340 



SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Fig. 64. 



the microscopic field. To make the lines as plain as possible, a greer 



background with lines in red is used. 



Device for Supporting Pasteur Flasks.*— Miss K. E. Golden has 



devised a support for Pasteur flasks which as the illustration (fig. 64) 



shows permits greater freedom and safety in 

 manipulation than is obtained by the ordi- 

 nary collar support. The device consists of 

 a wooden disc 5^ in. in diameter and 2 in. 

 thick. The disc is hollowed out into a con- 

 cavity suitable for the bottom of the flask. 

 One end of a piece of heavy brass wire is 

 fastened into the base, the other being ad- 

 apted to the bend of the tube so that the 

 flask is supported in the erect position. 



Demonstrating Presence of Bacillus ty- 

 phosus in the Blood of Typhoid Fever 

 Patients.! — Dr. M. Auerbach and Dr. E. 

 Unger succeeded in demonstrating the pre- 

 sence of B. typhosus in blood taken aseptic- 

 ally from the median vein, seven times out 

 of ten trials. They used about 300 ccm. of 

 ordinary bouillon, and added to each flask 



10, 20 or 30 drops of blood. Hanging-drops taken from the flasks were 



examined 18-24 hours afterwards, and if negative again 24 hours later. 



Identification was further assured by cultivation on agar slopes, milk, 



and grape-sugar-bouillon. 



Margin of Error in Bacteriological Diagnosis.^ — Dr. J. O. Symes 

 remarks that at the present time there is danger lest undue importance 

 be attached to bacteriological diagnosis. With regard to typhoid it is 

 not generally recognised that all cases do not give the same reaction, 

 that the agglutination phenomenon may not present itself until late in 

 the disease, or that it may be present at one period and absent at 

 another. In diphtheria the finding of the Klebs-Leeffler bacillus is of 

 value in cases presenting doubtful clinical symptoms, but is of less im- 

 portance when symptoms of disease are absent or when the exact nature 

 of the organism is doubtful. Failure to find the bacillus is only of 

 value when confirmed by repeated observations. 



In cases of general blood infection a bacteriological examination is 

 often of the greatest value. The blood (not less than 2 ccm.) should 

 be drawn from a vein by means of a sterile syringe and then spread 

 over the surface of agar or other media and incubated. If rigid 

 aseptic precautions are observed the margin of error is very small, and 

 though a negative result cannot be accepted as proof of the absence of 

 organisms, a positive result is of the highest importance. 



In the examination of serous fluids, pus or section of tissues for 

 tubercle bacilli, the margin of error is very great if reliance be placed 

 on negative results. In actual practice the only organism likely to cause 



* Journ. App. Microscopy, iv. (1901) p. 1157 (1 fig.). 

 t Deutsche Med. Wochenschr., xxvi. (1900) p. 796. 

 X Brit. Med. Journ., 1901, i. pp. 451-2. 



