Journal of Applied Microscopy. 479 



of these sinuses may be set up. The finding of diphtheria bacilli in the nose, 

 even months after the membrane has disappeared, is probably best explained by 

 antral involvement. Examination of the antral cavities would seem to be indicated 

 in all cases where the diphtheria bacillus persists. h. h. w. 



„ . u ^. , ur 1 o Pa„ After extensive bacteriological exami- 



Preysing, H. Die gesunde menschhche Pau- => 



kenhohle ist Keimfrei. Centrlblt. f. Bakt, nation of the normal middle ear in 

 25: 635-641, 1899. ^^^^ ^Yie following conclusions were 



drawn : That the normal middle ear is germ free. That the middle ear of the 

 newborn, which is filled with mucous, is germ free. (In the latter the cases 

 examined were few.) That serous exudates arising from a general dropsy are 

 also free. That the cause of typhoid fever may also give rise to otitis media. 



H. H. W. 



NORMAL AND PATHOLOGICAL HISTOLOGY. 



Richard M. Pearce, M. D. 



Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., to whom all books and papers 

 on these subjects should be sent for review. 



CURRENT LITERATURE. 



This work, by Home'n and his pupils, 

 Homeia. Die Wirkungder Streptokokken und occupies an entire number of the Bei- 

 ihrer Toxine auf Verschiedene Organe des _. ^ i r *i ^ ^u „^^o 



Korpers. (Arbeiten aus dem Pathologischen ^rage, and IS a Study of the changes 

 Institut zu Helsingfors.) Zeigler's Beitrage produced in the nervous system, Uver, 

 zur Path. Anat. 25: 1-272, PI. X., 1899. , . 1 ^ v 



kidneys, heart, and peritoneal cavity. 



Rabbits were used exclusively. The virulence of the streptococcus varied in different 

 groups of experiments. The toxine was obtained in concentrated form from 

 bouillon cultures by precipitation, either by ammonium sulphate or by amylic 

 alcohol. Inoculations were made subcutaneously, intraperitoneally, in the ear 

 vein, and into the trachea. The results of the work are stated briefly in the 



following : 



About three hundred animals were 



Homen and Laitinen. Nervous System. i rx., 1 4.^a .„uu fVi^ 



used. They were inoculated with the 



streptococcus or its toxine in the right sciatic nerve, or in the spinal cord. The 

 clinical symptoms varied ; paralysis of the hind leg was frequent, and atrophy of 

 the leg sometimes occurred in those which survived for a long time. Congestion 

 and oedema of the sciatic nerve was seen after a week, in those inoculated with 

 the streptococcus. The toxine produced very slight changes. Microscopically, 

 the cocci are found to be diffusely scattered in the peripheral branches of the 

 nerve bundle, and collected in groups in the lymphatics, beneath the perineurium 

 in the proximal portion. They appear to reach the center of the nerve bundle 

 along the endoneural terminations of the perineural sheath. In extending to the 

 cord the cocci appear to travel along the dorsal nerve roots, after which they spread 

 quickly through the intermeningeal tissues of cord and brain. Lesions pro- 

 duced by them are generally localized in the neighborhood of the anterior nerve 

 roots. A week after injection no cocci can be found in the cord, but they may 



