394 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



Media. These were shown in the dry or raw form, also when made up, 

 and thirdly with bacterial growth. The other exhibit was a drop-bottle 

 for reagents of all kinds ; it is a modification of Schuster's alkalimeter. 



Dr. Hebb called the attention of the Fellows to the oilcan of a 

 typewriter ; this he said would be found very useful both for laboratory 

 work and for travelling purposes. The other matter was a slide show- 

 ing Spirochetes demonstrated by the Indian ink method. The method 

 already had a considerable vogue, and might possibly supersede the dark- 

 ground illumination method, though the latter had the advantage of 

 dealing with living organisms. 



The Chairman thought the oiler was simple and effective, and if 

 made of some softer material than tin would be useful to both classes of 

 men — those who oiled the cover-glass and those who oiled the objective. 



Mr. Wesche said he had one of the ordinary kind which he only 

 used about once in six months, and then it took him about half an hour 

 to get the outer cover off. 



Mr. F. Shillington Scales said that the method of dark-ground 

 illumination had proved of much service in demonstrating Spirochseta 

 pallida, and was now a recognised method of diagnosis, and it would be 

 interesting to know if the method of preparation now before the Meeting 

 could demonstrate the presence of this and other Spirochasta? with equal 

 facility and readiness. If so it would be of no Httle value. 



Mr. J. E. Barnard thought it was doubtful in the case of a mixture 

 from the mouth to say with certainty what were there. 



The Chairman said the great advantage appeared to be that here 

 they had a method which required very little preparation to employ it, 

 which in a laboratory was no doubt a valuable thing. 



Dr. Hebb said this was so : all they had to do was to take a 

 match, dig it into a hollow tooth and put the result on a slide, take an 

 equal quantity of Indian ink and mix the two together ; then make a 

 smear after the manner of making a blood-film, i.e. by dragging the 

 mixture across the long surface of the one slide by means of the short 

 side of another. When dry the film could be examined at once, and in 

 this way the Spirochastes were demonstrable in a few minutes. 



The Chairman said that one point must not be overlooked : it was 

 that organisms seen by this method were necessarily dead, but that with 

 the dark-ground illuminator they were to be seen in their natural and 

 living state. For purposes of investigation this was a factor not to be 

 hastily overlooked, but that for the rapid requirements of the clinical 

 laboratory the method was apparently one of the most valuable he had 

 seen in recent times and remarkably simple to carry out, without too, 

 any special apparatus whatever. 



Dr. Hebb said that Spirochseta pallida was stated to have a very 

 distinctive and peculiar movement. 



Mr. J. E. Barnard said it did not have the gyrating movement seen 

 in other kinds — when they got it in a particular plane the spiral move- 

 ment could be seen, and then when it was seen " end on " it was more 

 of an undulatory motion. 



Mr. J. W. Ogilvy said that SpirocJtseta pallida had more twists in 

 it and was of a finer structure than dentium. He had taken photographs 



