1895 THE MICROSCOPE. 119 



The fragments of the envelope of the grain contain 

 two important elements, the hairs and the debris of the 

 glumelle. The hairs are very long, slender and almost 

 deprived of lumen. They are easily distinguished by 

 their form from those of wheat ; much more easily from 

 those of rye and barley. The glumelle in oats being al- 

 ways joined to the grain, its debris are infallibly found 

 again in the meal. 



They are formed of a layer of cells with thick walls, 

 and deeply toothed like a saw. These indentations work 

 into each other. It is this layer which is characteristic. 

 However, similar cells are to be found in barley-meal, 

 perhaps a little smaller and less toothed, but the confu- 

 sion between these two meals is not possible, the starches 

 being very different. 



Under the layer of toothed cells, which forms epider- 

 mis, there is another one composed of long bobbin-like 

 fibres. The debris of the glumelles very much depolar- 

 izes the light. 



The length of cells with toothed edges varies from 

 145 microns to 230 microns, the width from 13 microns to 

 21 microns. The long cells are but slightly visible ; the 

 tubes and the transverse cells are not distinguishable. 

 After all, what characterizes oatmeal under the micro- 

 scope is: first, the form of the grains of its starch, 

 their frequent agglomeration in ovoidal masses and 

 their neutrality toward polarized light ; then the form 

 of the long and slender hairs and the presence of 

 cogged cells arising from the epidermis of the glu- 

 melles. — R. Samson. 



The Penetration of Microbes into the Blood. — M. Nocard 

 reported, at a recent meeting of the Society of Biology, Paris 

 (La Press Medicale), exjDeriments b}^ which he has been able to 

 demonstrate that microbes are capable of entering the blood 

 through the alimentary canal. (He found that, while the blood 

 is usually sterile after an ordinary meal, after a meal contain- 

 ing a considerable quantity of fat, microbes were found very 

 abundant.) His theory is that microbes are conveyed into 

 blood by the small fat globules which are taken up by the lac- 

 teals. 



