TRErARED BY DR. GIBBEs' METHOD. 159 



dryness, and then immersed in a few drops of the magenta stain and 

 allowed to remain for about 15 to 20 minutes. It is next transferred 

 to some of the dilute acid which apparently destroys all the colour, 

 and from this the cover is put into distilled water and well rinsed, 

 when a faint tinge of colour returns. It is now put into the 

 chrysoidin solution, which gets rid of any surplus anilin which 

 may remain and slightly stains the ground of nuclei and shreds of 

 lung issue which may be present. 



After remaining in the chrysoidin for a few minutes, it is trans- 

 ferred to absolute alcohol to get rid of the water, then left to dry, and 

 when thoroughly dry, mounted in balsam, and examined with a one- 

 eighth objective. 



If the bacilli be present, and the specimen is successful, they 

 will be seen as short rods coloured a brilliant magenta. Of course 

 the process, like all descriptions, sounds somewhat tedious, and the 

 drying of the film of sputum on the cover is slow, even if, as it 

 should be, it is spread very thinly and evenly ; but there is no diffi- 

 culty about it, and if it be found as it is stated by the inventor, to 

 stain no other bacillus but bacillus tuberculosus, which is a 

 matter for experiment to determine, you may readily imagine the 

 immense aid it promises to be in the diagnosis of early cases of 

 phthisis, unless it proves, alas ! to be but another ignis fatuus which 

 has too often led astray the investigator of this terrible disease. 



{May 21sJ, 1883.) 



As it is now some time since the above was written, I have been 

 permitted by the Editor to supplement it by a few additional re- 

 marks. 



Repeated observation and experiment has as yet only strengthened 

 the belief in the specific nature of the bacillus. It has, I believe 

 without exception, been found in every case of true tubercular 

 phthisis examined, and it is said to have been identified in the urine 

 of patients suffering from tubercular disease of the kidneys or 

 bladder. 



From a series of observations made by Dr. West {Lancet, April 

 21, 1883) and others, there appears to be some slight ratio 

 between the number and arrangement of the bacilli and the severity 

 of the cases, specimens from early or improving cases showing the 

 bacilli scattered singly and comparatively few in number. On the 



