NOTES AND MEMORANDA. l7l 



and, in confirmation of his statement, he had adduced the 

 results of experiments on blood placed at his disposal by Pro- 

 fessors Strieker and Hebra, who had spoken in confirmation 

 of the remarks of Dr. Lostorfer. Dr. Lostorfer ouf^ht to have 

 examined healthy blood with as much care as that of syphilitic 

 patients. Dr. Wedl had examined specimens both of syphi- 

 litic and of healthy blood ; and in both he had found the 

 corpuscles described by Dr. Lostorfer. — British Medical 

 Journal. 



Improved Method for the Microscopic Examination of Urine, 

 &c. — Whatever can diminish his labour and save his time 

 must be welcome to the busy practitioner. The ordinary 

 method of exaniininj>- urinary deposits microscopically entails 

 a considerable expenditure of both ; and the process has 

 generally to be repeated several times in order to discover all 

 the characters of the deposit. By the use of the simple con- 

 trivance of a " submersion tube," first described by Dr. 

 Dudgeon, in Vol. XI of the ' Quarterly Journal of Micro- 

 scopical Science,' this labour is greatly diminished, and a 

 large quantity of the urine can at the same time be examined 

 at one operation. Tlie submersion tube is simply a brass 

 tube closed at the end by a thin plate of glass, which is 

 screwed on to the objective, so that the latter may be dipped 

 into the fluid under examination, which is contained in a 

 glass tank or trough placed upon the stage of the microscope. 

 The urinary deposit is, in most cases, quickly thrown down 

 upon the bottom of tlie trough, and thus the examination of 

 a large quantity of urinary deposit is at one time made quite 

 practicable. The advantage of such a plan as this will be 

 apparent in many cases ; as, for example, in the urine of 

 patients suffering from contracted granular kidney, with few 

 renal casts. 



The only points to be attended to in the construction of 

 the submersion tube are, that the length the tube projects 

 beyond the object-glass shall be less than the focal distance 

 of the latter, and that the thin glass plate shall be cemented 

 to the brass tube in a perfectly water-tight manner. As the 

 fluid in the trough must be kept horizontal, the microscope 

 of the ordinary construction must, of course, be used perpen- 

 dicularly, so that if we wish to be seated while making our 

 examination, the microscope should commonly stand on a 

 low table, or a common wooden chair. Objectives of various 

 powers, fitted with a submersion tube, are very useful for 

 examining minute aquatic, vegetable, and animal organisms 

 in a considerable quantity of fluid. They are especially 

 adapted for watching the development of the ova of fishes. 



