130 ' CURRENT NOTES 



of first-rate importance to Biological Science, is a recent example 

 of what may be done by a combination of two (or more) qualified 

 observers. And I need scarcely point out to a body including 

 many Medical men, what a wide field there now is in the study of 

 disease-germs. 



As a qualification for that study, I should suggest the deter- 

 mination of the life-history of the Yeast-pla?it. For there is a strong 

 reason to believe that what we know under this form is only an 

 aberrant stage in the life of an ordinary Aliicor ; its cell-germs 

 developing themselves in a very different mode, in a sacchara-albu- 

 minous liquid, from that in which they vegetate on an ordinary 

 mould-producing surface. And while, on the one hand, it was long 

 since observed by Mr. Berkeley that a Mucor may develop itself 

 in a confervoid form in ordinary water, it is still an open question 

 whether, if growing in an organic fluid, the same Mucor may not 

 become the 'Vinegar Plant.' 



I have always, myself, been a believer in the great poly- 

 morphism of the ' saprophytic ' Fungi ; and I recently read at 

 Southport, a paper on ' Disease-Germs from the Natural History 

 point of view,' in which I argued that the extension of the same 

 idea to disease-germs will account for many clinical facts observed 

 by able practitioners of Medicine, which have hitherto received 

 (in my opinion) far too little attention, — I mean, the occurrence 

 of what have been called hybrid varieties of Exanthemata, or of 

 forms of fever intermediate between Typhus and Typhoid, or the 

 conversion of an endemic malarious remittent into a contagious 

 fever. 



It is because the Microscope thus gives most important aid 

 in the working out of some of the fundamental questions of 

 Pathology, that I am most anxious to see Medical men training 

 themselves to the right use of it. 



Believe me, yours faithfully, 



Wm. B. Carpenter. 

 C. S. Hall, Esq." 



We are informed by Mr. Chas. CoUins, 25, St. Mary's Road, 

 Harlesden, N.W. (nephew of the well-known Mr. Chas. Collins, of 

 Portland Road), that he has lately given considerable attention to 

 the study of the Scales of Fishes, and that he has now prepared 

 for sale a selection of over 50 varieties. Of these we have seen — 

 Scale of Boar-Fish, mounted for the Polariscope \ Scale of Sole, 

 and Skin of Dog-Fish, both mounted opaque. The style of 

 mounting leaves nothing to be desired. 



