ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 369 



(6) Miscellaneous. 



Gage's Microscopy.* — S. H. Gage's The Microscope : cm Introduction 

 to Microscopic Methods and to Histology has recently passed into the ninth 

 edition, and while retaining all its previous excellent features and well- 

 known characteristics it has been revised throughout, and important 

 changes have been effected in certain parts, e.g. those relating to serial 

 sections and to micro-chemistry. The chapter on the Projection Micro- 

 scope has been entirely re- written and much more fully illustrated. 



B. Technique. t 

 (1) Collecting Objects, including: Culture Processes. 



New Culture Medium made with Helix Pomatia.J— Delia Rovere 

 has employed the following culture medium for the purpose of deter- 

 mining whether certain micro-organisms retained longer on it their 

 virulence and reproductive power, than when grown on horse-liver or 

 horse-flesh bouillon, a medium considered the best for their growth. 

 300 grm. snails, freed from their shells and finely minced, are set in 

 1000 c.cm. of water, and to this are added 10 grm. Witte's peptone and 

 5 grm. sodium chloride. From this bouillon or agar is prepared. The 

 author concludes that such bouillon is the most suitable for B. coli, 

 B. icteroides and B. murisepticus. He found that the virulence of 

 B. coli remained for a long time, and that the reproductive power of 

 B. coli, B. icteroides, B. murisepticus and B. anthracis remained for a 

 longer time than in cultures in horse-flesh bouillon. He holds that 

 the characteristic of his bouillon is due to the fact that it contains an 

 important quantity of grape sugar developed through a natural reduc- 

 tion of glycogen. 



Bacterial Diagnosis of Typhoid by means of the v. Drigalski- 

 Conradi Medium and Agglutination^ — B. Lipschiitz, from the results 

 of an experimental research on this subject, comes to the following 

 conclusions : 



1. The v. Drigalski-Conradi medium simplifies the cultivation of 

 typhoid bacilli from faeces, urine, etc., but the characteristic behaviour 

 of the typhoid bacillus on this medium, and the identification of the sus- 

 pected colonies by means of agglutination, do not furnish a certain 

 guarantee for the accuracy of the bacterial diagnosis, and therefore a 

 wider cultural investigation is advisable. 



2. It is desirable in the investigation of suspected colonies by 

 means of agglutination to employ the so-called ' end-dilution ' ( Wasser- 

 mann). If there is suspicion of para- typhoid (or dysentery) the 



* Comstock Publishing Company, Ithaca, New York, 1904, vi. and 299 pp., 230 figs- 



t This subdivision contains (1) Collecting Objects, including Culture Pro- 

 cesses; (2) Preparing Objects; (3) Cuttiug, including Imbedding and Microtomes ; 

 (4) Staining and Injecting ; (5) Mounting, including slides, preservative fluids, &c. ; 

 (6) Miscellaneous. 



% Gazetta degli Ospedali e della Cliniche, 1904, No. 139. See also Centralbl. 

 Bakt., Orig., xxxiv. (1904) p. 562. 



§ Centralbl. Bakt., l te Abt., xxxv. (1904) pp. 798-811. 



