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 NEW BOOKS, WITH SHORT NOTICES. 



A Eeport of Microscopical and Physiological Researches into the 

 Nature of the Agent or Agents producing Cholera. By T. R. Lewis, 

 M.B., and D. D. Cunningham, M.B., Calcutta, Office of the Superin- 

 tendent of Government Printing, 1872. — Although this work is not 

 especially microscopical, it deals less or more with the histological 

 character of the blood, and more especially with those cases in which 

 Bacteria are present. It seems to us somewhat of a mistake on the 

 authors' parts to have published the volume at all ; for though it 

 narrates much excellent experimentation, there is very little in the 

 shape of sound conclusion to be drawn from the researches it narrates. 

 We think, therefore, that the authors would have been wiser to have 

 waited longer before publishing their inquiries. But for all that the 

 book is of considerable interest. In the first place we must state that 

 the entire volume does not exceed a hundred pages of clear readable 

 type, and of this by far the larger portion has no relation to micro- 

 scopic work. Yet is the histological part of value, especially in 

 regard to those peculiar protoplasmic masses or corpuscles in the 

 blood of cholera-patients, which are admirably figured in the folding 

 plate which precedes the volume. The following account of them we 

 give in the authors' own words, for they are clear, minute, and to 

 the point. We may, however, mention that the specimen of blood 

 was taken from the finger of the patient, and was placed in a wax-cell 

 of a similar character to that described by Berkeley as specially 

 adapted for the observation of fungi. The powers employed were 

 the J^th of Powell and Lealand and |th and jMh immersion of Boss. 



" It now remains," say the authors, " to make a few remarks on 

 the principal points of interest in connection with these observations. 

 The conveniences afforded by a tropical climate for any such series of 

 observations as these are very great, as the temperature as a rule is 

 sufficiently high to secure that the activity of the bioplasts contained 

 in the blood is not too rapidly checked. During a period of frequent 

 observation in the course of the past season, the thermometer ranged 

 from a maximum of 98 "2° F. to a minimum of 76 "3° F. It is not 

 devoid of interest to remark that the use of immersion objectives 

 involves a disadvantageous depression of temperature, due to evapora- 

 tion of the film of water which is placed between the lens and the 

 covering glass. The prolonged use of such a lens has frequently 

 appeared in this way to check the activity of the bioplasts in the blood. 

 One of the most important points determined by these observations is 

 the fact, that the blood in cholera is, as an almost invariable rule, free 

 from bacteria, either actual or potential. This is the case as well shortly 

 after death as during life, and holds in regard to every stage of the 

 disease. In one or two cases, a slight development of distinct bacteria 

 has occurred during the course of observation, but this is no more than 

 may occur in the most healthy specimens of blood, and the idea that 

 bacteria are normally present in the blood in cholera may be finally 



