts per million); C. Detmer +silver fraction (0:35 parts per million). The average total area of thirty plants was 112 sq. mm., giving an average area of 37 sq. mm. per plant. The average results of growth each week in the two dishes of each series are given in the following table : Series A 30 78 155 292 562 112 224 382 612 1086 3.7 2.9 2.5 2.1 1.9 160 303 577 112 352 639 1129 1949 3.7 4.2 4.0 3.7 3.4 175 323 669 112 415 771 1362 2678 3.7 4.5 4.4 4.2 40 Series B 30 83 7. On Fossil Fungi and Fossil Bacteria. An investigation of the ferruginous and fossiliferous rocks of Great Britain showed that some of the organic fragments in the ferruginous rocks had been in a state of putrefaction when engulfed. A study was made of the microorganisms which were responsible for this putrefaction. I. A fossil fungus was found in the Frodingham Ironstone of Lincolnshire (Lower Lias). To this organism the name Phycomycites Frodinghamii has been given. Characteristics.-Hypha of two dimensions, namely, 2 and 3 respectively. The two sizes of hyphæ were found in organic connection. There were no traces of transverse walls. In addition to the ordinary alternate branching whorls of hypha arising from the same level were frequently observed. In many places the threads showed thickening cushions. Some of these were apparently in association with the formation of branches and were of a supporting nature; others, however, had no apparent significance. Some of the hyphæ had terminal dilatations of a sporangial nature, as in a few cases spore-like bodies were enclosed in them. The sporangia measured about 24 mm.) and were roughly spherical. The spores were 10 μ in diameter. Probably each sporangium normally enclosed four spores. The fungus, unlike all modern fungi, had a power of attraction for iron-compounds, and in all cases its hyphae were covered with a varying quantity of ferric hydroxide. II. A fossil fungus was found in the Secondary Rocks in the Island of Raasay (N.W. Scotland). This fungus had the same general characteristics as the preceding, only its hyphae were covered with a hard black membrane of a carbonaceous nature. No sporangia were discovered. It is proposed in the meantime to call this organism Palæomyces a. III. In the Ferruginous Limestone of Dunliath (Inferior Oolitic Series of the Jurassic Rocks) a fossil Actinomyces was discovered. This micro-organism was found as a thick meshwork of minute threads inside fossilised animal fragments. The threads measured 75 μ to 10 μ across and branched freely. It is proposed to name this micro-organism Actinomycites u. IV. From nodules derived from the base of the Gault at Folkestone fossilised animal remains were found which had been in a state of putrefaction when engulfed. Remains were found of three kinds of bacteria : a. Bacillus I. (Gault). Average width. Length from 11⁄2 μ to 100. b. Bacillus II. (Gault). Average width 1 μ. Length on the average 5·7 Rods had well-defined membranes and rounded ends. c. Micrococcus I. (Gault). Uni- and Diplo-cocci in various stages of celldivision. Showed thicker outer walls and thinner transverse membranes. The diameter of the cocci measured 2-2 μ. In some cases remains of cell-contents were observed. 8. On Spore Discharge in the Uredinea and Hymenomycetes. By Professor A. H. REGINALD BULLER. Throughout the Uredineæ and Hymenomycetes the spores produced upon the basidia are violently discharged. In both groups, just before the discharge of a basidiospore, a drop of fluid is excreted where the spore is attached to the sterigma. The drop varies in size, according to the species, from one-third to one whole diameter of the On discharge the drop is carried with the spore. Sometimes the drops become abnormally large, and then discharge may not take place. spore. In many Uredineæ the basidia are curved and the sterigmata are then placed on the outer convex side of the basidium. This causes the basidiospores to be directed toward an open space, with the result that, when discharge takes place, the spores are shot away so that they escape into free air. 9. Fruits and Seeds. By Professor F. W. OLIVER, F.R.S. 10. Stomata on Hypogeal Cotyledons. By Miss E. M. BLACKWELL. 11. The Musk (Mimulus moschatus L.) in Scotland. In 1911 I found the musk (Mimulus moschatus L.) growing in Haughton Wood, Alford, in a low, cold habitat (400 feet). In 1914 I found it beside a well, Glack Culmellie, Cushnie, at an altitude of about 1,200 feet. Possibly these are the coldest stations known for the plant. It is also recorded as growing occasionally in Perthshire on river shingles; and there are two records for Banffshire. Thus this garden plant is gradually extending its range, and competing with the really native members of the British flora. 