Journal of Applied Microscopy. ^ 649 



epidemic has previously occurred. Of the organisms found in sporadic cases 

 the tubercle bacillus, the pneumococcus, and streptococci seem to be the most 

 frequent causes. Streptococci or staphylococci may be associated with one 

 another or with other pus organisms. In the majority of these cases the infec- 

 tion of the meninges is apparently secondary to lesions in some other part of 

 the body. The best method of diagnosis is by lumbar puncture, a microscopi- 

 cal examination being made of the fluid and cultures on blood-serum. 



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. 



Hiickel. Die Vaccinekorperchen. Nach Un- This work deals with the bodies found 



tersuchungen an der geimpften Hornhaut i„ ^j^e epithelial cells of the rabbit's 

 des Kaninchens. Zweites Supplement heft der '■ 



• Beitriige zur Path. Anat. und Allg. Path. COrnea after inoculation with vaccine 



4 plates., 1899. ^jj.yg_ 



Seventy-six rabbits were inoculated, and from these 24,000 sections were 

 prepared. The virus was obtained from four-day-old pustules on calves. The 

 corneae were studied fresh, and after fixation in Flemming's fluid and in corrosive 

 sublimate. Biondi's triple stain was used for most preparations. 



Control experiments consisting in mechanical irritation and injection of 

 pyogenic cocci were negative in all of the twenty-two rabbits tried. 



Within twenty-four hours after inoculation the vaccine bodies could be found 

 accompanied, after six hours, by a slight invasion of leucocytes. 



During the next eighteen hours the number of vaccine bodies and of leuco- 

 cytes increased rapidly, and the epithelium became much swollen. The vaccine 

 bodies appeared first around the inoculation wound and then spread peripherally. 



These bodies are drop-like, spherical, 1.5-5//. in diameter, have no envelop 

 or border, and are not surrounded by any granules or thread-like membrane. 

 They stain deeply with nuclear dyes, do not decolorize easily. With Biondi's 

 stain they are colored a dark blue. They appear first in depressions in the 

 nucleus and later in the protoplasm, and vary greatly in number and size. 



A second form is surrounded by a homogeneous mantle of variable thickness 

 which stains red. 



A third, and the most abundant form, is surrounded by red granules and 

 varies much in size. 



In a fourth form, delicate, somewhat granular filaments extend out from the 

 central body, and are inserted into the surrounding protoplasm of the cell. 



Half moon, sickle, and spindle shape forms were also occasionally seen. 



Fifteen corneas examined on warm stage showed bodies similar to those seen 

 in stained section. No change of form or evidence of mobility was seen. These 

 bodies disappear when treated with a saturated solution of sodium chloride, 

 but come out sharply when in contact with a five per cent, solution of acetic 

 acid. 



