Journal of Applied Microscopy. 409 



often prevents liquefaction so that one may be dealing with a liquefying organism 

 without knowing it. 



Gelatin media should be rendered neutral to phenolphthalein, and the per 

 cent, of gelatin used, and the melting point of the prepared media, stated. 



E. M. Brace. 



Dorset, Dr. M. A New Stain for Bacillus Sudan III may be used as a selective 



Tuberculosis. N. Y. Med. Jour., 69: 148- ^ . , ^, , , .,,. t.i„ „„^^„ 

 g -^ ' stam for tubercle bacilli. The prepa- 



rations are treated with an 80 per cent, 

 alcoholic solution of the stain for live minutes or more, and the excess of stain 

 washed out with 70 per cent, alcohol. If desired the preparations may be con- 

 trast-stained with methylen-blue. E. M. Brace. 



Money, C. Methods zur Farbung der Bak- The sections should first be Stained in 

 terien in den Geweben. Centrlblt. f. Bakt. picro-carmine, borax-carmine, or alum- 

 • 424, I 99- carmine, preferably in picro-carmine, 



then in gentian-violet, or methylen-blue. Two or three drops of formalin 

 should be added to each watch glass of the staining solution. The preparations 

 should then be heated until vapor begins to be given off. The excess of stain 

 in the sections is then washed off with water, and the sections decolorized in 90 

 per cent, alcohol. It is best not to leave the sections too long in the formalin 

 gentian-violet solution, since they will decolorize slowly and with difficulty. 

 With accurate technique, the author has obtained very good results by this 

 method. h. h. w. 



Symmers, Wm. St. C. Report on Preparation The author prepared his sera by in- 

 of Plague Serum. Centrlblt. f. Bakt. 25: oculating horses with cultures of the 

 4 0-4 4. I 99- bacillus pestis bubonicae grown in 



bouillon, and Avith bouillon suspensions of the bacilli grown on agar. In none 

 of the horses was there a marked reaction with the exception of one, which died, 

 and he attributes the death of this animal, not to the toxic effects of the material 

 inoculated, but to penetration of a blood vessel and subsequent occlusion of an 

 important vessel in the brain. 



The serum was obtained from the horse in the usual manner by bleeding the 

 animal from the jugular vein. Serum from one of the horses in quantities of 

 one-quarter of a cubic centimeter was insufficient to save rats infected with the 

 minimal fatal dose. Another horse produced a serum which, in quantities of. 

 one-quarter of a cubic centimeter, protected white rats from the minimal fatal 

 dose of the bacillus, but a smaller amount of the serum was incapable of pro- 

 tecting the rats. 



From these investigations the author draws the following conclusions : 



1. The strength of the above sera is not sufficiently great to warrant any 

 hope of their being of therapeutic use in an actual epidemic of plague. 



2. The antitoxic power of the serum (obtained at Abbassieh) is equal to that 

 prepared by Yersin, so far as can be gathered from his published writings. 



3. Sera of about the same value were prepared by him at the Serum Insti- 

 tute f the British Institute of Preventive Medicine in the case of cholera and 



