114 



SUMMARY OF CUREENT EESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Apparatus for Staining Tubercle Bacilli.* — H. Friese has devised 

 an apparatus (fig. 29) bj means of which the Ziehl-Neelsen and other 

 methods of contrast-staining may be carried out without the risk of 

 soiling laboratory apparatus. The diagram shows clearly the simplicity 

 of the device. The upper platform carries a longitudinal central bar, 

 upon which the slides to be stained rest in the manner shown. Stain is 

 added and heat is applied, the source of heat — Bunsen burner or spirit- 

 lamp — resting on the lower platform. At the edge of the upper platform 

 is a gutter, draining into the glass bottle, which collects used stain and 

 washings. 



Fig. 29. 



Demonstration of Spirocheetes.t — M. Phillips and E. E. Glynn have 

 made a comparison of the relative merits of various microscopical 

 methods for the demonstration of Spirochseta pallida. The material in- 

 vestigated was usually serum collected from the local lesion after the 

 application of spirit. The methods of examination were of three kinds. 

 Firstly, dark ground illumination, with Leitz condenser bullseye lens 

 and a Nernst lamp was tried. Secondly, films were stained with Giemsa 

 (1 in 8) for tM'elve hours. The third method was that of Burri, with 

 Indian ink. It was found that the dark-ground method gave the best 

 results, spirochaites being detected much more readily than by the other 

 processes. The Indian ink preparations were rather more satisfactory 

 than those stained with Giemsa stain. 



Staining Tubercle Bacilli. | — M. Herman discusses various methods 

 of staining these organisms, and claims that the ammoninm-carbonate- 

 crystal-violet method described by him in 1908 possesses many advan- 

 tages over the metliods of Ziehl or of Much. The procedure, recapitu- 

 lated here, consists essentially in the staining of bacilli with warm 3 p.c. 

 alcoholic crystal-violet, to which have been added three parts of a 



* Centralbl. Bakt., Itc Abt. Orig., Ix. (1911) pp. 333-5. 



t Brit. Med. Journ. (1911) ii. pp. 1282-6. 



I Centralbl. Bakt., Ite Abt. Orig., Ix. (1911) pp. 600-3. 



