ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 527 



isolated quite easily from human sputum, though it be contaminated with 

 other organisms. The glucoside is made up with distilled water to a 

 2 p.c. solution ; a lump of sputum is placed in a test-tube containing the 

 ericolin and incubated at 38° C. for f to 1 hr. Cultures are then made on 

 Dorset's egg medium, and pure growths of tubercle bacilli will be ob- 

 tained in 14 to 28 days. The tubes are sometimes contaminated with 

 a few other organisms, chiefly streptococci and streptothrix, but they are 

 so few that they do not interfere with the tubercle colonies, and sub- 

 culturing is easy. 



*-o 



Lendvai, J.— Wie kann man die therniostaten mit alcohol einfach heizen. 



[Describes an apparatus for heating incubators, etc., by means of alcohol.] 

 Zeitschr. iviss. Mikrosk., xxv. (1909) pp. 303-6 (2 figs.). 



(2) Preparing' Objects. 



Examining Euphausidae.* — E. Taube filtered the catch through 

 silk gauze, examined small portions under a simple Microscope, and 

 picked up the objects with a pipette. If, however, the catch contained 

 numerous eggs, as was the case in material obtained from Norway, there 

 was no need to use a loup, and the filtered catch was at once fixed. 

 The fixative chiefly used was Bouin's fluid (saturated aqueous picric 

 acid 15, formol (40 p.c.) 5, acetic acid 1). After 3 to 5 hours the eggs 

 were transferred to 70 p.c. alcohol, which was very frequently changed ; 

 later on 96 p.c. alcohol was used. The stains mostly used were borax 

 and picrocarmin. The preparations were examined in toto and in 

 sections. To examine the eggs properly they must be rendered trans- 

 parent by means of glycerin or of oil of cloves. The latter reagent, 

 however, rendered the eggs too brittle, so was abandoned in favour of 

 the former. In order to prevent shrinkage the transference from 

 alcohol to glycerin must be extremely gradual, and at first the evapora- 

 tion method must be adopted, the eggs being removed from 70 p.c. 

 alcohol to a mixture of 2 parts 70 p.c. alcohol and 1 part glycerin. 

 As the alcohol slowly evaporates the glycerin becomes more and more 

 concentrated, and finally the eggs are quite clarified, and when in this 

 condition give most excellent pictures of whole eggs and their contents. 

 When examining eggs in sections greater difficulties are met with, 

 chiefly those of orienting, but on reaching the gastrula stage the 

 ordinary paraffin method gave fair results. 



Studying the Relations between Acari and Cancer.f — A. Borrel 

 fixes the pieces of skin removed during life from cases of suspected 

 early cancer in the following solution : water 350, osmic acid 2, 

 chromic acid 3, platinum chloride 2, glacial acetic acid 20. 



Paraffin sections are made parallel to the surface of the skin and 

 stained with magenta-red-picro-indigo-carmin, after the manner given 

 in a previous memoir. Made in this way, about 200 serial sections 

 from each tumour were examined, so that the appearances of the hairy 

 <y>tem could be accurately studied at different and numerous levels. 

 With a little practice the acari, when present, are easily recognised. 



* Zeitschr. wiss. Zool., xcii. (1909) pp. 427--G4 (2 pis.). 



t Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxiii. (1909) pp. 97-124 (4 pis. and 12 figs.). 