12. The Life History and Cytology of Tuburcinia primulicola Rostrup. By Dr. M. WILSON. The conidial stage of Tuburcinia primulicola (known as Papalopsis Irmischia Kühn) was discovered by Kühn in Halle, Germany, in 1883, on several species of Primula, and it appears that no subsequent record of its occurrence has been made. This stage of the fungus has recently been found in two localities in Kent on Primula vulgaris. The fungus apparently persists in the host-plant during the winter. The mycelium is intercellular, producing haustoria of the type usually found in the Ustilaginea; in the spring it may be found in the peduncle, calyx, corolla, stamens and ovary, usually in the peripheral tissues of these organs. The mycelium is septate with uninucleate cells; the nuclei are small with one deeply-staining nucleolus. In the young flowers the mycelium is particularly abundant in the lower part of the corolla tube, on the dorsal surfaces of the anthers and in the ovary between the ovules. In these places it becomes superficial and gives rise to large numbers of small unicellular uninucleate conidia. The conidia in the open flower are seen as meal-like masses, which glue together the stamens and partially fill the base of the corolla-tube; functional pollen is apparently produced. The conidia have little chance of escaping from the corolla-tube; some, mixed with pollen, are probably distributed by insects visiting the flower. Infection of healthy flowers with a mixture of pollen and conidia has so far been unsuccessful. In the open flower conidia may be found in all stages of conjugation; they become joined up in pairs by a short connecting tube, thus producing dumbbell-shaped structures. In the conjugating pair a nucleus passes from one conidium to the other through the connecting tube. The nuclei are then found in close proximity in the one conidium, which later gives rise to one or more germ tubes. It is highly probable that the mycelium thus produced bears the chlamydospores. Chlamydospores are found in flowers in which conidia were previously produced. The mycelium in which they are developed is found in the superficial tissue of the placenta and packed in between the ovules. are Seeds are usually not ripened. The cells of the mycelium producing the chlamydospores contain conjugate nuclei. The chlamydospore groups developed from coiled masses of hyphæ, and in the young condition the spores are binucleate. Later on, the conjugate nuclei fuse and the mature chlamydospores are uninucleate. Finally the tissue of the placenta, ovules, and ovarywall disintegrate, and the spore masses are set free as a black powder in the calyx tube. Germination takes place readily in water; the process agrees with the description given by Brefeld. No conjugation of sporidia has been observed. The fungus is frequently placed in the genus Urocystis, but the presence of the conidial stage, the absence of sterile cells in the chlamydospore group, and the method of development of the sporidia lead to the conclusion that it is more correctly placed in the genus Tuburcinia. 13. The Vegetative Anatomy of Molinia cerulea. By Rev. T. A. JEFFERIES. SECTION L.-EDUCATION. PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION:-MRS. HENRY SIDGWICK. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. The President delivered the following Address : WHEN I look at the names of many of my predecessors in this Presidential chair, when I read their addresses, or when I consider what the work of the Section ought to be, I feel that an apology is needed for my being here at all. Let me say at once, however, that it is not because of my being a woman that I feel this. It is true that I am the first woman who has had the honour of presiding over Section L. But it is obviously very fitting that a woman should sometimes do so; and this not only because women are as much concerned with the results of Educational Science as men are that might be said about all departments of science; nor only because the material on which education works the human material to be educated-is approximately evenly divided between the sexes. A more important consideration is that women have the largest share in the work of education. This is clear if we take education in its widest and fullest sense, and include in it what is done in the home as well as in the school, beginning as it must with the earliest infancy. But it is also true if we limit the meaning of the word education-in the way that is constantly done, and is I think usually done in the discussions that take place in this Section-to that part of it with which the professional educator, the school or college teacher, is concerned. For the fact that the school teaching, not only of girls but of the younger children of both sexes, is mainly in the hands of women, results of necessity in there being a larger number of professional teachers among women than among men. May it not be added that in some departments of education women have appeared to take their profession more seriously than men so far as this can be measured by the trouble taken in training for it? For I think I am right in saying that among persons proposing to teach in secondary schools more women in proportion than men have hitherto availed themselves of opportunities for professional training. From another point of view, too, the education of women and girls has an interest which, though not different in kind, is greater in degree than that of the other sex. I mean in the rapidity of its growth and development since the middle of the last century. The development of school and university education and of technical education has, of course, been very great for both