494 SUMJVLA.RY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



boiled down to a thick syrup. Such mounts should be ringed round with 

 Bell's cement. 



Thysanura is easily kept alive in the laboratory by placing the 

 insects in a straight-necked bottle, at the bottom of which are a few 

 bits of decayed leaves and dirt. Then a piece of decayed wood is 

 gummed tightly in, and hj keeping this moist, and the bottle in a dark 

 place, the insects will do as well as in their natural surroundings. 



Bacteriological Diagnosis of Typhoid and Paratyphoid Fever.* — 



It is not universally known that it is possil)le to obtain pure cultures of 

 typhoid or paratyphoid bacilli, from the blood-clot of patients after 

 removal of the serum used for the AVidal reaction. The clot is spread 

 with a glass spatula over a litmus-lactose-agar plate ; or the clot may be 

 placed in a test-tube containing fresh ox-bile recently sterihsed, and 

 incubated over night. The next day Endo's or Drigalski-Conradi plates 

 are inoculated from the bile tube. It is claimed that in this way the 

 diagnosis of typhoid or paratyphoid fever may be made in the early 

 stages of the disease, when the Widal reaction is slight or negative, and 

 when the bacilli are not usually cultivable from the fsces. 



(2) Preparing- Objects. 



Examining the Undulating Membrane of Spirochseta balbiani.f— 

 A. Borrell and Cernovodeanu find that in the fresh state the undulating 

 membrane is convex, semi-rigid, and striated. Fixed preparations of 

 any value can only be obtained by killing the spiroch^etes rapidly by 

 means of osmic acid vapour, and fixing the films afterwards with 

 alcohol or other media. The films mav then be stained with the gentian- 

 violet-alcohol-formalin solution of Vies. When examined, the membrane 

 is found to be attached to the body of the parasite in a spiral line which 

 makes one complete turn parallel to the line of torsion of the cell itself. 

 All along the membrane are seen the striations which the authors regard 

 in the light of a supporting framework, and compare it to the ribs of an 

 uml)rella. 



Studying the Sporangium of Equisetum hyemale. | — L. A. 

 Hawkins killed the material with the fluid mixture : chromic acid 0"15 

 grm., acetic acid 0"o5 c.cm., water 99 c.cm. The silicious protective 

 leaves were removed before the young strobili were killed ; they were 

 then passed through upgraded alcohols and imbedded in paraffin m.p. 

 60°. Longitudinal sections, 7 fx. thick, of the strobili were cut, the 

 younger stages being stained with Delafield's hematoxylin, the older 

 with safranin-fj-entian-violet-orange G mixture. 



't>^ 



Studying the Sperm-cells of Notonecta glauca.§ — J. Pantel and 

 R. de Sinety fixed the material in Flenmiing's or Bouin's fluid ; neither 

 gave complete satisfaction at all stages. In order to facilitate orientation 



* Lancet, 1907, i., pp. 1241-2. 



t C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, xlii. (1907) pp. 1102-4 (1 fig.). 

 t Oliio Naturalist, vii. (1907) pp. 124-8 (2 pis.). 

 § La Cellule, xxiii. (1906) pp. 87-303 (8 pis.)., 