sexes. Much attention has been devoted to improving its quality and perhaps even more to increasing its quantity by making it more accessible to all classes of people. But in the case of girls and women the progress has been greater and more remarkable than in that of boys, for it started from a lower level, and notwithstanding this it would, I think, be difficult to point out in what respects the educational opportunities of women are now inferior to those of men. I say this, of course, in a general sense, and without prejudice as to controversial questions of detail such as the merits of the methods and curricula deliberately adopted for different schools. The Report of the Schools Inquiry Commission published in 1868, in what it says about girls' education at that time, gives us a standard of comparison and a means of estimating the progress made. It has often been quoted, but may bear quoting again. The Commissioners say: ' 'The general deficiency in girls' education is stated with the utmost confidence, and with entire agreement, with whatever difference of words, by many witnesses of authority. Want of thoroughness and foundation; want of system; slovenliness and showy superficiality; inattention to rudiments; undue time given to accomplishments, and those not taught intelligently or in any scientific manner; want of organisation-these may sufficiently indicate the character of the complaints we have received, in their most general aspect. It is needless to observe that the same complaints apply to a great extent to boys' education. But on the whole the evidence is clear that, not as they might be, but as they are, the girls' schools are inferior in this view to the boys' schools.' This was what could be said of schools in 1868, and is certainly in striking contrast to what could be said now. And if we turn from the schools to higher education we find this was practically non-existent for women at that time. Its absence was indeed one cause of the badness of the schools. The schools were bad because the teachers were inadequately educated. The two capital defects of the teachers of girls,' as one of the Assistant Commissioners (Mr. Bryce, now Lord Bryce) reported, are these: they have not themselves been taught and they do not know how to teach.' These defects were, of course, partly due to the badness of the schools, and the want of any standard enabling the general public and the teachers themselves to judge of their badness. So far it was a vicious circle. The teachers were badly taught in bad schools and handed on the bad results to the schools they later taught in. But the defects were partly due to the absence of opportunity for them to carry their own education beyond that of their elder pupils to obtain that higher education which men obtained at the Universities. This was pointed out by the Commissioners, and their Report acted as a great help and encouragement to those who had already realised the need of higher education for women, and gave an important stimulus to the foundation of Colleges for Women first at Cambridge and then at Oxford. The Commissioners' Report also greatly encouraged the movement already in progress for the improvement of girls' schools-the movement in which Miss Buss, of the North London Collegiate School, and Miss Beale, of the Cheltenham Ladies' College, were among the pioneers, and in which the opening of Local Examinations to Girls in 1865 by Cambridge was an important step. The cautious and anxious way in which the Commissioners refer to the possible effects on girls of more exacting school work and of examinations is amusing to read now. But the Report of the Commission helped in the progress of girls' education in still another way, for it was instrumental in securing the recovery for the secondary education of girls of endowments which had been allowed to lapse into the service of primary education or to be absorbed by boys; and the division between girls and boys of some endowments not specifically assigned to either sex by the founders. Twenty years ago-in 1895-the Charity Commissioners in their Annual Report gave striking testimony to what has been done both in this way and by new endowments: 'There is reason to think,' they said, that the latter half of the nineteenth century will stand second in respect of the greatness and variety of the charities created within its duration to no other half-century since the Reformation. And, as to one particular branch of Educational Endowment, namely, that for the advancement of Secondary and Superior Education of Girls and Women, it may be anticipated that future generations will look back to the period immediately following upon the Schools Inquiry Commission and the consequent passing of the Endowed Schools Acts, as marking an epoch in the creation and application of endowments for that branch of education similar to that which is marked, for the education of Boys and Men, by the Reformation.' And the flow of endowments for this branch of education has not ceased since the Report just quoted from was written. As examples of it I may remind you of the St. Paul's Girls' School, the extension and rebuilding of Report of the Schools Inquiry Commission, p. 548. 1 |
